OCDEL Family Engagement Pilot Project eNews, January 21, 2014

February 11, 2014

The OCDEL Family Engagement Pilot Project eNews

Keeping you up-to-date with what's happening in regards to the OCDEL Family Engagement Pilot Project--upcoming opportunities, accomplishments, and resources you can use!

Of Interest

This time of year provides opportunities to engage families when they register their child for Kindergarten. Schools in your area may be hosting Kindergarten Registration and Transition activities. Community partners, like libraries, local businesses, and early learning providers, may begin to promote to and engage families in Kindergarten Readiness activities.

What is your early learning group doing to support families and their children during this time? Find these helpful resources for ways to engage families during this time.

Over 150 Kindergarten Registration activities and events are available on the PA's Promise for Children website. Share these activities and events with your families and partners through your email, website, newsletters and social media (like Facebook or Twitter).
Need helpful resources to engage families around transition to Kindergarten? Try the Kindergarten, Here I Come and Kindergarten, Here I Am activity guides. Print the guides, order copies, or contact your local Kiwanis Club to see how you can partner to get them into the hands of families.
Encourage families to sign up for the monthly Learning is Everywhere enews. Each edition features Kindergarten is Calling, providing tips, resources and books families, early learning programs, and other partners can use to help prepare children for Kindergarten.
OCDEL's Transition to Formal Schooling Toolkit offers resources to help transitioning children and their families. Check out Section VIII: Family to School which features Tips and Suggestions to Support Child to School Transitions, Calendar of Transition Events, Families and Teachers Working as Partners, and more!
The Transitioning to Kindergarten Pinterest board offers resources for a successful transition to Kindergarten.

Do you have Kindergarten registration or transition resources you'd like to share? Email them to Mary Hall at marhal@berksiu.org.

Resources

Building Powerful Family Partnerships

A new collaboration between Frank Porter Graham's Center to Mobilize Early Childhood Knowledge (CONNECT) and Quality Assist, Inc. offers continuing education courses in the form of free, self-guided, self-paced, online CONNECT Courses for CEU for early childhood teachers.

The newest release is Building Powerful Family Partnerships. This 2.5-hour course shows how to build trusting family-professional partnerships when working with families of young children. Partnership-oriented practices encompass both child and family focuses. They include enhanced communication, high expectations, respect, commitment, equality, and advocacy.

Find out more on the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute website.

Promote Family Engagement

CLASP's Charting Progress for Babies in Child Care's, Promote Family Engagement, provides information on making the case, a bibliography, policy ideas and online resources around promoting family engagement and partnerships between families with infants and toddlers and their child care providers and caregivers.

One of the listed online resources includes The Head Start Parent, Family, and Community Engagement Framework: Promoting Family Engagement and School Readiness, from Prenatal to Age 8. Find out how you can use this information in your outreach to engage families. Visit the CLASP website.

One Number, One Resource

2-1-1 is a FREE, accessible, 3-digit telephone number available to everyone. All residents have easy access to customized health, housing and human services information in one place.

Every hour of every day, someone in Pennsylvania searches for services, from substance abuse treatment to care for a child or an aging parent. By simply dialing 2-1-1, trained information specialists can help by answering questions and connecting callers to thousands of health and human service programs.

2-1-1 is a one-stop resource to get information about community services: no more guessing or unnecessary calls. Visit the 2-1-1 website and find resources in your community.

Thank you!

Thank you to Butler County Early Care and Education Council and Elwyn Chester SEEDS Preschool Early Intervention Program for hosting a Child Care Selection Family Focus Group in their community.

The focus groups are key components of a project by the Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning, Pennsylvania Key and the Build Initiative. The feedback received from the families in these focus group will provide information about what families face when they are looking for child care and what would make the search a little easier.

Questions about the OCDEL Family Engagement Pilot Project? Contact us!

Sarah Holland at saholland@pa.gov

or 717.787.8691

Christine Behm at cbehm@pa.gov

or 717.214.5704

Mary Hall at marhal@berksiu.org

or 717.213.2077