September 2018
Letter from the President
Jessica Castleberry, SDAEYC President

 SDAEYC had an exciting year with a lot of changes and positive growth. Please check out our Affiliate Story for more details!
Thank you to our members for making 2018 a wonderful year!
 
Jessica Castleberry
SDAEYC Board Openings and Job Opportunities

Board Postion
SDAEYC is still looking for someone interested in being part of the organization as our Treasurer. Please contact Mary Bowne at Mary.Bowne@sdstate.edu for more information .

Operations Manager Position

SDAEYC is currently seeking a qualified individual to fill the roll of Operations Manager. Please contact Jessica Castleberry at info.littlenestpreschool@gmail.com for more information.
 
SDAEYC Chapter Events & Happenings
Missouri Valley:

Missouri Valley would like to say welcome back to all students and teachers. We will be hosting a meeting on September 20 at Dakota Brick House at 5 to welcome everyone back and discuss our upcoming school year. 
-Angie Haas and Sherrie Bosse

Black Hills:

The Black Hills Chapter held a Meet & Eat event in August- members were happy to be meeting again in the Black Hills area and wish to continue Saturday late morning meetings .

BH Chapter is going to have a booth at the Pumpkin Festival at Rapid City Main Street Square on September 29th 9am-4pm. Our booth will have a “Pumpkin Patch” Ring Toss game that kids can play and get pumpkin prizes. We also discussed having a fall related sensory bin for children and we will have information about the SDAEYC at the booth as well.

We will be putting a poll out to members about what type of training to offer at our February meeting.
-Janessa Bixel and Sunni Tockek


Dakota Midland:

Dakota Midland will be hosting a Back to School Workshop on Friday September 21st from 6-9pm and Saturday September 22nd from 9am-4pm. Please see the attached forms for more information and how to register for this wonderful event!



Siouxland:

The Siouxland Chapter will be hosting its annual Sioux Falls WOW conference on January 20th from 8:30am-4pm. Please visit the link below for more information!


2019 SDAEYC Annual Conference
Please join us at the 2019 SDECE Conference which will be held at the Ramkota convention Center in Pierre, SD April 4-6. We are happy to announce that Paul McGhee, PhD, Humor is FUNdemental, and Jeff Johnson, Explorations Early Learning ,will be two of our keynotes! 
I hope you will consider sharing your time and talents to help make this another successful conference by submitting a workshop proposal. Information will be emailed out in the next few months. 

If you know of anyone who would be a great presenter for us, please email me at sdaeycconferencecoordinator@gmail.com .

See you in April!
Patricia Buechler, SDAEYC conference coordinator  

2012 Conf Logo
A Message for the SDAEYC Membership Chair
Hello I am Jodi Butzer. I’m the new membership Chair and very excited about this position and opportunity. This is all new to me so I am still learning what all I can do to help build the membership numbers for South Dakota. A little about me is that I am Mom to two boys, a consultant with Usborne Books & More, and a one year old Lead Teacher as well as a STEM Teacher for preschoolers. All of these keep me busy but I have a passion to enrich the minds of our littlest learners and that is why I took this position. I want to build the importance for the need of great early childhood education. My impact as the membership Chair will be to find those that have this same goal and passion to help create a community of amazing early childhood educators around the state. 
A Message for the SDAEYC Vice President
Hi SDAEYC Professionals,

As I was driving to work today I saw a sign that Fall is here – Fog in a low lying wet area along Rapid Creek creating thoughts of this season to regenerate interesting activities for young children across our great state. With that thought-- I’m a really big fan of all things STEAM that is when Art is added to STEM (Science, Technology Engineering, and Mathematics). STEAM can be easily created by putting out some provocations such as boxes, masking tape, straws, yarn, cording, fabric, food packaging, paint, brushes, and other items of interest. Then the fun begins as children explore, have conversations, and make three dimensional creations unique to their interest and mind. This is an organic process where children explore materials and how they react with other materials. The creation can be flat but mostly tend to be three dimensional created through intriguing interactions in parallel or community play. Some of the web sites that I find helpful for free curricular activities for young children are 4-H STEM Lab at www.4-H.org , Instructables at www.instructables.com , Science  Buddies at www.sciencebuddies.org/ , The STEM Laboratory at https://thestemlaboratory.com/ .

Next, Consider creating a more permanent STEAM center in your facility/home called a Maker Space.  Maker Spaces are popping up all over the country mostly in libraries and schools. This is a place where creative minds can come together as like-minded individuals to trouble shoot challenges with their projects and creations. Sounds a lot like community play and engaging conversations.  

(Because I am a bit of a safety “nut”--I recommend referring to Caring for Our Children, third edition by the American Academy of Pediatrics to validate the safety of items placed in the environment.  ie-styrofoam, balloons)

Fran Apland
sdaeyc Vice President

Accreditation Updates
Susan Ratkovsky, Accreditation Chair

Currently there are 6 centers in South Dakota that are NAEYC accredited. 

278542
Ellsworth AFB Child Development Center 1314 LeMay Blvd., Ellsworth AFB, SD 57706
Phone: (605) 385-2488

285481
Citi Family Center 4800 North 4th Avenue, Sioux Falls, SD 57104
Phone: (605) 782-2020

291574
Fishback Center for Early Childhood Education 1057 8th Street PC 136, Brookings, SD 57007
Phone: (605) 688-5698

722930
Enemy Swim Day School FACE Program 13525 446th Avenue, Waubay, SD 57273
Phone: (605) 947-4605

728808
The Early Learning Center of Brookings 401 1st Avenue, Brookings, SD 57006
Phone: (605) 696-7488

729019
Northern Hills Alliance for Children 85 Custer Avenue, Ft. Meade, SD 57741
Phone: (605) 347-7001

NAEYC has made quite a number of changes this year to the accreditation process.

For more information please contact Susan Ratkovsky 605-385-2490 or susan.ratkovsky@us.af.mil
South Dakota Association for the Education of Young Children
sdaeyc@gmail.com
sdaeyc.org