August 25, 2021

Welcome to the
ELRC 8, 9, & 10 Newsletter
Your source for all relevant resources, updates, PD, and events relating to Child Care and School Age Care in your region!
OCDEL Updates
ARPA Stabilization Grant Update - Eligibility

The Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) is making American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Stabilization Grants available to eligible child care providers. This email will help you understand whether your certified child care center,...

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myemail.constantcontact.com
Ending of Child Care Certification Regulations Suspensions

This announcement serves as the notification that Announcement C-20-04 Revised Suspension of Regulatory Requirements for Certified Child Care Facilities During the COVID-19 Pandemic has been updated with a sunset date (end date) of Sept. 30,...

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myemail.constantcontact.com
Restoring Child Care Works Invoicing, Attendance and Payment

This policy obsoletes ELRC Policy Announcement 20#17 Child Care Works Payment During the Proclamation of Disaster Emergency and ELRC Policy Announcement 21 #04 Child Care Works Payment During the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) in its entirety...

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myemail.constantcontact.com
OCDEL ECE Recap Aug. 23, 2021

Welcome to the ECE Recap where you can find the most recent and important information from the Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL). View as Webpage Did you know ARPA St

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myemail.constantcontact.com
ELRC Updates
Provider COVID Absences 

A friendly reminder that COVID Absences must still be reported on every attendance invoice through 9/31/2021. Paper invoices should be marked “CA” on any COVID absent days. Online invoices should include a note for each child with dates of absence due to COVID. Also, please be sure to remind your parents/caregivers they must inform you of any absences that are due to COVID.

Effective Oct. 1, 2021, all attendance and invoicing policies will be restored to regular policy. Please contact your provider liaison with any additional questions. Thank you! 
ELRC Learning Opportunities
STARS Workgroup for Staff
 
Quality Coach Sara Copeland is offering a STAFF compliment to the “Supporting Staff’s PD Plans” workgroup offered to Directors in April!
 
She will walk staff through the Registry, review STARS Requirements and the basics of searching for Professional Development. If you have staff who could use more information about the PD Registry this is a great workgroup for them to attend! You may have multiple staff who you’d like to attend this workgroup so it is being offered 3 times; staff only need to attend once.
 
Thursday, August 26th 6-7 PM
 
Please RSVP to Sara with:
  • Location Name
  • Staff Name
  • Workgroup Preference

Tuesday, August 31, 1-2 PM
Thursday, September 2, 6:30-7:30 PM

Topics include universal precautions, handwashing, sanitizing and disinfections, diapering, and infectious diseases.

RSVP to Stephanie Mundorf to reserve your spot and receive the Zoom link. Please include your name, program name, and which session you'd like to attend.

Wednesday, September 8 - *New Time-10:00 a.m-12:00 noon*

School is back in session (hopefully)! But after such an unusual year of social distancing and isolation from peers and group settings, it should be no surprise that children are out of practice with (or never learned) appropriate ways of working, playing, or being together.

For more information and to register, click here.
Conscious Discipline: Building Resilient Schools and Homes Community of Practice
 
Early Childhood teachers and directors are invited to participate in a CoP that will use the Conscious Discipline Interactions Foundation. Each participant will receive an e-ticket and access to the 10 sessions plus additional materials on www.consciousdiscipline.com. The meetings will be held via Zoom. This training will meet STARS Indicators SQ 3.4.4 and SQ 3.4.5.
 
Please share this opportunity with your teachers. Space is limited so register ASAP if interested.
 
For more information and to register, click here
 
We will still have slots available even though we are past the application deadline.

The experts at the Pyramid Model Consortium have developed online training modules to strengthen your implementation of all three tiers of the effective framework for nurturing social-emotional skills.
 
Child Care Consultants has purchased access to a limited number of these modules to be given to qualified providers. Selected programs must agree to print handouts, have selected staff complete the modules, and schedule participating staff to participate in follow-up TA calls or visits (1 or 4 depending on the length of the module). Because these are online modules with self-check tests, one person must be the assigned participant, but multiple staff may use the modules and handouts. (Note: two CCC staff will be receiving monthly reports on training participation.) All STAR levels are eligible and invited to participate.
 
Click here to access the application.  
Resources
The resource below is for providers in every county, not just Lancaster. Click on the flyer to download and access the link!
Social-Emotional Learning


Featuring ten questions drawn from Jen Alexander's recent ebook Supporting Students and Staff After COVID-19 , this quiz is a great way to assess your basic knowledge of trauma-sensitive concepts.

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view.s6.exacttarget.com
Free Printable: Creating Optimistic Thinking

As we can start to see an end to this pandemic and with all that we have endured the past year, it's time to look back to a key character strength to help us push forward-optimism! Optimism can be defined in the dictionary as "hopefulness and...

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blog.pathsprogram.com
Free Printable: Teaching Social Cues

Recently we conducted a very non-scientific poll in our PATHS Educators Facebook Group on what topic they are most concerned about for their students when returning to in-person instruction this fall. The winning topic was "understanding social...

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blog.pathsprogram.com
Family Providers
FCC Toolkit - GeeWhiz Education

NEW! Gee Whiz Family Child Care Toolkit At Gee Whiz, we want to support you by providing resources you can use with providers. Please check out our new toolkit that contains numerous links to free resources on our website and/or YouTube channel....

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geewhizeducation.com
Using the Business Administration Scale for Family Child ...

Soon after my daughter was born over 30 years ago, the early care and education center I was teaching at closed. Becoming a family child care provider seemed like the perfect way to spend time with my newborn child and my son, who attended the...

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mccormickcenter.nl.edu
School Age Providers
School Age Care/Out of School Time PD Opportunities

Click on each flyer below to download for more information.
School Age Care and Out of School Time K-6th Grade Trauma Informed Serices
School Age Care Spotlight on Social Emotional Standards
Enhancing Your School Age Care of Out of School Program with Social Justice Standards
Health, Safety, & Wellness
Seeking Licensed Child Care Providers for PA NAPSACC Mini-Grant Project Focused on Children’s Health

Grant application deadline September 3, 2021

Child care providers are entrusted by families with the care and well-being of their children. Amidst a world-wide pandemic, child care served as a lifeline for families, adapting routines and policies to ensure that children are safe, healthy and secure. In a time when health practices are more critical than ever, child care providers are in a position to make a pivotal difference in children’s lives by helping them form positive nutrition and physical activity habits.

The Pennsylvania Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Child Care (PA NAPSACC) program is a continuous quality improvement process focused on obesity prevention practices and policies within early care and education settings. The program utilizes Go NAPSACC, an on-line, evidence-based tool, to guide programs through self-assessment, action planning, implementation, policy development, re-self-assessment, and reflection. The process empowers program leadership and includes individualized technical assistance to increase knowledge and improve quality of practice and policy. Programs will also participate in online technical assistance networks focused on policy development, which will be led by a Child Care Health Consultant at no cost to the site. This consultant will review current practices and policies, assist with developing sustainable policies, and offer guidance for continuous quality improvement.

Full details about the grant and how to apply can be found HERE.
To apply, click here.
Please contact Lori McMonigal at lmcmonigal@tiu11.org or 717-248-4942 x 112 with questions.
Why wear a mask? 

When teachers, staff, and children who are not fully vaccinated wear a mask, they protect others as well as themselves.

  • Given new evidence on the B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant, CDC recommends universal indoor masking for all teachers, staff, students, and visitors in child care and K-12 schools, regardless of vaccination status.
  • Mask use is recommended for people who are not fully vaccinated and vaccinated, including children and staff.
  • Children under 2 years of age should not wear a mask.

School and early care and education program administrators may choose to make mask use universally required in your child’s school or ECE program if

  • Children are younger than 12 and are not yet eligible for vaccination.
  • The number of COVID-19 cases is increasing or high in the school or your community.
  • The number of cases caused by a variant of concern is increasing or high in the school or your community.
  • The school or ECE program is not able to monitor the vaccine status of children, teachers, or staff.
  • The school or ECE program cannot enforce mask policies that are not universal.
  • The number of students or people in your community who are vaccinated is low.

Schools and early care and education programs can make exceptions for children who cannot wear a mask or cannot safely wear a mask.

Masks are required on all public transportation, including school buses and vans. Regardless of the mask policy at school, passengers and drivers must wear a mask on school buses operated by public or private school systems.

Click here for more information.
Have you been seeing an increase in the children diagnosed with RSV? 

We have been seeing an increase of children with RSV since the middle of summer so here is some information to help you when caring for those children.

RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) is a virus that causes the common cold and other respiratory signs or symptoms, mostly in children younger than 2 years of age up until the age of 4 years old. It is usually seen in the winter and early spring but this year it is happening in the summer because of quarantining for COVID. Children are beginning to be in closer contact with many more children for perhaps the first time in many months.

Signs and symptoms include cold-like symptoms, runny nose, congestion, cough. Very young infants can exhibit irritability, poor feeding, lethargy, apnea (brief periods of no breathing), cyanosis, skin turning blue (usually when coughing), or they may have bronchiolitis, wheezing and pneumonia.

Incubation is usually 2-6 days; contagious period is 3-8 days and usually begins a day or so before symptoms. It is spread by droplets and contact with secretions that a child form when a child talks, coughs, or sneezes. The virus can live on surfaces and floor for many hours and 30 minutes or more on hands.

Control of Spread- Good hand washing and sanitizing prevent contact with respiratory secretions, as well as teaching children and everyone correct cough procedure. Dispose of facial tissues after each use.

Exclusions from Group Setting- Children do not need to be excluded from the group setting, unless the child exhibits rapid or labored breathing or cyanotic. If the child is unable to participate and staff members determine that they cannot care for the child without compromising their ability to care for the health and safety of the other children in the group, they may be excused from care. Children may return to the classroom when they are well enough to participate in the classroom activities.

Resources:
Parents & Families
Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: Family...

The challenges and collective trauma that we are all experiencing during these unprecedented times often feels overwhelming. Our resilience - understand it and fostering it - has never been more important. This is true for each and every one of...

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zoom.us
How to Handle a Tough First Day of School | Parenting...

Kids bring so many emotions to the first week of school: excitement and fear, wonder and worry. So when something goes wrong, it can feel overwhelming. Here are four ways you can help kids navigate heading back to school.

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www.pbs.org
How to Make Safety a Part of Your Back-to-School Plans

The beginning of the school year can be overwhelming and exciting at the same time, both for kids and parents. As we all continue to keep ourselves as safe as possible during the pandemic, let's not forget to remain vigilant in our efforts to...

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www.safekids.org
PDO
Thank you for considering HACC’s CDA classes! After distributing the packet some changes occurred with the process. The requirement to complete the PDO@PASSHE eligibility application still applies, but we also need to know who has completed that step by also contacting Melissa directly or by registering on the PA Keys PD Registry. You can register for your class choice on the PD Registry by searching “HACC” in the course title or entering the name of the instructor in the appropriate search field. If you have any questions, feel free to email Melissa at manageng@hacc.edu.
Professional Development: on the PD Registry
PQA Virtual Program Observation Instrument (POI) PD Statewide Calendar for Sept. 2021 through June 2022. Click on the document above to download a copy of this calendar.
PQA Virtual Environmental Rating Scale (ERS) PD Statewide Calendar for Sept. 2021 through June 2022. Click on the document above to download a copy of this calendar.
Professional Development: Other Trainings
9/1 - Driving Continuous Quality Improvement with CLASS®

As the trusted leader in CLASS-driven measurement and mentoring, Teachstone has the proven expertise schools need to nurture better student outcomes, one classroom at a time. With decades of early childhood education research as a foundation, we...

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info.teachstone.com
9/2 - Asking Good Questions to Support Children’s Thinking..

Children learn through conversations with us. But sometimes we ask children so many questions that we don’t leave much room for children to lead. In a true conversation, adults pay attention to what children are curious about and leave room...

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event.on24.com
9/14 - Why and How to Talk to Kids about Microaggressions

Microaggressions are the "everyday slights, indignities and insults committed against marginalized groups because of their membership to those groups." (Professor Derald Sue). Microaggressions are hard to talk about, on one hand, because when we...

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us02web.zoom.us
9/16- How to Talk to Kids about Race and Racism

Presented by Sonia Manzano, Thurs. 9/16, 8 PM ET. Talking to kids about race and racism can be complicated and potentially uncomfortable, but it is a critical step to raising them to become our most empathetic and compassionate generation yet. To...

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www.watch.psu.edu
Additional Online Training Opportunities
News
Outdoor Insights - Nature Explore Program

There are times in our work as educators, that call for us to slow down, take a breath and be in the moment with a child. When we do this, a child feels valued and heard. They learn to ask their own questions and explore what makes their hearts sing.

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natureexplore.org
Additional News Sources
Thank you for all you do for children, families, and your community by being part of the STARS program.

Sincerely,
Child Care Consultants
(717) 854-2273 or
(800) 864-4925