Greetings to our loyal readers and a warm welcome to our newcomers! For those who were forwarded this email, we invite you to subscribe to receive our bi-monthly issues and stay up to date on all things Durham PreK. Together, we can strengthen our community and make a positive impact on the educational journey of preschoolers everywhere. Thank you for being a part of this inspiring journey with us.

The 2024 Advancing Skills & Knowledge (A.S.K.) Conference is swiftly approaching! We are looking forward to the informative sessions, the gathering of passionate educators from all over and an engaging message from our keynote speaker, 2020 National Teacher of the Year Tabatha Rosproy. This virtual event kicks off on February 17, 2024, and will be very empowering and inspiring to all! 

Register and learn more about our keynote speaker at the button below. 

During National Apprenticeship Week, the Durham Early Childhood Educator Apprenticeship program was thrilled to spotlight four of the participants in our inaugural cohort. Meet these four apprentices to learn more about why they decided to become early childhood educators, what excites them most about the apprenticeship program and their hopes and goals for their careers.

It’s that time of the year again! Help your site’s enrollment by encouraging families to apply for the 2024-2025 school year. If your site has rising families, please encourage them to apply as soon as possible to increase their chances of retaining a spot at your site. 

Remember, all children living in Durham County who will be 4 years old on or before August 31, 2024, are eligible to apply. Learn more at the button below. 

Children become very curious about the world around them at a young age. Engaging them in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) helps them to better understand how things work while having fun too! Check out dreme.stanford.edu for great tips on how to engage preschoolers in STEM!

We are thankful to the Bull City Sigmas for truly putting the word “giving” into Thanksgiving as they partnered with us in November and provided Thanksgiving meals for 35 families! We appreciate their continued support of the Durham community and Durham PreK!

Dr. Iheoma Iruka is a professor and researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She serves as a Fellow at UNC’s Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG), where she is the Founding Director of the Equity Research Action Coalition. Dr. Iruka has authored numerous articles as well as a book, “Don’t Look Away: Embracing the Anti-Bias Classroom,” published in April 2020 by Gryphon House. She has spent seven years in service to Durham PreK, first in 2016 on the Preschool Task Force and then as a founding member and the first chair of Durham PreK’s Governance Committee. Dr. Iruka has seen Durham PreK through all stages, from idea to implementation and through continuous improvements.

Between creating lesson plans, striving for all students’ academic success and maintaining a healthy and safe school environment, being an educator or school leader can be very stressful and often lead to burnout! Check out greatergood.berkeley.edu for helpful tips on how to support our school leaders.

Congratulations to First Presbyterian Day School for officially achieving accreditation by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)!

Have you checked out our website? Visit www.durhamprek.org for more updates on Durham PreK and early childhood education, and follow us on:

Durham PreK is Durham County’s local commitment to equitable access to high-quality preschool for all children in Durham. Investments will not only increase the number of publicly funded pre-K slots, but also broaden eligibility and work with teachers and private centers to build their quality through teacher and director education, mentoring and coaching.