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!"

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

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. 

Lunch N' Learn Series

Does anyone have any tips on how to encourage providers to re-think how they can offer  more open ended activities as opposed to theme based ones?

Professional Development Opportunity: Introduction to ELECT

Early Learning for Every Child Today, ELECT

This Professional Development opportunity is specifically geared to individuals who have not had prior exposure to ELECT.   It is an introduction to the Ontario Curriculum guide focusing on your role in facilitating changes while adopting ELECT.    

Date:                     March 27^th, 2013

Time:                    9:30 - 11:30         Limited numbers for registration

Location:             Algonquin College    CA105 a, b, c   (building beside the OC Transpo lot)

Presenter:          Lisa Lamarre  RECE

To register:         Please fill out the form (Flyer and Registration Form: Introduction to ELECT)
and return via email to mal@algonquincollege.com    You will receive a confirmation email once payment is received. 

Cost:                      $20.00 (by Cheque payable to Algonquin College Early Learning Centre)   Parking is available at a cost.  A map is available on the website      http://www.algonquincollege.com  

Professional Development – Our learning environment workshop (with links to ELECT principles and Continuum of Development)

Our Learning Environment

Workshop for Early Learning and Care Professionals only

Understanding that children learn through play, how can we ensure our environment provides all the necessary elements to stimulate children's natural curiosity for learning? This workshop will provide participants with the necessary tools to evaluate their environment and assist them in creating a learning environment that promotes learning in all play areas.

When: Wednesday, February 20^th, 2013

Where: Ontario Early Years Centre Ottawa South

101-2330 Don Reid Drive

Time: 6:30 to 8:30 pm

Call 613-737-6369 to register today!

The ELECT videos and resource kits are now available!

As promised, the ELECT videos and resource kits are now available on the blog! Visit our ELECT Videos page and our ELECT Resource Kits page.

The ELECT Committee hopes these videos  and resource kits will inspire, encourage and equip you to begin or continue your journey in implementing ELECT. 

 

 

 

 

 

Séance de formation: l'observation interactive et le cadre d'apprentissage

Cette séance de formation vous permettra d'améliorer l'utilisation de l'observation et de la documentation en offrantcdes stratégies d'utilisation des outils en accordance avec le cadre d'apprentissage de la petite enfance de l'Ontario.

La séance de formation aura lieu:samedi le 16 Février 2013

de 9 :00 à 12 :00
au Centre communautaire Routhier
172 Avenue Guigues
Ottawa, Ontario.

L’inscription est limitée aux 10 premiers Programmes de la Petite Enfance, Centres de Développement de la Petite Enfance de l’Ontario et Programmes de Ressources pour la Famille francophones à s’inscrire en appelant l’ECCDC au 905.646.7311 poste 304 ou par courriel à eccdc@eccdc.org. Pour de plus amples renseignements, cliquez ici pour consulter le dépliant.

A great professional developement opportunity to refresh your child development skills coming in January!

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. 

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B37_UM1HrLAeMTg2aGh2QTNHcHM

ELECT for Supervisors, Directors, and Coordinators.

On October 18th, 2012 the Early Learning Professional Resource Centre will be hosting a workshop regarding ELECT.  This Professional Development opportunity is specifically geared  to individuals in Leadership roles in the Early Learning and Care Community.   It is an introduction to the Ontario Curriculum guide focusing on your role in facilitating changes while adopting ELECT.  Please note that this is open to those who have not attended any Professional Development on ELECT.

For more information, please view the ELECT for Supervisors, Directors and Coordinators Flyer.

You can also visit the Early Learning Professional Resource Centre website at
http://www2.algonquincollege.com/elc/home/professional-development-series/workshops/.

This information has been provided by Lisa Lamarre-O'Gorman of Algonquin College Early Learning Centre.

Provider ELECT Workshop at City View HCC in Ottawa

In a full day workshop for our Providers at City View Home Child Care they learned about the Early Learning for Every Child Today framework before participating in activities while connected them to E.L.E.C.T. principles, root skills and domains.  Through hands on activities and hand outs we encouraged them to embrace E.L.E.C.T. and think about the everyday things they do with the children and how it relates to E.L.E.C.T..  The Providers came up with many of their own ideas and activities and connected them to E.L.E.C.T. as well.  
Going forward, we will be handing out new additional activity sheets on a regular basis and going over them with the Providers during our home visits.  It is our intent to also hold evening sessions this fall for those who could not attend the Saturday session.  


Activities are divided amongst age groups, then one activity for each domain was done with the Providers at the Saturday workshop. Here is a sample of one activity sheet we distributed and did with them: 

Early Learning for Every Child Today

City View Centre for Child & Family Services Home Child Care

Provider Activity Sheet

AGE: 3 to 4 years of age

DOMAIN:  COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE & LITERACY

ACTIVITY:  First Letter Boxes

Items needed:  Small boxes (shoe box size) labelled for a particular letter of the alphabet, small items that start with the letter on the box.  For example:  The letter "P": purple crayon, plastic pickle, toy pig, play dough, princess doll, toy pots and pans, toy pirate etc.

DOMAIN SKILL:  LETTER RECOGNITION (3.11)

INDICATORS OF THE SKILL:  (Look for these things children may do).  Child will identify (recognize) the letter that begins their names and it's sound.  Children will pick out other words that begin with the same letter or sound as their names.  Children will begin to identify (recognize) a few consonant letter-sound correspondences in words in familiar rhymes.

INTERACTIONS: (This is what to do and what happens when you do this activity repeatedly-over and over again).  Give the children 2 to 3 boxes at a time, using the letters that are the same as the letter that starts with their name. let them explore the contents.  Ask them questions about what is in the box, what sound does it start with, what else starts with that sound?

OBSERVATIONS: (Ask yourself) What happened when you did this activity with the children? What happened when you did this activity repeatedly (over and over again) with the children? What other activities can you think of that would help children increase their ability to recognize letters & letter sounds?

PROVIDER NOTES:  (space is provided at the bottom of each activity sheet for the Provider to add notes or ideas if they wish to).



ESL Staff discussing art with students



Parents examining art

 ELECT - Principle - Partnership with families and communities- Photo Art Project con't.- We have mounted and opened our exhibit in the offices of Graybridge Malkam. We discussed the mounting and decided to take a professional approach after looking online with the Kindergarten Children at different art exhibits and how they were curated. As well, the children recall how the exhibit they saw at the National Gallery was mounted (complete with description of the exhibit!) . They wanted it to look like "they are in the the museum".
I have attached a couple photos of our opening, unfortunately you can not see the pride on the children's faces(we did not want to publish children's faces,sorry) as they described(reflection) how they did their work to their parents. I wish I could have understood them, but of course they were all speaking in their own home languages.  Some of the families have brought their relatives in to see the work, and I have taken pictures to email to them.  One family is moving the program before the exhibit is done so they will send me a forwarding address to ship their sons work to them.  We have received rave reviews from office personnel outside of the Child Care, and visitors to the office. Clearly this has been taken very seriously by everyone with great respect given to the works of art. Apart from the obvious benefits to the children, this project is further building community for our families, creating opportunities for dialogue about ELECT and shining a positive light on the importance of "child's work".  It is making adults think! 

Home Child Care Ambassadors

Home Child Care Ambassadors are meeting monthly to: network; develop learning tools for providers; share ideas about tools that agencies are developing. In terms of tools, we are creating cards that explain each Principle in depth that will incorporate a rationale and examples/activities.