The Sargent Early Learning Center (SELC) in Monte Vista, CO is hiring an Executive Director!

The SELC is a nonprofit childcare center that offers daycare and preschool programs. The Executive Director is responsible for providing a developmentally appropriate program for children ages 12 months to 5 years old, program accountability, financial management of the SELC, staff development, and parental involvement activities.

Click here for more details and how to apply!

Center School District is now accepting applications!

CENTER CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL DISTRICT 26Jt is paying years of service and single health insurance benefits. Center School District is now accepting applications for the position of PRESCHOOL/TODDLER TEACHER for the 2023-2024 School Year.

Qualifications: AA in Early Childhood Education preferred or willing to obtain qualifications Experience working with Preschool/Toddler Age Children in an educational environment, or such alternative as the Board of Education may find appropriate and acceptable.

All candidates must pass background checks. Current or former Head Start or Early Head Start parents encouraged to apply. Applications can be found on the District Website https://www.center.k12.co.us/page/employment-opportunities or contact the District Office at (719)754-3442.

Application Deadline: Until Position is Filled. EOE. (5/3/23)

Health & Safety-Update

Amanda is continuing to perform multiple screenings this month in all of our centers. One of those screenings is for iron deficiency anemia. The testing is just a screening and doesn’t mean a child has anemia even if the blood result is low. If a child is found to have a result that is below normal limits, a follow up with his or her primary care provider should follow to do further assessment and or testing. The link below provides signs, symptoms, causes and treatment for iron deficiency anemia. 

Click here

Early Head Start - Find your local program and apply for Head Start services today!

Pick up a FREE Box of DIAPERS!

For a diaper distribution center near you, please click here or scan the QR code below!

Parents As Teachers

(For Families with children pre-natal to age 5)

Parent as teachers is a voluntary and free program that provides practical, effective help for families residing within Alamosa, Costilla, Conejos, and Saguache counties with children pre-natal to kindergarten entry. It offers:

PAT Model Components

• Personal Visits 
• Group Connections
• Resource Connections
• Child Screening

Resource Connections

Parent educators connect families to local resources like housing vouchers, food, mental health services, early intervention, or other services.  

If this sounds like something you would like to participate in, please click on the link below or contact Esther Vasquez at [email protected]

Coaching

Harvard Takes Play Seriously with New Free Resources

You can't teach creativity; all you can do is let it blossom, and it blossoms in play!

– Peter Gray, Psychologist

Harvard University takes play seriously with several new free resources to help caregivers, teachers, and families prioritize play:

Project Zero’s 

Pedagogy of Play Project offers a number of free articles and books (available for purchase or as a free PDF) purporting to answer questions such as “Why do educators need a pedagogy of play? What does playful learning look and feel like in classrooms and schools? How do educators set up the conditions where playful learning thrives?” Identifying six indicators of playful learning, the researchers have also revealed how those indicators overlap differently in various parts of the world.

Brain Building through Play — Among their many resources on brain architecture, resilience, and play, the Harvard Center on the Developing Child, offers a handout series especially for families that “provides suggestions for games and play-based activities based on a child’s age. The activities for younger children are designed for adults to engage in with children. Activities for later ages allow the adults to step back, enabling children’s independence to blossom as they transition to playing more often with peers."

Personal Development - Career opportunities and financial supports for you! 

High quality early childhood settings begin with well-trained and well-prepared educators. The Early Childhood Council Leadership Alliance (ECCLA) currently offers several state-wide scholarship and grant opportunities for students who would like to earn a degree, certificate, or credential in early childhood education, and for home-based providers who are seeking funding to start up, expand, or maintain consistent operations for their family child care home facility:



• ECCLA’s Back to Work Scholarship Program provides 1:1 career and college navigation and scholarship awards up to $2,500.00 that can be used for several different types of expenses (like books, supplies, child care, and more!)
• ECCLA’s Concurrent Enrollment Scholarship is for high school students interested in earning college credits and experience in Early Childhood Education.
• ECCLA’s Early Childhood Coach Credential Scholarship is available to help recipients complete the training requirements to earn a Colorado Coach Credential.
• ECCLA’s Family Child Care Home Improvement Grant is available to help home-based providers start up, expand, or maintain consistent operations for their family child care home facility. 
• ECCLA’s Rural R.U.N. Scholarship Program provides career counseling and tuition support to early childhood professionals in rural communities seeking to earn early childhood credentials like ERS®, CLASS®, National Director Credential, Coaching Credential, and any of the ECE College Certificates.
• ECCLA’s T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® Colorado Scholarship Program offers early childhood professionals a pathway to pursue higher education. 
• ECCLA’s  Early Childhood Coach Credential Scholarship, in partnership with the Colorado Department of Early Childhood (CDEC), ECCLA offers a scholarship opportunity for early childhood professionals seeking an Early Childhood Coaching Credential. 

The Early Childhood Council Leadership Alliance (ECCLA) is committed to the process of ensuring equity, dismantling systems of racism, and supporting young children, families, and early childhood professionals to have a voice as their true selves in our early childhood system. ECCLA’s Justice, Equity, and Belonging (JEB) Collaborative has created a Resource Collection that can support you in creating inclusive environments for children, families, and educators. We have resources created by ECCLA, resources for caregivers and educators, administrators and program leaders, and other community and state stakeholders, along with a list of Equity Trainings and Trainers. Check out ECCLA’s JEB page to see how you can create inclusive environments for children, families, and educators!