Early Childhood Development at SOU - Spring Quarter Newsletter

Spring term is almost here - time to think about registering for classes. Congratulations to those of you that will be graduating in June - we are so proud of you!! We hope to see you walking at the graduation ceremony.

We are excited that our program continues to grow. We have more students transferring from regional community colleges. Each community college approaches their ECE program in a way that is unique to their community and their professors. In addition, many students are also currently working in the field of early childhood education. The rich background of experiences and coursework brought to classes by each student enhances everyone's learning experience .

We continue to add new workshop topics, new instructors, and new courses to our program. Each term all of the instructors and staff in the program meet to discuss ways to improve what we are doing. As always, students continue to be central to our focus.

There is still time to attend the Saturday workshop entitled Anti-Bias Curriculum on March 10. Erin Wilder will be expanding on the workshop she offered last year, so if you attended last year - there will be new material. The students in early childhood and elementary settings are diverse and it's imperative that teachers create a classroom culture where all students feel safe, valued, and honored. In this hands on workshop participants will learn about the intentional use of anti-bias curriculum. They will explore how anti-bias curriculum allows teachers to nurture the development of the whole child's potential through consciously addressing issues of diversity and equity in the classroom. In this workshop we will look at inclusive environments and how to create a climate and implement supplemental curriculum that encourages children to develop:

Confidence in their own identity

Empathy to the needs of others

Critical thinking skills about bias

Ability to stand up to others who are engaged in biased behavior

Pre-register here.

Program News

Important Dates and Information

Registration for spring term is up and going!!

Summer registration begins: March 12

Spring term begins: Monday, April 2

Spring term finals week: June 11-15

Graduation: June 16

Summer presession begins: June 18

Summer first 4 week session begins: June 25

Summer 8 week session begins: June 25

Summer second 4 week session begins: July 23

Spring 2012 Early Childhood Classes

We have some great early childhood classes during spring term that might be of interest to you. All classes are delivered online through Moodle.

Course Descriptions

ED 309 Practicum

ED 365 Children at Risk

ED 385 Early Childhood Professional

ED 399 Orientation to ECD

ED 407 Early Intervention-Family Services

ED 407 Differentiated Curriculum in the Classroom

ED 409 Capstone/Practicum

ED 437 Science & the Young Child

ED 454 Leadership & Advocacy in Early Childhood Ed

ED 489 Interpersonal Relationships and Guidance in Early Childhood Ed

Face-to-Face Workshops Spring term

Pre-registration is required!!

2011-12 Workshop Descriptions and Registration

BING Institute-Basic Materials
Workshop fee: $35

ED 399 CRN 6859

Saturday, April 7, 2012

8:30 am - 4:30 pm with working lunch
SOU Ashland campus - Ed/Psych Building - room 195

Sanctuary One-Learn about a Care Farm
Workshop fee: $20
ED 399 CRN 6860
Saturday, April 28, 2012
8:30 am - 4:30 pm with working lunch
Workshop will be held at Sanctuary One
13195 Applegate Road, Jacksonville, OR

Autism Spectrum Disorder

Workshop fee: $20

ED 399 CRN 6861

Saturday, May 19, 2012

8:30 am - 4:30 pm with working lunch

Higher Education Center, Medford, OR Room 226

Master of Education for non-licensed teachers & educators

Are you ready to begin thinking about earning your Master's degree? You might want to consider earning a Master of Education through SOU. Recently, a Professional track has been developed to meet the professional development needs of educators outside of the K-12 public school system. This track will be attractive to early childhood professionals, health educators, organizational facilitators, community college teachers, and others that desire to work within educational settings.

The program is designed to integrate adult learning theory in course content and activities as well as in learner applications/demonstrations of learning.

Courses are offered through a combination of online delivery, two-way video and hybrid model (online and one Saturday per month meeting in Medford).

sou.edu/education/med

Professional Development Opportunities

Jackson County Chapter of the OAEYC - Medford, Oregon The winter conference will be held Saturday, March 3 from 8:00-3:00 at the Higher Education Center, corner of 8th and Bartlett, in Medford. The keynote address will be delivered by Katie Kissinger and Hadiyah Miller and is entitled Five Tools for Transformation: Social Justice Work in Early Childhood Education. This presentation will be an audience interactive session that introduces five tools they have used in their combined 50 years of social justice/diversity teaching and training with children and adults. Come sing, dance, act, and tell stories and more with us. Download the brochure and registration materials.

Early Childhood Conference - Bend, Oregon

April 27 & 28 at Central Oregon Community College

Oregon AEYC Conference - Eugene, Oregon

Conference will return this year to the Holiday Inn in North Springfield for Friday, April 20 and to Lane Community College for Saturday, April 21.

Children Bringing Communities Together - Pendleton, Oregon

Saturday, April 21 from 8 am - 3 pm at Blue Mountain Community College

Good News from the Bookstore!!

Distance Learning students can order books by phone at 541-552-6177

Textbook Price Compare

See what your textbooks will costs from multiple places; SOU Bookstore Online Rental, Amazon, and Textbooks.com.

Textbook Rentals

You can now Rent your textbooks in the Bookstore as well as online.

New, Used, and e-Books

We carry Textbooks in as many formats that are available; New, Used, e-Book, Rental, Required, and Optional.

Charge Textbooks to your SOU Student Account

You may charge up to $500.00 of Textbooks each term

You can charge online bookstore.sou.edu or starting Tues., Dec. 13th in the Bookstore.

You must be a currently enrolled student at SOU to charge your student account - SOU ID/ photo ID required.

Charges can be made through the 3rd week of the term (Friday, Jan. 27).

Textbook Rentals and other merchandise cannot be charged to student accounts.

You are responsible to repay Bookstore charges made to your student account, and all SOU Bookstore Textbook return policies apply.

Highlight - Instructors from Big Institute at Stanford University Providing Workshop

Water Play Station at Bing Institute

"Play is the highest expression of human development in childhood for it alone is the free expression of what is in a child's soul." Friedrich Froebel

We are fortunate to have Beverly Hartman, Program Director for the Bing Institute and Lecturer in the Department of Psychology at Stanford University offer a Saturday Workshop. She will be presenting on the topic of Basic Materials. A portion of her presentation will be rooted in theory with the afternoon dedicated to hands-on experimentation in the pre-school setting.

Registration is limited and with advisor's approval. If you'd like to learn more about Bing, please visit their website. It has a wide variety of resources!

Here's an wonderful article about the value of play from Stanford Magazine 2006.

Technology News You Can Use

Moodle News!!!

Moodle icon

Help is at hand!
SOU has recently added an online support center where you can enter a request for technical help or look for information related to our computing services. The service is located online at https://support.sou.edu.

Getting Help
To report a problem or request assistance, use your SOU log-in and password in the log-in area in the upper left corner. Click on the icon in the tool bar labeled "Submit a Ticket," then describe your problem or question. In your description, please include:

The name of the campus system you are using (GMail, My SOU, Moodle, SISWeb, etc.)
The specific course (CRN), application, or item that you are having problems with (the more we know, the faster we can help you)
What browser you are using
How best to contact you if we have questions for you

Once you've submitted a ticket, you can return to this page and click on View Tickets to check on its resolution. Check your email frequently in case the Help Desk has follow-up questions for you.

Finding Information
The support center's "Knowledgebases" are available without logging in. Click on the "Knowledgebase" icon in the toolbar. You'll find articles organized by topic: Google Apps, Web, Moodle, etc. Click on the name of a featured article or open a folder to review all of the articles. Let us know if you have questions you'd like to see answered in our knowledgebase.

Just a reminder that your SOU email account will be used in your Moodle classes (in other words, you cannot use your yahoo or hotmail address) so be sure you are checking your GMail account in MySOU.

Student Help Desk

If you need help with logging in or other problems, try contacting the Student Help Desk at 541-552-6969. They are available Monday-Friday from 8:00 am - 5:00 pm and can provide limited assistance on Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 am - 7:00 pm

Attention Newly Admitted Students

It is important that all newly admitted students schedule a phone advising appointment through the ASP (Academic Support Programs). Donny can be reached at 541-552-8118. She will provide you with an official review of your general education courses and walk you through the registration process. She also has appointment times on Saturday for those that would prefer a weekend meeting. Be sure to request a phone appointment, you do not have to come to campus. You are welcome to attend a Raider Registration information session, but it is not required.

We will be mailing the Orientation letter a few weeks before the term begins to registered students. If we happen to miss you, it is attached here for your convenience.