life kids

Volunteer Training | elementary

Scheduling

PLANNING CENTER

At New Life, we use a helpful tool called Planning Center Services to communicate volunteer schedules and lesson plans. Planning Center can be accessed on a desktop, mobile device, or through the Planning Center app. Once you join the team, you will receive an email welcoming you to Planning Center Services. Through this email, you can set up a password and access the database. If you forget your password at any time, please contact the Life Kids Director for a password reset.

ACCEPTING SERVING REQUESTS

Life Kids schedules volunteers approximately one month in advance. For example, during the month of November, you may receive a request to serve during the month of December. When you receive a serving request, please respond by selecting Accept or Decline based on your availability. Please respond to requests as soon as possible. This helps our team plan ahead and ensure every classroom is adequately staffed.

WELCOME TO THE LIFE KIDS TEAM!

Thank you for choosing to serve in Life Kids! Your willingness to serve allows parents to worship, knowing their children are being cared for in a safe, loving, and Christ-centered environment. This training will walk you through everything you need to know before, during, and after serving in the. Please keep this training as a reference throughout your time serving with Life Kids.

VOLUNTEER ARRIVAL

LIFE KIDS VOLUNTEER EXPECTATIONS

  • Arrive 30 minutes before the service starts to attend our Team Prayer Huddle located outside of the Nursery. There, you can check yourself in via iPad, put on your name-tag, and fill out availability forms for upcoming months.

  • We expect our Lead Teachers to arrive prepared to teach. Lessons are always available in Planning Center Files. We ask that you prepare your hearts with the curriculum and spend time in prayer for your students in the days leading up to serving.

  • Lead Teachers are the primary communicators in the Elementary Room and we expect Lead Teachers to always conduct themselves with patience, love, and grace towards both the children and the other volunteers.

  • Keep discussion age-appropriate and biblically-centered with the mission in mind.

  • Remain in the classroom throughout the duration of the service. If you need to leave the classroom for any reason, please contact the Life Kids Director. Please do not bring a child outside of the classroom unless in the case of a fire alarm or evacuation. The only adults allowed to bring a child outside of the classroom are the child’s parents and the Life Kids Director.

  • Be mindful about your phone use while serving. If you need to step out of the room for a private conversation or for assistance, please contact Chris or Life Kids staff anytime during the service.

  • Pre-program the appropriate staff contact number into your phone so you can quickly reach someone if needed.

Chris Schafer: (623) 451-9109

policies & EMERGENCY procedures

CLASSROOM POLICY

In order to ensure the safety of both children and volunteers, 2 volunteers (1 over the age of 18) must be present in the classroom at all times. If there is only 1 adult volunteer present, the door must remain open.

RESTROOM POLICY

Volunteers must not enter a restroom with a child. If a child needs assistance in the restroom, the door must be left open and another adult must accompany the volunteer.

ALLERGY POLICY

Life Kids is a peanut/tree-nut free environment to ensure the dietary safety of all Life Kids. Whenever food is offered during the service, an allergy notification is posted outside of the classroom.

ABUSE/NEGLECT POLICY

As mandatory reporters, every volunteer is legally required to report any suspicion of child abuse or neglect to the Life Kids Director immediately.

ALWAYS ASK!

If you ever have a question or hesitation, always ask. Do not lean on your own understanding, pick up the radio and call the Life Kids Director for assistance.

CHILD PICK-UP

MATCHING NAME TAGS

When a child is being picked up, ensure that the parent's pick-up tag matches the child's name tag.

Verify that the 4-digit code matches and remove the child's name tag from their shirt.

You can then place both the parent tag and child name tag in the trash.

COLLECTING THE CHILD'S BELONGINGS

Before the end of service, collect all of the child's belongings and place them on the hooks near the door.

COMMUNICATING WITH PARENTS

Upon child pick-up, communicate with the parent any important information from their child's experience that day.

This includes:

  • Diaper changes

  • Feedings

  • Behavior

  • Etc.

WHAT IF A PARENT LOSES THEIR PARENT TAG?

Contact the Early Childhood Coordinator or the Life Kids Director.

The parent's ID will be checked with the “Trusted People” we have in our database.

CHILD INJURY

1) Assess the injury

2) Radio for assistance if necessary

3) Fill out an incident report and give it to the Life Kids Director

FIRE ALARM/EVACUATION

1) Take a headcount of the number of children in the room

2) Evacuate all children to the parking lot

3) Take another headcount of the children once you arrive at the parking lot

4) Do not release any children to parents until you all arrive at the parking lot and take the second headcount

5) Only release a child to the parent if they have a pick up tag. If they do not have a pick up tag, contact the Life Kids Director

LOCKDOWN

1) After being notified of a lockdown through the radio call or directly by a member of staff, move all children to the corner of the room farthest from the door.

2) Lock all doors, turn off all lights, and silence the classroom

3) Do not unlock doors for any reason. Staff will unlock doors once the lockdown is clear

EXAMPLE OF CHILD NAME TAG

EXAMPLE OF PARENT TAG

SAFETY CHECK-INS

WHAT ARE SAFETY CHECK-INS?

Safety Check-Ins occur approximately 10 minutes after the start of each service.

During Safety Check-Ins, one teacher in each classroom will pick up the classroom radio and read off a script to our Safety Team, checking in and notifying them of how many kids you have in your classroom.

WHY DO WE DO SAFETY CHECK-INS?

New Life has been blessed with an incredible Safety Team that strives to serve our Life Kids Ministry.

The goal of Safety Check-Ins is to:

  • Establish good communication with our Safety Team.

  • Grow your comfort with using the radio in case of an emergency.

  • Allow the Life Kids Ministry staff to have awareness of the condition of your classroom before your teaching time begins.

EXAMPLE OF SAFETY CHECK IN “SCRIPT”

Kids and teachers thrive when there is structure in the classroom. When children don’t know what you expect of them, they don’t have the opportunity to meet those expectations. It is important to have clear expectations that are well-communicated to the kids. Here are some helpful steps when it comes to classroom expectations:

  1. Start each service with an explanation of your expectations. For example, “Today, we’re going to remember our expectations for the classroom. At church, we walk, not run. At church, we play with our toys, not throw our toys. At church, we listen to the lesson and raise our hand when we have a question… etc.”.

  2. When a child misbehaves, gently correct them in a way that doesn’t shame them in front of the other children. Try telling them what they can do instead. For example, “Jimmy, at church we don’t run in the classroom but instead, you can play basketball with your friends.”

  3. If a child misbehaves again, gently pull them aside and let them know that you have expectations for them when they’re at church on Sundays. This conversation can go like this: “Hey Jimmy, I noticed that you have been yelling across the classroom. I’ve already told you once that we use our inside voices while we’re at church. We have rules at church, just like you have rules at home. Do you think you can follow those rules by using your inside voice?”

  4. If the child continues to not reach the classroom expectations, begin a conversation with the Life Kids Director and next steps can be taken.

classroom management

Completion of online training

This online training will continue to be a reference for you throughout the entirety of your serving career in the Life Kids Ministry.

If you have any questions about the Life Kids Ministry, please contact the Early Childhood Coordinator or the Life Kids Director.

THANK YOU!

Thank you for completing this online training.

We appreciate your commitment to the Life Kids Ministry and are so grateful for your investment in the next generation of Christ-followers.

Please acknowledge your completion of the online training by filling out this form.