Early Education Newsletter
July 2022
Opportunity to apply Ends JULY 8
Capacity-building grants to increase access to high-quality early learning opportunities.
The issue: Community leaders and providers are often left wondering how to approach capacity expansion to address local needs while creating sustainable growth.
The solution: Through the Closing the Gap report, Early Learning Indiana (ELI), with generous support from Lilly Endowment Inc., is supporting grants for organizations to close the gap in their communities with the help of the Early Learning Access Index. This method moves away from viewing access as simply a capacity supply and demand equation. It layers in the additional components of quality, affordability and choice, offering a more robust assessment.
View the Closing the Gap Grant Webinar on YouTube.
Sign up for a 15-minute individual consultation with ELI's grant team.
New Laws that Affect Child Care Programming
Indiana General Assembly passed two new laws that affect child care programing.
These law changes took effect on July 1, 2022. Read more about it here.
- Home Rules Updates - This update law for IC 12-7-2-33.7 Sec. 33.7. is in reference to a child care home that serves any combination of full-time and part-time children, not to exceed at anyone (1) time twelve (12) children plus three (3) children who are enrolled in at least full-day kindergarten. This new legislation eliminated the language “during the school year only” and only allowing for additional three (3) children “during breaks that exceed four (4) weeks”.
- Center Rules Updates - There has been an update to law IC 12-17.2-4-15.5. The updated language states that Montessori programs may be able to have licensed child care preschool programs if they confirm that they are validated as a Montessori program by the United Montessori Schools of Indiana and meet the other stated child staff ratio, group size requirements and all health and safety requirements.
- New Exemption and Updated Guidance for School Corporations - Updated guidelines for public and private school settings to allow for child care programing on the school premises for children of students or employees of schools in the school corporation in which the public or private school is located if it meets the appropriate criteria as a public or private school and division-specific health and safety guidelines.
Help families continue paying for care
As Build, Learn, Grow summer scholarships come to an end in August, you can help ensure your families receiving 80% tuition assistance through the program continue being able to pay for their children’s care during the school year.
The state is providing temporary CCDF eligibility for families enrolled in the scholarship program, attending a school-age summer learning program and with a household income at or below 85% of State Median Income. These families can receive a 53-week CCDF voucher, allowing them to continue working while their children are in high-quality before- and after-school care. If approved, CCDF eligibility also extends to all children under age 12 in the household.
Providers should begin the process by filling out and submitting the brief online application on behalf of each eligible and interested family no later than Friday, Aug. 5. You likely have much of the information and documentation needed to submit the application, but there are a few required pieces of information that you must collect from families. Once you submit the application, a CCDF eligibility office should contact the family about the status of their application within 10 business days. Upon approval, families will receive their voucher and you will be notified through the application portal.
Review this reference guide for support completing the application, and contact the SPARK Help Desk with any additional application or family questions you may have.
Start your Early Learning Marketplace profile today
Early Learning Marketplace has officially launched to modernize the way families find child care. Historically, families have relied on word of mouth and internet searches to locate
programs, and then spend hours making phone calls to understand each program’s
offerings, hours, tuition and availability.
That is, until now.
With a few clicks of a button, families will be able to search for programs within their target geography, filter based on their needs and claim available seats in real time. Early Learning Marketplace would like to encourage you to claim your child care program’s Marketplace profile to ensure families find you when they’re searching for care. Visit this page to claim your existing profile page and customize it with your program information.
Families will then be able to search for you, identify openings, schedule tours and start the enrollment process, all online.
Once you’re finished, spread the word to other providers and families.
BLG Summer Scholarship Program
Indiana's Build, Learn, Grow Summer Scholarship program helps families who work in essential businesses connect to the education support their kids need – providing opportunity for needed academic enrichment due to lost instructional time during the pandemic, helping youth thrive through the many protective factors that are integral in high-quality summer programming, and ensuring youth are ready to learn during the 2022-2023 academic year. Additionally, summer programs can offer the Build, Learn, Grow Summer Scholarship program to increase recruitment and retention of students.
The Indiana Office of Early Childhood and Out-of-School Learning — in partnership the Indiana Afterschool Network — is offering scholarships to families who work in essential businesses to access high-quality summer programs and camps. Scholarships will cover up to 80% of a school-age child’s summer program tuition.
Help Families Apply for On My Way Pre-K
On My Way Pre-K is still accepting applications for the 2022-23 school year. On My Way Pre-K awards grants to 4-year-olds from low-income families so they can attend high-quality pre-K the year before beginning kindergarten. Recipient families may use the grant at any approved On My Way Pre-K program. Eligible children must be four years old by August 1, 2022. If a family in your program qualifies, please have them apply at www.onmywayprek.org.
T.E.A.C.H. Scholarship
What is T.E.A.C.H.?
T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® INDIANA, is a unique scholarship program that links education, compensation, and commitment to improve the quality of early care and educational experiences for young children and their families.
Who can participate?
- Family Child Care Home Owners
- Center Directors
- Teachers
- Assistant Teachers
- Home Visitors
- Family Child Care Home Employees
Benefits
- Children are the main beneficiaries. They are able to bond with an early care and education professional who has made a commitment to the profession, who is a specialist in early childhood education, who understands child development, and who is sensitive to the needs of young children.
Participants benefit by attainment of credentials, certificates, and degrees which increase their knowledge and lead to higher compensation.
Programs - Early care and education programs benefit by retaining early childhood professionals trained in child development, reducing turnover, and enhancing the program’s quality.
Wellness program for early care and education professionals
Recognizing that the well-being of our early care and education professionals is critical to the quality of care they are able to provide children, the state is launching a new Build, Learn, Grow initiative that will give professionals and their employees access to critical wellness services at no cost.
The Build, Learn, Grow Building Wellness program offers free, short-term counseling, legal and financial consultation, work-life assistance and crisis intervention services. Individuals who are actively employed by a licensed, Indiana-based early childhood education or out-of-school care program, as well as their household family members and dependents, are all eligible for the services.
The program is strictly confidential. Information about an individual’s participation in the program will not be shared with the person’s employer or with the state of Indiana.
Services are available through September 2023.
Professional Development
Eastern Indiana Works free Virtual Leadership Workshops:
July 13, 10 - 11:30 PM ET - THE IM'PERFECT LEADER
Led by: Mitch Isaaacs
“In a world where we are expected to do everything, it sometimes feels like we can’t accomplish anything.” Drawing from the concepts in Tal Ben-Shahar’s book “The Pursuit of Perfect: How to Stop Chasing Perfection and Start Living a Richer, Happier Life” this session will explore the value of making mistakes, the seductive (yet unattainable) dream of perfectionism, and why optimalism may help us accomplish just enough to be happy.
This session is ideal for participants who are seeking a healthy method to manage expectations of their self and others.
July 28, 10-11:30 PM ET - THE LEADERSHIP CHALLENGE: MODEL THE WAY
Led by: Tisha Gierhart
Together we will understand the importance of why leaders establish principles concerning the way people should be treated and the way goals should be pursued. They create standards of excellence and then set an example for others to follow. Because the prospect of complex change can overwhelm people and stifle action, they set interim goals so that people can achieve small wins as they work toward larger objectives. They unravel bureaucracy when it impedes action; they put up signposts when people are unsure of where to go or how to get there; and they create opportunities for victory.
View Free Recordings for Directors
Click here to view a list of pre-recorded webinars.
- The Power of the Podcast: How Consultants and Other Experts Can Reach a Wider Audience
- Nature-based Learning Environments: What Every Early Childhood Porgram Leader Needs to Know
- Progressive Early Childhood Leadership: From Aspiration to Implementation
- The Administrators Role in Reducing Challenging Behavior
To view more free webinars, visit Early Childhood Investigations Webinars.
The Early Childhood Director's Guide to Solving Everyday Challenges
July 20
2 - 3 PM EDT
As a program director, you will wear multiple hats and as part of your role at the center, you may feel alone when you face issues and situations with children, staff, and parents. Well, you are not alone. Dr. Thomasa Bond will examine real-world issues experienced at actual child care centers and outline how to avoid mistakes, oversights, and incidents as much as possible by developing policies and procedures and by implementing staff training to reduce the risk.
Join this edWebinar to learn how to proactively address issues related to:
- Classroom management
- Caring for infants and toddlers
- Developmentally appropriate teaching practices
- Working with parents
- Managing staff
This edWebinar will be of interest to early childhood directors and managers, as well as PreK school and district leaders. There will be time for questions at the end of the presentation.
podcasts
Audio recordings for selected edWeb programs are available and FREE on podcast. To earn a CE certificate for an edWeb program, search and view the video recording in the edWebinar archives here. As an edWeb.net member, you’ll be able to download a personalized CE certificate from your edWebinar transcript page. Check it out here.
SPARK Learning Lab and Civitas Strategies Early Start went live on Facebook discussing FINANCIAL WELLNESS. Gary Romano, Civitas President & CEO, discussed business consultations, resources, and technical assistance opportunities with child care providers across the state. Click to watch the LIVE video on SPARK Learning Lab's Facebook page.
VISIT SPARK'S JULY TRAINING CALENDAR
- Paths to QUALITY Introduction
- What You Need to Know About the Indiana Quality Program Self-Assessment
- Grant Writing in Five Steps
- Food & Health Application
- Food Service Sanitation for Registered Ministries
- Nutrition: What on Earth Do I Feed Them
- Building Meaningful and Engaging Relationships with Families Part 1-Supporting Families to Feel Welcome
- Power of PEER
- Planning your Physical Environment to Reduce Challenging Behaviors Face to Face
- Reframing and Responding to Behaviors that Challenge You
- Keeping Children Safe: Systems for Supervision, Tracking and Follow Through
- Stewards of Children Darkness to Light: End Child Sexual Abuse Live Webinar
- Ask a Nurse
- Recurso en vivo: Platica con un mentor
- El Poder de PPAR-Capacitacion Nivel 1 Web en Vivo
- Practicas de sueno seguro en Espanol: Reducir la muerte infantil subita inesperada e implementacion de centros de cuidado infantil
free half-day professional development
Creating Meaningful Writing Opportunities within Classroom Routines
Presented by Dr. Hope Gerde,
Professor in the Department of Teaching, Learning, & Culture
at Texas A&M University
Transitions and Naturalistic Developmental Behavior Intervention:
Embedding applied behavior analysis into everyday routines and activities
for children on the autism spectrum
Presented by Dr. Michael Morrier,
Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences
at Emory University School of Medicine
The Center for Early Learning at Purdue will host a free half-day professional development conference designed for pre-service and in-service teachers in preschool through 1st grade classrooms. There will also be post-session breakout rooms for participants to discuss these content areas as well as the challenges they have had over the past year and learn from each other how to build and adapt for success in the coming year. After the event, participants will receive a certificate for three hours of professional development.
Registration is free but limited to 200 spots.
August 1
9am-12pm
Virtual
Resources
Post-It Puppets
Here's a way to create a finger puppet almost instantly using a Post-it. The self-stick feature of a Post-it makes it quick and easy. Finger Puppets are a great tool have-up-your-sleeve. They can encourage oral language skills, communication, and great imaginative play.
- Roll the Post-it snugly around your finger.
Fold one end down for the head. Crease.
Unfold. Cut two snips for ears. (Small, large, pointed, or round)
Fold head down again. Bend ears up. Fold corners under for the nose or chin. Two dots with a pen will create eyes. Use your imagination and add tails, spots, horns, whiskers, or whatever!
check it out!
Every community has public health challenges that may seem daunting for any one agency to address alone. Healthy choice should be the easy choice! Purdue Extension Nutrition Education Program (NEP) will work with you to help you meet your challenges. And, because they’re grant-funded, all their services are free.
The Nutrition Education Program offers two major initiatives to communities, Nutrition Education/SNAP-Ed and Community Wellness Coordinator and are free of charge.
Who is Eligible for Free Nutrition & Health Lessons?
Preschools, Schools, Head Start, Faith-based Organizations
Check out some success stories and learn more!
Subscribe to CACFP's Newsletter
CACFP-Child and Adult Care Food Program provides a weekly newsletter. Get all you need to know food related from their website. View July 1's newsletter or click here to access previous newsletters.
Resources for Families
Support for Job-seeking Parents
Family Engagement Webinars
SHARE PRE-RECORDED FAMILY WEBINARS WITH FAMILIES
- Potty Time!
- Challenging Behaviors
- Sunshine, Swimming & Safe Summer Days
- Breathe: Steps to Protect Your Kids From Secondhand & Thirdhand Smoke
Stay Connected:
Email: admin@casyonline.org
Website: www.casyonline.org
Location: 1101 South 13th Street, Terre Haute, IN, USA
Phone: 800-886-3952
Facebook: www.facebook.com/CASY.Inc