Lead Teacher ; Infant Toddler

Welcome to Family Focus, where we're on a mission to empower families and their children across Chicagoland! Through our comprehensive range of holistic family support services, including center-based and home-based services, emergency assistance, prevention initiatives, early childhood education, after-school programs, and more. At Family Focus, we believe in the power of community support to unlock the full potential of our neighborhoods.

With 11 centers already making a difference, we're excited to expand our reach and touch even more lives. That's why we're on the lookout for passionate individuals who share our vision to join our team as we grow and serve more families. Are you ready to make a difference? We want you to be a part of our journey!

The Lead Teacher 0-3 is responsible for the care, supervision, and management of a class of Infants and Toddlers following the goals and curriculum plan. The principal duties of the Infant Lead Teacher include conducting focused observations of children, developing action plans, carrying out activities daily and evaluating the effectiveness of child development activities, ensuring the safety and well-being of the children, maintaining regular communication with parents, and contributing to the effective operation of the overall early care and education center.

Lead teachers serve as ambassadors for the school and the agency.

• Lead and supervise the classroom team in planning and implementing developmentally appropriate curriculum across language, cognitive, physical, social-emotional, personal, and creative domains, incorporating the Project Approach and Creative Curriculum.
• Foster a warm, nurturing, inclusive, and supportive learning environment where infants, toddlers, and families feel safe, valued, and comfortable.
• Provide engaging experiences that promote language development, individual expression, creativity, play, and early learning.
• Provide strong classroom leadership by facilitating team meetings, promoting collaboration, delegating responsibilities, and supporting effective teamwork.
• Observe, assess, document, and monitor children's development and well-being using Teaching Strategies GOLD and ASQ-SE; collaborate with specialists when developmental concerns or referrals are identified.
• Maintain safe, hygienic, and developmentally appropriate classroom routines, including diapering, handwashing, meals, napping, transitions, and active supervision.
• Build strong, respectful partnerships with families by communicating regularly about children's development, supporting parent-child relationships, and facilitating parent-teacher conferences and family engagement activities.
• Maintain accurate records related to attendance, health and safety, nutrition, incidents, observations, and developmental assessments.
• Collaborate with education leadership and classroom staff on purchasing, classroom organization, equipment care, and maintaining a clean, safe, and orderly environment.
• Participate in professional development, trainings, workshops, committees, and other school or agency initiatives to maintain current knowledge of early childhood education.

• Bachelor's degree in early childhood education or child development from an accredited institution is required.
• Must have a minimum of an Infant Toddler Gateways Credential Level 5.
• Minimum of one-year of teaching experience.
• Experience supervising and leading classroom team in preparation and implementation of lesson plans for classroom activities covering all developmental areas: language, cognitive, physical, personal, social/emotional, and creative. Explore new curriculum ideas and implement the Project Approach along with the Creative Curriculum.
• Knowledge of childcare routines as carried out in a manner that is prompt, hygienic, and consistent with child development principles. This includes routines related to diapering, hand washing, eating, napping, and transitioning between activities.
• Observe, document, and report appropriate aspects of and changes in the child's health, including but not limited to injuries, changes in physical appearance, and/or social behaviors. Fill out appropriate accident and incident reports on the day of occurrence. This is to include Active Supervision incidents.
• Ability to establish and maintain working…