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.
Kickin' Up the Preschool KDIs
Key developmental indicators (KDIs) are the building blocks of thinking, learning and reasoning at each stage of development. The HighScope Preschool Curriculum identifies 58 KDIs organized under eight content areas. Come kick it with our team as we dig into each content area to better understand their significance and to discover thoughtful, practical strategies that adults can use to support children at every level of understanding as well as scaffold their progress.
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
Register now for HighScope Lite.
This summer we are offering a condensed version of HighScope training for both Infant Toddler and Preschool teachers! In this curriculum overview we will cover the principles of active learning, basic HighScope practices, become familiar with the daily routine, and key adult/child interaction strategies. This is designed for new teachers as an onramp to the full 120 hour HighScope training.
July 12-16 — Infant Toddler HighScope
July 26- 30 — Preschool HighScope
Each day from 9:00am-3:00pm
In person!
Please register by July 1st.
Cost: Free- thanks to The Early Years Count Education Initiative funded by The Community Foundation of St. Joseph County. (Sub-stipends will not be offered)
This training is intended to inform participants as an overview of the curriculum before they have a chance to take the full course. This would not take the place of the semester long training at Ivy Tech nor would it earn credit hours toward a CDA.
Space is limited, please register using appropriate link:
Infant Toddler:
Preschool: