Greetings!
Early Learning Update Week of October 16th, 2023
Items Covered:
· Reminder: Please share this newsletter with the rest of your staff team
· Butterfly Pediatrics Monthly Meeting – Tuesday, October 24th at 3:15pm
· November Monthly Early Learning Professional Development: “Every Book is a Math Book” - Tuesday, November 14th from 6:00pm – 8:00pm
· Licensed ONLY Reminder – Must complete 10 STARS Hours by December 31st, 2023
· Licensed ONLY - Licensing “WAC” of the week – Outdoor Early Learning Program Space
1.) Reminder: Please share this newsletter with the rest of your staff team
A friendly reminder that in most cases this weekly newsletter is only sent to one staff at your program. That staff has been identified as the “Director” or “Lead” of the program. The reason I do this is to make the management of the list much easier rather than trying to keep up with each program’s staff changes. My hope is that when you receive this newsletter each week that you forward to the rest of the Early Learning staff on your team so they have all of the information. Thank you!
2.) Butterfly Pediatrics Monthly Meeting – Tuesday, October 24th at 3:15pm
We have been having wonderful monthly sessions with our Partners at Butterfly Pediatrics over the course of the last year and a half as their experts join us virtually to answer your questions and give resources/ideas about behavior, social emotional needs and sensory processing situations in your classrooms. We are moving the date and the time for these sessions to make them more convenient for all programs to attend. They will now take place the fourth Tuesday of each month at 3:15pm. Our next virtual session will be Tuesday, October 24th at 3:15pm.
To make the most of our hour with them can you please email me at
david.mayer@seattlearch.org by Friday, October 20
th any behavior, social emotional needs and sensory processing situations you are dealing with that you would like the experts from Butterfly Pediatrics to discuss during the virtual meeting. I will be sending these case studies in advance to the Butterfly team so they can be prepared to give you as much information as possible during our time together. Even if you are not able to join the meeting, you can still submit situations and we will record the conversations and send a recording link. Also, please feel free to also send this information to your Kindergarten, 1
st and 2
nd grade teachers as they are now invited to these meetings as well! Thank you!
3.) November Monthly Early Learning Professional Development: “Every Book is a Math Book”– Tuesday, November 14th from 6:00pm – 8:00pm
Each month we will be offering a FREE Professional Development Training facilitated by one of our great Professional Development Partners. These trainings are available for any Early Learning staff and will have STARS and CLOCK hours available for those that need it.
November’s training is offered by Molly Daley from ESD 112 and is called “Every Book in a Math Book.” The training will take place on Tuesday, November 14th from 6:00pm – 8:00pm and will be a hybrid training. When registering you will have the option to take the training virtually via zoom OR be in person with Molly at the ESD 112 offices in Vancouver (a cool opportunity for our schools in the southwest part of the state). Please see description and registration below:
Description: Reading books together is a familiar and comforting routine for early learners. This creates a safe space for children and grown-ups to explore math ideas together! This session will focus on strategies for mathematizing the books we read, even those that don’t appear to be mathematical at first.
Outcomes:
· Participants will understand the importance of inviting mathematics into established and familiar literacy routines.
· Participants will consider the mathematical aspects of a variety of books (overtly mathematical or covertly mathematical).
· Participants will engage with strategies to mathematize children’s literature.
4.) Licensed ONLY Reminder – Must complete 10 STARS Hours by December 31st, 2023
As a reminder all early learning professionals except volunteers must complete 10 hours of in-service STARS training annually. Hours are calculated using calendar year, January 1 – December 31.
5.) Licensed ONLY - Licensing “WAC” of the week – Outdoor Early Learning Program Space
There are 12 items to review in the Outdoor Early Learning Program Space WAC. It covers everything from Size, Shade, Fencing and Gates. Please take a look to see if your outdoor Early Learning Space is in compliance. If there is an item you are concerned about at your program please get in touch with me so we can work out solutions. Thanks!
Have a great week!
