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Early Learning Center

Family Connections


October 25, 2024


Spotlight in this Issue


  • Letter from the Co-Directors
  • Anniversary Party Details
  • Child Screening Tool
  • Congratulations Team!
  • New Assistant Director
  • Read for the Record
  • Important Dates

Welcome School Family

Welcome to the 2024/2025 school year! Whether you are new to the ELC community or a returning family, we are thrilled to partner with you and your children. Thank you for choosing the ELC…our school family is better and stronger because of you.


We have hit that magical time in a school year when the children have settled into their new routines and friendships. They have been empowered by their teaching teams to be creative, freely explore, and gently challenge themselves and others to build their own classroom communities. We have many fun events planned in the upcoming weeks – all designed to continue to build relationships among children, families, and our ELC team. This newsletter will share important details about our upcoming Anniversary Party, exciting literacy opportunities, and additional ways to be involved in your child’s education. We cannot wait to play and learn with all of you!


The school year is now smoothly underway, but it was by far one of our more challenging to kick off. As many of you know, we came out of the summer season with many open teaching positions…some that were well planned and others that were not. Despite our best efforts, we went into the fall with open positions leading to a choppy transition season and sometimes unpredictable coverage in our classrooms. This is not how we like to operate because we know it is not best practice for children, their families, or our beloved team. Recruiting qualified educators who are passionate about early childhood education has become increasingly more difficult since the pandemic. It is an industry issue for us and a societal problem many years in the making. We are working diligently with our UD recruiting team to seek solutions. Thank you for your patience and understanding as we continue to work through staffing concerns. This newsletter highlights new team members as well as exciting new promotions! This exciting news also comes with the fact that we have 4 classroom assistant positions currently open in our Infant and Toddler department. This age group is the most challenging to find great professionals…so unfortunately, our progress is slow.


Many families have reached out to learn how they can help…thank you! Word of mouth is powerful- referring potential candidates in our direction would be wonderful. The other way families always help is in retention of our current team. Our ELC family is mission driven and invested in you and your children. The number one reason team members stay once hired is the connections that they have built with children and families and their amazing colleagues. You all play a significant role in sustaining our ELC community. We believe in the power of partnerships and over the next several weeks you will have many opportunities to continue to strengthen your partnerships with teaching teams…we cannot wait to hear all about it! Please join us in thanking our phenomenal team…the ELC would not be home without them!


See you at the Anniversary Party next week!


Jessica and Kelly

Anniversary Party - What You Need To Know!

Fall Festiversary...Celebrating our 20th Anniversary!!


Please join us for an afternoon of family, fun, & friendships!


Wednesday, October 30

4:00 pm - 5:30 pm


Important things you need to know!


  • The ELC will close to all children at 4pm. Families must pick children by 4pm so that all staff members may participate in the event.
  • Please pick up your child and proceed to the preschool playground
  • The entire parking lot has been reserved for event parking. Family members are strongly encouraged to carpool as we anticipate a full house.
  • Please note that the parking extends all the way down to the James F. Hall Trail by the woods. As always, please drive slowly and carefully through the parking lots.


You can look forward to the following activities:


  1. Dinner! Please bring a small blanket or towel to enjoy a fall picnic. The weather looks like it is going to be beautiful!
  2. UD Creamery for dessert
  3. Musical artist, REEDO (aka Reed Diebler...fabulous ELC father) will be performing some of our favorite songs.
  4. Fall activities throughout the preschool playground
  5. Info tables highlighting the current research projects looking for ELC family volunteers, our local Newark Librarian- sign up for your own card on the spot, and New Directions Early Head Start.


At 4:45, please join us near the music as we take a few minutes to honor and celebrate our ELC team members and their years of outstanding service to families and our UD community. Past retirees have been invited to share in our fun!


Important Safety Tips:


This is a parent supervised event. Thank you for staying with your children once you sign them out so all can enjoy the afternoon. This is especially important for families with younger children as the outdoor learning environments are designed for 3-6 year olds. Please be aware of heights and small pieces.


Thank you for joining in the fun! We cannot wait to show our UD pride and party with you!


ASQ Child Screening Tool Update

The ELC uses a screening tool called Ages and Stages in order to check a child’s development, celebrate a child’s milestones and determine if follow-up steps are needed to support development. The Delaware Department of Education and Office of Child Care Licensing will begin monitoring the progress of ASQ:3 and ASQ:SE completion for each child, in efforts to meet the House Bill 202. Our program has been very successful in meeting this Bill requirements, thanks to families and teachers working together to complete the process in the Fall, or within 45 days of enrollment in the program.


Did you know that we have been able to have a better understanding of developmental progress, resulting in more services and early intervention for children at a quicker pace? We have been able to support speech and language development, fine motor and gross motor skills, and behavioral supports by completing the ASQ screenings. We even saw medical, vision and dental screenings supported by collecting this data. This is EXCITING news for the children of the ELC, and children from the state of DE! Thank you for doing your part!


Information went home via email on 10/24 with important information on how to complete this screening process. Thank you for promptly completing so any concerns can be included in November Family conferences if needed.


Deadline to complete screenings is November 6!

Congratulations ELC Team Members!

We have educational milestones, professional milestones and new friends to celebrate!


Please join us in congratulating Claudia Abreu Oliviera for earning her Child Development Associate Credential! This nationally recognized CDA now certifies her with a specialty in Infants and Toddlers!


Please join us celebrating the following team member promotions:


Ruthann Parsons has been promoted to the teacher position in Infant Room 5! Ruthann has been a classroom assistant at the ELC for over 17 years- almost exclusively in our infant program. She is phenomenal with the babies. She is incredibly organized and understands the importance of child routines – the very base of our infant and toddler curriculum. She has her Child Development Associate credential with a specialization in Infants and Toddlers as well as detailed training and experience in Head Start Performance Standards.

Claudia Abreu Oliviera has been promoted to the teacher position in Infant Room 3! Claudia has been a classroom assistant in our infant program 2 years. She just earned her Child Development Associate Credential with a specialty in Infants and Toddlers. Claudia speaks 3 languages and includes rich multi-lingual activities in her infant programming. Claudia enjoys the infant age group- finding great joy and beauty in watching child development unfold on a daily basis.


Sarah Olsen has been promoted to Program Coordinator- a new role for us at the ELC! Sarah has been a teacher at the ELC for 2 years. She had floated in all age groups, as well as being a lead teacher in preschool and school age. Sarah has a B.S. in Human Services and recently completed a Master’s of Arts in Strategic Communications. Sarah is a part of the admin team, supporting the overall ELC program and working alongside Becky, our Teacher Coordinator. Their office is located in the infant/toddler wing. Sarah will still jump in to support classrooms, as needed. We are excited to have Sarah lead our hiring processes for part time staff.


We would like to welcome the following new team members:


Olivia Hudson joined the ELC team as a teacher for Preschool One. Olivia is a recent graduate from UD, with a B.S. in Early Childhood and special education. She was also a part time staff member at the ELC during her College years, after having several student placement experiences here. Olivia jumps right in and has been an important float for us during her first two months. Olivia has already started her Master’s degree, with an emphasis on Exceptional Children.

 

Jennifer Levi is in Preschool one as a teammate to Olivia. Jen has both a B.A. and M.S. in Psychology. She worked for 15 years supporting children ages 2-21, families and teachers through therapeutic behavioral supports. As the years progressed, she moved into a more management/supervisor role and was eager to come back to working directly with children.

 

Anitharani (Anitha) Liguoriraj has joined the preschool team as classroom assist in PS2, with Ms. Kylie. Anitha comes to us with rich work experiences- lead teaching experience in a small center, a substitute teacher and a nanny. She has a true passion for working with young children and is a great addition to the ELC. 

 

New Assistant Director Joins the Leadership Team!


Emily Coyle has joined our team as an Assistant Director, Social and Emotional Coach (SEL). She is a Board Certified Behavioral Specialist, with experience in the field supporting children, their teachers and their families. She has jumped right in to the ELC, quickly getting to know children and supporting staff. Her main priority is working with children on emotional regulation skills. She will do this both intentionally through activities, small groups and interactions, and also seek out additional teaching opportunities during natural play. The teachers will connect with her about ideas, plans and any concerns that might need some additional supports. She will connect with families as well. Be on the lookout for information related to social and emotional learning and/or opportunities for family workshops.


Her office is located in the CARES room in the preschool wing.


A little bit about Emily...from Emily


I am so excited to get to know all of you and support where I can. I few things about me, I am born and raised in Delaware. I currently live in Hockessin with my fiance, Gabe and our dog, Hank. In 2020, I graduated from Neumann University with a Pre-Occupational Therapy Degree. After my undergraduate work I got an internship at an autism clinic where I quickly changed my OT route. I fell in love with the behavior, social emotional learning side of things and decided to get my masters in Special Education with a focus in Applied Behavior Analysis from Florida Institute of Technology.


Prior to joining the ELC, I was working as the BCBA and Behavioral Specialist at Delaware School for the Deaf for almost 3 years. I look forward to getting to know you and work with all of your families!


You can reach me at emcoyle@udel.edu- or feel to stop in and visit!


Did You Know?

On Thursday, October 24, 2024, The entire ELC participated in Jumpstart's 19th Annual Read for the Record Day! Over two million readers and thousands of classrooms, libraries and communities came together to celebrate early literacy by reading Piper Chen Sings by Grammy Award-Winning Hamilton star Phillipa Soo and Maris Pasquale Doran.


Piper Chen Sings is a story about a young girl who loves to express herself through singing but is struck with self-doubt and nervousness when asked to perform a solo in front of an audience. Piper tells her Nai Nai that she felt “like butterflies were having a dance party” in her belly; she doesn’t feel she can sing in front of others without making a mistake. Thankfully, Nai Nai teaches Piper that feeling butterflies means “something exciting was ahead” and that recognizing and welcoming that anxious feeling would help it pass. Nai Nai’s advice empowers Piper, who finds her voice on stage.  

 

The ELC added our numbers to the nation-wide count...163 children and 37 adults! Way to continuing to celebrate early literacy with our children!

Family Committee

We are looking to add some new members to our Family Committee at the ELC!

 

As a community of learners, our vision is to create equitable learning experiences that instill confidence, resiliency, compassion and creativity for all who are a part of the ELC. We believe that the Family Committee will be a way to enrich and support that vision. The ELC Family Committee will meet a minimum of once every two months (in person and zoom options) and will focus on a variety of topics that impact the center as a whole. Members of the committee are expected to attend all meetings and contribute to any ongoing projects or topics of discussion.

 

If you are interested in learning more about the Family Committee, or would like to apply to be a part of the committee, please email Jessica Peace at jpeace@udel.edu.

 

Important ELC Days Ahead


10/30 Festiversary at 4:00. (see information above)

11/4 Milburn Orchard’s trip for PS2 through PK8

11/5 ELC is CLOSED for Election Day

11/4 - 11/8 Scholastic Book Fair in ELC Lobby - more details to come!

11/25 - 11/27 ELC CLOSED - Family Conferences and PD

11/28 - 11/29 ELC CLOSED for Thanksgiving

Kelly Freel kfreel@udel.edu Jessica Peace jpeace@udel.edu

University of Delaware Early Learning Center| www.elc.udel.edu