Labour market information Explore careers by essential skills

• Read labels on infant formula. (1)
• Read lists, such as emergency contact lists, kitchen recycling lists and allergy lists. (1)
• Recognize Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS) symbols on products used in the day care. (1)
• Complete attendance forms and time sheets for hours worked or lists. (1)
• Read activity schedules, to organize and keep track of children's activities, and read a snack schedule, to see what to prepare for the snack. (2)
• Read forms completed by parents, such as authorization forms, which include information on who is allowed to pick up specific children from the day-care, and enrolment forms that provide medical and emergency information. (2)
• Recognize common angles to teach shapes to children or when doing crafts. (2)
• Use pictures as teaching aids. (2)
• Complete accident report forms when accidents occur. (3)

• Write in a communication log or staff book. (1)
• Print words or sentences on paper or chalkboards when teaching or to help a child. (1)
• Write reminder notes to themselves and co-workers about specific duties or information about specific children. (1)
• Write lists of supplies that are needed. (1)
• May record an event or accident by describing the context, events leading up to the situation, what happened, their assessment of the situation and the action taken. (2)

• Collect money from parents for activities or field trips and provide change and receipts. (1)
• Calculate the cost of supplies needed for activities, considering the number of children, cost per item and taxes. (2)

• May purchase supplies, recording in a book the item, the cost and the amount of change. (1)

• Count children to keep track of them. (1)
• Teach basic math skills to children, such as counting, adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing, using different techniques, such as number games. (1)
• Measure and record quantities of formula or medication to be given to children. (1)
• measure quantities of ingredients to cook or the quantity of materials needed to do crafts. (1)
• May measure heights and weights of children. (1)

• May use basic comparisons to teach children concepts such as bigger, smaller, more or less. (1)

• Estimate how many children will participate in an activity to determine the quantity of supplies needed. (1)
• Estimate quantities by sight, such as the amount of stock left or the amount of juice poured into a child's cup. (1)

• Observe and listen to children while they play to observe how well they interact. (1)
• May call suppliers to arrange deliveries. (1)
• Speak with parents to inform them of their children's activities, progress and behaviour, to answer questions, to provide reassurance and suggestions and to receive information about the children's health or other issues. (1)
• Interact with their supervisor to discuss problems, hours of work or changes in programs, and to receive suggestions. (1)
• Interact with children to teach, help and comfort them. (2)
• Interact with co-workers to learn and to inform others about children's progress and activities and to plan joint activities for several groups. (2)
• May participate in meetings with co-workers to generate ideas, to set the curriculum, to discuss children's progress and to allocate tasks. (2)
• May attend parent meetings to discuss topics such as field trips, staff evaluations, enrolment and conferences. They may present information on conferences and seminars that they attended. (2)

• May find that children are not co-operating. They find ways to gain their co-operation. (2)
• May encounter conflicts or fights between children. They resolve the problem by reasoning, instilling the consequences of breaking rules, making new seating arrangements, offering incentives or introducing a new activity. (2)
• Find children experiencing separation anxiety at their parents' departure from the day care. They find ways to comfort and distract the child and to help the parent. (2)
• Try to help children who are withdrawn, shy or aggressive or who have other behavioural problems. (2)
• Provide or obtain medical care, as appropriate, when a child is injured. (2)

• May select which activities to do, considering weekly themes, program schedules or the weather. (1)
• Decide how to handle specific situations, such as whether to remove a child who is creating a disturbance or whether to call a teacher to intervene in a dispute between children. (2)
• Decide if toys are safe when setting up a play area for a certain age group. (2)
• Decide whether the parent should be called when a child appears ill or has been hurt. (2)
• May decide whether a child is mature enough to move into a class with older children. (3)
• Decide whether to release a child when the person picking up the child is not the person expected. (3)

Critical Thinking information was not collected for this profile.

Early childhood educator assistants follow plans determined by their supervisors or plan their own day, within the limits of an activity schedule. The order and priority of activities are determined and coordinated with other workers. Daily activities are usually organized within an established structure to help the learning process. This means moving children through tasks in a set order.

Early childhood educator assistants can change their daily schedule to response to the needs of children or intervene in emergency situations.

• Remember instructions from teachers given at the start of the day and special directions from parents, such as medication to be given or a change in pick up arrangements for a child at the end of the day.
• Remember new skills developed or knowledge acquired by each child to support his or her continuing development.
• Remember children's names and which child belongs to which parent or guardian.

• Get information from day planner books when they substitute for other workers. (1)
• Consult a child's file or the log book for information such as from whom a child may receive visits or whether a particular child has a documented pattern of behaviour. (2)
• Refer to teaching aids and arts and crafts books for information about activities for the children or to find resource materials, such as pictures that they can use in presentations to the children. (2)

• May write letters to the children's parents. (2)
• Record information about children's activities. (2)
• Use other computer applications. For example, use educational software to help children learn the alphabet. (2)

Early childhood educator assistants are members of a team, working with early childhood educators and other assistants. They work independently when they are supervising an assigned group of children. They work as a partner with other staff members when jointly supervising larger groups and sometimes they have a student teacher as a helper. They may sometimes work alone, for example, tidying the day-care area.

Early childhood educator assistants have an ongoing need to learn. They learn at work through their experiences with children, teachers and other assistants. Some attend workshops, conferences and seminars on topics such as, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and first aid, special needs children or teaching strategies. These may be fully or partially subsidized by the day-care centre or school or paid for by the worker. Independent reading also provides early childhood educator assistants with new ideas and information.