READY, SET CONNECT!
FREE developmental screenings are being offered throughout Champaign County in the month of April for children aged birth to five.
These check-ups will provide information on how your child is developing in various areas such as communication skills, social skills, motor skills, and more. All children will receive a FREE book after participating in a developmental screening!
Soccer Planet: April 4th 2310 Willow Road, Urbana, IL 61802 9:00am-11:00 and 3:00pm-5:00pm Ages Birth-5 Walk-ins welcome Families can call 217-367-9999 for more information FREE developmental screenings are being offered throughout Champaign County in the month of April for children aged birth to five. These check-ups will provide information on how your child is developing in various areas such as communication skills, social skills, motor skills, and more. All children will receive a FREE book after participating in a developmental screening!
Unity East Elementary School: April 4th 1638 County Rd 1000 N. Philo, IL 61864 8:30am-2:30pm Registration required, no walk-ins available Ages Birth-3 Link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0E4FA8AE29A3FFC07-birth2 Ages 3-5 Link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0E4FA8AE29A3FFC07-spectrum2
Middletown Prairie Elementary School: April 6th 1301 S. Bulldog Dr. Mahomet, IL. 61853 8am-11am Ages Birth-5 Registration required, no walk-ins available To schedule a screening, parents need to call the Middletown Prairie Office at 217-586-5833
Thomasboro Grade School: April 11 201 N. Phillips Street, Thomasboro, IL 61878 8:30am-2:30pm Registration required, no walk-ins available Ages Birth to 3 Link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0E4FA8AE29A3FFC07-birth2 Ages 3-5 Link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0E4FA8AE29A3FFC07-spectrum2
Illinois was awarded federal relief dollars through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to ensure that child care programs can weather the pandemic – and emerge from it stronger than before. So far, this funding has been used to provide Child Care Restoration Grants and the Child Care Workforce Bonus program. In 2022, the Strengthen and Grow Child Care Grant (SGCC) will provide stable, predictable funding to support high-quality child care and invest in our critical child care workforce.
For the next phase of stabilization funding, IDHS Division of Early Childhood (DEC) will be offering Strengthen & Grow Child Care grants. These grants were designed to align with the Early Childhood Funding Commission’s recommendations.
- The new grants were designed taking all funding streams into account to maximize access to stable and predictable funding in order to improve quality and support workforce development.
- These grants prioritize equitable and transparent funding across all of Illinois, focusing on those hardest hit by the pandemic, including those providers operating without existing grant-based revenue.
- Programs that operate without predictable grant funding from sources like Head Start and Preschool for All struggle the most to pay reasonable wages and make investments in quality programming.
- In alignment with what the Funding Commission heard from the field, the SGCC grants will provide the additional resources that providers with minimal existing grant-based public funding need so that they can make necessary investments in workforce development and quality programming.
- As recommended by the Funding Commission, the State can no longer make our investments in early childhood one funding stream at a time, but rather must take all sources of programs’ funding into consideration. To achieve truly equitable funding, we must intentionally support those providers who have historically had the least funding stability, especially where they are serving low-income families. The SGCC grant focuses on supporting these providers.
SGCC Round 6 applications open on March 6, 2023 and close on March 24, 2023. Round six budgets will cover five months of funding (May, June, July, August, and September 2023)
- If your program has an SGCC eligible application use this pdf Budget Tipsheet (909 KB) to submit a budget request for round 6 starting March 6, 2023. Please note the Round 6 budget request will need to cover 5 months of expenses.
- To receive the SGCC round 6 grant you must have completed all reporting for any COVID relief funding your program has received. This includes Child Care Restoration Grants (CCRG), Child Care Workforce Bonus (CCWB) and SGCC reporting for rounds 1-4. Please use the next week to make sure all reporting is submitted.
ZOOM TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES FOR CHILD CARE PROVIDERS
Using Visuals and Social Stories to Teach Social Skills
Thursday, March 16, from 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm, 1.5 Training Hours FREE
Presenter: Nina Sullivan, Special Education Teacher and Early Childhood Special Education Master’s Student
In this presentation, we will learn evidence-based practices to increase language development, learn social skills, and ease transitions using visuals and social stories.
Child Neglect Prevention: Exploring the Basics
Wednesday, March 22, from 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm, 1.5 Training Hours Free
Presenter: Jill Duden, Prevention Specialist, Prevent Child Abuse Illinois
Child neglect is the most prevalent form of child maltreatment, with serious and long-term consequences. It is also the least clearly defined, understood, and publicly recognized. Neglect can be characterized as occurring in different, but often overlapping domains. These include physical (e.g., failure to provide necessary food or shelter, or lack of appropriate supervision), medical (e.g., failure to provide necessary medical or mental health treatment), educational (e.g., failure to educate a child or attend to special education needs), and emotional (e.g., inattention to a child’s emotional needs, failure to provide psychological care, or permitting the child to use alcohol or other drugs).
Contact Jenny Garinger at garinger@illinois.edu or 217-333-7816 to register.
If you prefer to do trainings on your own schedule, remember the Gateways i-learning website is always available: https://courses.inccrra.org. These trainings are Gateways Registry-approved and cover a variety of child development and early childhood education topics. Trainings automatically appear on your Gateways Registry Professional Development Record (PDR), and they are FREE. Be sure to have your Gateways Registry online username and password to login.
BRAIN BUILDING THROUGH PLAY
Parents and caregivers: Are you ready to try a few new imaginative play ideas and fun activities with your children? We are excited to share the latest set of resources in our new handout series: Brain-Building Through Play: Activities for Infants, Toddlers and Children, developed with support from the LEGO Foundation. This series includes a host of age-appropriate activities that are easy to do at home, inside or out! Play helps to develop sturdy brain architecture, the foundations of lifelong health, and the building blocks of resilience. Playful interactions with adults also help children build executive function skills.
Click here to see brain-building play ideas for kids of all ages.
Read the original article at: Brain-Building Through Play: Activities for Infants, Toddlers and Children – Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University
IN-PERSON PROVIDER TRAINING CLASSES!
Below are the trainings that we are offering in person in March:
Emergency Preparedness
Thursday, March 23, from 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm, Rantoul Public Library, 106 W. Flessner Ave., Rantoul, 2.0 Training Hours FREE
Presenter: Justin Bouse, Administrative Lieutenant, Rantoul Police Department
Connecting with Parents
Tuesday, March 28, from 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm, Carle Conference West B, 810 W. University Ave., Urbana, 2.0 Training Hours FREE
Presenter: Randi Kinsella, Early Childhood Mental Health Consultant, Caregiver Connections
Before we can talk to a parent about our concerns, our worries, or our observations about their child, we need to spend some time building a relationship with that parent. This training will cover some ways to do that as well as talk about the obstacles that inhibit us from building a healthy relationship with a parent. Then we will talk about ways that we can maintain and improve our existing relationship with a parent.
Process vs. Product Art
Thursday, March 30, from 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm, St. Paul’s Lutheran Early Learning Center, 1 Bachrach Ct., Decatur, 2.0 Training Hours FREE
Presenter: Sue Heidle, Early Childhood Consultant
We will discuss the pros and cons of Process and Product Art. We will also do a few projects so you can experience the differences.
Contact Jenny Garinger at garinger@illinois.edu or 217-333-7816 to register.
