Check out my family in this recent picture.  Can you pick out the one that doesn’t belong?  Yep, that’s my husband, die hard to his old team to the end.  Our family loves to dress up like this, and so do most kids, so have some fun with your local teams.

Check the schedule or the major sports teams in your town.  Find out when they are playing and what the major games may be.  If you’re not sure, ask the dads of a couple of your kids, they’ll know.  Then plan a day or week around the team.

If your baseball team made the playoffs, have a baseball week with everyone wearing team colors on Friday.  You can have hot dogs and caramel corn (Cracker Jacks has peanuts) for lunch.

When your football team has a weekday game or major rivalry, have a football week.

Some great ideas of things you can do:

• Use the sport to teach math and words.  Use the game as a basis for the learning.
• Create art and projects around the game.  Think painting helmets or a hand print.
• Use this as a great time to teach fair play and sportsmanship.
• Teach the rules of the game.  Kids love to know how to play, so teach them.
• Contact your sports team’s PR office and see if they can send you some “autographed” photos of players or the mascot.  Most teams have piles of these they will happily send to you.
• If you live close to a major team, you might even consider a field trip to the stadium if you can set up a tour.

Activities like this are a great way to grow your center and your brand.  Children love sports and teams.  They will get excited as they get ready for the week and the dressing up at the end of the week they will be bouncing off the walls with happiness.

The kids and their parents will tell friends and neighbors about the sports week.  Now you will be the daycare on everyone’s mind.  Plus all the art work and other projects come home and to the office.  Yes the kids love it, but it is also another great way to show off and remind parents why you are the best place for their kids to be.

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10 Great Ways to Get a Grant
Experts reveal their top 10 secrets about writing grant proposals that demand attention and get funding.

Grant writing is seldom easy. Many schools are chasing after the same pot of gold, fiercely competing for technology dollars offered by corporations, foundations, and state and federal government. So there’s no room for mistakes. Yet, many pitfalls exist, especially for inexperienced grant writers. For example, some grant seekers apply for the wrong grant. Their goals and objectives don’t match those of the funding source. In the end, they waste everyone’s time and can jeopardize their chances of winning funding in the future from the same organizations. To discover the secrets of successful grant writing, Scholastic Administrator spoke to several experts who gave us their best advice on drafting grant proposals that work. Follow these 10 simple guidelines and your next grant proposal will stand a better chance of getting the funding you need.

1. Assess your needs. What are your instructional technology needs? Ask yourself this question before writing your grant proposal. Solicit information from teachers about the kind of technology or training they need, creative ways they could use it in their classroom, how it would enhance student learning or how the technology could streamline their administrative tasks. Then document your school’s most compelling needs in your grant application. If you’re asking for funds to purchase computers or integrate technology to improve teacher proficiency, reveal the percentage of teachers at your school who are at the beginning, intermediate and proficient stages.

2. Think locally at first. Form a technology advisory committee made up of teachers, administrators, business leaders and parents to develop or update your technology plan. Next, undertake your own pilot program. The same committee would write the grant and contact local employers to help support the program through matching funds, equipment donations, training or volunteers. Demonstrate the program’s initial success before asking for more help to expand or enhance the project. Find an impartial evaluator to analyze the pilot program, then cite the results in future grant applications. Establishing a baseline of success with technology will increase your odds of winning the grant.

3. Do your homework. Find out what kinds of school projects the prospective funder has awarded in the past. Contact those schools and ask for a copy of their winning proposals. Analyze their content and style. Use their proposal as your model, personalizing it to fit your school or district.

4. Make it personal. Successfully competing for a grant typically requires human interaction. Call the program officer and ask him or her to clarify anything in the request for proposals (RFPs) that may be unclear. You must follow their guidelines to the letter. Even something as minor as using the wrong font size can kill your chances. Also ask who will be reading the grant so you can tailor your proposal to their background or area of expertise. By speaking with the grant administrator, you can also get a much better understanding of the funder’s agenda and possibly an initial reaction to your project idea.

5. Show passion. Show some excitement about the project in your proposal. If appropriate, personalize it with one-sentence anecdotes, such as upbeat comments from students. Also study proposals written by past grant winners. Are they informal? Do they use words like “we” and “I”? Match the style. Finally, be concise and avoid jargon or overused buzzwords like paradigm and rubric.

6. Focus on learning, not the technology. Emphasize outcomes, objectives or goals. Focus on what you intend to accomplish with the technology, rather than on the hardware or equipment itself. For example, if you want five computers to help students improve their reading or writing skills, explain how the technology can help you accomplish that goal. Offer a realistic scenario describing how students and teachers will use the technology to improve in this area.

7. Think long-term. Develop a timeline that shows when you plan to achieve your goals and objectives. It should include plans to build on accomplishments after the grant runs out. Sustainability is crucial for a successful proposal because funders like to see that the activities they’re financing will continue beyond the life of the grant. For example, explain your plans to start replacing the equipment in the third year of a five-year grant, and how you’ll fund the upgrades.

8. Don’t forget professional development. At least 30 percent of the funds you’re asking for should be allocated for professional development. Funders won’t assume you’ll be able to meet your goals and objectives if you don’t train faculty, administrators or staff on how to use the technology.

9. Spread the technology around. Funders like to get the most bang for their buck. That’s why it’s important to explain how you plan to share the technology you’re requesting. As an example, you may partner with another school, enabling students from both schools to use the technology for joint projects. Likewise, your school may need equipment for its new computer center, which will also be accessible to the community. Students can teach local residents at the center how to use computers or other technology. Remember that funders like projects that can be replicated by other schools or districts.

10. Ask for constructive criticism. If you’re rejected, call the grant administrator and ask for a copy of the reviewers’ comments on your proposal. If that’s not possible, ask the administrator for constructive feedback. For instance, why was your application rejected? What were its strengths and weaknesses? How could it be improved? This information will enable you to write a better proposal the next time you apply. Once you develop a strong application, you can submit it to different funders with only minor changes to fit each one’s specifications.

(Published courtesy of Scholastic Administrator).

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People ask me all the time whether it’s a good idea to start a new child care business in these tough economic times.  Truth is, this can be a GREAT time to start your new child care business…it just depends on your individual market, your financial position, and your mental attitude.  Let’s talk more about each of these 3 success factors.

Why is your individual market important?  Well, you have to know whether your neighborhood or city is in need of more child care providers, or whether there’s an unmet need that you can tap into, such as second-shift care, before & after care, bilingual care, or some other untapped “niche market.”  If you fill a need that people have been searching for, you will do FINE in this economy, because you’ll have an instant clientele and maybe even a waiting list.  On the other hand, if there is too much supply and not enough demand in your area for child care, you’ll be starting an uphill battle.

In any economy, it’s important to figure out how much money you’ll need to start your business, and make sure you have enough saved up, as well as some source of funds earmarked for an emergency.  If you don’t have at least $3,000 to $5,000 saved, I would probably advise you to wait on your business start-up until you do.  You can start a home-based daycare with as little as $1,000, but you’ll want to have a reserve in case it takes you longer than planned to build your clientele and have a full child care program.

The third thing you need is the right mindset.  You will face challenges during the start-up phase of your daycare business, so you’ll want to make sure you’re clear on WHY you are going into this business, and be able to get in touch with your deep desire and passion to make it work.

If you’ve done your homework, you have some start-up funds saved, and you have the mindset, you’re going to succeed no matter how tough the economy gets.  So what’s stopping you?

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