Janet Wade
Home Child Care Provider
May 18, 2017
Many young children play school and pretend to be a teacher. Janet Wade knew from her early years that she not only wanted to play school, but be an actual teacher when she grew up. She has now been in education for almost 30 years, first as a paraprofessional in the local school district and then moving on to owning her own home child care.
"This just comes naturally to me. I love it and I enjoy working hard, encouraging the children to be creative and to continually create new ideas and opportunities so that learning is fun."
At Janet's child care, the children prepare for kindergarten through themed teaching. She tries to incorporate many lessons around one centralized theme, including nutrition. For example, on St. Patrick's Day, the children participate in a green taste test. Any kind of green fruit or vegetable that you can imagine is on the menu. Many times, the testers might say they don't like something, but all have to participate in "1-2-3-BITE!" with everyone taking at least a small bite on the count.
Within the themed units, children are given the opportunity for physical activity. Some days they pretend to be snowflakes falling gently to the ground or dancing through the air. Other days, the children are the wind hissing like a snake or fluttering like a butterfly.
In addition to learning opportunities through themed units, the children experience the community around them. During the Christmas season, children make cards for older patrons at Janet’s church and every year they visit St. Jude’s Hospital. They also work together as a child care community to plant a garden each spring and study good citizenship traits such as kindness, sharing and respectfulness daily. Any parent will
know that not only is their child going to be well cared for, but also have rewarding learning experiences to take with them to the next stage in life.
From Knoxville, Tennessee, Janet has been a CACFP participant through Our Daily Bread of Tennessee since 2008.