Coalition responds to survey results with child care
training
Late in 2008,
the Coalition asked early care and education providers
in Washington County -- via surveys and focus groups -- what
they'd like to learn. Using the
answers, the Coalition's Early Care & Education/After
School Work Group offered three sets of workshops for dozens
of child care providers this Spring. Topics included:
How Do Children Learn
through Open-Ended Activities, presented by the URI
Child Development Center.
Developing Family
Partnerships: Beyond the Tea Party Approach, taught by
Families Learning Together of the Westerly School Department.
Infant Toddler &
Beyond: Social, Emotional, and Brain Development,
presented by Laura Lehrman Kelly LICSW. Plans are
underway for another three-part series this fall and
winter. The trainings are made possible with
funding from AHEC, Southern Rhode Island Area Health Education
Center.
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Eating, reading, and
development (oh, my) from ZERO TO
THREE
You can certainly buy books if you
want to at the ZERO TO THREE
website, but parents and providers alike can find
interactive tests, PDFs, handouts, slideshows, videos and more
on most aspects of child development up to 36
months.
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Two new issue briefs examine evaluating child care
The nonprofit
research center Child Trends has released two issue briefs on
measuring the quality of childcare education settings.
"What We Know and Don't Know About Measuring
Quality in Early Childhood and School-Age Care and Education
Settings," and "Evaluating, Developing, and Enhancing
Domain-Specific Measures of Child Care Quality" examine the
link between program quality and children's outcomes and how
it is measured. Both are available on the
organization's website: www.childtrends.org.
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MEETING
DATES
Early Care/ AfterSchool Work
Group
The
Coalition's Work Group on Child Care and After-School
Programming has scheduled the following dates for its monthly
meetings from 6-7:30 p.m. at South County Community Action,
1935 Kingstown Road, Wakefield. To learn more
about the work group, or to confirm the date and location,
contact Andréa Martin at almartin@ cox.net or Angela Brightman at abrightman@sccainc.org.
Tuesday,
October 20 Tuesday,
November 17 Tuesday,
January 19 Tuesday,
February 23 Tuesday, March
16 Tuesday, April
27 Tuesday, May 18
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Wash your
(children's) hands. School's in!

The
latest info about the H1N1
virus.
You've heard about the
swine flu; now you can see the movie...of all the
federal public health briefings on H1N1, including lots
of information for parents, social services agencies,
health providers, and K-12 schools. The website is www.flu.gov. While
you're there, you can answer these questions and others:
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Senior year in high school? For the
next four months, all the talk is about
college.
Need
help with college? Request these free
books.
This time of year college-bound high school seniors and
their families and everyone else in their orbit are
obsessed with writing their essays, taking the
standardized tests, getting recommendations, filing
applications, and worrying about money.
So here are four free publications in particular worth
requesting at www.edpubs.ed.gov:
- Do You Need Money For
College?
- FAFSA on the Web
Worksheet
- KnowHow2Go: The 4 Steps to
College
- Save Your Money, Save Your
Identity
You can also call
1-877-4ED-PUBS (433-7827) Mon-Friday from 9-6 or send an
email to edpubs@edpubs.ed.gov.
What is edpubs? It's just like an online bookstore,
except everything is free! The US Department of
Education offers dozens of publications on every
imaginable topic - from preparing preschoolers to read
to designing frameworks for teaching algebra and
history.

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What you need to know about
the WCCC
The
Washington County Coalition for Children brings together
everyone in Washington County who cares about children.
The Coalition is known for:
- Tracking and publishing the trends in
children's issues, and convening public meetings
around the needs.
- Convening monthly meetings that bring
together more than 40 organizations
to tackle the
most compelling problems facing children and their
families.
- Establishing a website to help
parents of children with mental health and substance
abuse problems connect with local treatment
providers
- Sponsoring an annual "How Are the
Children?" Forum, a must-attend event
for anyone
working on children's issues: community leaders,
advocates, and elected officials.
- Holding monthly workshops to help
doctors and mental health professionals care for
children with behavioral health problems and
developmental disabilities.
- Organizing a holiday gift drive for
teens in conjunction with Casey's Grill & Bar in
Wakefield.
The
Coalition achieves astounding results, with just one
part-time staff person, dedicated volunteers, and
administrative support from VNS Home Health Services.
We cover all Coalition costs through voluntary
contributions of
Coalition members, grants, and your generous
donations.
For more information about the Washington County
Coalition for Children, go to www.washcokids.org or contact
Coalition Coordinator Susan Orban at wccc@washcokids.org or (401)
788-2061.
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