Infant Toddler Scavenger Hunt

The Environment Rating Scales looks for a lot of “stuff” in your environment.  There are many other facets to the ERS, but is a fun scavenger hunt to look for the stuff part of the ERS

ITERS  Center Infant/Toddler Classrooms

r Comfortable adult seating

r Soft toys (2X the number of children in the classroom)

r Cozy area

r Soft furnishings (chair, couch, bean bag chair, etc.)

r Mobile/hanging objects

r Number of items displayed within children’s eyesight _______________

r Photos of the children/families/pets

r Toddler art displayed

r Book area

r Books (2X the number of children)

r Books that display diversity in:

            Race/Culture _____

            Age  _______

            Abilities _______

r Books about:

            Animals _______

            Familiar routines  _______

            Familiar objects  ________

            Nature/science  ________

r Fine motor items:

            Grasp _____

            Shake _____

            Turn _____

            Push _____

            Pull _____

            Poke _____

            Put together  _____

            Use thumb/finger _____

            Scribbling ______

r Outdoors:

            r Sand play outdoors

r Water play outdoors

            r 2 surfaces

            r Protection from rain 

           

7-9 skills children can do outdoors:

                        1.

                        2.

                        3.

                        4.

                        5.

                        6.

                        7.

                        8.

                        9.

r Three art materials:

            1.

            2.

            3.       

r Music toys (1X number of children)  __________

r Three types of recorded music:

            1.

            2.

            3.

r Three types of blocks (at least 10 of each)

            1.

            2.       

            3.

r Near blocks:

            r Transportation 

            r Animals 

            r People 

r Dolls with 3 skin types

r Soft animals

r Telephones

r Pots/pans

r Dress ups

r Play furniture

r Foods

r Dishes/eating utensils

r Doll furniture

r Doll house

r Sand play indoors

r Water play indoors

r Nature/science pictures

r Living things

r Ways to experience nature

r Nature/science toys

r Ten items that show diversity (not counting dolls)

            r Race     

            r Culture

            r Age

            r Abilities

            r Gender

Feel Like You Are Herding Cats??

Transitions and group times can be the biggest challenges of the day.

Trying to move a whole group of children at once rarely goes well.  It results in waiting, which results in misbehavior.

From the All About ECERS: 

Generally, large group activities do not promote the type of learning from which young children benefit most because they are not individualized, hands-on, flexible and self-directed. 

If you look at the Group Time item in each of the ERS – ECERS, ITERS and FCCERS, you will notice that they are pretty anti-group time.  They favor limited large group times in favor of smaller groups and individual interactions. 

If you were to list your most challenging times of the day, I bet most of them are large group times and transitions, right?

Try this – list every time in the day you have all the children in your group doing the same thing at the same time, like:

Circle time
Art project
Washing hands
Snack
Getting coats/shoes on
Lining up to go outside
Music time
Storytime
Etc…

Are there any of these you could re-imagine?  Any that you could do in smaller groups?  We get stuck doing things the same way they have always been done, even when they don’t work for the adults or the children.

Try changing just one.  Maybe instead of a full group art project, or music time, you set it up at one table while there is free  choice of other activities.

Perhaps you could have one staff person take out the group of kids that has shoes on while you finish up with the others.

If it is not working the way it is, try changing it up.  If it works fine for you and the children, leave it as is.  Think about the quality of the learning time.  Are 100% of the children engaged?  Would there be another way to meet your learning objective rather than in a large group?

Give yourself permission to experiment.  Try something different and see how it goes. Just because it's always been done in a large group, doesn't mean it can't be different, and better!

What Does It Look Like On The Other Side??

What Does It Look Like On The Other Side??

Now that most of you are moving on to be assessed buy the UW and then to the coaching and $$ phase of Early Achievers, what will that look like??

Since it is just beginning (the first site in the state to get there is just going to begin the coaching now), details are still in the works.

You can expect a few things though:

·         Your coach will have lots more hours to give you that I did.  Expect visits at least monthly or more.  The actual amount will vary by your points and needs.

·         Your coach will work more directly with teachers in the classroom.  While I spent lots of time in the classrooms doing practice assessments, my work was primarily with directors and FCC owners.

·         You will work with your coach to set goals.  My goal with you was primarily to familiarize you with Early Achievers, practice the assessments and gather the points you need to get to the other side.  Your new goals will be your own.

·         You coach will use modeling, reflective practice, appreciative inquiry and other coaching techniques with you and your staff.  Again, my role was more of a point A to point B role.

·         You will get your improvement $$ soon after you area assigned a coach.  That will be great!

Your coach will be from Child Care Resources, but will not be me.  I will be continuing to guide new Early Achievers through the process of Level 2. 

We’ll still stay in contact, and I hope you will continue to come to the reflective practice group.  You’ll still need those 2 points for your next rating in 3 years, and the time to meet with other providers and learn, share and reflect to elevate your practice will be valuable to you ongoing.

Game Change

Game Change

As you know, DEL reviewed the first year of Early Achievers and made some MAJOR changes!

The most profound change is that they decided not to publish the “ratings”.  Once you have been rated, if you pass 30 points out of 100, you will be listed as having reached a “Quality Level of Excellence” 

So let’s look at the numbers…

If you pass the minimum level for the ERS (Environment Rating Scale) – which you have to do to move on, you would get 5 points. 

ERS is scored on a 1-7 continuum, with 7 considered excellent and 1 considered

inadequate.

Facility-level score determines points awarded for this component: (for centers,

this means an average of assessed classroom scores)

• 3.5 (5 points)

• 5 (10 points)

• 6 (15 points)

If you pass the minimum level for the CLASS assessment – which you have to do to move on, you would get 20 points (10 for each of the 2 parts)

CLASS: Instructional Support/Engaged Support for Learning domain looks at:

Facility-level score determines points awarded for this component: (for centers,

this is an average of assessed classroom scores)

• 2-3.4 (10 points)

• 3.5-4.4 (15 points)

• 4.5 & higher (20 points)

CLASS: Emotional Support & Classroom Organization/Emotional and Behavioral

Support domains look at:

Facility-level score determines points awarded for this component: (for centers,

this is an average of assessed classroom scores)

• 3.5-4.9 (10 points)

• 5.0-5.9 (15 points)

• 6.0 & higher(20 points)

Here is the math, then.   5 + 20 = 25.  From the remaining 45 possible points, you only need to get 5 more!!

The stakes that were so high, have been removed.  Instead of having to try to get above 70 points to get to Level 4, you now just need to make 30+. 

Whew!!  What a huge relief!!  Let’s move forward!!!

Getting the 5+ extra points will be quite easy: 

You may likely get some points in the Professional Development section.

If you have been participating in the reflective practice group – 2 points

I will be able to send you a detail of the dates and times I have worked with you – up to 3 points

Agreeing to wear the LENA recording device during the UW observation (just records interactions – with no expectation of any threshold) – 1 point

If you provide information for families about resources in the community – 1 point

The list goes on… 

As long as you meet the minimums on the two UW assessments, we will make sure you qualify for the additional points you need.  No reason to put if off any longer – let’s get you on to coaching and improvement  $$!!!

OK – let’s say you just don’t make the minimum on the ERS or the CLASS.  No worries.  As long as you get assessed in 2013 – you can have them come out again in 2014 and redo just the part that didn’t meet the minimum and move up to the above 30 points then.

It’s a real WIN-WIN for everyone.  You get to move on to the next step, and DEL gets to implement the coaching and $$ they have waiting for you.

WAHOO!!

Music Videos!!

At our reflective practice group this month we created "music videos" to highlight key elements of the CLASS assessment.  Here they are!  You can also view these videos on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdQnjl_ZvBCAnHKZ4HvKTtw

The first video highlights the Emotional Support section of the CLASS

The second video is showing key elements of the Classroom Organization part of the CLASS

The third video gives important messages about the Instructional Support section of the CLASS

The next day, we repeated this activity at The Goddard School and here are their videos (also on the YouTube page)


Emotional Support

Classroom Organization

Instructional Support

Each Child is an Individual

                      

 

At our Reflective Practice group last month, we discussed the importance of teaching to EACH CHILD.  As we help children be ready for school, it is critically important that we see the needs of each child individually.   The Early Achievers point system recognizes this in several places:

Ongoing assessment of children’s strengths and needs to monitor progress (e.g., child portfolio/work sampling assessments) and inform instruction    (2 points)

When facilities gather information to learn about each child’s progress and needs on a regular basis, they are better able to plan and provide individualized instruction that best supports each child’s growth and development.

This component looks at how facilities gather and use information about children by considering:

• Are both formal and informal assessments used?

• Is information about each child’s strengths and needs collected and assessed on an ongoing basis at least three times per year?

• Are assessments conducted with all children within 90 days of enrollment?

• If child assessment information is collected, how is it used to inform curriculum and activity planning and to monitor child progress?

Individualized instruction for all children (1 point)

Individual child information is a valuable planning tool to support children’s development and school readiness. This component considers:

• Are each child’s background, interests, and approach to learning and developmental needs considered when planning activities and during provider-child interactions?

Periodic review and use of child assessment data for continuous program improvement (e.g., analyze group patterns and behaviors) (1 point)

Looking at trends or patterns in child assessment information across children is a valuable planning tool to support groups of children. This component considers:

• How are the needs of all children in a group considered when making plans to improve programming?

• Are specific action plans in place to address targeted enhancements based on data?

This component refers to aggregate data, which means assessment information about a group of children (e.g., classroom) that is combined to get a high-level look at the group’s strengths and needs.

At the group meeting, we used paper dolls to create “children” – they could be based on an actual child, or an imagined one.   We identified the interests, challenges and emerging skills for each child.  In small groups then, we took these children as if they were a new “class” and discussed how to plan experiences that nurture the emerging skills, take into account the interests and factor in the challenges of each child. 

The Early Learning Development Guidelines are a great tool to help you identify skills and make plans for them  You can get it here http://www.del.wa.gov/development/guidelines/ 

Rather than teaching only to a theme, how can you be conscious of teaching to the individual children in your group?

Catch Them Being Good!!

What we focus on is what we get.  On my observations at sites, a place where I often see growth needed is to focus more on the positive.

Such a simple thing, right?   But so often we forget to do it!

When a child/children are doing exactly what you hope for them to do – sitting nicely, using thinking skills, touching gently, carrying on a conversation…  whatever it is- support that by noticing and commenting.

Can you challenge yourself to notice each child doing something great and saying so?

Both the Environment Rating Scale and the CLASS assessments will be looking for this.  Boost your score by focusing on the positive (and you’ll most likely get lots more positive behaviors from the children!)