Letter from the Director!
Thank you to all the parents who have provided support for us these last months by attending our Parent Teacher Organization Meetings, volunteering in the center, helping with policy council, etc. These partnerships are not only opportunities to connect together, but chances for like-minded individuals to support the awesome children from our program. This summer will provide continued events and opportunities for you and your children. We hope to see you come out to events and have some fun in the sun!
We are also beginning the process of gathering withdraw notices from preschool families planning to enroll their children in their local public school. We need to know ASAP if this is your plan so that we can work with younger children on their transitions. Please see your child’s master teacher for the paperwork.
Our program has been a part of some new developments in the field of early childhood. We will be hosting students from Tulsa Community College in the upcoming semester who are studying infants and toddlers. All interns or lab students must complete the same rigorous background check as our employees. We also conduct orientation with each of them as well. Nonetheless, we allow our college students and interns to be students-only, as our teachers are the responsible and leading adults in the classroom. Students can be identified by grey uniform tops while in the center. We have goals of providing child-care workers with elevated educational environments and remaining a quality example of best practices while working with young children. We also will host a child development associate program this summer on site. If you have questions about these study options, please let us know!
In addition to professional development in the program, we also will be piloting the LENA Grow program this summer. LENA measures child-adult serve and return. In short, we will be able to measure how often our teachers are talking and engaging with our children. This great tool will guide training and equipment in our program. We were 1 of 2 sites selected in all of the state of Oklahoma for this research.
Dominique Lewis
Site Director