You began this lesson by completing the “K” (what you KNOW about the topic) and the “W” (WHAT you wanted to learn about the topic). Now it is time to complete the most important part of the reflection and identify the “L” (what you have LEARNED).

Pick at least two concepts you LEARNED from this lesson. Explain what you learned about polices, procedures, and emergency preparedness to keep children safe, why the ideas are important, and how you will implement them into your teaching practice. Your response should be between 200-250 words in length.

The purpose of this assignment is to evaluate your ability to identify components of accurate recordkeeping, documentation, and describe various formats used for documentation. Knowing how to properly document safety procedures and incidents is important for the early childhood professional. Review the five formats from the lesson:

Checklists (playground safety, maintenance inspection)
Information logs (illness, diapering, sign-in/sign-out)
Permission forms (field trips, transportation, medication administration)
Fill-in-the-blank documents (enrollment, emergency information card, health assessment)
Description paragraphs [also known as “charting”] (observations, accidental events)
as well as explain the principles of safe medication documentation and management.
Contact an early childhood program (e.g., center, family child care home, or school-based program) and choose three different forms to review. Write a critical assessment of each form identifying these three components: the purpose, the strengths, and the areas of improvement for EACH form. EACH of three assessments should be a minimum of 200 words.

Questions to think about while formulating your assessment:

What is the purpose of the form?
How does this form keep children safe?
Does the form answer the Six Essential Documentation Questions(opens in a new tab)? If not, what is missing?
What would you add or delete from each form?
Is a signature needed? Why or why not?