Time to REGISTER

We are adding a FREE 1 hour TRAINING to our community cafe's this coming year. Each Café will have a topic for the training. The first hour is a training and the second hour and a half is working on your portfolios or other child care related business items.

Registration is NOT required-you can stay for the first hour or the entire time. Cafes are the first Wednesday of each month, in building 26 room 314, from 6:00-8:30 pm.Here are the upcoming dates and training topics for this term:

October 7, 2015- Training: Learning Centers/Interest Areas

November 4, 2015- Training: Lesson Plans

December 2, 2015- Training: Daily Schedules/transitions (adult directed;child directed)

Contact Us:

Family Connections of Lane and Douglas Counties

e-mail: familyconnections@lanecc.edu

Lane County/Main Office

541-463-3954

Douglas County Office

541-440-7706

Website:

www.lanecc.edu/lfc

FALL 2015 NEWSLETTER

Activities and Games to Promote Kindergarten Success

Read with your child. Reading is one of the best ways to encourage a love of reading and give your child the skills to be a confident reader. Your public library can be a great resource for books and scheduled story times.

Play simple games. Games such as "Simon Says," "Red Light, Green Light," and "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" help your child learn to follow simple directions.

Give your child the opportunity to make choices. Allowing your child to pick out his own clothes or select the vegetable for the family dinner encourages the development of decision-making skills.

Allow your child enough time to start and complete a project. Making sure that your child has enough time to complete an activity, such as a block building, improves focus and increases confidence.

Use math in daily activities and routines. Helping to sort and match socks in the laundry, counting out carrot sticks at snack time, and naming shapes of objects in the room are a few simple ways to introduce math concepts.

DHS Corner

Family Connections of Lane & Douglas Counties has been fielding phone calls about the New DHS Pre-listing forms and concerns about the pre-service Basic Child Care Health and Safety training. This training is required for all licensed-exempt and registered family child care providers. Pre-service training means the training will need to be completed before new child care providers can be approved and listed with DHS. If you are currently listed with DHS you will be required to take the training at your next reevaluation date.

Read Full Article Here

2015 Legislative Update

On Monday, July 6th the 2015 Legislature finished, ending what will be remembered as a historic session for early learning in Oregon. The legislature made over $100 million in new investments in early

childhood and passed legislation creating a new mixed-delivery preschool program and strengthening Oregon's child care subsidy program for working families experiencing poverty. The new Early Learning Hub system also received a strong vote of confidence, including new

investments to support their work in building the capacity of their communities to better meet the needs of young children and their families.

Read Full Article Here

Congratulations to Lane County's new 5 star rated program!

The Toy Box Preschool

Certified Family provider,

Julie Harper

demonstrated the highest level of Early Care & Education by developing a portfolio documenting how she meets each of the 33 early learning standards, as well as having an on-site observation by WOU.

We have several other programs that submitted portfolios over the summer. Be sure to watch the Family Connections Facebook page and future newsletters to find out more about the latest QRIS rated providers.

Community Preschool Trainings

Fall 2015

FREE Trainings Click Here for more information on class dates, times, topics and location

Registration is required: call 541-346-2578 or email: cmetz@uoregon.edu

NAP SACC

Children today are not expected to live as long as their parents.

Childhood obesity is a national crisis and we as child care providers have the power to make changes that can reverse the obesity crisis.

The Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Child Care (NAP SACC) Program is a program to learn more about childhood obesity and how we can implement changes in our programs to help reverse this crisis.

7.5 hours of free trainings

Free classroom gifts at each training

Enrolling for the Spring NAP SACC

Cohort in January 2016

This program is provided through a grant from Trillium Prevention Services.

If you are interested please contact:

Wendy Hubacek

541-463-3309

hubacekw@lanecc.edu

Recipe:

Are you trying to figure out what to do with all of that zucchini?

Try this child friendly recipe

Zucchini Boats

Slice zucchini in half and scoop out seeds. Brown lean hamburger or turkey and drain. Then mix your favorite seasoning and vegetables in with the meat. Fill zucchini boats and top with low-fat cheese. Bake on a cookie sheet for 30 minutes at 350°

After baking you can put a small triangle of sliced cheese on to a tooth pick making a sail for your boat.

ENJOY!

QRIS

Quality Rating Improvement System

is part of The Office of Child Care.

All licensed programs who are NOT participating at this time are a level one, which is the minimum level- by engaging in the QRIS process your program can choose to demonstrate higher levels of quality.

This amazing achievement shows the true professionalism of the Early Childhood Education field. These providers are dedicated to providing quality child care and have made a commitment to ongoing, continuous quality improvement.

Family Connections is truly excited to be a part of this movement.

NOW is the time to join the QRIS movement! Lane and Douglas counties now have over 60 star rated

child care programs!

Curious which programs have a star rating in your area? Providers and parents can search by zip code here:

QRIS Program Search

If you haven't already attended the introductory QRIS class, please consider registering for the next

Increasing Quality Training!

Saturday, October 24th

9:00- Noon

FREE


ARE you a Step 7? Could you use some FREE college credits? Contact Family Connections or the Early Childhood Education Departments at Lane Community College or Umpqua Community College to find out more about how to articulate up to 12 credits.	EARN A ONE-YEAR ECE CERTIFICATE WHILE CONTINUING TO WORK FULL-TIME My name is Jean Bishop and I am a member of the faculty and also the coordinator of the Early Childhood Education program at LCC. I want to invite you to join us for a learning cohort to work on your one year certificate. Click HERE for more information.