The Long Island Pre-K Initiative is proud to be part of Long Island's Regional Technical Assistance Center for Pre-K and Early Education. Visit its web page for links to all partner organizations. Many have important COVID-19-related resources to offer: www.nassauboces.org/rtac
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April showers bring
May flowers...
and workshops!
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PLC: Sharing How We Promote Outdoor Learning
A professional learning circle - or PLC - is comprised of a group of educators that meets regularly, shares expertise and works collaboratively to learn from one another. With support from experienced moderators, this PLC will offer the opportunity for participants to share with one another some of their favorite practices for promoting outdoor learning in the Pre-K & Kindergarten classrooms.This is our final PLC Zoom session provided during the winter and spring that will serve as a platform to share and exchange ideas. Our PLCs are designed for teachers, teacher assistants, administrators, directors and other early educators.
Date: Wednesday, May 25, 2022
Time: 7:00pm – 8:00pm
Registration: Free, but registration is required
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Registration is Now Open
for the Summer Institute!
Inspire Children's Play with Loose Parts
Join Miriam Belogovsky, author of Loose Parts, for an exciting new webinar.
Loose parts are natural or synthetic found, bought, or upcycled materials—acorns, hardware, stones, aluminum foil, fabric scraps, for example—that children can move, manipulate, control, and change within their play. Loose parts are alluring and beautiful. Loose Parts capture children's curiosity, give free reign to their imagination, and encourage creativity. Dr. Belogovsky will provide inspiration and information about the ways everyday materials can support open-ended learning, enhance play, and empower children. She will demonstrate the immense educational and developmental benefits afforded by loose parts, and provide a framework that will guide and inspire educators and parents.
Date: Wednesday, June 29, 2022
Time: 9:00am – 12:00pm
Registration: $35
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Loose Parts at the Long Island Children's Museum
Join the staff at the Long Island Children’s Museum and learn to apply the principles of Loose Parts with some hands-on learning! This in-person program will take place at the Long Island Children’s Museum in Garden City. Enrollment is limited. This session is only open to registered participants.
Date: Wednesday, July 13, 2022
Time: 9:00am – 11:00pm
Registration: $20
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Pyramid Model Training
Are you looking for new research-based ways to reduce challenging behaviors and promote social-emotional competence in your early childhood classroom? The Pyramid Model, developed by the Center for Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning at Vanderbilt University, is a framework for developing a positive classroom environment. Enrollment is limited. This in-person workshop will take place at the Child Care Council of Suffolk in two sessions. on July 20 and 27th from 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Participants must attend both sessions.
Dates: Wednesdays, July 20 and July 27, 2022
Time: 9:30am – 1:00pm
Registration: Free, but registration is required. Please note that registration for both Pyramid sessions will close on July 7, 2022.
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How guided play benefits everyone |
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If you were to stop teaching young children via direct instruction and instead set up opportunities for play with a purpose attached, children could learn even more. The areas in which they might benefit would be literacy, numeracy and executive function skills that are important to academic success. According to an article by Jackie Mader in The Hechinger Report, researchers found that when children ages 3 through 8 participate in guided play, they come away with knowledge equal to that of children who receive direct instruction from teachers.
What is guided play? Unlike free play, it means that “there is a learning goal set by an adult, and children are gently steered to explore,” says Mader. Per the report that was examined for the story, the study found that children also learned a bit more in areas like numeracy and shapes. They were even able to better show agency with behavior and switching tasks. It has become clear that play is not just a carefree side note to learning, but also an important way to teach early skills.
An added benefit of guided play is that it doesn’t necessarily require a lot of adult interaction. For example, a climbing structure might be painted to show units of measurement; this would hopefully inspire children to take notice and discuss their climbing and how high they are going. Perhaps drawing a giant number line on the ground would encourage children to jump back and forth over it. In this way, educators become guides.
These findings are especially important right now because play helps to mitigate the trauma children have experienced throughout the pandemic. A study by the LEGO Foundation revealed that play can be so powerful that it “reduces inequality and closes achievement gaps between children ages 3 to 6,” says Mader. “While direct instruction gets information across quickly and is effective for certain skills or lessons in a classroom, ‘real learning’ occurs when children are active and engaged.” Children are often active and engaged when they play, but are more passive listeners when having to sit through direct instruction lessons.
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Early math supports lead to gains for vulnerable children |
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It is widely believed that when children demonstrate immediate academic gains in early-childhood programs, their steps forward often fade as they move into upper grades. However, according to an article by
Sarah D. Sparks in Education Week, a new study shows that math supports in earlier grades actually build on each other over years and create longer term benefits in both attendance and math achievement.
A research group evaluated Making Pre-K Count and High 5s math programs in New York City schools. They discovered that neither program on its own led to sustained math gains by the third grade. Interestingly, when children participated in both the preschool and kindergarten interventions, they actually performed better in math and were less likely to miss school by grade 3.
In the study, children were randomly assigned groups in standard preschools and kindergartens, or the preschool math curriculum alone or with High 5s. (High 5s is a kindergarten enrichment program “in which math tutors each met with three to four children for 30-minute math ‘clubs’ three times a week,” says Sparks.) The enrichment sessions included games, songs and other activities which helped to enhance math concepts, as opposed to simple counting drills in standard classes. The study's author, Shira Mattera, said that the results reveal that the effects of the programs are huge for children who have the most room to grow.
Additionally, by grade 3, attendance improved for participants who had taken part in two years of math enrichment. Mattera said that she “thinks it makes a nice addition to how people can think about the wide range of skills that children will be coming in with after COVID, because while some students may be coming in with lower skills, because they’ve missed opportunities, some children may have had a different set of opportunities and teachers are really going to have to differentiate across that.” This means that educators everywhere can use enrichment activities to meet the needs of a diverse population of children with various skills and experiences.
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Enjoy spring with fun picture books! |
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What better way to celebrate spring’s arrival than with books that focus on growth and longer, warmer days? Lindsay Barrett of WeAreTeachers compiled a list of 21 picture books to help enjoy the season. Here are a few of our favorites:
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The Spring Book, by Todd Parr. This book helps children mark non-denominational holidays on the calendar. After reading it, take a page from Parr’s book and “Go roll down some hills! Happy spring!”
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Singing in the Rain, by Tim Hopgood. Enjoy Hopgood’s story while relating his words to the lyrics of the classic song by Freed and Brown. Put a positive spin on rain by focusing on rainbows, galoshes, bright umbrellas and giant puddles.
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Spring Stinks: A Little Bruce Book, by Ryan T. Higgins. Ruth the Rabbit realizes that Bruce hates the smell of spring, so she decides to show him that spring has many wonderful scents. After enjoying this story, children can discuss seasonal smells that they enjoy.
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Abracadabra, it’s Spring!, by Anne Sibley O’Brien. In addition to the many fun “magic” words in this story (presto change-o and alakazam!) children “will enjoy guessing the rhyming words in the lift-the-flap ode to the signs of spring’s arrival,” says Barrett.
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Get ready for...
Children's Book Week!
May 2 through May 8
Children Don't forget to celebrate with the Children's Book Council. Explore their free resources, check out events, and chime in online using #HowDoYouBook. During the week they will also be enjoying the first Floyd Cooper Day in celebration of his inspiring and powerful work as an award-winning illustrator and author.
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Leadership Speaker Series with Dr. Kara Ahmed
Join the Early Childhood Career Development Center in person for a Leadership Speaker Series event with Dr. Kara Ahmed, the
NYC Department of Education's Deputy Chancellor of Early Childhood Education. She will discuss her perspective on leadership and how her career has developed. She'll also share her vision for early childhood in NYC. Space is limited- register today!
Date: Thursday, April 28, 2022
Time: 10:00am - 11:30pm
Location: Downtown Manhattan
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Apply for the Enhanced NYS B5
CUNY‐SUNY Workforce Scholarship Today!
Do you work in an Early Childhood Center or in a
Family/Group Family Day Care Center?
Would you like to earn a Credit-bearing
Credential, Certificate, two-year, four-year or graduate degree?
This scholarship is needs-based and designed to support individuals working 20 hours or more in a licensed early childhood center or Family/Group Family Day Care Center. New, returning, and current students are eligible to apply for an initial screening for the scholarship, which is managed and administrated by The New York Early Childhood Professional Development Institute’s Career Development Center in partnership with PDP, and funded by the federal Birth to 5 grant.
*The program will cover up to 9 credits or three courses.
Eligibility Requirements:
- You work in a licensed Early Childhood Center or Family/Group Family Day Care 20 hours or more.
- You intend to apply or already attend one of the CUNY or SUNY Schools on a part-time basis.
- Commit to meeting with Institute advisors to create and update a study plan three times per semester.
Sign up to attend an informational session HERE.
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71 Clinton Rd. Garden City, NY 11530-9195
Phone: 516-396-2220
www.nassauboces.org/pre-k
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