The Early Years Count!
An education initiative
of the Community Foundation
of St. Joseph County
Early Years Count!, coordinated by The Family Connection since 2001, focuses like a laser on raising quality in Head Start, early childhood centers, preschools, registered ministries, family home providers, and, most recently, SBCSC elementary schools.
FREE BOOKS
in the mail every month for children birth to five
in St. Joseph County!!!
Thanks to the Community Foundation and a host of dedicated funders. Information and registration here.
You are the container, the holding place, for the fears and anxieties, the joys and the wonderings of each child in your classroom. Your containers may well feel quite full, especially as you may be experiencing your own worries and fears. You are the essential element in your classroom and the relationships you build with each child and family are the crucial factor for nurturing growth, resilience and hope. As you prepare your classroom (and yourself!) for children’s return, what should you expect? We will consider the unique and specific impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, especially its impact in vulnerable populations and those impacted by systemic disparities and racial injustice. In the first part, we focus on you—strategies for strengthening your resilience, hope, confidence and positive focus. In the second part we focus on the children—answers to their questions, responses to changes in behaviors and to strong or worrisome feelings. Time away from classroom life and the re-entry to possibly changed classrooms impacts young children’s development and behavior. We will consider key curriculum practices that will support a healthy, safe and even joy-filled refocus, refresh and restart.
The online presentation via zoom will be in two parts and you may register for either or both.
Part 1: August 12 Part 2: August 13
from 1:00 - 2:00 PM
A growing collection of useful links to state and local resources and like-minded national organizations.
We are always on the lookout for qualified candidates with early childhood and/or elementary school expertise.
We stand in solidarity against injustice, racism, and hate. Our team shares in the collective outrage and heartbreak of our nation. We realize we have much to learn and unlearn. We are reading, watching, and listening. We are looking at ourselves as individuals and as an organization. We are learning to sit with discomfort. We are grateful for the grace offered by Maya Angelou who says, ‘Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.’ We are committed to doing better by ‘using our mouths to speak out against injustice, our noses to sniff out implicit bias, our eyes to identify privilege, our ears to listen to the people of color experience, our hearts to cultivate empathy for the oppressed, and our hands to take actions and make change.’ (@ohhappydani)
- The Family Connection Team
New Teacher Academy
New here? We can help! New Teacher Academy is designed to help position new hires for success in navigating the HighScope curriculum. Join us for a one day overview of strategies to put in place tomorrow for effective classroom organization, daily routine, and adult/child interactions with follow up coaching. This training will pick back up in the fall.