Job Title: Preschool Teacher Associate
Reports To: Site Director
Department: Infant and Preschool
Summary: The Preschool Teacher Associate is responsible for the academic, social-emotional growth and development of all children in their care, including toddlers and preschool-age children; develops partnerships with parents to engage and encourage parent participation in the program.
Duties and Responsibilities:
- Carries out mission, vision, and values established by the Academy
- Develops weekly plans and implements an age-appropriate curriculum (lesson plan) to nurture and stimulate all domains of children's development in their care.
- Provides a developmentally appropriate classroom environment
- Perform ongoing developmental evaluations of children as required, develop lesson plans, and follow curriculum implementation that addresses each child's individual needs.
- On an ongoing basis, plan, evaluate, and improve the physical environment in the classroom to create opportunities to meet the changing needs of the developing child.
- Provide responsive care to all children by adapting daily caregiving routines and plans to the interests and needs of the individual child and the group.
- Prepare developmental progress reports and videotaping as needed.
- Demonstrate cultural competency and respect for the child's background by incorporating cultural, linguistic, and familial values and beliefs into the preschool program and lesson plans.
- Maintain ongoing, open communication with parents
- Provide a classroom environment that encourages parent participation.
- Ensure that each family receives an opportunity to build strong relationships and experience clear communication with teaching staff.
- Plan periodical parent conferences to discuss children's developmental progress, needs, and interests.
- Liaison with children's families to ensure a smooth transition from home to preschool setting and changes from classroom to the classroom when needed.
- Assist families with children's transitions from toddler to preschool and from preschool to kindergarten.
- Maintains up-to-date emergency forms, curriculum plans, individual child development profiles, and other records as needed.
- Completes and reports any symptoms of child abuse to supervisor and child abuse hotline.
- Completes daily health checks regarding hygiene, safety, and overall, wellbeing of the children.
- Assures a healthy, safe, clean, and developmentally appropriate environment for children.
- Assist with functioning and monitoring of nutrition and foodservice.
- Reports classroom concerns to supervisor promptly.
- Reports family changes in schedules and excessive absences to administration promptly.
- Participate in at least 15 hours/year of ongoing in-service and educational development opportunities provided by the Academy.
- Per our "team" philosophy, may occasionally be required to carry out or assist with other tasks in addition to the duties listed on this job description
- Staff must believe in and act per both the Academy and the program's mission statements.
Knowledge and Abilities
- Requires oral and written fluency
- Proficient in child development and early education theories and practices
- Must be able to maintain strict confidentiality
- Sensitive towards multi-cultural beliefs and practices
- Ability to relate to children of high-risk families and their parents
- Ability to maintain accurate records and submit promptly
- Ability to work as a team member
- Flexibility and ability to plan
- Ability to problem-solve and organize
- Ability to speak before a small group
- Frequently walks, uses hands to finger, handles or feels objects, tools, controls, and talks or hears.
Often required to stand and sit; reach with hands and arms; and stoop, kneel, crouch, bend, squat or crawl.
- Ability to lift and carry up to 25 pounds when changing diapers and in case of emergency a 40-pound child.
- This job's specific vision abilities include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.
Required Education and Experience:
- Minimum of 12-semester units of Early Childhood Education including core courses in Child/Human Growth and Development; Child, Family and Community, and Program/Curriculum.
- Partially qualified preschool teacher - 6 ECE units completed and enrolled in at least 2-semester units of ECE each semester.
- Minimum of one year of teaching experience in an early childhood program licensed to serve preschoolers in a developmentally appropriate environment preferred.
Compensation:
Non-exempt. Commensurate with qualification and experience. Range is $18-23/hour. Eligible for additional performance pay.
Job Title: School-Age Teacher
Department: School-Age
Summary:
Responsible for the supervision and safety of school-age children from five years to twelve years. The instructor will instruct using the PAL system and philosophy. PAL Learning Centers go beyond afterschool tutoring by offering an innovative approach to enrichment learning. Students can enjoy an individualized academic experience with PALS' proven track record. Developed with Common Core State Standards, PALS' curriculum helps kids build strong Math, English, Reading & Writing, and Critical Thinking foundations. PALS' program begins with the diagnostic test, which pinpoints a student's fundamental strengths and weaknesses and prescribes a personalized study program.
Responsibilities:
- Supervises all activities to always ensure the safety of students
- Helps with student homework
- Instruct from provided complete lesson plans as dictated by the PALS learning systems
- Motivate students by using different teaching strategies
- Teach in a fun and engaging way
- Helps students by creating a fun and supportive environment
- Helps to maintain a neat, clean, and well-organized classroom; helps with general housekeeping tasks.
- Maintain daily attendance through Brightwheel
- Helps students establish good study habits, personal hygiene, and proper social interactions
- Must be an active participant and a positive role model to children
- Exhibit courteous and helpful behavior to children, staff, parents/guardians, school personnel, and the general public
- Carry out all policies, goals, and mission of the academy.
- Attends regularly scheduled staff meetings, in-service training, and other meetings as directed by Head Instructor.
- Perform other related duties as required
Skills:
Knowledge and Abilities
- Excellent classroom management skills
- Ability to communicate with parents effectively
- Proficient in the PALS learning system, which we will provide the training
- Must be able to maintain strict confidentiality
- Sensitive towards multi-cultural beliefs and practices
- Ability to work as a team member
- Flexibility and ability to plan ahead
- Time management
Requirements:
- Must be at least eighteen (18) years of age and meet the requirements of the licensing agency
- Passionate about working with kids and experienced in motivating students.
- Bachelor’s degree preferred
- Must have experience in teaching or tutoring
- Excellent communication skills and know-how to simplify and explain complex problems
- Must have a warm and friendly personality, be sensitive to the feelings and needs of others, be able to relate well to children, and be willing to fulfill responsibilities per the academy's program and philosophy.
Compensation:
Non-exempt. Commensurate with qualification and experience. Range is $18-25/hour. Eligible for additional performance pay.
Job Title: Teacher Assistant
Reports To: Teacher
Department: Infant/Toddler, Preschool, School Age
Summary: Under the Teacher's supervision, the Teacher Assistant will assist the Teacher and Associate Teacher in supervising and caring for children ages six weeks to 5 years.
Duties and Responsibilities include the following.
- Carries out mission, vision, and values established by the Academy
- Supervises health and safety needs of children on and off grounds, including field trips.
- Assists the lead teacher and associate teacher in implementing lesson plans to nurture and stimulate appropriate development of the children in their care.
- Keeps classroom neat and orderly.
- Assists in the implementation of programs, which encourages parent involvement and development.
- Responsible for securing the health, hygiene, safety, and overall well-being of children at all times.
- Must have the ability to nurture respectful relationships with parents and children and must be sensitive to the parent's cultural and socioeconomic characteristics.
- Assists in the completion of assessments of children on an ongoing basis.
- Assists in preparing an individualized plan for each child based on assessments and observations.
- Creates an inviting and stimulating, culturally sensitive environment by actively soliciting parent input.
- Assists in keeping records up to date, such as emergency forms, lesson plans, individual child development profile and other records as needed.
- Attends staff meetings and in-service training as assigned.
- Supports and implements short and long-term goals in the classroom.
- May perform other duties as assigned by supervisor.
Education and Experience:
High School diploma or equivalent with six units completed in Child Development. Experience providing care to infants/toddlers and preschool children is a plus. Must be a team player.
Physical Requirements:
To perform this job, the individual must complete all essential functions satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the job's basic functions.
Childcare employees must be able to perform the following essential functions:
- Observe, see, hear and respond to children's needs, emergencies, and conflicts in the childcare center or playground.
- Lift 30 pounds from the floor to a waist-high table when necessary.
- Reach a child 20 to 30 feet away within 30 seconds without endangering the staff person's health.
- Crouch to a child's height, maintain eye contact at the child's level, sit on the floor and stand tall enough to reach children on the highest piece of equipment.
- Be aware of the cognitive, social, and physical needs of children.
- Communicate verbally and in English to the degree that the child, parents and other staff members can understand and respond.
- Handle the responsibilities and routine stress often associated with providing childcare services.
To apply for the position, please send your resume (word document or PDF) in an email to ruth@palmacademy.com. Thank you.
Toddler Teacher
Job Classification: Non-Exempt
Reports To: Site Director
Palm Academy is looking for a qualified Toddler Teacher to prepare small children for kindergarten by easing them into organized education. Provide toddlers with experiences and opportunities that allow for the development of curiosity, initiative, problem-solving, and creativity, as well as a sense of self and a feeling of belonging to a group. Teachers must have a great love and patience for children. Qualifications needed to teach them effectively include knowledge of best practices and Toddler educational methods as well as the ability to engage them and earn their trust and attention. The goal is to contribute to the healthy mental and emotional development of the child so they can more easily acclimate in the next level of education.
Duties and Responsibilities:
- Plans and executes a developmentally appropriate child-centered day which promotes total development of each child, and applies knowledge of various development stages of toddlers
- Prepare and provide materials that are concrete and relevant to the children’s interests and culture to meet their individual needs
- Respond quickly to children’s different and personal needs (verbal and non-verbal cues), temperament styles, abilities, and cultures.
- Prepare the toddler learning environment for children to learn through active exploration and interaction with adult caregivers.
- Administer and accurately document initial and ongoing development using screening and assessment tools at established intervals.
- Review and carry out health plans for special diets, allergies, medication administration, etc.
- Partner with parents to develop educational and family goals and update regularly.
- Assist with transition into the program and exiting out of the program.
- Participate in regularly scheduled staff meetings, parent meetings, parent-teacher conferences, in-service training, Organization Quality Improvement process, etc.
- Adheres to policies and procedures pertaining to code of ethics, sanitary and cleanliness of classroom and children
- Participates in required training programs, conferences, courses, or other aspects of professional growth and attends all faculty meetings
- Serves as mandated reporter and reports any suspicion of child abuse or neglect to the appropriate channels
Requirements:
- High school diploma or general education degree (GED).
- CPR and First Aid certification
- Minimum of 12 completed ECE/CD units with at least three (3) units in infant/toddler care.
Qualifications:
- Language Ability: Ability to read and interpret documents such as safety rules, operating and maintenance instructions, and procedure manuals. Ability to write routine reports and correspondence. Ability to speak effectively before groups of customers or employees of organization.
- Math Ability: Ability to add, subtract, multiply, and divide in all units of measure, using whole numbers, common fractions, and decimals. Ability to compute rate, ratio, and percent and to draw and interpret bar graphs.
- Reasoning Ability: Ability to apply common sense understanding to carry out instructions furnished in written, oral, or diagram form. Ability to deal with problems involving several concrete variables in standardized situations.
Physical Environment:
While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to stand; walk; sit; use hands; reach with hands and arms; climb and balance; stoop, kneel, crouch, and crawl; talk and hear and taste and smell. The employee must regularly lift and/or move up to 50 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and ability to adjust focus.
To apply for the position, please send your resume (word document or PDF) in an email to ruth@palmacademy.com. Thank you.
