Blog

Information and inspiration for early care and education professionals.

Laying the foundation for math with infants and toddlers

Infants and toddlers are observant, curious and eager to explore. Natural pattern-seekers, infants observe their caregivers and environments, noticing similarities and differences, repetition and novelty. As they begin to interact with their environments, toddlers use these observations to learn about[...]
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Playing with sounds: Phonological awareness prepares kids for reading

Reading is vital to a child’s ability to learn and be successful in school. Many skills like vocabulary, comprehension and print awareness support children’s reading abilities. However, one set of skills—phonological awareness—is particularly important and has been found to directly[...]
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Reducing the risk of contamination in diapering areas and handwashing sinks

Thinking about upgrading your diaper-changing area? Making changes to your diaper-changing area can benefit supervision and safety, but don’t forget sanitary procedures. The Department of Health Services (DHS) Child Care Licensing requires classrooms with a diaper-changing area to include “a[...]
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Handling the Holidays: Honoring different cultures and traditions

As early childhood educators, it is our responsibility to understand, respect and honor each child in our care without bias. Many programs have families enrolled with a variety of different backgrounds and experiences. Even in programs that appear homogeneous, families[...]
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Communication Matters: Talking with families about learning through play

How do you respond when parents ask: “Do the kids just play all day?” If you’ve ever struggled to respond to this question, you’re not alone. There are many different ideas about how children should learn. How you communicate with[...]
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3 reasons to partner with ADES for child care assistance

Many families feel the high cost of quality early childhood education is out of reach. In Arizona, one tool to help break this barrier is the Department of Economic Security (ADES) child care subsidy. All centers and group homes licensed[...]
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V is for Vision: Casting your vision for quality

In Quality First, we use the VISION model to guide the quality improvement journey, and every journey needs a roadmap. In this first stage, you’ll focus on vision casting. As back-to-school season is upon us, educators are busy making plans for[...]
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Setting the stage: Learning through free play

“Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children, play is serious learning. Play really is the work of childhood.” – Fred Rogers Why do we think of play and learning[...]
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