Greetings!
Early Learning Update Week of November 27th, 2023
Items Covered:
· December Monthly Early Learning Professional Development: “Sensory and the Brain: Promoting Self-Regulation and Learning” - Thursday, December 7th from 6:00pm – 8:00pm
· Butterfly Pediatrics Monthly Meeting – Tuesday, November 28th at 3:15pm
· Licensed ONLY – Must complete 10 Hours of STARS In-Service Training by December 31st, 2023
· Licensed ONLY - Licensing “WAC” of the week – Individual Care Plan
1.) December Monthly Early Learning Professional Development: “Sensory and the Brain: Promoting Self-Regulation and Learning” - Thursday, December 7th 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.
December’s training is offered by IMPACT and is called “Sensory and the Brain: Promoting Self-Regulation and Learning.” The training will take place virtually on Zoom on Thursday, December 7th from 6:00pm – 8:00pm. Please see description and registration below:
Description: Do you like roller coasters? Do you hate spicy foods? We all have sensory preferences that guide the things we seek out and the things we avoid. Many “challenging behaviors” are actually a child’s attempts to regulate their sensory system, so join us to learn how to recognize sensory-seeking and sensory-avoiding behaviors in the classroom. This course teaches brain-based strategies that effective teachers use to get entire classrooms of children regulated and ready to learn. We put this into practice with a case study to identify an individual child’s sensory needs and walk through the whole process together – connecting a child’s behaviors to their sensory needs and then creating an easy-to-follow plan for supporting those needs in the classroom. As a bonus, you’ll get a printable Sensory Matrix template that you can customize for your students and use again and again in your classroom.
2.) Butterfly Pediatrics Monthly Meeting – Tuesday, November 28th 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, November 28th at 3:15pm.
To make the most of our hour with them can you please email me at
david.mayer@seattlearch.org by Monday, November 27
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!
Join the meeting on Tuesday, November 28th at 3:15pm:
3.) Licensed ONLY – Must complete 10 Hours of STARS In-Service Training by December 31st, 2023
All staff working in Licensed Programs must complete 10 Hours of STARS In-Service Training by December 31st, 2023. In addition to the two hour December 7th training listed above please see below for other options:
·
Go to the Professional Development tile on the Early Learning Webpage and click on upcoming trainings. As a reminder if there are trainings with costs connected to them each staff person can get up to $250 reimbursed every year through the state when taking trainings from state approved trainers. The application for reimbursement is the first link under “upcoming trainings”. Each staff can only turn this in once per year so if you are planning to use the application for multiple trainings list them all before submitting the form.
Early Learning Professional Development - My Catholic School
4.) Licensed ONLY - Licensing “WAC” of the week – Individual Care Plan
If you have a child in your program with special needs you must develop an individual care plan. The Individual Care Plan focuses on activity, behavioral, or environmental modifications OR food allergy or dietary needs. The WAC highlights what must be included in the care plan and what individuals need to be informed in the process (Director, Lead Teacher, Parent/Guardian, health professional). Below I have included a link to the WAC for the specific items that need to be included based on the need and I have also linked the DCYF template for the Individual Care Plan. If the Care Plan includes Medication you will also have to fill out the Medication Authorization Form (link below). Please reach out to me if you have any questions.
Have a great week!
