Policies
Hours of Operation, Daily Schedule & Activities
Hours, Weekly Care Schedules
Sue Rowe's 1st Care for Children is open Monday through Friday, 7:00 am to 5:00 pm, January through December, unless the child care home is closed for holidays, vacation days (see closures), snow days, or sick days.
Earlier drop-offs and pick-ups are available if pre-arranged.
Drop Off Time
Sue would also like all children to be dropped off daily no later than 9:00 am. Dropoffs later than 9:00 am should be communicated to Sue. If a scheduled child has not arrived by 9:00 am, Sue Rowe will contact parent or guardian by phone pursuant to State of Wisconsin Mandate.
Maximum Daily Hours
9½ hours should be the maximum number of hours a child spends in child care. Research shows more than 9½ hours per day in child care is not beneficial for a child, parent, or providers. The child care home may be open for 10 hours per day to accommodate varying schedules of parents, but please plan to leave your baby or child for no more than 9½ hours on any give day.
We offer the following Child Care Schedules:
- Full-time - 5 full days per week
- Part-time - less than 5 full days per week
- Both Full-time and Part-time Temporary Care - providing child care until we have a permanent opening
- Backup, Alternate, or Drop In - providing child care for full days as openings occur in our child care schedule to accommodate a family's need for a day out, work, or their provider's vacation or sick days
Daily Activities
The presentation of different learning contexts to meet the cognitive, physical, and emotional needs of children with differing ages and abilities is called developmentally appropriate practice. Daily activities and learning at Sue Rowe's 1 st Care for Children is child directed and facilitated by arrangement of schedules and the environment, interacting with child care provider, assistants and other children. Babies and children have the opportunity to learn about life at a relaxed pace, in a flexible, nurturing and home-like environment. Promoting & facilitating the development of relationships and friendships are an important part of our "curriculum!" Sue Rowe's 1st Care for Children offers individual and small group play experiences both indoors and out and age appropriate experiences with art, music, pre-math, science and nature.
Children will play outdoors everyday when weather permits.
Waterplay will be part of our activity programming during the warm summer weather. Parents are asked to sign a permission slip for waterplay included and posted on this website with the Enrollment Forms.
About "Screen Time" - TV, Videos, Computers, iPads, Smartphones, etc.
When developing activities for very young children, our goal is to provide meaningful learning experiences that are developmentally appropriate. As such, we offer NO screen time, whether it be in the form of videos, television programming or computers, laptops, iPads, etc. Children of this age have the opportunity to learn by personal experience and play with other children and experience a variety of real and tangible activities, materials, and contexts.
Sue Rowe's 1st Care for Children does not provide transportation for any reason.
Children are supervised by sight and sound 100% of the time spent at Sue's House. Working together, Providers and Assistant Teacher/Providers use the following methods to ensure the whereabouts of all children, both indoor and outdoors:
- review of daily schedule, Daily Attendance and cancellations from emails and text message
- providers position themselves with clear site lines for all children
- regular headcounts throughout the child care day
- checking with another provider on numbers when leaving or entering a room, the fenced backyard, leaving for a walk, at dropoff and pickup time, etc.
- checking sleeping babies every 20 minutes
Special Walking "Outings"
When the weather is warm in Wisconsin we spend as much time outside as possible! Sometimes we walk to nearby parks and playgrounds or just enjoy a walk around the neighborhood. Warm sunshine always feels good and there are often things of interest for young minds to experience such as flowers, birds, trees, leaves, insects, not to mention garbage trucks and fire hydrants! Our under-two children ride in one of our strollers and our over-two children walk safely while holding onto the stroller. Sue Rowe and/or Assistant Teacher/Provider encourage walking children to "keep hanging on to the stroller" so that they stay with the group. Additionally, we perform regular head counts and we bring our attendance list and emergency contact list with us to ensure everyone is safely transported to and from our enjoyable outing.
Napping and Rest Periods for One's and Older
Most children reduce their nap schedule to one longer nap in the afternoon sometime around their 1st Birthday. We provide a naptime daily from 12 noon to 2:00 pm for all children. Children who do not sleep are allowed to engage in another quiet activity away from the sleeping children such as reading or a quiet art activity.
Sheets and sleeping bags are provided by the child care home which are laundered at least after every 5 uses. Bedding which is soiled is laundered immediately.
Religious Practice
Sue Rowe's 1st Care for Children does not provide religious instruction or practice religious observance or rituals such as saying blessing or grace at mealtime. We do however, celebrate Christian holidays such as Christmas, Easter and children's birthdays.
Toilet Training/Learning
It is recommended that toilet training not be introduced until sometime between the 2nd and 3rd year. Most notable research reveals that children who are introduced to toilet training earlier are not reliably toilet trained until this time which suggests that most children are not developmentally ready until they are at least 2 or older. Furthermore, since "potty learning" is a team effort involving the child, parents, siblings and caregiver, everyone on the team must be emotionally and psychologically ready for the process. Sue also has a handout with helpful suggestions and tips for parents. Keep in mind that the process is generally less time-consuming and frustrating when the child is closer to age 3.