Nursery Minutes of Meeting
Date: 22nd May 2011
Present: Rochelle, Glory, Wimin, VK, Allan, Gina, Teddy, Zainae, Stephen, Mark Van Domelen, Emma, Elaine
1. Attendance List
a. Rochelle has prepared an Attendance List showing Child’s name, Age, Parent’s Name, Telephone number for the nursery
b. Glory will be in charge of typing in the regular children and parents in the attendance list so that parents can just tick it off, instead of writing the information each Sunday.
c. Rochelle would make a list of regular parents to be on stand-by.
2. We agreed that the main mission/purpose of the nursery: Build the faith and foundation of the kids
3. Nursery Proposed Routine/Structure
a. Teachers to arrive 15 minutes before to prepare and set up the room. Bring a jug of water.
b. Mark Attendance List
c. 3-4 activity station based on the same theme set for the week for the children to select (as it would be difficult to get the children to work on one activity together in a group, since children have different interests)
d. Sit in a circle
e. Pray and say grace
f. Snack Time
g. Sing along time
h. Clean up
i. Sterile toys with wet wipe
4. Sunday School Training Workshop attended by VK, who gave a briefing on what he learned:
a. The instructor mentioned that kids’ attention span for this age range is very short (0-5 years old).
b. The instructor is of the opinion that colouring activity is not so creative for the kids.
c. If we still would like to have colouring activity, instead of giving the children a printed picture to colour, it is better to give them a blank paper for them to draw for creativity, with adult guiding them.
d. The instructor commented that the toys lying around is current a distraction in the current nursery set up.
e. The instructor suggested to pick a phrase a week, not a long story. Example, the key word in the phase is help. Then ask if they help the mother to do cooking. Then pull out the kitchen set. Then cut pictures from magazine and paste it, or use play dough. Puzzles are very helpful. Kids have different preference in their learning, some hearing, visual, hands-on. Activities should carry these different variety. Have different station for activity, for example, a basin with water for bathing the baby doll.
f. The instructor is not a fan of soft stuff toys or fabric toys.
g. It is better to take out the toys only for the lesson, and keep the rest.
h. After the first half an hour, children lose their attention, so it is not possible to have too many activities in a lesson, but it is good to have activity back-up just in case.
i. The instructor is not pro cartoons in children’s books.
j. Important to keep repeating the theme of the lesson, for example, Keep repeating God loves you.
k. In the past, we do story-telling, because we think that every kid likes story. However, children have different interests. Some are visual, some sensitive to touch, some active, some more quiet, etc. Thus, it is better to have 3-4 different activities/activity centres with the same theme for the children to choose, play and learn.
5. Organization and Stocking Up of the Nursery
a. Mark is helping to buy the things, and we should give Mark a list.
b. There are many things to purchased, and Elaine would like to help to contribute, if the budget from church is insufficient.
c. Some places that Elaine could help source for things are IKEA, Tiger and the second hand children’s flea market.
d. Elaine would be able to help to sort and label the toys with a tagging sticker labeling machine
e. There is a limitation in having shelves, as we may not be allowed. But Ann is our coordinator between the church and FIBC.
f. It is suggested that if possible, the sofa in the nursery be put away.
g. The fire place and the corner is a safety hazard.
h. The rugs in the nursery are fraying. Would try to tape that down.
6. Things to Acquire for the Nursery:
a. Shelves to act as room partition as well for organizing and storing toys and supplies
b. Transparent plastic boxes, baskets, etc. to sort and store toys
c. Sterile wipes to clean toys after use
d. Play dough + Plastic/wooden kids’ size table and chairs for children to sit and work on activities such as play dough and crafts (added after meeting)
e. Bible theme wooden or board jigsaw puzzles
f. Bible board games for young children
g. Water-colour paints
h. CD player
i. CDs (already some CDs in the old nursery)
j. Duplo Lego set
k. Wooden building blocks
l. Blank papers for drawing and colouring
m. Safe kids’ scissors and glue for cutting and pasting
n. Kitchen play such as cutting fruit toys
o. Animal and insect figurines
p. Household containers with beans, containers with lids, etc.
q. Baby doll and basin for washing baby doll
r. Wooden train and track set (added on after meeting)
s. Rangles, stack-a-ring, shape-sorters, cause-&-effect toys, baby board books, etc. for younger babies
t. Balls (added on after meeting)
u. Push carts for babies learning how to walk (added on after meeting)
v. Theatre play stage and Christian character puppets (added on after meeting)
w. Science: Kids’ magnifying glass and microscope to view God’s creation (added on after meeting)
x. Kids’ musical instruments such as bells, tambourines, toy drum, xylophone, etc. (added on after meeting)
y. Books and bean bag cozy corner with appropriate children books from 0-5 year old for children who like to sit and read (added on after meeting)
z. Drawing boards, multi-coloured letters and numbers magnets, for playing with words and phonics (added on after meeting)
7. Lesson Plan
a. Rochelle will plan the theme for the lessons for the rest of the year for us to access in a file.
b. Parents will plan the lesson plan.
c. Mark and VK suggested 40 sets of life-like pictures with a lesson, rather than cartoons.
8. Duty Roster
a. Volunteers to help twice a month in order to give stability and an environment where the children feel safe.
b. Each person to be on duty for two weeks to carry on the consistency of the lesson from one Sunday to another Sunday. Wimin and VK for one week. VK and another person for another week.
c. Good ideas would be able to be passed on from one week to another week.
d. The teacher on the second week will be the lead for the week.
e. Parents who are able to serve the nursery twice a month or more to give their names to Rochelle. So far we have:
i. Rochelle
ii. Allan
9. Cleaning
a. Church Youth group could help with washing toys.
b. Rochelle to set up date on a Saturday for all of us to come and clean the nursery.
c. Allan and Elaine can make it from July
10. Orientation for New Helpers
a. Policy of the church: Fill in a 1-page background form agreeing to background check for new helpers, Sunday School Teachers.
b. Mark will get the form for Rochelle. Rochelle will send the form out.
c. New helper will always be paired with a full group of 3 people for their first week.
11. Setting Nursery Policy
a. SMS the parents to inform them when the child could not be consoled or when the nappy is soiled.
b. Parent with baby 6 months and below should accompany the baby in the nursery.
c. For babies 6 months and older, should there be more than 2 babies in a week, the parent of the third baby should be requested to stay in the nursery with his/her baby.
12. Next Quarterly Nursery Meeting
a. First week of September
b. Send an email to Rochelle on vacation plan, and email Rochelle so that she can plan the roster
Minutes taken by: Elaine Friis
