|
|
|
Dear Great Start to Quality Providers,
This is your monthly touchpoint with the Great Start to Quality Consultants! The focus will be a shared topic that will provide support to each of you in your daily work with young children and families. Enjoy!
Angie and Heather
Quality Improvement Consultants - Eastern Region
|
|
Are You A Treasure Hunter?
Many of the programs we work with, whether home based or center based, are working to bring in more "real" items to replace toy replicas. Some examples include, real pots and pans instead of smaller plastic toy pots and pans, a real telephone instead of a plastic phone or real food containers instead of plastic play food.
Teachers often scour their own home for these items. Instead of throwing away cereal boxes when finished, we recycle the boxes by adding them to the "Kitchen Area" of the classroom, we bring in old pots and pans from home, wooden spoons, different fabrics for the "Art Area". Parents may donate items to the learning environment instead of throwing those items away, as well.
We would like to share with you that the Goodwill stores of Mid-Michigan are also a great place to find some hidden treasures without breaking the budget! This may be an inexpensive opportunity to add some "real" items to your classroom. Goodwill often has small kitchen appliances, serving utensils, collage materials and clothes for dressing up that would be easy to add to your learning environments.
Click the link below to see a list of stores:
Click on the link below for more information on preschool classroom environments:
|
|
*******************************************************
Interested in learning more about Great Start to Quality?
Take advantage of quarterly webinars hosted by Great Start to Quality! The webinars will keep you informed about Michigan's tiered quality rating and improvement system.
Catch up on past webinars by clicking the link below: Did you miss a webinar? You can view recorded webinars anytime at:
If you haven't already, please sign up for the Great Start to Quality listserv at http://greatstarttoquality.org/. Click the "Sign Up" link at the bottom of the home page to get updates and answers to frequently asked questions.
*******************************************************
Need help with the Great Start to Quality STARS system?
Please contact the Resource Center's support team.
-
Toll Free support is available: 1-877-614-7328
- Our Quality Improvement Specialists are available to help you!
*******************************************************
The PQA, Program Quality Assessment is the assessment tool identified by the Great Start to Quality program to be used when assessing a program/provider. The standards listed in the PQA have identified high quality program practices for all children.
Infant Toddler PQA:
I. Learning Environment
I-D. Materials for sensory exploration are plentiful and accessible to infants and toddlers.
Level 5 Indicator, Row 1: More than half of the materials for children to see, touch, mouth, hear, smell, explore, and play with are made of wood, metal, stone, fiber, paper, and natural materials (e.g., tin can/lids, cooking utensils, shells, rocks, wooden spoons, blocks, spools, fabrics, boxes, etc.).
Level 5 Indicator, Row 3: Materials for exploration and play reflect home and community cultures and differing abilities of the children in the program (e.g., real food containers, work clothes representing community and families, real dishes and cultural cooking items, etc.).
Preschool PQA:
I. Learning Environment
I-F. Classroom materials are varied, manipulative, open-ended, and authentic and appeal to multiple senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste).
Level 5 Indicator, Row 3: Materials include many "real" items in place of toy replicas (e.g., dog dish, firefighter boots, steering wheel, gardening tools, suitcases, briefcases, pots and pans, hammer and saw, telephone).
Level 5 Indicator, Row 4: Many materials appeal to multiple senses and include both natural and manufactured materials (e.g., materials include items with hard and soft textures, snacks with many smells and tastes, objects made of wood, fabric, metal, paper, liquid).
Family Child Care PQA:
II. Learning Environment
II-F. Family child care materials are varied, manipulative, open-ended, authentic, and appeal to multiple senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste).
Level 5 Indicator, Row 3: Materials include many real items in place of toy replicas (e.g., real items include dog dishes, gently-used purses, adult-sized shoes and sport jackets, steering wheels, gardening tools, suitcases, briefcases, pots and pans, placemats, pot holders, hair dryers with cords cut off, calculators, keyboards, telephones).
Level 5 Indicator, Row 4: Many materials appeal to multiple senses and include both natural and manufactured materials (e.g., items with hard and soft textures, objects made of wood, fabric, metal, paper, liquid, materials that make sounds and light up, scratch and sniff books, smelling jars with scented objects that can also be seen).
Click the link below to learn more about the PQA:
Tackling Program Quality
***Check your PQA booklets for all Level 5 Indicators***
***Contact your local Lending Library to check out a PQA booklet***
|
|
|
Pinterest Finds of the Week....
Turn your Dramatic Play Center into a Grocery Store. It is very easy to set up, ask parents to send in empty food boxes and containers. If parents want to send in full boxes and cans, take the items to the food pantry when you are through with the center. The kids love to scan the groceries and use the cash register.
Find this idea on Pinterest
Animal Hospital --Suggested items: Stuffed animals, leashes, bowls, dog biscuits, scrubs, latex gloves, bandages, syringes, tweezers, cotton balls, doctor's kits, clip boards, cages made by attaching two baskets (from a dollar store) with binder rings (The baskets can be detached and stacked for storage), pet posters, real brochures from an animal clinic.
Find this idea at
|
|
Looking for Training?
Below is a list of trainings offered for each county. Trainings are being added often so for more detailed information and to register, go to:
Arenac/Bay Counties:
Ages & Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) and ASQ Social-Emotional Training
Thoughtful Transitions Reduce Traffic Jams and Challenges
Boys and Girls Learn Differently
Schedules and Routines
Huron County:
Defining Family Dynamics
Understanding Children's Behaviors
Lapeer County:
Understanding Children's Behaviors
Developing a Parent Handbook
Saginaw County:
Infant Toddler ABC Series A
A Healthy Mouth is a Clean Mouth!
Observing and Assessing the Young Child
Infant Toddler ABC Series B
Making a Healthy Home for Children
Building Positive Relationships
Saint Clair County: Let's Talk! Understanding Speech and Language in Young Children Nature Explore Classroom Transforming the Difficult Child: The Nurtured Heart Approach
Sanilac County:
The Importance of Play
Integrating Child Care Into Your Family Home
Tuscola County: Praise versus Encouragement
Mail Correspondence and Online: Building Positive Relationships Building a Better Brain Safe Sleep Using and Extending the Lending Library (Tier 2)
|
|
Have you visited your Lending Library lately?
The Eastern Resource Center's Lending Library is a FREE educational resource available to parents and early childhood professionals. We offer themed bins and CARES bags full of learning materials to enhance your classroom or childcare environment for children birth to age 5! Stop by your local Lending Library to check out something new today!
Not sure where your local Lending Library is located?
- Click on "Great Start to Quality Resource Centers".
- Click "Eastern Resource Center" on the map to find the Lending Library near you!
|
Featured Lending Library Resource
Teacher Resource
The Indoor and Outdoor Learning Environment: 40 Minute DVD
To support children's active learning, adults in early childhood programs set up the learning environment to provide children with plentiful materials and choices about how to use them. This means designing the overall learning space with different interest areas and labeling and storage systems that provide children easy access to the items they wish to use in their play. This media program includes examples from a variety of High Scope settings showing how adults can foster children's initiative and creativity through a supportive learning environment, both indoors and outdoors.
~Click the following link to view our entire Lending Library catalog:
Lending Library Catalog
|
|
|
How to contact your Consultant:
Angie Pearcy
(Huron, Lapeer, Sanilac, St. Clair)
Cell: 989-280-0979
Heather Rousseau (Arenac, Bay, Saginaw, Tuscola) Cell: 989-284-2250
|
|
|
|
|
