Meet Our Childtime Staff – Ms. Tiffanee, Toddler Teacher

Meet Ms. Tiffanee, the lead toddler teacher at Childtime in Waldorf, MD! She has been at this location for four years and has a true passion for working with our young students. Read our Q&A to learn more about this talented member of our team!

Can you talk a bit about your background and why you chose a career in early education?

I went to Prince George’s Community College for early education straight out of high school. I stepped away from the field for some years and came back after I had my son four years ago. I love children. I really do. I love watching them grow and teaching them and watching them smile and learn.

What’s especially fun about working with toddlers?

They’re so moldable. Just watching them develop is great. They learn so much and it’s rewarding watching that.

Can you take us through a brief overview of your typical day?

We do a circle time. Right now I and my co-teacher are introducing them to phonics and different books. We introduce new words to them, a couple words a week, to develop their language. I also like to introduce an additional activity because my children love sensory and hands-on play, so I’m always looking for different things to keep them busy with their hands. So we’ll do something sensory, some type of art activity that keeps them moving. Then we have lunch, and they are totally feeding themselves. We let them scoop their own food with assistance, just teaching them a little bit more independence. Then we have our nap time and when we wake up we’ll do some more activities. We’ll do another brief circle time and then prepare for pick up.

Can you share some of your favorite accomplishments since you’ve been at Childtime?

One of my favorite accomplishments is being creative with the activities and boards and visuals that I do in the classroom. And also, I’m proud of my parent involvement and communication. I really do try to keep that communication open whereas at one point, I was a little bit hesitant to talk to the parents, I was a little scared. So getting that line of communication going was really awesome. I think that’s one of my biggest accomplishments because that’s where it starts.

What’s one of your favorite memories?

When I was assistant teacher in pre-k, when they had their graduation, I read a little poem for the children and it brought me to tears. Because that class, they were my babies! It was so hard to see them go! I barely could get my words out. I was a mess.

Why do you love working at Childtime?

I love the children, I love the staff. The managers that I’ve worked with have been excellent; they are into growth and want you to learn as much as you can. They definitely promote that.

Why do you feel early education programs are important?

They are important because it help them develop their social skills. It changes their environment every day, being able to go outside, to interact with other children, especially at this age. We have kids at various stages in our classroom, we have some that are not talking at all to ones that are very fluent and talk to grown adults. So they are definitely learning from each other and we learn from the kids, as well. It’s very rewarding. It’s amazing how much you can learn from them.