Teacher Assistant HS

UMATILLA-MORROW COUNTY HEAD START INC•Milton-Freewater, OR

8d•$20 - $22

About The Position

The Teacher Assistant supports the teacher in implementing early learning preschool programs that provide safe, nurturing, and high-quality learning environments. The role supports children’s school-readiness goals across social, emotional, educational, physical, and nutritional areas. The assistant helps prepare, implement, and evaluate classroom activities; supervises children; supports their daily care and routines; and helps maintain a safe, healthy, orderly classroom. In some classrooms, the role also includes supporting children during transportation.

Requirements

High school education or equivalent.
Obtain Step 6 in ORO within one year of hire.
Enroll in a CDA program or comparable credential, or a college degree program resulting in an Associate degree, within two years of hire.
One year of experience in a preschool-related program.
Current First Aid, CPR, and Food Handler’s card.
Current enrollment in the Child Care Division’s Central Background Registry.
Provide documentation of a current physical examination, drug screen, and TB screen before hire.
Ability to drive a private or agency vehicle; must have a valid driver’s license and personal automobile, or provide a plan to fulfill position requirements. A DMV record check will be conducted before hire.
Desire to work with low-income children and their families.
Ability to communicate effectively with staff, families, children, and the public by telephone and in face-to-face, one-to-one, and group settings.
Fluent in spoken and written English.
Ability to observe, compare, and monitor behaviors, records, and data; comprehend and analyze written material; and make inferences and references from it.
Ability to lift children weighing up to 50 pounds from floor to waist height 10 to 15 times per day.
Ability to frequently crouch to a child’s height, maintain eye contact at a child’s level, reach children on play equipment, stand or sit for long periods, use stairs, walk or run quickly, and walk over rough or uneven ground.
Ability to frequently bend and kneel; kneel or sit on the floor or child-sized furniture; and move classroom furniture and equipment.
Ability to maintain the safety of the environment and children using visual, auditory, and smelling senses.
Ability to make precise arm-hand movements, maintain static arm-hand positions, manipulate small objects, and perform sanitation tasks using equipment such as a broom, carpet sweeper, and mop.
Ability to work indoors in environmentally controlled conditions and outdoors with exposure to weather, cleaning fluids, and sanitizing agents, and in close physical proximity to other people.

Nice To Haves

Head Start experience.
Community service experience.
Multicultural experience.

Responsibilities

Assist the Teacher in preparing, implementing, and evaluating daily classroom activities.
Help ensure children are taught and supervised consistently and remain within sight and sound at all times.
Take responsibility for children when the Teacher is absent and take the primary lead for five children in the classroom.
Assist the Teacher and parents with children’s daily needs and routines, including personal hygiene, diapering, feeding, tooth brushing, toileting, hand-washing, and resting.
Help ensure parents sign children in and out daily using the required attendance forms.
Help the Teacher and parents maintain a safe and healthy environment, including classroom cleaning and sanitation duties such as sterilizing toys and cleaning floors, toilets, and sinks.
Assist with planning and involving parents and children in preparing nutritious foods and cleaning up at mealtime.
Share responsibility for providing appropriate care for children with disabilities.
Encourage parents to attend monthly Family Nights and, when required, attend and contribute relevant education information.
Provide input to the Teacher for Parent/Staff Conferences, Comprehensive Staffing, and Monthly Individual Child Goal Tracking.
Use the Teacher, other staff, and the resource library for technical assistance.
Maintain positive communication with parents.
In classrooms with transportation, monitor children and adults during transport; ensure child restraints are properly installed and fastened; assist with boarding, exiting, and evacuations; provide positive guidance; ensure the bus is attended; assist with post-trip inspections; and help with take-home materials.
Participate in assigned staff meetings, conferences, training sessions, and workshops.
Maintain familiarity with agency employment policies, performance standards, work plans, and objectives.
Maintain respectful relations with staff, children, families, and the community; keep accurate records and submit reports on time; and protect confidential information.
Maintain professional standards, improve skills and education, fulfill mandated-reporter responsibilities, and contribute positively as a team member.
Be present at work to provide consistent services and demonstrate commitment to the agency’s mission, values, and policies.
Perform other duties deemed necessary by the supervisor.
Apply safe work practices, report unsafe conditions or injuries immediately, comply with agency safety standards, participate in emergency drills, and promote workplace safety.