Reading Accelerates Success! 

We are building excitement for Celebrate Literacy Week, Florida! We invite you to participate by joining us in the Million Minute Marathon by logging the total amount of minutes you read to children each day from January 26th - 30th. This year's theme, "Reading Accelerates Success!" encourages our students to participate in literary activities that are critical to future academic success.

 

Last year, our early care and education network clocked 9,892 minutes. Read along with us and receive the suggested books, "Don't let Pigeon Drive the Bus" and "Time to Sleep" along with the Celebrate Literacy Week, Florida! toolkit from the Coalition. Together we can obliterate our goal of reading 12,000 minutes.

 

To sign up as a participant through the Early Learning Coalition of Orange County, please contact Jonna Gordon at jgordon@elcoc.org. For more information and suggested reading activities, please visit the Celebrate Literacy Week, Florida! website. 

VPK Assessment Deadlines

The VPK Assessment Period 2 (AP2) is taking place this month and should be submitted by February 15th. Providers on Probation (POPs) that have chosen the Department of Education Approved Staff Development Plan are required to administer AP2 and submit the assessment data online. AP3 will take place during the month of April/May at the end of the program year.

For more information, please contact your Provider Services Representative. 

VPK Parents Portal Now Open
 

Parents of children who will be attending VPK for the 2014-2015 Summer Program and the 2015-2016 school year are now eligible to register for the using the online portal. Parents no longer have to visit 4C to register and can submit needed documentation faster and easier online. Have parents visit http://vpkcp.floridaearlylearning.com to register.

Parents must have a valid email address. For more information regarding the required criteria and documentation, please click here.  

Infant/Toddler CDA Training Program 

2014 was the final year for our Orlando Magic Youth Foundation (OMYF) grant that provided CDA training to infant/toddler teachers in Orange County centers.    The program was funded in 2012 to assist teachers in applying for the national infant/toddler Child Development Associate (CDA) credential. Since the initial year, a Directors' Project and Infant/Toddler Community CEUs workshops have been added. In the three years of the program:

• 61 teachers have been awarded their national Infant/Toddler CDA,
• 23 directors have completed the Directors' Project, and
• 92 credentialed infant/toddler teachers & directors have attended community infant/toddler workshops.

Although our OMYF funding has ended, the ELCOC will be continuing the Infant/Toddler CDA training program in 2015. Applications for the Infant/Toddler CDA Training Program (ITCDA) are now available on the ELCOC website.

Potential candidates must:

• work in a child care center directly with infants and/or toddlers
• have a high school diploma or GED
• have completed the 45 hours of DCF state-mandated training

Professional Development  

We received an overwhelming response to our call for applications to attend the 2014 Florida Association for Young Children's Annual Conference, over 115 Applications were received and all before the deadline! 102 scholarships were awarded to Teachers and Directors with extremely positive feedback from everyone who attended.

Even more impressive were the activities implemented in early childhood programs as a result of the workshops teachers and directors attended. One center director and teacher took what they learning and choose to start working on a support group for the dads of the children in their center.   A very popular workshop was "The Cardboard Challenge & Creative Play" presented by Dr. Walter Drew. We received pictures from a family child care provider who created a cardboard kitchen set and vanity for her children. A center teacher used this information, with the children in her class, to make a cardboard robot using found objects and creating their own decorations to build their robot which towered over them when completed.

Milk & Muffins   

Milk & Muffins is a FREE weekly reading camp for Preschoolers, Kindergarteners, and Parents in the Parramore community. Milk & Muffins is a Saturday morning program for children, ages 3-6 years old, to work with UCF students, participating in early reading activities (games, puzzles, letter matching, rhyming, singing, reading books). Milk and Muffins is also a program for parents. While children are working with a UCF student, parents have the opportunity to participate in a "parent class" to learn ways to help your child be ready to learn, to read and to be best prepared for school success. Early Childhood teachers are also welcome to attend! The teacher for the parent class is Tiffany Taylor, Pre-K Teacher at Grand Avenue Primary Learning Center.

Milk & Muffins will be offered on Saturdays, 10:00a.m. - 11:30 a.m., starting February 21st for eight weeks.   For additional information, please contact Dr. Judy Levin at 407-797-1873.  

Join Us for a MAGIC Night Out!

Join the ELCOC Sunday, February 8th for a night of pure magic when the Orlando Magic take on the Chicago Bulls! Tickets are $40 dollars for our family and friends with a portion of the proceeds going to our special programs and initiatives.

The first 20 children to register will have the chance to high-five a Magic player for good luck before the game starts! Deadline to purchase tickets from the ELCOC is January 20, 2015. For more information on how to register please click here or email Lindsay Barry. 

Give Us a Hand 

Please click for artwork instructions. All artwork must be given to the Early Learning Coalition of Orange County no later than March 20, 2015 to be sent to be assembled for display at the Florida Legislature.

When WE Win, YOU Win! 

We need YOUR help! Please nominate the Coalition to receive $20,000 in free infographics, advocacy and marketing support from Bubbled.it, Prismatic, and Southern Strategy Group, LLC for their Cause & Effect initiative.

 

Visit http://bubbled.it/causeeffect/ 

to nominate the Early Learning Coalition of Orange County before February 28, 2015.

Quarterly Provider Meeting 

The next quarterly provider meeting will be held Tuesday, March 3rd at 6:30pm in the Edgewater High School auditorium.

Early Learning  Coalition of Orange County

Orlando, FL 32804

407-841-6607

 WWW.ELCOC.ORG