Two's Lead Teacher

Inspire Young Minds:
Lead, Teacher, and Nurture Future Scholars! Indian Boundary YMCA is now hiring a Two's Lead Teacher!

The Lead Teacher provides effective instructional strategies, classroom management, learning, assessment, evaluation and related research for children ages 2-5 years old. The Lead Teacher is responsible for providing developmentally appropriate learning experiences, supervision of children assigned in the classroom, and providing a supportive and positive classroom climate. This role ensures that we are meeting the individual needs of the children as mandated by DCFS, Excele Rate Illinois, NAEYC, federal, state and local standards, and YMCA standards and policies, as applicable.

This position pays $43,888 per year with full-time benefits and opportunities to grow within the organization!

• Competitive salaries reflecting your skills and experience.
• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance for eligible employees, plus wellness programs, mental health resources, and a family gym membership.
• Generous PTO and paid holidays, with flexible work hours for work-life balance.
• 403(b) plan with company contributions for eligible employees after 2 years of service.
• Continuous learning opportunities through workshops and training programs.
• Supportive work environment valuing diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• Discounts on programs
  , employee assistance programs, and company-sponsored events.

• Promote and model high quality teaching and learning in the classroom that fosters kindergarten readiness.
• Demonstrate culturally and linguistically appropriate practices that values all children and families and makes them feel welcomed and an essential part of the program.
• Maintain awareness and supervision of children’s needs and ensure their physical health and safety at all times.
• Communicate and develop effective partnerships with parents and families, encouraging parent involvement.
• Abide by DCFS and all quality standards for maintaining safe, high‑quality programming.
• Collaborate regularly with classroom team including families, volunteers and all staff.
• Collect and use multiple data sources, both formative and summative, to inform instruction and child centered learning and development.
• Complete routine professional development annually; utilize continuous quality improvement (CQI); and identify different instructional resources and methods to meet children's varying needs and improve the classroom experience for children and families.
• Participate and support association/center efforts towards recruitment, enrollment, attendance and retention of families while supporting the YMCA's mission and center operations as needed.

• Develop lesson plans with goals, objectives, activities and outcomes for children that represent the Illinois Early Learning Standards.
• Implement high quality, developmentally appropriate instructional activities and curriculum approaches (like Creative Curriculum™) that facilitate active learning experiences and promote the social, emotional, physical and cognitive development of each child while ensuring the program follows DCFS, YMCA, Excele Rate Illinois™, and NAEYC accreditation standards, if applicable.
• Research, plan, and implement appropriate studies/projects for an in-depth investigation of a topic over time.
• Establish and maintain an attractive, clean, safe and engaging classroom environment which includes positive guidance techniques and that encourages children's independence and self‑selection of activities.
• Leverage the physical environment and pedagogical documentation to support teaching and learning practices.
• Use observational and child data to plan developmentally appropriate and engaging early learning experiences based upon the emergent needs of the child.
• Document observations and maintain child portfolios to aid in assessments.

• Must meet DCFS licensing, program related accreditation/credentialing requirements; ECE Credential Level 1 or higher preferred.
• OR 64 semester hours in any discipline with a minimum of 21 hours of college credit in child development, early childhood education…