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Dear Great Start to Quality Providers,
This is your bi-weekly 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, Dawn, Heather
Quality Improvement Consultants - Eastern Region
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Working with Families - Building Strong Relationships
As summer draws to a close, many child care providers and teachers are beginning to plan for their new program year, including welcoming new families and children to their program. For many the welcoming process includes conducting home visits for new or returning families. Home visits are important for a variety of reasons:
- to build the bridge between home and child care and/or school. Beginning child care or school is a huge milestone in a child's life. For many it may be the first experience outside of family life. When providers can connect the home to school for children, the easier the transition. Some examples of how to connect home to school for children include, incorporating activities similar to activities done at home in the child care or school environment. When children have positive transitions at an early age, the more success they will have with transitions throughout life.
- to increase the providers' understanding of children. The more you learn about children's home life and cultures, the better you can support children's development in their child care or school setting. An awareness of the materials, activities, and values in children's homes lets you plan meaningful experiences that build on the children's knowledge, interests, and skills.
- to strengthen parents' understanding of children. Parents are a child's first and most important teacher. When a child is enrolled in child care or school, the provider has many opportunities to share information with families about how young children develop. Becoming better observers of their own child is another benefit to parents. Any information providers share can be done formally, such as during a scheduled conference, or informally, such as while talking about the child's day during pick up time.
- to promote child development at home. As mentioned earlier, parents are the child's first and most important teacher and children spend more time at home than anywhere else. This means sharing active learning activities with parents is important. For example, some active learning activities that can be done at home include, sorting and matching clothing, such as socks, as a math experience or identifying letters on items at the grocery store as an early reading experience. Both activities also provide conversation opportunities.
- to enrich the child care or school setting. Parent involvement opportunities are key and important in building relationships. Parent involvement means many things. Parents are involved when they participate in activities offered in the child care or school setting, such as field trips, volunteering time in the setting, donating toys, dress-up clothes or materials for the children to work with, etc. Involvement also occurs when parents encourage their own child's learning at home. Providers encourage parent involvement by offering varied and meaningful opportunities for families to participate.
The Resource Center brought in a certified trainer from High Scope recently to facilitate a training titled, Working with Families - Building Strong Relationships. The information shared at the training has been included in the above article. If you would like more in depth information on this training and suggestions on how to build strong relationships with families, contact your QIC for support!
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Have you heard...?
You receive this Constant Contact newsletter because you have worked or are currently working with a QIC. Please share your experiences with others in the field. We are always looking to support early childhood providers and would like your help in spreading the word about the benefits of working with a QIC!
Read what your colleagues have to say about their experience with a QIC:
The Great Start to Quality Rating program was overwhelming to me when I started
the process about two years ago. My consultant, Dawn Kalkman, went over each
step for me and gave me short term goals to reach. She kept in touch with me
through e-mails and personal visits to my center. The rating program has
brought better quality to our program. Dawn's guidance and encouragement gave
it a personal element. We were fortunate to qualify for a PQA assessment and
Dawn suggested that I attend some Great Start trainings to help me understand
how that process worked. The center and I have been blessed by our relationship
with our consultant, Dawn. - Kathi Pearson, Center Director, St. Michael's
Our center is shooting for the STARS and with the help from our Quality Improvement Consultant, Heather, we are accomplishing this goal. Heather has worked with us on improving our classroom environment, has given tools to use with challenging behaviors, and walked us through sections of the Program Quality Assessment book that we had some difficulty with. It's great to know we can count on Heather for additional support. The staff feel very empowered and shooting for the STARS has been an exciting adventure for all of us. - Monica Latoski, Center Director, Michigan Child Care Centers, Inc. dba Kinder Kare
Working with Great Start has allowed us to provide programs with additional resources and supports to enhance the quality of their programs. Resources such as links to Lending Library, assistance with the STARS systems, and building connections with other specialists in the region improves services provided to programs.
~Niki Chapman, GSRP Early Childhood Specialist
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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.
The next webinar is scheduled for Wednesday, August 20th
1:00 - 2:00pm
Topic:
Important Upgrades to greatstartCONNECT.org
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.
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Need help with the Great Start to Quality STARS system?
Please contact the Resource Center's support team.
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Toll Free support is available: 1-877-614-7328
- Our Quality Improvement Specialists are available to help you!
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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:
II. Schedules and Routines
II-B. Arrivals and departures focus on the comfort of children and parents.
Level 5 Indicator: Parents are greeted and bid good-bye in a calm, reassuring manner (e.g., caregiver and parent exchange information verbally and in written form and share child observations; parents are greeted by name).
Preschool PQA:
III. Adult-Child Interaction
III-B. Children's separation from home and daily entry to the program are handled with sensitivity and respect.
Level 5 Indicator: Parents/guardians are encouraged to stay until children are ready for them to leave.
*Agency Items (Form B):
V. Parent Involvement and Family Services (Check booklet for Level 5 Indicators)
Family Child Care PQA:
II. Learning Environment
II-H. Materials reflect human diversity and the positive aspects of children's homes, community, and cultures (including diversity in race/ethnicity, gender, abilities, language, age, and social/economic status).
Level 5 Indicator: Materials reflect the home and community environment and special needs of all program children (e.g., photos of family members, cooking utensils, types of musical instruments, work clothes and tools from different types of jobs).
***Check your PQA booklets for all Level 5 Indicators***
***Contact your local Lending Library to check out a PQA booklet***
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Pinterest Find of the Week....
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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:
Huron County:
Lapeer County:
Shooting for the STARS; Self-Assessment Survey Lab Session 1
Using Teaching Strategies GOLD Lab Session for Preschool Teachers
Developing a Parent Handbook
Shooting for the STARS; Self-Assessment Survey Lab Session 1
Saginaw County:
S.T.O.P. (Social Emotional Tools/Teaching Overcomes Problem Behavior)
Developing a Parent Handbook
"Time to Play! Where are the Adults?"
Saint Clair County: Creative Curriculum Intentional Teaching Using Teaching Strategies GOLD Lab Session for Preschool Teachers Shooting for the STARS; Self-Assessment Survey Lab Session 1 Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) and ASQ Social-Emotional Training Shooting for the STARS; Self-Assessment Survey Lab Session 1 Sanilac County:
Team Teaching & Using Data to Inform Instruction
Tuscola County: Shooting for the STARS; Self-Assessment Survey Lab Session 1 Small Group Time & Time for Child Recall
Mail Correspondence and Online: Building Positive Relationships (Tier 2) Science for Young Children (Tier 2) Math is More Than 1..2..3.. (Tier 2) Building a Better Brain (Tier 2) Using & Extending Lending Library (Tier 2)
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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!
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Featured Lending Library Resource
Teacher Resource
This NAEYC publication is a compilation of articles from Young Children and
Beyond the Journal. Topics addressed include sharing the care of infants and toddlers, conferencing with families, acknowledging culture and promoting inclusion, and helping families to support learning at home.
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How to contact your Consultant:
Angie Pearcy
(Huron, Sanilac, Tuscola)
Cell: 989-280-0979
Dawn Kalkman
(Lapeer and St. Clair )
Cell: 989-280-1103
Heather Rousseau (Arenac, Bay, Saginaw) Cell: 989-284-2250
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