SPRING HAS SPRUNG!

Greetings Early Learning Educators and Partners,

Spring is finally peeking out at us, inviting us to embrace a renewed energy as we enter this delightful season. CCRN is in full swing with training opportunities, fun classroom ideas, and resources for you to share with the children and families that you work with. We are highlighting just a few of these opportunities in this newsletter along with our robust training calendar. Feel free to reach out to our team if you have any questions or ideas to offer.

CCRN Spring Break!

The office will be closed on March 28^th and 29^th during spring break. We will return on Monday, April 1^st, 2024.

If you know of anyone who would like to be included in this newsletter, please encourage them to reach out to the CCRN team at ccrn@soesd.k12.or.us and we will add them to the list. We also enjoy hearing from you. Please reach out anytime if you have any ideas that we can share in our next newsletter, including success stories!

We all wish you a warm and joyful spring!

Candelaria, Cynthia, Devon, Kevin, Katrina, Lorena, Louise, Martha, Molly

2024 Spring Training Calendar

CCRN Website

Online Training Registration Form

Important Information from Around the Nation

Week of the Young Child® April 6-12, 2024

Today we know more than ever before about the importance of children's earliest years in shaping their learning and development. Yet, never before have the needs of young children and their families been more pressing.

The Week of the Young Child® is a time to recognize that children's opportunities are our responsibilities, and to recommit ourselves to ensuring that each and every child experiences the type of early environment—at home, at child care, at school, and in the community—that will promote their early learning.

Children cannot play without learning and cannot learn without playing.

– Stacy Benge, Child Development Specialist and Author

We also invite you to check out this great article from NAEYC titled, “How to support Children’s Approaches to Learning? Play with them!”

There are many other useful articles on their website on a variety of topics. Let us know which ones were helpful to you so we can share them with others.

Supporting Learning through Play!

NAEYC Week of the Young Child Resource Website

Music Monday

Message in a Backpack™ Make Animal Music

Tasty Tuesday

Message in a Backpack™ Learning through Everyday Activities

Work Together Wednesday

Message in a Backpack™ Harnessing the Joy of Open-Ended Materials with Your Child

Artsy Thursday

Family Friday

Message in a Backpack™ Encouraging Process Art at Home: Reaping the Benefits of Joy and Making

Message in a Backpack™ Helping Your Child through Change

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month

A United Stand Against Child Abuse

April marks National Child Abuse Prevention (CAP) Month, an initiative led by Prevent Child Abuse America and its national network of state chapters. This year's theme “Building A Hopeful Future, Together,” focuses on creating a nurturing and supportive environment for children and families across the nation.

Unite in a Sea of Blue #WearBlueDay:

Date: April 5th

What You Can Do: Dress in blue to stand in solidarity with child abuse prevention efforts.

Get Social: Capture the moment and share it on your social media platforms. Use the hashtag #WearBlueDay2024 to join the nationwide wave of support.

Spread the Word: Encourage your friends, family, and colleagues to participate and raise awareness about the importance of preventing child abuse.

Prevent Child Abuse Oregon Website

Regional Updates, Information, & Opportunities

Family Fun-Fair held in Grants pass on April 13^th, 9AM-2PM

Native American Student Union (NASU, SOU Powwow held on April 13^th and 14^th

Southern Oregon Early Learning Services Hub (SOELS) has many valuable resources and supports for children and families. To view their latest newsletter and learn more about them, please click the link below:

SOELS Newsletter

Update From DELC: Written Care Plans

Do you care for a child who experiences a disability or who has an established IFSP or IEP?
Do you care for a child who experiences any chronic health issues (such as a feeding tube or sensory issue)?
Do you care for a child who has specific care needs (for example, a previous serious illness or injury that may impact the child in some way)?
Do you care for a child who is prescribed a medication for continuous, long-term use (like an inhaler for asthma)?
Do you care for a child who experiences a need for support that is unique?

If you’ve answered yes to any of these questions, the Written Care Plan is a great way to address the assistance or accommodation that is needed to support the child!

An appropriate time to develop a Written Care Plan is when these types of issues are shared by a parent/guardian during the enrollment process. However, a Written Care Plan can be developed at any time the child is in your care and you learn about a specific need.

The parent/guardian of the child will complete the Written Care Plan and give it back to you. Don’t be afraid to ask follow-up questions! Open communication with families is the best way to meet their child’s needs. And the more you know about the children in your program, the better you can set up the child care environment to meet the needs of all children.

Please see the attached example of a Written Care Plan, and feel free to use it as often as needed!

Written Care Plan: What Providers Need to Know!

Early Educators Survey! WE want to hear from you!

Please take a few minutes to fill out our Early Educator’s survey titled: “The Importance of Professional Development That Matters.” We are collecting information to assess which training would best meet your PD needs in Early Education. Thank you for your time!

Click the link to take the survey:

Early Educator's Survey

CCRN and Family Support and Connections Open Job Postings!

We currently have the following positions open. If you know of anyone that wants to work for an amazing team, refer them to us today! Spanish speaking is encouraged to apply, but not required. Below are the links.

Preschool Promise QIS/Coach

Administrative Assistant

Family Intervention Specialist

Business Quality Improvement Specialist

Spark, Oregon’s Continuous Quality Improvement program, comes with lots of benefits and is a great way to demonstrate your program’s commitment to quality care. The Spark website recently received an amazing makeover – go to https://oregonspark.org/

Contact CCRN with questions or information and to start the Spark journey today.

Family Support and Connections (FS&C) Support Brochures

Support for families

Being a parent can sometimes be stressful, and all families can use a little help from time to time. Family Support and Connections offers free, voluntary services to help reduce that stress. You can choose what support you want for your family. A Family Advocate from your community will help you get services that meet your needs. Click link below to learn more and apply for services.

Family Support Website

Family Support Brochure

Training Registration Reminder!!

Please Remember that to receive credit for a training session you must:

Attend the session (this is verified by the training attendance report)
Be active in the chat of that session (this is verified by reviewing the saved chat)
PRE-Registered through CCRN

If attending a CCRN webinar, rather than a statewide webinar, you can participate by either: being active in the chat, unmuting yourself and speaking, and/or keeping your camera on. You must participate in some way, or you will not receive credit.

If you share the link to a session with your co-worker who has not pre-registered through CCRN we will not know to look for them in the attendance report and the chat, and they will not receive credit for the session in ORO. If you have attended a training session and have not received credit, please feel free to contact us at CCRN and we can look into this further for you!

To register for a training session please click the link below to register through our online registration form or you can call the CCRN training request line at 541-776-6768.

Please reach out with any questions you may have! CCRN's Main Office Number is 541-776-8590x1126.

Online Training Registration Form

We are Here to Help!

Please reach out to Child Care Resource Network with questions or for assistance with your child care program. Consider joining a Focused Child Care Network and participating in Spark. There are lots of opportunities out there for professional growth and development and we are here to help.

We wish you a bright and fun-filled spring!