ELECT STUDY GUIDES ARE READY! GUIDES D'ÉTUDES CAPE SONT PRÊTS!

The ELECT Committee is extremely pleased to inform you that it has created easily accessible ELECT study guides to further enhance professional learning by providing theory, reflection and discussion on our professional practices and obligation towards the families and children in our care.  There is a study guide for each of the 6 principles in the ELECT framework.

Various members of our committee as well as community members at large volunteered their time to develop these guides for all professionals and paraprofessionals working in a variety of early learning and care environments such as licensed child care, licensed home child care, nursery schools, specialized programs such as LINC, and Family Resources Centres. They can be used by individuals or teams of professionals. 

A big thank you goes out to all the contributors that develop the study guides:

Neeka Barnes, RECE                               Cheryl Nolan, RECE

Charlyn Monahan, RECE                         Caroline Côté

Anna Kyriakakis, RECE                            Erica Selschotter

Kathy Tourinski                                         Monique Lanthier RECE/ÉPEI

Francine Beaudoin RECE/ÉPEI               Brenda Frey, RECE

Lisa Lalonde, RECE                                 Denise Chadala RECE

Meaghan Bell, RECE                               Pooja Dubey, RECE
Kate Carradine, RECE                             Lisa Sletcher, RECE

We also wish to thank the Best Start Leadership Committee of Ottawa for providing funding to translate the study guides  so that they would be available both in English and in French

ELECT Study Guides

Les membres du Comité AJEPTA sont très heureux de vous informer que des guides d’études CAPE ont été créés afin de promouvoir davantage le développement professionnel. Les guides se penchent sur la théorie, les pratiques réflectives ainsi que des discussions sur nos pratiques et obligations professionnelles envers les familles et les enfants dont nous desservons. Il y a un guide d'étude pour chaque principe du cadre d'apprentissage.

Divers membres de notre comité, ainsi que des membres de la communauté ont fait don de leur temps pour développer ces guides pour tous les professionnels et les paraprofessionnels travaillant dans une variété de milieux d'apprentissage précoce tel que les services de garde agréés, les services de garde à domicile agréés, les prématernelles, les programmes spécialisés tels que CLIC et les centres de ressources pour familles de jeunes enfants. Ils peuvent être utilisés par des individus ou des équipes de professionnels.

Nous tenons à remercier tous les gens qui ont contribuer à la création des guides d’études:

Neeka Barnes, RECE                                        Cheryl Nolan, RECE                         

Charlyn Monahan, RECE                                  Caroline Côté                                    

Anna Kyriakakis, RECE                                     Erica Selschotter

Kathy Tourinski                                                  Monique Lanthier ÉPEI/RECE

Francine Beaudoin ÉPEI/RECE                        Brenda Frey, RECE

Lisa Lalonde, RECE                                          Denise Chadala RECE

Meaghan Bell, RECE                                        Pooja Dubey, RECE
Kate Carradine, RECE                                      Lisa Sletcher, RECE

Nous tenons également à remercier le comité directeur Meilleur départ d'Ottawa pour le financement qui nous a permis de traduire les guides d'études afin qu'ils soient accessibles en anglais et en français. 

Guides d'études CAPE

I am excited to share with a new professional learning opportunity available to our community. It is an online community where you can lead your own learning! That's right, professional development that you can access anywhere- and best of all, it is free!

Please take a tour of the blog:   http://ecplc.org

 

The first module that has been created is entitled Curriculum, and was made possible through the Provincial Capacity Building funding. The goal of the module is to nurture the question “what is curriculum?” within early childhood educators, and promote further dialogue amongst teams and organizations. There is a series of video’s that were created specifically for this module that can act as great first step in starting this important conversation.

Our professional community is incredibly dedicated and passionate - please feel free to share this resource with your teams and colleagues, and let's work together to build even stronger connections in 2014! I appreciate the ELECT committee for promoting this professional resource, as well as sharing their videos, thank you again for all of your hard work!

If you have any questions or would like to share feedback please feel free to email me!

ENJOY! 

~Lisa Lalonde, RECE

lalondl@algonquincollege.com 

Free training resource coming soon!

The Ottawa ELECT committee is already thinking about our New Year's resolution.  For 2014 we resolve to do whatever we can to get accessible and affordable ELECT training for all early years learning and development professionals. 

In order to meet our New Year's resolution, the committee is currently working on "Study Guides." With these study guides, you'll be able to train wherever and whenever you want!  Each guide will focus on one principle and include facilitator notes, icebreakers, think tank, photo/video challenges, a "mirror mirror on the wall" reflective practice, and, of course, a loot bag to end the party!

The committee is working hard to finish this project for the New Year and we are also looking into options to translate the guides into French and English.

Sign up to receive blog updates right into your inbox so you can be among the first to know when the guides are ready!    Just look on the left hand side and click where it says "Follow by e-mail!"

Interactive Programming Communication

We are having great success using a large Webbing Board in our room. Thanks to someone for this great idea (I would love to take credit, but alas it was not me!) this is proving to be the perfect solution to our issues of communication due to language and literacy challenges.  Working with a group of people representing 11 or 12 different countries all at different levels of skill in reading and writing in one common language can be a big challenge! The Webbing Board allows us to use pictures and fun artsy touches to convey our program in one easy to read place. Both staff and parents can add to it, which means we have a collaborative program.   Parents are happy to see the daily growth of the board, and have a great time with the pictionary aspect!!!! Not always neat and tidy but fun, informative, interactive, inclusive and easy to use cross-culturally.

Dîner-Causerie pour les intervenantes des Centres de la petite enfance et leurs satellites

Mieux guider avec le cadre d’apprentissage 

Dîner-Causerie pour les intervenantes des Centres de la petite enfance et leurs satellites

Les Spécialistes de l’alphabétisation d’Ottawa sont heureuses de vous offrir une série de dîners‐causeries intitulés « Mieux guider avec le cadre d’apprentissage. » Ces dîners-causeries sont destinés pour les intervenantes des Centres de la petite enfance et leurs satellites. Ces rencontres vous donneront l’occasion de faire du réseautage professionnel, guideront vos réflexions portant sur vos services et vous permettront de générer des stratégies afin de vous guider à intégrer le Cadre d’apprentissage de la petite enfance dans vos pratiques quotidiennes avec vos enfants, vos familles et votre communauté.

Le prochain dîner causerie bi-lingue aura lieu Mardi le 29 octobre 2013 De 13 h à 15 h Au centre de santé communautaire de Carlington situé au 900 chemin Merivale L’inscription aux dîners‐causeries est réservée aux intervenantes des Centres de la petite enfance.  Un maximum de deux intervenantes par centre et deux par satellite s’il vous plaît  Pour les inscriptions communiquer avec Joanne: jguerard@parentresource.ca  Veuillez vous inscrire avant le 22 octobre 2013

ELECT Lunch & Learn for OEYC Front-line workers

Leading with ELECT Lunch and Learn

The Ottawa Early Literacy Specialists are proud to offer a Lunch N’ Learn Network Series for Early Years Centre and Satellite front line workers. This series is a great opportunity to network with peers, help you reflect on your services as well as generate strategies to implement the Early years framework in your daily practices with the children, the families and the community.

Our next bi-lingual Lunch & Learn will be held at:

CARLINGTON Health and Community Centre 

900, Merivale Road

Tuesday October 29, 2013

1-3 p.m.

Registration is limited to front line workers. 

A maximum of 2 front line workers from each centre and 2 for each satellite. 

To register, contact Joanne at jguerard@parentresource.ca

Please register by October 19, 2013

ELECT Lunch & Learn for Home Child Care Advisors & Supervisors

Leading with ELECT Lunch N’ Learn Network * Registration is limited to home child care advisors and supervisors The Ottawa Early Literacy Specialists are proud to offer a Lunch N’ Learn Network Series for home child care advisors. This series is a great opportunity to network with your peers, help you reflect on your services and generate strategies to implement the Early years framework in your daily practices with your child care providers.  The first bi-lingual Lunch N’ Learn will be held  Tuesday, November 26th, 2013  from 11:30 to 1:30 at PRC 300 Goulburn Private Ottawa, ON K1N 1C9 To register please contact Joanne at: jguerard@parentresource.ca  Please Register by November 19th, 2013

Dîner-Causerie pour conseillères et gestionnaires de la garde en milieu familial

Dîner-Causerie:  Mieux guider avec le cadre d’apprentissage * L’inscription aux dîners-causeries est réservée aux conseillères et gestionnaires de la garde en milieu familial Les Spécialistes en alphabétisation de la ville d’Ottawa sont heureuses de vous offrir une série de dîners-causeries intitulés « Mieux guider avec le cadre d’apprentissage. » Ces dîners-causeries sont destinés aux conseillères et gestionnaires de la garde en milieu familial. Ces rencontres vous donneront l’occasion de faire du réseautage professionnel, guideront vos réflexions portant sur vos réalités et vous permettront de générer des stratégies vous guider à intégrer le Cadre d’apprentissage de la petite enfance dans vos pratiques quotidiennes avec vos responsables de garde. Le premier dîner-causerie bi-lingue aura lieu :  Le mardi, 26 novembre 2013  De 11h30 à 13h30  Au PRC 300, Goulburn Ottawa, ON K1N 1C9 Pour les inscriptions communiquer avec Joanne: jguerard@parentresource.ca Veuillez vous inscrire avant le 26 novembre 2013

AECEO-Ottawa Valley Branch invites you to a centre hop in Ottawa's east end!

 

Please consider joining some of your RECE colleagues during the Week of the Child for a Centre Hops on Saturday October 19th, 2013.

Participants will gather at 9:00 am at Thursday’s Child Nursery School to register, explore the program and enjoy light refreshments. We will then travel by bus to the Ottawa Inuit Children’s Centre, for a tour of the program followed by a visit to Cornerstone Children’s Centre for a tour and lunch.

Each Centre has prepared guided tours. Don't miss out on a great opportunity to see what other centres have been up to!

 

Click on the link below for more details and to register! Week Of The Child Centre Hop 2013

 

 

 

 

 

Professional Development opportunity coming up!

 

 

 

Child Development Refresher

ELECT and the Continuum of Development

 

This Professional Development opportunity is for those wishing to review and refresh their skills in child development.   This module is designed to cover the following:

      Overview of theories

      Infant development

      Toddler development

      Preschool development

The module will be scheduled Tuesday and Thursday 6:30-9:00 p.m. at Algonquin College October 1, 3, 8 and 10th, 2013.    These sessions will include handouts, group discussions, film clips of play and practical in-class activities.   We will use child development in combination with the Continuum of Development, from ELECT to observe and plan for all three age groups. 

                        Location:        Algonquin College   Room CA105 (beside OC transpo lot)

                       

To register:     Click here to to fill out the registration form and email to:

 mal@algonquincollege.com     or   elc@algonquincollege.com      to reserve your spot.   Space is limited.   A confirmation email will be sent upon receipt of payment. 

 

Cost:                $100.00

Cheque payable to Algonquin College Early Learning Centre

Payments (cheques) must be mailed to :

 

Algonquin College Early Learning Centre

Attention:           Lisa Lamarre K116

1385 Woodroffe Avenue

Ottawa, Ontario   K2G 1V8

           

Parking is free after 5 :00 pm.  A map is available on the website      http://www.algonquincollege.com

ELECT vs The Mother-in-law

Disclaimer: The mother in-law described in this post is merely the one-sided depiction by an individual and by no means should be used as a broad generalization of all mother in-laws. J

 

Last week we had a client come to one of our playgroups seeking affirmation of her parenting skills.  Her 3.8 year old child will be starting junior kindergarten this September and she was worried she wasn’t doing enough to prepare her child.  It turns out her mother-in-law had helped sow the seeds of parental anxiety by telling her that her child should already be doing seat work and learning to read and write.  In essence, the child was spending far too much time playing!  Although the mother of the young child knew that play was good and that her child was learning, she wanted to stand behind her conviction with some documented proof.

In this case, our client would probably have been pleased with a hand written note from our staff to her mother-in-law stating she was right and mother-in-law was wrong.  Instead, we referred her back to the ELECT document filled with brilliant statements of principles like “Play is a means to early learning...” and an exhaustive continuum of development demonstrating “playful” interactions that develop domains and skills.  Thanks to the idea submitted by Vanier Community Resource Centre, we also started developing activity sheets letting parents know what children are learning when doing specific activities and how parents can extend the play.  Mom can also take these back to her mother-in-law to assure her that the child is learning while playing.

Our elders are a wealth of knowledge and experience, but I’m glad that we were able to re-affirm this mother’s conviction about the value of play by using the ELECT document.  Knowing how important family is to a child’s growth and development, I hope that in the near future we’ll be seeing child, mom, and grandmother all playing and learning together!

This is a guest post by Centre des services communautaire Vanier Community Service Centre

(La version française suivra)

An easy way to begin presenting the ELECT concepts to parents is to write a short “DID YOU KNOW?” list and place it in the area of the activity.

Example:

Did you know that while your child is doing collage, he may be learning about:   the sequence of the process different textures new vocabulary socializing with friends patience

 

 

We write it on a regular sheet of paper in large, bold, colorful, letters. We make it in English on one side and in French on the other. We put the sheets in an upright acrylic frame on the art table (for example). We change the play area that we focus on weekly.

Our goals:

 

• Create awareness among parents/caregivers that simple activities can help the children develop many skills and concepts.
• Encourage parents to do activities with their children at home.

 

 _____________________________________________________________________ 

Une façon facile d’initier les parents au concept de l’AJEPTA, est d’écrire une courte rubrique «Savez-vous que?» et de la placer près de l’activité.

Exemple :

Savez-vous que quand votre enfant fait du collage, il/elle peut :   apprendre la séquence du processus faire l'expérience de nouvelles textures entendre du nouveau vocabulaire socialiser avec ses amis pratiquer sa patience

 

On écrit le tout sur une feuille de papier régulière en grande lettres colorées. Nous l’affichons en français d’un côté et en anglais de l’autre. On place la feuille dans un cadre vertical en acrylique qu’on met sur la table dans l’endroit où se passe l’activité. Nous faisons la rotation dans différentes aires d’activité à chaque semaine.

Nos buts :

• Sensibiliser les parents et responsables de garde que les activités prévus, aident les enfants à développer certains habiletés et concepts.
• Encourager les parents à faire des activités avec leurs enfants à la maison.

 

Which principle really speaks to you? Quel principe vous tient vraiment à coeur?

 

The Early Learning for Every Child Today framework is based on 6 statements of principles. Those principles go hand in hand and all should be entrenched in our everyday work.

For the sake of discussion, if you could only pick one as a non-negotiable or as a priority in your practice, which one would it be and why?  

 

Le cadre d’apprentissage est basé sur 6 énoncés de principes. Ces 6 principes sont étroitement reliés et devraient être fermement ancrés dans notre travail de tous les jours.

Pour engendrer une discussion, si vous étiez obligé de choisir qu’un énoncé de principe comme non négociable, lequel choisiriez vous et pourquoi?

Summer Newsletter 2013

Bulletin été 2013

Provoking Conversations AKA "Poking the Bear"

At the last Ottawa ELECT Committee meeting, we had a discussion about provoking conversations around the ELECT Framework.  We decided to regularly post questions that blog readers could take back to their teams and colleagues to discuss.

Here is our first thought provoking question:

If accreditation or city purchase of services were tied to the ELECT Framework, would your agency be ready?  If so, what have you put in place to help you feel confident?  If not, what steps would you need to take? 

Talk it up with your teams and share your comments with us on the blog!  We’d love to hear what you have to say. 

Provider goes the Extra for E.L.E.C.T.

A child care Provider at City View not only gets but supports E.L.E.C.T.  by going that extra step. She dyed 4 pounds of rice different colours, adding items to make this amazing sensory table!  Great job Kathleen!

Mise à jour: Nos arbres de succès

Au mois de janvier, j’ai fait part du fait que nous avions été inspirés à créer des arbres de succès pour chacun de nos sites de groupes de jeu après avoir lu un message sur le blogue. (suivre ce lien pour lire le message — janvier 2013)

Malheureusement, nos arbres étaient un peu nus! Que faire pour encourager les parents et les responsables de garde à noter et afficher des observations de leurs enfants?

Une de nos intervenantes à l’appui a suggéré d’inviter les adultes à l’heure du cercle à écrire une petite observation et à l’afficher sur l’arbre. Ce fut un grand succès! Lorsque les adultes ajoutaient leurs observations, l’intervenante lisait les messages à haute voix afin d’encourager les enfants et rehausser leur estime de soi.

Une fois que l’arbre bourgeonnait d’observations, les parents et les responsables de garde semblaient plus à l’aise d’ajouter leurs observations sans incitation.

La persistance et la résolution de problèmes sont des compétences de base qui sont aussi importantes pour les adultes que pour les enfants!

Arbre de succès au groupe de jeu Marius Barbeau

Update on the success trees at OEYC Ottawa South

In January, I shared that we were inspired by a post on the blog to create success trees at each of our drop-in program sites. (January 2013 post about Success Tree)

In many of our groups, the trees didn't seem to be "taking off" but we really believed in the concept of having parents/guardians and caregivers engaged and involved in observing their child's development and learning.

Time to come up with a strategy! One of our support workers suggested that we invite the adults at circle time to come up to the tree and write something that they have observed their child doing recently.

It worked really well! They wrote their observation and added it to the tree while the playgroup facilitator read them aloud to validate children's successes.

Once those observations were up, parents and caregivers seemed more at ease to add new successes as they observed them.

Persistence and problem solving are root skills that are as valuable to educators as they are to children in our programs!

Success Tree at Marius Barbeau francophone playgroup