Early Education Newsletter
June 2022
The CASY Office will be CLOSED the following holidays:
June 20th
in observance of
Juneteenth National Independence Day
July 4th
in observance of
Independence Day
Announcements
Child Care HIRING FAIR
Child Care HIRING FAIR
Saturday, June 11
9 am - 12 pm
CASY Gymnasium
1101 S 13th St, Terre Haute
Are you looking for a career in child care?
Thinking about starting your own child care business?
Join us to explore opportunities!
If you need staff and would like a free table, please contact:
Trisha Guinn
Program Engagement Specialist
(812) 231-8919
CALLING ALL EMPLOYERS
Join Eastern Indiana Works and the Muncie Mall for a Job Fair!
June 22 & 23 - 2 PM - 5 PM
Get in touch with us to submit an application to join the Job Fair & promote your open positions!
EASTERN INDIANA WORKS
https://lnkd.in/gqPnPEXu
ATTN: MUNCIE MALL JOB FAIR
Contact: Julie Robertson
Jrobertson@woodmont.com
765-279-6565 Ext. 2004
Children’s Bureau Is Now Firefly Children and Family Alliance
Children’s Bureau has changed its name to Firefly Children and Family Alliance. This change will not affect the enrollment process or interrupt any services for CCDF/On My Way Pre-K families. Please see the updated CCDF Eligibility Office map for updated email addresses for Firefly.
For additional questions, clients can reach out to Firefly, and providers should reach out to their CCDF policy consultant.
Access Indiana
closing the gap grants
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.
CLOSING DATE: JULY 8
Summer Scholarship Program
The Indiana Office of Early Childhood and Out-of-School Learning — in partnership the Indiana Afterschool Network — is offering a new Build, Learn, Grow SUMMER Scholarship program.
Many students lost valuable instructional education time due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to ensure that students are ready to learn during the 2022-2023 academic year, we have created a new Build, Learn, Grow Scholarship program for children of essential workers.
- Program Dates: May 23, 2022-August 12, 2022
- Applications open April 25, 2022, at 9 am EST, through June 30, 2022, at 6 pm EST.
- Eligibility: At least one member of the household must work in an essential business and enroll their school-age child in a summer program at an eligible provider.
- Description: Indiana’s Build, Learn, Grow Summer Scholarship Fund will cover up to 80% of tuition for families of essential workers scholarships toward their children’s summer learning.
Help families continue paying for care
As Build, Learn, Grow scholarships come to an end on June 30, you can help ensure your most vulnerable families — those receiving 80% tuition assistance through the program — continue being able to pay for their child(ren)’s care.
The state is providing temporary CCDF eligibility for families enrolled in the scholarship program and attending an early childhood program 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 child(ren) is in high-quality care.
Providers should begin the process by filling out and submitting the brief online application on behalf of each eligible and interested family (this form looks like a streamlined version of the standard CCDF application). 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.
Click here for support completing the application, and contact the SPARK Help Desk with any additional application or family questions you may have.
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.
WORKFORCE COORDINATORS
Check out the FLYER!
Reach out to your INAEYC Early Childhood Regional Workforce Coordinator. They are excited to connect with you to learn more about your work, your ideas, your goals, and the ways they can support you in achieving them! Find your local contact in the flyer. Here are some ways they can help:
- Offer data-driven support to address workforce issues, recruitment, retention, improving working conditions, or creating salary scales.
- Career coaching, navigation, and professional development planning.
- Connect with local programs, community leaders, and other regional partners to support the recruitment and retention of a competent workforce.
- Assist with coordination of new initiatives designed to meet workforce needs regionally.
- At a state level, our team tracks statewide trends and advocates for the workforce, families, and children.
- Provide information for the T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® INDIANA and the Non-Formal CDA™ scholarship programs.
- Work with programs to create program professional development plans.
New 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
Summer CDA Fast Track - Bloomington Ivy Tech
Ivy Tech Community College is inviting early childhood educators in the Muncie, Anderson, and Bloomington areas to earn their 12-credit Child Development Associate (CDA) credential in just eight weeks through its fast-track CDA course this summer.
Classes will take place from June 6 – July 31st and will be Learn Anywhere classes, which means the instructor will be on campus, but the student can be anywhere they can login to Canvas.
CDA Fast Track Cohort
ECED 100 LA 1-4pm Monday
ECED 101 LA 4-7pm Tuesday
ECED 103 LA 4-7pm Wednesday
ECED 105 LA 4-7pm Thursday
For more information on the course and details pertaining Ivy Tech admission:
Marjie Risen
Department Chair
812-330-6109
Scholarships for the program are also available. The TEACH Early Childhood Indiana Scholarship Project can provide scholarship assistance and support to participate and earn the CDA Credential. Please reach out directly to Nahid Rezaei, nrezaei@inaeyc.org and she will be able to assist you or your staff members with the process and answer questions pertaining to TEACH.
Read the Label - Pesticide Label Guidance
2 - 3:30 PM ET (Webinar, followed by a 30 minute live Q & A)
A key component of integrated pest management (IPM) is the appropriate use of pesticides. Understanding how to read, interpret and follow instructions on a pesticide label is critical for effective use of a product. This event is a re-broadcast of our last year's popular webinar. A Spanish recording of this training is available.
During this free webinar participants will:
- Develop expertise on pesticide labels intended for agricultural, antimicrobial and structural applications.
- Learn about various components of a pesticide label, including toxicity, calibration and dilution.
- Understand how to spot unregistered pesticides.
Supporting Families & Young Children in Times of Fear & Anxiety, by Dr. Lauren Starnes
June 8
2 PM ET
What if you had a magic wand that could cast a sparkly protective cloak over young children facing adversity? With fairytales, you do!
It’s no secret that early childhood programs struggle to address the needs of children impacted by toxic stress while also offering the rich learning opportunities all young children deserve. This webinar offers a unique framework that nurtures the social and emotional health of children while providing vibrant and engaging early literacy experiences: all through the magic of fairytales.
In this webinar, you will learn:
- Why age-old fairytales continue to resonate so strongly with children, in spite of adult concerns over the years.
- How fairytales from around the world align with the evidence-based protective factors for the “ordinary magic” of resilience, including relationships, initiative, executive functions, self-regulation and cultural affirmation.
- Ways to use fairytales to plan engaging learning experiences, centers, routines, and transitions that nurture children’s social, emotional, cognitive and physical development while providing many opportunities for emergent literacy.
- How using this “ordinary magic” lens of fairy tale curriculum planning can support teachers’ understanding of specific strategies that nurture children experiencing adversity.
All of the webinars are recorded. To view the recording, simply register now and you will receive an email with a link to the recording when it is ready to be viewed.
To view more free webinars, visit Early Childhood Investigations Webinars.
Improve Mental Health Outcomes: How to Support and Empower Students and Parents
June 15
5 - 6 PM EDT
In this edLeader Panel, attendees will learn:
- What is “Identity Leadership” and how to use it to motivate youth, families and staff to overcome the obstacles COVID has exacerbated
- How to support students’ mental health at every MTSS tier without losing instructional minutes
- How to reach and empower parents/caregivers to best support their children
- How to ensure that all staff—regardless of training level—support students through an equity lens
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.
VISIT SPARK'S TRAINING CALENDAR
June 9
7 - 8:30 PM
Town Square Series - Emergent Curriculum: A Play-Based Approach (Part 2 of 2 Live Webinar)
Explore what emergent curriculum is and the role of play in emergent curricular approaches. Examples of the roles providers play in these approaches will be shared, and the benefits for children and providers in using emergent curriculum will be outlined.
June 15
10 AM - 12 PM
Building Equal Partnerships with Families (Zoom)
Learn strategies to approach families as equal partners in their child’s learning and development and identify opportunities to put those strategies to work.
June 15
10 AM - 12 PM
Writing and Implementing an Effective Policy (Live Webinar)
Learn strategies to approach families as equal partners in their child’s learning and development and identify opportunities to put those strategies to work.
June 21
12 - 1:30 PM
Being an Early Childhood Professional (Part 1 of 2 Live Webinar)
This training is intended for program directors and/or administrators. Learn actionable leadership strategies to implement program-wide systems that support both professional and ethical conduct. Incorporate practices that build a collective agreement to professional conduct and allow your staff to feel included in the decision-making process of your program. This is an intermediate to advanced training and it is recommended that you complete the Maintaining Professional Boundaries Training Series prior to taking this training.
June 29
12:30 - 2 PM
Help Me Get Unstuck! Emotion-Focused & Problem-Focused Coping Skills for School-Aged Children (Live Webinar)
Without healthy coping skills, children are likely to act out—essentially sending a message that says, “I feel out of control so I’m going to act out of control.” School-Age children who don’t know how to deal with their feelings also are more likely to turn to unhealthy coping strategies. This training will focus on how to recognize frustration behaviors in school-age children and how to model coping skills for school-age children.
Resources
Frozen Pom Poms - Water sensory play
Here’s a fun way to stay cool on a hot day while encouraging sensory and imaginative play.
- Freeze pom poms in ice cube trays at least 24 hours in advance
- Set out a large container, like a sensory bin with an inch of cold water
- Include items that encourage imaginative play, such as ladles, spoons, cups, pitchers, funnels, etc.
- Ask them about what they feel. Ask them to tell you about what they are doing with their iced pom poms.
Alternative Learning Positions - by Marianne Gibbs
Chairs and tables are staples of the early childhood classroom. But that does not mean children should spend long amounts of time anchored in them!
“In regards to early childhood environments, sitting for long periods in a chair may not only be ineffective for learning, it is also not developmentally appropriate,” writes Dr. Marianne Gibbs.
To be successful learners, children need to first build coordination, trunk control, and balance by lots of big body movement and play. For times of more concentrated activity, Dr. Gibbs invites you to consider a variety of alternative learning positions that encourage more freedom of movement and large muscle growth. Find out more here.
Resources for Families
Support for Job-seeking Parents
Family Engagement Webinars
Potty Time!
Thursday, June 23
12:30 PM
Join the CASY Family Engagement Specialists to learn tips on knowing when your child is ready and strategies to help your child be successful with toilet training.
Challenging Behaviors
Thursday, June 30
1 PM
Join the CASY Family Engagement Specialists as we discuss challenging behaviors and how to handle them. Children are still learning how to regulate their emotions and how to respond appropriately, which can create challenges if the child is not properly supported. We will take a look at what messages your child may be trying to send, potential causes, and prevention techniques.
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