We only have 34 providers who are now completely active on the OEL Provider Portal. Remember that we will use the OEL Provider Portal for School Readiness and VPK contracting for 2017/2018. In order for you to complete a contract, you MUST have an active account.

Once you register for an account, you will receive an email from OEL about your status. This status will not come from a staff member at the Early Learning Coalition, so be sure to check your email for updates. If you are still having trouble, please do not hesitate to send a redline@elcnwf.org request so a staff member can further assist you. If you have not yet signed up, now is the time!

Below please find buttons with links to the “Quick Tips for Provider” flier and the "EFS Modernization Provider Portal User Guide."

"Many toddlers and young children bite. Developmentally, most toddlers don’t have enough words to express how they are feeling. They primarily rely on sounds and actions to communicate what they are thinking and feeling. Biting is one of the ways toddlers express their needs, desires, or feelings. While biting might be very frustrating, your child is not biting purposefully annoy you or hurt anyone."

Follow this link to Vanderbilt University's "Responding to Your Child's Bite" toolkit developed at The Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning.

Please follow the link in the button below for the April 2017 edition of "Parents' Pages." Included in this edition are articles about "Meltdowns and Tantrums," Safe Kids Day, Social Development for 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children, and ideas for celebrating the Week of the Young Child. Checklists and safety tips for parents and educators supplement each of this month's articles.

NEMOURS CHILDREN’S HEALTH SYSTEM
SAVE THE DATE!

Tuesday, April 25, 2017
1:00 P.M. – 2:00 P.M.
 
Join Nemours Children’s Health System in partnership with the Florida Department of Health in a conversation around screen time.  Join us this month for our third webinar as we explore best practices of screen time for early care and education programs.  Our guest speaker, Yolanda “Linda” Reid Chassiakos, MD, FAAP, FACP is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA; and the Director and Medical Chief of Staff of the Klotz Student Health Center at California State University Northridge.  Dr. Chassiaskos is a member of the Executive Committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Communications and Media, and the Lead Author of the AAP Technical Report, Children and Adolescents and Digital Media.  This webinar participants will:

• Learn about the types of digital media in today’s environment
  
• Learn about the risks and benefits of digital media in young children
  
• Learn about the impact of digital media on children’s development and learning
  
• Learn about the updated recommendations for digital media use from the American Academy of Pediatrics
• Learn about the AAP Family Media Use Plan Tool

Who Should Participate?

The webinar will benefit all types of early care and education program providers, including center-based programs, family child care homes, directors, managers, and staff members.  Please log-in with other colleagues in your program where possible.

Please register HERE. 

Following up from our last monthly Provider Face-to-Face Meeting, please find information below about reporting newly-hired and re-hired employees to the Florida New Hire Reporting Center. If additional information is needed, the links below provide “Help” features.

Federal and state laws require employers to report newly hired and re-hired employees. This information is used in the early detection and prevention of unemployment fraud. If further information is needed, you may be contacted to provide your company’s State Unemployment Tax Account number; the start date (not the hire date); whether the employee is working full time or part time; weekly earnings for specified weeks; and the reason for job separation if appropriate.

We are 6 weeks into the Spring Checkpoint Period for TSG Assessments. During this time, teachers observe and document children’s learning and complete preliminary ratings based on what is observed. These are preliminary evaluations that teachers should use to note where a child is developmentally, and use ratings to plan activities to scaffold that child into the next level of development. If that is done, it is expected that a child not remain stagnant. Additional documentation and higher rating levels are probable before the TSG is finalized in the last 2 weeks of May.

It is important that documentation accurately reflect the child’s skill level and progress.
Documentation should be physically recorded in some sort of fashion and not just committed to memory. There are many types of documentation, including:

• Samples of a child’s work 
• Photographs
• Anecdotal comments written by the teacher 
• Activity checklists 
• Transcriptions of a child’s discussion
• Recorded conversations 
• Videos 

This information should be archived in the child’s file or portfolio for easy retrieval and review. Planning documentation methods and occurrences while developing lesson plans for the next week helps this task become typical and routine.

In April, we will provide three of the required VPK courses for programs on probation. All the courses will be held at the Marianna Coalition office (4636 Hwy 90, Suite P., Marianna, Florida 32446). To register for the courses listed below, visit the DCF Child Care Training Website and enter the appropriate course number. 

• “How to Administer the VPK Assessment” (Course ID: 7338)

            April 17, 2017 from 1:00 – 3:00 p.m.

• “VPK Assessment Instructional Implications” (Course ID: 7339)

           April 24, 2017 from 1:00 – 3:00 p.m.

• “Integrating the Standards: Phonological Implications” (Course ID: 7340)

           April 27, 2017 from 1:00 – 3:00 p.m.

When uploading your monthly rosters, please make sure that rosters, sign-in/sign-out sheets, and back‑up documentation get uploaded into the correct file under “SR or VPK Reimbursement.”

Each month, you will need to create a new file with the correct date in which you will place your monthly rosters and supporting documentation in the correct billing group. This will ensure that reimbursement specialists are able to locate your documents for payment processing in a timely manner.

Please do not call reimbursement specialists during processing to request updated rosters. Rosters are sent out as close to the end of the month as possible. Be sure to look over your rosters when you receive them for any errors. 

Remember to always check what you upload to the portal to ensure that all the appropriate documentation is uploaded to the billing groups. If you have any questions, please send a request to redline@elcnwf.org.

Breastfeed Bay is offering a service training for owners, administrators, and employees of childcare facilities on the subject of breastfeeding. This activity has been approved through the Department of Children and Families, and 2 hours of training will be offered. The FREE course will be offered on Saturday, April 1, from 9:00 – 11:00 a.m. at the Auditorium of the Florida Department of Health in Bay County, 597 W. 11th ST, Panama City, FL 32401.

Breastfeeding has many health benefits for mother and baby, and it is our hope to partner with you to help support breastfeeding mothers who have returned to work. Please feel free to call 850-747-5775 if you should have any questions.