As teachers or childcare workers, creating a healthy environment should be our top priority. For this assignment, address ways to create a plan that addresses the guidelines pertaining to health, safety, and nutrition in the school, classroom, or childcare setting.

For this benchmark, imagine you are the director of a new birth through Pre-K childcare center. You have been asked to submit a 7-10 page Childcare Setting Health, Safety, and Nutrition Plan including table of contents and references for state approval. Use the information and assignments gathered throughout this course to inform this assignment.

Choose an age range: Birth-8 months, 9-12 months, 13-24 months, or 25-36 months in which to identify the expected readiness for learning based on the selected age range and developmental stage.

Include the following sections in your plan:

Table of Contents

Health Policies on the following:

• Illness
• Screenings
• Immunization information
• Allergies
• Medication

Safety Policies on the following:

• Safe use of Technology
• Class size and ratios
• Emergency Response Training
• Fire Safety
• Active Supervision

Operational Protocol

• Daily schedule, which includes pick-up and drop off processes, monitoring attendance, a broad overview of daily activities
• Staff qualifications, background checks, and mandatory reporting requirements (abuse/neglect)

Environment

• Communication and collaboration: Include three communication methods and collaboration opportunities for families to participate at the child care center

Nutrition

• A week-long sample schedule of meals/snacks for the age range selected.
• Specific details, guidelines, and policies regarding the nutritional needs of young children.
• Feeding tips and meal prep/planning procedures.

Instructional Planning

• Address how and when instructional planning is conducted.
• A sample lesson plan on the topic of your choice as an example of instruction you would provide to the children in the age range selected. This could be your revised lesson plan from Topic 4.
• The lesson plan must address young children’s characteristics and needs, including strengths, interests, and needs that enable each student to advance and accelerate his or her learning.
• Specify how readiness for learning will be determined and assessed while taking into account developmental milestones and the multiple influences (cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and/or physical) on early development and learning. 

Support your plan with 3-5 scholarly resources.

While APA style format is not required for the body of this assignment, solid academic writing is expected, and in-text citations and references should be presented using documentation guidelines, which can be found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.

This assignment uses a rubric. Review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.

You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. A link to the LopesWrite Technical Support Articles is located in Class Resources if you need assistance.

Benchmark Information

This benchmark assignment assesses the following programmatic competencies:

BS Early Childhood Education

1.1: Create developmentally appropriate instruction that addresses young children’s characteristics and needs, including strengths, interests, and needs that enable each student to advance and accelerate his or her learning. [NAEYC 1a; InTASC 1(a), 1(b), 1(e), 1(d), 1(i), 1(j), 2(a), 2(b), 2(f), 2(g), 2(h), 2(l), 3(i); ISTE-T 1a]

1.2: Identify readiness for learning while taking into account the multiple influences (cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and/or physical) on early development and learning. [NAEYC 1b; InTASC 1(e), 1(f), 1(h), 2(m)]

1.6: Plan for children’s development and learning as a collaborative activity with the input of students, colleagues, families, and the larger community. [NAEYC 2c; InTASC 1(c), 1(k), 3(c); ISTE-T 3b, ISTE-T 3c; MC2, MC4]