L’Étoile Boréale

Parents must bring a lunch for their child who is registered for the day. Snacks will be provided by the centre and will be taken around 9am and 3pm. Lunch will be taken around 12:30pm. Snack suggestions will be presented throughout the year.

It is possible to bring birthday cakes and prepared dishes during special events or celebrations on the condition that the list of ingredients be provided. Parents are responsible for alerting the educator if their child has a special diet, an allergy, or a dietary restriction so that special accommodations may be made.

L’Étoile Boréale is a nut- and peanut-free location.

Naps are part of the daily routine for children 0 to 5 years old. In order to respect the natural rhythm of the child and their needs, if the child falls asleep during the relaxation period, the service’s manager will let the child sleep.

This moment of rest allows the child’s brain to transfer new information learned into the region of the brain responsible for long term memory. It has been proven that children who take a nap after a new learning activity retain new knowledge better. Naps also have positive effects on the child’s mood. They reduce the frequency of tantrums, anxiety, and hyperactivity. Finally, naps are beneficial for health in general by reducing infections. In fact, a growth hormone is secreted during certain sleep phases. This increases immune system activity, among other things.

Children who do not fall asleep will have a relaxation period of at least 30 minutes. Following this rest period, the child will have access to various quiet games that respond to the child’s interests until the end of the rest period.

Rest schedule:

• The rest period normally starts around 1pm and generally ends around 2:30pm, according to the sleep needs of the children.
• The child wakes up at their own pace, in a progressive manner, and has access to various quiet games until the end of the rest

Cleaning:

• Items will be washed at the centre every week.

Twice per year, the centre educators use a developmental observation grid in order to identify the strengths and challenges of the child. These grids are based on the age of the children and essentially aim to provide a structured observation tool to give early childhood educators guidance to better orient intervention strategies that favour the development of the child. During planning, educators take into consideration the challenges of each child to put in place workshops that are adapted to their needs.

Further, twice per year, families will be encouraged to participate in the ASQ fair (Ages and Stages Questionnaire) offered by the Institut Guy-Lacombe de la famille (IGLF). The IGLF will share the results with parents in order to support the child in fully developing their capabilities.

This educational service is part of the Fédération des parents francophones de l’Alberta’s agency in collaboration with the service’s manager. The primary objective is to allow each child to evolve as a distinct person and to grow in a francophone environment. Learning is done through play, based on the needs and interests of the children. Our vision of childhood pedagogy is based on “the image of the child as a powerful learner and a citizen”. The centre offers activities as a group, as workshops, as free play, and as collaborations with other partners to favour creativity and exploration. The program is inclusive and responds to the needs of all the children, including those with special needs. The child must feel accepted, at ease, and respected. We wish for each child to develop their self-confidence, acquire the autonomy they need, and find the answers within themselves to the difficulties they encounter.

The centre believes:

• That children can learn to communicate in the French language and be supported in their growth and emotional, social, creative, cognitive, and physical development in an environment that favours active learning, autonomy, freedom, and the senses of responsibility and order.
• That the children’s growth happens in strict collaboration with the parents and the educational staff. The centre favours learning and the children’s global development in an inclusive and multicultural environment.
• That parents are the primary educators of their child. They have a responsibility to work in collaboration with the dayhome staff for the well-being of their child. By being part of the FPFA’s agency, the program aims to offer a quality service to francophone families in Alberta.

The educational program followed in our dayhome is that of Alberta, “FLIGHT: Alberta’s Early Learning and Care Framework”. An adequate environment is an essential element to the well-being of the child. This favours autonomy, the sens of initiative all while significantly diminishing interventions. It must be welcoming, clean, safe, well-ventilated, at a comfortable temperature, calm (moderate noise), well lit (natural light contributing to the development of the child’s biological clock) and spacious. Furthermore, the spaces must be functional and adapted to the age of each child, organised in such a way as to create a familial, convivial, stimulating, and warm atmosphere facilitating routines and transitions.

In terms of pedagogy, we encourage the children’s learning experiences by ensuring flexible routines by offering open, engaging, and reactive environments where exploration and play are encouraged via suggested activities that are based on a predetermined educational intention. The environment is composed of different learning zones with the goal of provoking and sustaining the children’s interest in order to respond to their needs. It is adapted throughout the evolution of the children and reflects the different cultures and heritage of our francophone community, the languages and histories of the group’s families. We suggest activities in different formats to optimise learning such as activities in small or large groups, collaboration with peers or workshops and free play. We recognize the importance of offering long period of uninterrupted activity to favour their creativity, their intellectual curiosity and to allow them to surpass their own limits. Our activity planning process is based on the observation of the needs and interests of the children.

Physical activity is an integral part of the child’s needs. In this sense, we offer play periods outside each day, as weather permits. (Please refer to the exterior temperature policy below) During gentler seasons, we prioritize outdoor activities as much as possible. The outside environment is a continuance of the program, therefore, proposed activities such as free play periods are offered and are appropriate for the age group. The programming sheet encourages staff to plan significant physical activities. We value outdoor activities such as spending time outside, making a garden and inventing imaginary worlds in nature through play. In Alberta, we may seize opportunities to discover the unique traits of each season and the changes in temperature and the light of day at different times. Valuing environmental durability is acquired through the transmission of a respect for nature and living beings, based on learning, observation, intervention and environmental concern, on land, in water, and in the air.