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Fall 2023
- Executive Director Update
- Meet the Office of Early Learning
- Resources from the Cultural Education Center
- P-3 Best Practices Webinar Series
- Helpful Resources/Professional Development
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Our office would love to hear from you! What would you like to see here in the future?
Please complete a quick survey and let us know how we can help.
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Executive Director Update | |
Dear educators,
I hope you have all had an excellent beginning to the school year. I am excited to share with you that the Office of Early Learning is working on several new resources for the Prekindergarten-Grade 3 community. Additionally, we have started our annual monitoring visits for those districts that have SUFDPK expansion grant funding, so we look forward to visiting your school to learn more about your programs.
As a continuation of our Office of Early Learning Navigating PreK Day event in September, we will be holding a second event, Navigating PreK Day 2024, on May 2 at the New York State Museum in Albany, and we welcome all UPK administrators and program leads. The event will include some panel presentations with UPK programs, as well as include an update on the 2024 budget as it relates to Prekindergarten and any timely news. Please join us in Albany for this in-person event so that we can learn together.
In our efforts to expand Prekindergarten - Grade 3 support and highlight best practices, we have planned three webinar events for 2024 around early learning and social-emotional learning, UPK collaboration between eligible agencies and districts, and play and classroom instruction. The dates for the events and the sign-up link can be found below in this newsletter.
Throughout the year, if you have suggestions for resources, or if we can assist you, feel free to contact me.
Regards,
Erik Sweet
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Meet the Office of Early Learning! | |
Lori Smart, Director
Lori Smart is the Director of the Office of Early Learning (OEL). Lori’s 30-year career in education has spanned the full continuum of grade levels as well as instructional settings. Her greatest joy is working directly with educators to support the development of their craft. In this endeavor, Lori joined the New York State Education Department in 2013 as an Associate in the Education of Children with Disabilities for the Office of Special Education. In this role, she worked with a network of statewide content experts to develop professional development, systems, and practices to positively impact learning outcomes for students with disabilities. As an early educator at heart, she returned to her roots as Supervisor of Education Programs in OEL in March of 2022. Her passion, experience, and leadership have helped to build a formative team who are dedicated to ensuring New York State’s earliest learners receive a high-quality educational foundation and who are committed to providing early educators with support, direction, and guidance in which to do so.
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Tanya Amodio-Kovacs, Supervisor
Tanya Amodio-Kovacs is a Supervisor in Education Programs in the Office of Early Learning (OEL). Tanya has 24 years of experience in education. She has worked in the New York State Education Department since 2014. Prior to becoming Supervisor of Education Programs, she worked as an Associate in Bilingual Education in OEL and the Office of Bilingual Education and World Languages. She has served as a classroom teacher (early learning), an English as a New Language teacher in both monolingual and dual language settings, an adult English immersion teacher, a teacher-mentor, and a program leader. Her experiences have given her the opportunity to develop policies, guidance, and resources that have impacted students in Prekindergarten through Grade 12. She is passionate about building a more equitable system for all young learners and their families and closing opportunity gaps. She is deeply committed to providing guidance and direction to the OEL team to help strengthen the P-3 continuum.
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The Office of Early Learning
The Office of Early Learning provides oversight and technical support to school districts in the development, implementation, and evaluation of programs and policies related to educating students in prekindergarten to third grade that are aligned with the NYS Board of Regents Early Childhood Policy.
The Office of Early Learning currently has offices in Albany and Brooklyn, and we continue to expand in order to better serve the districts of New York State.
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3PK Standards Coming Soon
The Office of Early Learning, in partnership with statewide early learning stakeholders, is beginning the process of creating learning standards for three-year-olds. This collaborative effort will result in the creation of standards to provide guidance for teachers and to meet the needs of the increasing number of three-year-olds being served in NYS. The three-year-old standards will connect with the Prekindergarten Learning Standards and strengthen the continuum between early learning programs and elementary schools. Once a draft has been created by the committee, it will be posted for public feedback.
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Want to be featured in the Classroom Spotlight?
The Office of Early Learning is looking for best practices from districts or classrooms to spotlight throughout the year. If you are interested in sharing a success story in any of the following areas, please submit your story via email to the Office of Early Learning at oel@nysed.gov.
- Building classroom community
- Differentiated instruction
- P-3 curriculum continuum
- Diversity, equity, and inclusion in the early elementary classroom
- Anything you are excited to share as a district!
You will need to include the following information in your submission:
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Subject: Classroom Spotlight Submission
- District Name
- Teacher Name/Grade Level
- Photo of the best practice in action
- 1-2 paragraphs discussing the best practice
We look forward to hearing from you!
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Literacy Webinar Recording Now Available
A statewide webinar entitled “30 Favorite Storytime Books and How to Use Them” was offered by the NY State Library on October 12, 2023. The presenter was Alex Bernat, a seasoned Youth Services Manager and storytime practitioner at Albany Public Library.
This webinar covers:
• Current picture book titles that work well for storytime
• Criteria/best practices for selecting storytime books
• Picture book titles that can be paired for easy thematic storytime
• How to pair extension activities with storytime titles
• Great process-based and STEAM-related activities that are
manageable for a younger audience
The webinar recording is now available on the Youth Services archived webinars page.
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Talking Book and Braille Library
Winter is upon us and families throughout New York will have breaks from school, snow days, and might be spending more time inside. Young readers under 18 who are blind, have low vision, or have a physical or reading disability that prevents their use of regular print materials are eligible for service through the Talking Book and Braille Library (TBBL) in Albany, NY. We offer a wide array of books for young children in multiple languages to get them excited about reading and begin a lifelong love of learning.
Parents, teachers and caregivers can use a smartphone or tablet to help children get books and magazines to suit their interests anytime, anywhere, via BARD—the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled (NLS) Braille and Audio Reading Download website—and the BARD Mobile app. These downloadable materials are great for long car trips over the holidays or family time spent indoors.
TBBL can also provide braille or audible books and Magazines such as Jack and Jill, Cricket, and Sports Illustrated Kids through the mail, postage-free. Easy-to-operate talking-book playback machines are available, too. Our talking-book cartridges hold multiple books, so families can keep reading during winter snowstorms or out of town visits with family.
Another excellent resource is the children’s print-braille collection.
Print-braille titles are children’s picture books that include text alongside
a braille plastic overlay. Our print-braille collection contains both fiction and nonfiction titles and would interest readers in pre-k through 3rd grade.
Print-braille books are great for sharing with sighted and visually impaired reading buddies!
An exciting new program, Braille on Demand, allows members to request up to five braille books per month, free of charge, to keep them at home and build their home library. Choose from any of the tens of thousands of braille titles available on BARD.
If your school is interested in registering as a TBBL institution member, please contact us.
TBBL Toll Free: 1-800-342-3688
TBBL Email: tbbl@nysed.gov
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Kindness in the Classroom: PBS Learning Media
Kindness in the Classroom is a multi-part video series designed to give educators insight into the positive impacts of teaching mindfulness in a classroom setting. The series focuses on implementing the Kindness Curriculum; a free 24-lesson mindfulness guide designed for Prekindergarten and Kindergarten classrooms, researched and developed by the Center for Healthy Minds at UW-Madison.
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Culturally Responsive Sustaining (CR-S) Education Framework
The CR-S framework helps educators create student-centered learning environments that affirm racial, linguistic and cultural identities; prepare students for rigor and independent learning, develop students’ abilities to connect across lines of difference; elevate historically marginalized voices; and empower students as agents of social change.
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News and Updates
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Coming Soon! A new P-3 webinar series on promising practices from the Office of Early Learning. See the above flyer to register.
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Questions?
The Office of Early Learning provides technical assistance to districts regarding Prekindergarten - Grade 3 instruction and best practices. Our office also answers questions regarding UPK funding and program implementation. You can contact us at OEL@nysed.gov or (518) 474-5807.
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Erik Sweet
Executive Director, Office of Early Learning
Lori Smart, Director
Tanya Amodio-Kovacs, Supervisor
James Bordis, Samantha Chobot, Lauren Cosamano,
Paulette Coppin, Carly Feldman,
Tiffany Koo, Noelle Lake, Eric Feml-Nelsen,
Jason Gish, Christine Lyons, Terry Onofrio,
Brandon Orszulak, Madison Ramnes, Christina Ryan,
Tina Rose-Turriglio, Mary Sandoval, Rachel Schlude,
Michelle Sidoti, Zachary Snyder, Vicky Woods
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