Herzlich willkommen – Bem-vindes – Welcome
Education and Care
Each child is regarded as an individual, and perceived and supported as a citizen of the world. Focusing on their individual situations and experiences, children are guided in the process of becoming life-long learners. Referring to the Governors` Conference of Child and Youth in 2001, global education in early childhood means supporting each child through their individual development in terms of personal and social education as well as in sociocultural development.
In addition to free play, the children also have targeted activities. There should always be a balance between free play and structured activities.
The framework and basis of the pedagogical work is based on legal regulations such as SGB VIII and the Hessian Education Plan.
Pedagogical objective
The promotion and support of the development of individual abilities through holistic education (emotional, cognitive, social and psychomotor ability areas) presents itself as a fundamental part of the pedagogical work in the facility.
The goal is for the children to develop into independent, self-confident and empathetic personalities who are ready to take responsibility for themselves, others, and the environment.
In order to meet the individual needs of the children, the pedagogical work of the day care center is influenced by various approaches: Montessori, situational approach, project-based work, Emmi Pikler, etc. These are regularly reflected upon and adapted. Furthermore, we focus on diversity and sustainability. In the long term, we strive to establish a zero-waste daycare center with anti-discrimination practices.
Multilingual Kita and its advantages
An education that promotes intercultural competence also promotes respect towards diversity. It enables people to understand and accept cultural differences. In this context, language and culture are closely related.
The idea to offer English alongside Portuguese and German in the International Child Care Center Curumim emerged from many conversations with parents who are interested in language development for their children and an experience in multicultural relations. The main motivations of multilingual education are the emotional and linguistic benefits, which are distinctly made accessible and attainable to the children.
A multilingual daycare center can positively influence the child intellectually and in the development of social skills. The learning of several languages should have a relation to the environment and encompass life contexts. Through the principle of immersion, the child learns a language through everyday conversation and repetition, as naturally and as simply as possible. This is one of the best-known ways to achieve multilingualism, but it is not the only one.
Each pedagogical professional at Kita Curumim is responsible for one language (German, Portuguese or English). In this way, the children associate the individual languages with specific reference persons and can thus more easily orient themselves.
Accompanying transitions
The pedagogical team works together in close cooperation with parents and the kindergarten to support and accompany all children during their transitions.
The accompaniment of a transition is adapted to the individual situation of the children, parents and pedagogical staff.
To best allow for the gentle transition from family to the facility, we utilize and implement relevant research. Following the Berlin Settling-in Model, we prepare gradual adaptation phases for the children. It is of great importance to involve the parents and to account for their individual needs and concerns. The pedagogical team plans together with the parents (and if possible with the kindergarten) the steps to shape the transition, such as joint visits to the new kindergarten.
The settling-in phase for U3 children typically lasts about six to eight weeks. Initially, the child is accompanied by the pedagogical specialist and by one parent. Slowly and gently, respecting and considering the child’s needs, the corresponding parent will gradually withdraw. The settling-in period is completed when the child allows themselves to be comforted by their caregiver and feels comfortable and safe enough to sleep with us in the nursery.
Movement education
The goal here is to encourage and support the child’s fine and gross motor development, taking into account the child’s natural need for movement.
Social education
In this area, the child’s interaction with themselves, with their fellow peers and with their environment is developed. The children learn important rules of existing together and how to observe and interpret them. Discovering one’s own needs also has a lot to do with discovering the needs of others and respecting each other. This is implemented, for example, through:
Musical-rhythmic early education
The Kita Curumim aims to encourage interest and joy in music for the children. For this purpose, the following are offered:
Health education
With freshly prepared food (wholesome and low in meat) and eating together in peace, the nursery aims to lay a foundation for healthy personality development.
Lunch is delivered fresh daily by a catering company. The typical sugar-free breakfast and afternoon snack are prepared with fresh fruit, vegetables and bread.
Hygiene is an important issue. For example, washing hands and brushing teeth are part of the daily routine at the facility.
Environmental Education
Everything in the environment offers the child incentives to learn, discover and observe. This natural urge to explore is encouraged through various activities. e.g.
The environment is extremely complex and is not limited to nature. It also includes nutrition, noise pollution, energy consumption and consumer behavior. The Curumim daycare center uses environmentally friendly materials, avoids plastic as much as possible, among other initiatives.
Free play
Free play is an important aspect of the child’s development and is therefore an indispensable part of the daycare program.
During free play, children are encouraged to use their own initiative to develop their independence, to accept rules, and to resolve conflicts. During free play, the children choose their own play partners, decide on the type of game they want to play, the game itself and its duration.
Another aspect is the management of immediate situations, as well as the promotion of creativity and communication skills. Furthermore, free play encourages children to learn about their own interests, get to know themselves and observe others. Although playing independently and making their own choices during free play, the children are not alone or without structure. The pedagogical specialist fulfills an important function here; they provide the appropriate space and play materials, they accompany and play with the children (if the children wish), they encourage and mediate, but they also withdraw again and pay particular attention to compliance with the stipulations. In addition, the pedagogical staff have the opportunity to observe the individual and group situations, and thus also serve as a basis for recognizing and meeting the needs of the individual and also the group.
Language education
Through language and speech itself, the child establishes a relationship with their environment. In this constant communication, shaped by everyday situations, renewed language acquisition takes place. So that this language acquisition is deepened or the opportunities are extended, we motivate by:
All activities take place in Portuguese, English and/or German, depending on the topic.
Festivals and celebrations in the Child Care Center
Celebrations are highlights in our annual routine. The children need familiar and recognizable rituals that structure the year. With these celebrations, the Child Care Center strives to enable the children to experience different traditions and customs from different cultures, as well as to cultivate them. The Curumim Child Care Center is a non-denominational institution.
(The dates of the festivals that we celebrate with the parents are listed in the annual calendar/closing times).
Gender-conscious education
Children are not only differentiated in their early gender-specific imprinting, but are also enabled to orient themselves in the community on the basis of existing gender-specific differences.
The goal of gender-conscious education is to confront children with the manifestations of male and female gender roles in an age-appropriate manner, depending on their character and individuality, and to integrate them into their own self-image. It is also important to draw attention to the existing complexity beyond gender role stereotypes.
Children’s participation and children’s rights
Children have the right to be involved in all decisions that affect them, according to their level of development. Participation means involving children as stakeholders in the decision-making process and granting them serious influence. In this context, observation and documentation of learning and development processes are of great importance.
The daycare center aims to promote the children’s independence and strengthen their self-confidence by allowing them to have a say in the planning of everyday activities. The children should be able to recognize and express their strengths and weaknesses and learn to deal with them consciously. The ability to be able to argue constructively, i.e. to represent one’s own interests, to put oneself in the shoes of others and to be able to bear it when one cannot assert oneself (frustration tolerance) is emphasized.
Child participation means taking responsibility, and this is already possible from an early age. The protected space of the facility is an ideal field for developing such skills as practicing democratic competencies.
In the facility, everyday opportunities for participation lay the foundation for children to develop into mature, sensible, decisive and independent personalities.
Educational partnership with parents and parental participation
The desired participation involves not only the children, but also the parents. A relationship of trust between parents and the pedagogical team is a fundamental prerequisite for the successful upbringing and education of children. Parents are perceived as educational partners and cooperate accordingly for the good of the child.
Through regular parent meetings, in which an open exchange also takes place with the pedagogical staff, work is done to strengthen the educational partnership. The parents are given the opportunity to get involved in the daily activities (e.g. joint activities, festivals and projects, etc.).
A regular exchange with the parents is particularly important in order to talk to each other about the current state of the child (door-to-door talks).
Other forms of communication are: Parent letters, information boards, parent and library corner, etc.).
The child’s development is recorded in the form of observations, documentation and in portfolios and diaries. Parents are informed annually and as needed about the child’s current developmental status in a parent interview.
All employees of the facility are bound by confidentiality.
Parents’ evenings are held at regular intervals. These also serve to elect the parents’ council. The parents’ council meets with the management and the sponsor to discuss current topics and thus incorporate suggestions from the parents into the pedagogy and make the planning and implementation process transparent.
Cooperation with other institutions
The opening of the day care center to the neighborhood, together with the partnership with parents, is one of the pillars of the community orientation of the organization.
Imbradiva e.V. regularly cooperates with other institutions. The goal is to maintain and expand these contacts, because the intercultural background of the children, the pedagogical staff and parents, as well as the bilingual education, require this close cooperation.
Imbradiva e.V. and Kita Curumim are in contact with institutions such as: Stadtschulamt Frankfurt, der paritätischen, LAG, IFZ, DMBE e.V., IAF Verband binationaler Familien und Partnerschaft e.V., AMKA Amt für Multikulturelle Angelegenheiten and Kinderbüro Frankfurt.
Quality development and assurance
The learning culture of the facility is very important to the provider. It is structured in such a way that the educational processes of the adults as well as those of the children are supported.
Quality management is an important concern for the work development of the Kita Curumim. The pedagogical work in the Kita is documented and reflected by reports on everyday situations (participation of children, familiarization, contact with parents). A constant review of the applicable quality standards is reviewed and further developed in regular operations (team meetings, development discussions, further development of the work).
The facility team has at its disposal: Preparation and follow-up times, supervision, joint professional and collegial consultation, staff meetings, service meetings, concept-developing days, further education and training.
Child protection
There is an agreement between the city of Frankfurt and IMBRADIVA e.V. that ensures the procedure according to § 8a SGB VIII. The current version of child protection is a binding instruction for all pedagogical staff when there is a suspicion of a threat to the well-being of the child. An integral part is the obligatory documentation in the facility.
Concluding remarks
This concept is not a final version, because just as children, adults and society as a whole change over time, pedagogy will also change and develop further. We reflect and critically consider our daily work with the children and parents, so that we can perceive changes in time and react to them.
