Early Childhood Professions

Early Childhood Professional will be busy this month completing their “Nutrition

Projects”. They are learning about serving sizes for Infants, Toddlers, Preschool,

School Ager. Some will be creating a brochure for parents in the CPP program

about “Fast Feeding Tips for Busy Parents”.

Last month we learned about “typical ages and stages” of development. This month in honor of “Inclusionary Practice” we will be learning about different types of disabilities and how to use “Developmentally Appropriate” practice to include all children in our classrooms.

Our students who are doing their CDA work are busy volunteering between 35-40 hours a week in our childcare facilities. This month they will be working closely with their site teachers to develop “Family Relationships”. They will be collecting data and reporting back to their supervising teachers on this survey.

Interns, Hannah Howe and Ambra Ryan worked feverishly to obtain their FEMA, back to Sleep, CPR/1st Aid/Abuse Reporting /and finger printing certification to meet State of Colorado requirement to volunteer at a Child Care Facility. Hours that they are earning will help them to earn the hours needed to become an aid in any State of Colorado child care center.

Special thanks to all center staff at Discovery Learning Center, Wishes and Dreams Child Care Center, Career Center’s CPP and students at the Career Center whose hard work makes this program thrive!

This year preschool students and ECP students worked together to develop "art canvases"(thank you to the "School to Work"program for supplies) to be sold at the Career Center's Annual Bazaar. Students completed and presented their "Math Boards" to preschool students and we held a "Parent Day" in which preschool parents were able to participate with their children in fun learning activities. The students learned how to communicate with parents as well as apply "Gold" standards to their teaching experiences. Students in the class are learning about the "stages of pregnancy" and will be using our "simulator belly" to experience the changes that gravity has on a pregnant person. "10 Steps" to changing an infant's diaper according to the State of Colorado! Students will practice and test if they can change a baby's diaper according to those standards.

Next quarter we will spend learning about the "Ages and Stages" of development. More exciting activities are planned as we venture into typically developing children. Planned trips to different centers in our community along with guest speakers. Our Career Technical Organization is planning to host a bake sale for new classroom supplies.Stay in touch as we explore the world of early childhood.

We have given out over 100 state certificates to our students in areas of 1st Aid, CPR, Food Handler Card, Standard Precautions, Safe Sleep. These certificates allow your student to enter the early childhood workforce with certificates necessary for state licensing standards for employees.

This quarter is one that most of our students love. We will be entering our "baby simulation" unit the week prior to Thanksgiving break and will complete it the end of January. Students are not required to bring home the "baby' however, will be required to work with the "baby" during class time. More information to follow.

Special thanks are due the following students:

Session 1: Kielea Winder for taking initiative in our internship program.

Session 2: Norma Fuentes for her sense of humor

Session 3: Presley Rouse for stepping up and going above expectations.

Please remind your child that they will not be able to work in the lab unless they have passed the following expectations:

· Consistent attendance

· Excellent work ethic points

· Good academic grades

As always Ms. Deb is available via email at Debbie.Neill@d51school.org or after 2:30 via phone at 254-6000 ext. 21111.

The ECP classroom has been very busy preparing for our CTSO community outreach program which will happen in the month of November. The students have prepared a variety of activities to get children moving and using their creativity in an engaging way. Preschool parents will participate in the activities alongside their preschool children. High School students have also developed a variety of simple home activity packages for parents to leave with.

Currently we have 7 students engaged in our Internship program. They are busy preparing lesson plans and will soon write a bibliography for their portfolio. 2 of the students have been granted access to the CDA program. This grant is to cover the cost of the book as well as the $495 class fee. Students who complete will be qualified in centers in an aid position. Thank you to the Buell Foundation for funding this course for these interested students. Our hope is to build teachers to fill current empty childcare positions in Mesa County.

ECP students are developing their “job seeking” skills. This month we will have the Mesa County Workforce present a resume ‘building workshop in our classroom. Be sure to ask your child to show you their work as they prepare for their future jobs.

Upcoming events for the CTSO include the Career Center’s Bizarre . Students will assist children in making “Gingerbread” houses and other crafts while their parents’ shop. Look for us during the “Parade of Lights” we will be representing the Career Center and we can’t wait.

Students in the Early Childhood Profession classroom are busy working on “interactive math boards” which they will implement with the preschool children in November. The goal of these boards is to teach the preschool children Colorado math standards using a “hands on” approach. Students have learned that they also are using a “hands on” approach to improving their own math skills as they have had to use a bit of geometry, proportions, and basic math facts in order to complete their boards for presentation. Each student also had to write a lesson plan and design a blueprint for their board prior to presentation.

Something to look forward to and not to be alarmed is the ECP students will be taking care of our “simulation babies” in the month of November. It may get a bit noisy in the classroom with all the “crying” that will be going on.

September was full of projects. We recently had to write and present an art lesson plan to the Colorado Preschool at the Career Center.

Students learned that being prepared is a good thing when working with young children. We had interesting art projects which ranged from an "elephant with a moving trunk" to "finger painting letters of the alphabet".

The Early Childhood Profession students included professional vocabulary into both their lesson plans as well as their "hands on" presentation with the preschool children.

"Positive Constructive Feedback" was given to peers as they watched and shared their learning through this interactive project.

Did you know that you can tell the developmental age of a child by the way they play with blocks? Children at different developmental levels play with blocks according to where they are developmentally.

ECP students learned the importance of "Building Blocks" not only for the preschool children but also the importance of "Building" your classroom environment. A major fact they learned is that with a strong foundation of the "teacher/student" block you can weather the storms that are to come together.

Interns are having fun applying their skills at Kinder Haus this quarter. They are observing "Gardner's Multiple Intelligence" first hand as they do research to find out whether or not they agree with his theory.

Students are required to write a research paper which includes a strategy called "Mapping" to organize their thoughts and move their paper into a project of pride. They are using their personal observations of a few children at Kinder Haus and applying them in the body of their paper making reference to seven of the eight levels of intelligence.

Email: debbie.neill@d51schools.org
Website: https://cc.d51schools.org/
Location: 2935 North Avenue, Grand Junction, CO, USA
Phone: 970-254-6000