STARS News

Mid-State Regional Key

A Leader In Community Services

Greetings!

Welcome to the Mid-State Regional Key STARS Newsletter!!

Check out our MSRK Contact List & Facebook Page !!

Child Care Consultants is all about kids! What better way to “deck the halls” than with children’s artwork?

We all know that children’s creativity in the arts is delightful, imaginative, and colorful!

Child Care Consultants is excited to invite providers in the Mid-State Regional Key to submit children’s original artwork from your program. You may submit the original artwork to your Quality Coach, mail or deliver to the office in York. If you have a signed permission from the family stating we can post the child’s name and age, that information may be included with the submitted artwork. Upon receipt, we will frame the artwork and place a tag to identify your center/program. The sizes of the frames are 24x36, 18x24, and 16x20. Smaller sizes of artwork may also be submitted and used to make a collage!

Deadline for submission is November 17, 2017 .

The submitted artwork tagged with your program’s name will be posted on the Child Care Consultants’ Facebook page . Families, friends, staff, and people in your community will be able to vote on Facebook for the program’s submission November 18-30. Simply have them “Like” our FB page, and enter a comment under the artwork submission(s) for your center/program. Here is a flyer to share with families .

Every center/program that submits artwork will be entered into a raffle for an art basket. Every like/comment will give your program an additional entry into the raffle. Depending upon the number of programs submitting artwork, there may be more than one winner. The winner(s) will be announced on Facebook on December 8, 2017.

Please note that the artwork will not be returned, and we will not be voting on individual artwork, but on the programs’ submission as a whole.

Don’t Procrastinate!

Because of the upcoming changes regarding Regional Keys and the new ELRCs, (Early Learning Resource Centers), all PD training will be closed out by March 31, 2018. This means that there won’t be face to face, needs based training after that date.

“I’m late, I’m late…for a very important date.” We all have good intentions. However, if you ask any child care director, every day has its own set of goals and challenges. Reality is the “have to do it today” becomes “I’ll do it someday”. A wise person once said, “Someday is not a day of the week.”

If you and/or your staff need training, please check the PA KEYS website and get registered to take the training between now and March.

Course Catalog Credit MUST be used by 12/30/17.

Online Courses -Please complete all online courses by 12/30/17. If you do not complete an online course by this date, you will have to start the course over when the course is transferred to the new PD Registry. Completing online courses by this date will ensure PQAS hours on your transcript.

Today is the Deadline! - Anne Dodds

The Pennsylvania Get Smart Program invites all children (up to 12 years old) to help build the national campaign to say "NO!" to germs and "YES!" to being healthy! This involves ideas like washing your hands (to wash germs away), getting vaccines or "shots" (to help prevent illness), and using medicines called antibiotics appropriately (to fight bacterial infections).

Visit the Get Smart Competition website for the contest flyer, drawing template, guidelines, and consent form.

ATTENTION YORK AND ADAMS COUNTY PROVIDERS! NEW RAPID RESPONSE TEAMS ARE AVAILABLE - Kim Alloway

OCDEL is supporting a pilot program within the York and Adams County regions to address the challenge of suspension and expulsion of children in childcare settings, and to promote inclusion. The Rapid Response Teams are a collaboration of the Children’s Mental Health Unit, STARS, Early Intervention and several county Providers. All children, birth to school age, are included in this pilot.

Professionals in these counties have been identified as Rapid Response Team Leaders, and can be sent into the childcare where there is a child who has been identified as being at risk of being suspended or expelled from care due to challenging behaviors. Observations and information gathering will take place to develop a plan of action to assist the Providers in supporting the child and family.

Sharon Harlacher is the York/Adams Early Intervention Coordinator who is the contact person for referrals and more information. Sharon can be contacted at: SLHarlacher@YorkCountyPA.gov.

Don’t Be Tricked Into Treats at Snack Time - Rhea Simmons

Halloween is just around the corner, and the holidays not far behind. During this time of year we need to help the children in our school age programs learn the difference between snacks and treats, and to promote healthy eating.

One of the first things we can do is help children differentiate between snacks and treats. A snack is actually a small meal, meant to provide energy and nutrients between larger meals. Fruits and vegetables, whole grain breads and cereals, dairy products, nuts and nut butters (watch for allergies) make excellent snack foods. They can be eaten every day as part of a healthy diet.

A treat, on the other hand, are foods and drinks with little or no nutritional value, and usually loaded with high amounts of sugar (cookies, fruit punch), salt, fat and empty calories (chips, cookies, etc.) They are meant to be eaten every now and then in addition to- not a replacement for a meal. If eaten alone, any energy these foods provide is soon followed by a crash, which leaves many children tired and irritable.

The USDA has guidelines regarding meals and snacks; they can be found by following this link. These are the guidelines referred to in the School Age Environment Rating Scale (SACERS). Additionally, as of October 1, 2017, the revised guidelines for grain based desserts are in effect . Any program participating in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) must follow these guidelines to receive reimbursement for meals.

Penn State York 2017-18 CDA Class

Penn State York is pleased to announce a new format for the upcoming Child Development Associate (CDA) class. This year it will be offered in a blended format, involving both in-class sessions and live webinars.

This class will meet on the Penn State York campus one Saturday per month for six hours of instruction with a one hour break. The first session is Saturday, November 4, 2017. Final session is May 19, 2018.

Webinars will be held on Tuesday and Thursday from 1:00–2:30 p.m. These participatory sessions can be attended from your center via computer, laptop, telephone, etc. Webinars begin on Tuesday, 11/7/17, and end Thursday, May 17, 2018.

For additional information and to register, please contact Judy Woods at jxw69@psu.edu or call 717-771-4032. Thank you.

Quality Assist and Kaplan Early Learning Provide More than 140 Hours of Online Training Courses for CDA Candidates

The Council for Professional Recognition (the Council), which administers the Child Development Associate (CDA®) Credential, is collaborating with Quality Assist, Inc. and Kaplan Early Learning Company to provide professional development opportunities for CDA students. These will be provided in the form of early childhood education courses through Quorum®, an e-learning program run through Quality Assist.

The Quorum® online course platform will provide 24/7 access to more than 140 hours of quality and interactive training for CDA candidates to complete as part of CDA requirements to support the CDA Competency Standards that support the corresponding early childhood setting (family child care, center-based infant toddler, and center-based preschool) in which educators work.

TIPS Resources - Shared Source PA

Prepare a solid foundation for children using the ‘TIPS’ resources.

This set of tools and guidance (provided by Read Right from the Start by the Rollins Center for Language & Literacy) helps you plan an effective literacy strategy and provides a set of activities for introducing early literacy skills to infants and toddlers.

Download the TIPS resources and get ready to:

T une in,

I ntroduce the book,

P romote language,

S ummarize the book.

Join us for a STARS Networking Meeting! Email to RSVP

STARS Informational session & Panel Discussion

Discussions around STARS clarifications, resources available, grants & tiered reimbursement overview, and a Q&A with community partners (possible partners include Certification, Quality Assessors, Pre-K Counts, TA, ECMH, Mentoring, PD, & other community organizations).