PEEK AT THE WEEK

Can you believe that we welcomed preschoolers from the future graduating class of 2034!! That's right, we did it and it was a huge success. Thank you to all of our Davison Early Learning staff that worked so hard to make this happen. The first week was great and we couldn't have done it without YOU!

All Davison GSRP staff received training this past Friday on the online preschool curriculum that one of our own GSRP lead teachers has created. It was very evident during the PD that Alicia Bautista has worked very hard to create and implement the new online preschool curriculum. Alicia shared several resources that she has used. These included Google Classroom, Interactive Class Dojo, Zoom, the Youtube channel, and much more. We currently have around 30 GSRP online students and the family participation with online learning is off to a great start. Alicia walked the staff through setting up Google classroom, creating and interactive Class Dojo, uploading YouTube teacher videos and using other online resources. Many of our teachers are familiar with the basic features of these programs, but we were able to dig deeper into how to use these online tools in a two way format for the best possible interaction with families one at a time or with a group of students and parents all at once. Seeing how the students can share drawing and writing samples with the Dojo whiteboard and letter features was really cool! This certainly aids with assessment. Alicia shared several documents that I have created a folder for name "Online Preschool Resources." Some of the documents include:

• TS Gold and Creative Curriculum Objective alignment with the online preschool curriculum
• The 2020-2021 Preschool Curriculum Map and themes
• Week 1-4 of detailed lesson plans
• Blank lesson plan template
• A copy of the Welcome to Online Preschool Family Letter
• Login instructions for Class Dojo

I will share this folder with everyone. We are hoping that the need to switch everyone to online learning does not arise, but if it does, we are ready!

Thank you Alicia for the great presentation and the work that you have put into this new endeavor!

It's that time again! Time to complete the mandatory health and safety training for Michigan Child Care Licensed staff. This is for ALL Early Learning Staff. That means, Davison GSRP all staff, Cardinal's Nest all staff, and Davison Latchkey staff. This training can be done online, outside of the work day, and is mandatory. Please see details below, complete the required training by October 31st, and your hours will be recorded for you in Mi.Registry. Remember that if it is not completed by October 31st, you cannot continue working until it is completed.

The Child Care and Development Block Grant requires child care providers to receive ongoing health and safety training. The rule below was added to the new rules to meet that requirement. The bulletin serving as official notice that licensed child care providers have 6 months was sent on May 1, 2020 to complete the training in MiRegistry. The information provided in this bulletin explains how to find that required training.

Licensing Rule information: R 400.8131(12) for centers, and R 400.1905(9) for homes “When the department of licensing and regulatory affairs or the department of education publishes a notice that a new health and safety update document or a new health and safety update training activity has been published on MiRegistry, the licensee shall ensure that all personnel read and acknowledge the document or complete the activity within 6 months of the notice.”

Deadline for training completion: Licensed Child Care Providers will have until October 31, 2020 to complete.

To meet the above licensing requirement, a provider must complete the Michigan Ongoing Health and Safety Refresher Training 2020. Over 13,000 providers and staff have completed this training already.

This Michigan Ongoing Health and Safety Refresher Training 2020 is currently available online for free and is expected to be offered face to face when the social distancing guidelines are lifted. A provider may take either the online training or the face to face training but will only receive training hours for one refresher training per year. To find the online training now or a face to face option (in the future), go to www.miregistry.org and follow the steps below.

I have been working on the required Great Start to Quality Star Rating renewal requirements for our GSRP and Cardinal's Nest preschool program. This is a funding requirement for our GSRP program and a quality rating system that parents can access to become informed about are preschool and child care choices in their community. It is basically the preschool equivalence of a K-12 accreditation process. It is very time consuming and I am hoping to be done by the September 26th deadline, but I need everyone to do their part in order for me to finish this task.

Please take a minute to login to your Mi.Registry account and make sure your membership and registration is current and that your required PD for child care licensing requirements is uploaded and continues to be updated as you complete your required hours. The system has been revamped and it requires you to do this so that I can complete our program information.

Thanks for your help with this. I have emailed everyone the Mi.Registry membership and registration details in the Star Gazette pictured below. If you need a reminder how to renew your membership or update your registration, it will walk you through the steps. You can also ask your mentor teacher for help with this if needed.

Just an FYI that a request was put in for the technology department to upload Zoom to the GSRP Ipads on our Central/GSRP building cart. During our online preschool curriculum training Friday, we were able to determine that Chrome Books are NOT needed for our preschoolers to participate in online learning. Parents are able to use their smart phone, home PC, or an ipad to participate. If you know of a student that does not have a device at home to participate in the online learning, please see me.

During the first weeks of preschool, it is crucial to lay a strong social emotional foundation with our new students. This foundation is where we can begin building a support system for each of our little ones. The most effective teachers are good at making personal connections with each of their students, building their trust, and providing them with a sense of security and belonging in a classroom where they are safe from physical or emotional harm.

What can we as educators and staff in the early learning environment do to help our new students feel safe, connected, and that they are in a place that they want to be? So many of these actions come natural to us, but the beginning of a new year is always a good time to check ourselves and ask:

• Is my voice level and tone appropriate?
• Is my eye contact with students making them feel welcome?
• Am I modeling and guiding students before expecting them to know what to do?
• Am I greeting each and every child every day?
• Am I trying to get to know my students likes and dislikes/interests in order to better connect with them?

Remember that we may be that one adult that a child has a chance to connect with during a particular day. All of our kids deserve to have a positive adult connection.

The Davison Eastside Mission dropped off a very generous donation of backpacks loaded with school supplies and other essentials like socks and such for our preschool students. If you have a student in need, please take advantage of getting one of these backpacks to them.

We are loving our new water coolers at the Central/GSRP and Cardinal's Nest. We will be getting drinking fountains will fill stations in our buildings very soon. Installation is schedules for the end of this week.

For the most part, things went smooth during the first week of drop off and pick up times. However, just a reminder to staff that we need ALL hands on deck during these times. THIS IS FOUR TIMES A DAY AT PRESCHOOL!!! Since our parents are not able to enter the building and walk their four year olds to their lockers, we need to have all the adult assistance with this that we possibly can! If you are a lead, associate teacher, or child care provider, please assist students with getting their backpacks off, folders out, coats hung up, etc. Remember that they are four years old and have never done this before. Sometimes their backpacks seem bigger than they are! Those locker hooks are taller than they can reach, and water bottles and folders can be a lot for their tiny hands to carry. We know this "extra" assistance won't be required all year as they adjust to their new routine, and become more independent. However, during these first weeks, It's not helpful to just stand over them and verbally tell them to go to their lockers as they enter the building. They need modeling and guidance with the process. Finding their locker, opening their locker, taking out their full water bottle, finding their folder, and hanging up their coat is at least a six step direction or process and it is not age appropriate to expect that they can do this independently from day one. It will get easier for them each day with some good ole fashioned modeling and guidance from our staff. Thanks for your help with this!

The attached picture is the crosswalk coming up to the GSRP entrance. We need to remind parents NOT to cross here while Central traffic is still coming through. We had our parents well trained with this last year, but it is time again to get out there and teach them the routine.