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Feb./Mar. 2019

Volume 1, Issue 6

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Membership Info……………………2

CCS Workshops .................... …....3

Parenting 101

Conference…………………………..4

Training & Community

Resources ............................. …….5

Community Events ................. …….6

Ministry Updates…………………….7

Ministry Updates………………........8

Early Childhood Education in CO…..9

Learning Through Play……………...12

Toy and Resource Library…………..13

Calendar…………..…………….…….14

OFFICE HOURS

Monday: CLOSED

Tuesday: 9:30am—4:30pm

Wednesday: 9:30am–4:30pm

Thursday: 12:30pm-4:30pm

Friday: 9:30am-4:30pm

EVENING OPENINGS:

12:30pm-7:00pm

Thursdays

February 7, 2019

March 7, 2019

CCRR Newsletter

CCRR PROGRAM REPORT

Welcome Winter (hopefully spring is on it’s way soon)!!

We hope you all had an amazing and restful holiday season with family

and friends!

We’ve had an exciting month of January! Childhood Connections has

a new Family Resource Program started at the Central Okanagan

Family Hub on Monday mornings at Pearson Road Elementary School!

And Nicole Hoodicoff is coordinating and facilitating that program, and

welcomes you to join her!

The Unplug & Play Kickoff Event on Jan. 20 was a huge success, with

over 700 families coming through the doors at Parkinson Rec to enjoy

face painting, science experiments, hatching chickens and other arts

and crafts that were set up by the community! We were there to en-

gage with families at our wooden spoon puppet art center! It was great

to see families out and about to play and unplug throughout the week!

On a sad note, we want to send out our sincerest condolences to the

Selzer family on the passing of Patricia, who was an incredible mom

who would frequent our library and programs and showed so much

love and care for her family. You’ll be missed by so many.

There are some great upcoming CCRR and CCS workshops coming

up, as well as other training opportunities in the community, so please

have a read through the newsletter and enjoy the last few months of

winter.

Stay warm and happy everyone,

CCRR Program Staff

Please note the Society’s NEW website!

www.childhoodconnections.ca

Staff emails will now end in @childhoodconnections.ca

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Childhood Connections CCRR Memberships Due

March 31, 2019 @ 4:30pm

A. Child Care Providers will receive in the mail:

1. Membership Renewal Form

2. Childcare Referral Form

3. CCRR Service Survey & Rate Survey

B. Parents and Community will receive an email remind-

er that memberships expire March 31, 2019. Attached to

the email will be a membership form and CCRR Service

Survey

MEMBERSHIP EARLY BIRD

DRAW

Pay for your membership on or before

4:30 pm, Wednesday March 6, 2019

and be eligible to win...

A Training Voucher for 2 CCRR

Workshops

MEMBERSHIP INFO: MEMBERSHIP EXPIRES - MARCH 31, 2019

Attention all Child Care Members

The new Childhood Connections website is now up and running for Child Care Referrals. All child care information was

transferred from the old site to the new site, however, there have been a few glitches. We ask that you take the time to look at

your program information listed under ‘Looking for Child Care?’.

Contact Cindy at the office if you need to make changes to your file: 250-762-3536 (x202) or cindyp@childhoodconnections.ca

Membership Details

Membership BENEFITS

Family Child

Care

Basic

$10.00 (new)

$5.00

(Renewal)

Family Child

Care Enhanced

$40.00 (new)

$35.00

(renewal)

Group Child

Care

$45.00

(new)

$40.00

Parents,

Community

$35.00

Business/

Agency

$45.00

Child Care Resource & Referral Newsletter & Bulle-

tins

Outreach Support & Telephone Consultation

Start-Up and Marketing Information

Parent Phone Referrals

Child Care Subsidy Services

Voting Privileges for Kelowna Child Care Society

Rate Survey

CCRR Workshops at a reduced rate Max 2 spaces Max 2 spaces Max 3 spaces Max 2 spaces Max 2 spaces

Access to the Toy & Resource Loan Library

Networking Opportunities (* must work in child

care) * *

Access to Infant/Toddler Equipment (Double

Strollers, Playpens, Highchairs, Gates)

Job Postings

ECE Exam Proctoring

:Website Referrals: Registered LNR & Licensed

Child Care Programs may have their name listed on

the Childhood Connections Society Website for par-

ent referrals.

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CHILDHOOD CONNECTIONS WORKSHOPS

Date Time Workshop Title Location

Thurs. Feb 12

6:30pm-8:30pm

Making Language Visual for Children

Our presenter Diane Gretzinger will show us some tools to help support children and en-courage them to participate and enjoy learn-ing language in different ways.

2-hour Certificate Provided

Hollywood Rd Education Center 1040 Hollywood Rd. Kelowna

$15 members/ $35 non members

Sat. Mar. 2 Sat. Mar. 16

9:00am - 6:00pm

Emergency First Aid (TWO NEW DATES)

8-hour training includes a copy of the Child Care First Aid and CPR Manual. Includes a 1 hour break. Participants to bring own lunch and snacks. This class meets Li-censing Requirements.

8-hour Certificate Provided

Parkinson Activity Centre, 1700 Par-kinson Way, Kelowna $85 members/$100 non-members

Sat. Mar. 9 9:00am - 3:00pm

ASQ 3 & SE

Professionals rely on ASQ-3 & ASQ-SE for the best developmental and social-emotional screening for children. This ses-sion will be taught by Okanagan College ECE, Qualified Train the Trainers

6-hour Certificate Provided

Morning refreshments will be provided. Please bring your own lunch for 30min lunch break.

Okanagan College (Rm: H112), Kelowna Campus FREE parking $50.00 (members and non-members)

Sat. Mar. 23 9:00am - 3:00pm

SAVE THE DATE: Dr. John Tyler Binfet

Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Part 2

Okanagan College, Kelowna Campus

You must pre-register by phone or in-person.

*accepting cash, cheque or credit card payments

Address: #4-1890 Ambrosi Rd., Kelowna

All workshops are listed on the Childhood

Connections website:

www.childhoodconnections.ca

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CHILDHOOD CONNECTIONS WORKSHOPS

Parenting 101 Conference: Feb. 8-9

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TRAINING AND COMMUNITY RESOURCES

Interior Health Free 1 hour Training

Follow the link below, and search “Division of Responsibility Model” to complete this free

online course that provides a 1 hour of training certificate upon successful completion:

https://learninghub.phsa.ca/Learner/search

Project Literacy Kelowna in partnership with Decoda and with support from Partners

for Literacy is pleased to provide a two-day workshop on Family Literacy.

Workshop Dates: February 26 and 27,2019

Time: 9am to 4pm Fee: FREE

Location: Family Hub (next to Pearson Elementary)

Details: Lunch and a Family Literacy workbook will be provided

Talk With Me Baby

4 Hours of Training

The “Talk with Me Baby” course can be found at this link. You do have to register, but

it is free

https://www.coxcampus.org/new-course-talk-with-me-baby/

ECEBC is very pleased to present its 48th Annual Conference, “Early Childhood Edu-

cation: Looking Back, Moving Forward”

Date: April 10-13, 2019

Location: Hyatt Regency, Vancouver, BC.

On this occasion, ECEBC and the Canadian Child Care Federation are partnering to

deliver a national conference. For more information please visit: http://www.ecebc.ca/

events/index.html

11th Annual Vancouver Neufeld Conference

The 11th annual Neufeld conference is being held in Richmond Friday March 1 - Sat-

urday March 2, 2019. Please visit: https://neufeldinstitute.org/conference-2019/ to find

out more and register.

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COMMUNITY EVENTS

Creekside Theatre

10241 Bottom Wood Lake Rd., Lake Country

Saturday, March 2

11am –3pm

www.lakecountry.bc.ca/en/what-to-do/

creeksidetheatre

Pro D at the RCA ( ages 5-10)

Rotary Center for the Arts

421 Cawston Ave., Kelowna

Friday, February 22

9am –4pm

www.rotarycentreforthearts.com

ONLINE APPLICATION for STUDENT ENROLLMENT

2019 - 2020 School Year (for kindergarten, new students, and Schools of Choice for K12)

Online applications begin on Monday, February 4, 2019 at 7:00 am, Schools will be open at

7:00 am to support parents that require assistance Documentation Submission Deadline: Fri-

day, March 15, 2019

https://enrollment.sd23.bc.ca/

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The Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative lowers the cost of child care for parents each

month. Parents do not need to apply for the fee reduction. Child care providers that are approved to opt in to the Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative receive funding to reduce parent fees. If a child pro-vider is participating in the program, parents with a child in full-time care will see amounts reduced by:

$350/month for group infant/toddler care

$200/month for family infant/toddler care

$100/month for group care for children aged 3 to Kindergarten

$60/month for family care for children aged 3 to Kindergarten

Child care providers will reduce their fees when they receive the fee reduction funding, on the 15th day of the month after they are approved.

Early Childhood Educator Wage Enhancement Grant

The Province of British Columbia is providing a wage enhancement to eligible front line Early Child-

hood Educators of a $1 per hour effective in 2019 and another one in 2020 for a total of $2/hour by

year 3 of the Childcare BC Plan.

Check out the website:

http://www.2.gov.bc.ca/assets/govfamily-and-social-supports/child-care/we-faqs.pdf

MINISTRY INFORMATION AND UPDATES

Early Learning Framework and The Play Today Handbook

The Play Today Handbook is a guide to support your practice with children birth to 8 years. Learn

more about the evidence that supports play in the early learning environments and the curriculum

of play from child-directed to adult-directed.

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/education-training/early-learning/teach/early-learning-

framework

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/education/early-learning/teach/earlylearning/play-today-

handbook.pdf

“Children need the freedom and time to play. Play is not a luxury. Play is a necessity.” - Kay Redfield Jamison

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Affordable Child Care Benefit (ACCB) information

To find out more information about the Affordable Child Care Benefit, estimate the amount of benefit your family may receive or apply for the benefit through My Family Services, visit: www.gov.bc.ca/affordablechildcarebenefit

To view Affordable Child Care Benefit infographics, forms and resources, visit: www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/family-social-supports/caring-for-young-children/child-care-funding/child-care-benefit/forms-resources

Learn more about the Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative, and find out if a provider is ap-proved: www.gov.bc.ca/childcare/optinstatus

Child care in B.C.: www.gov.bc.ca/childcare

Nutrition Information

NEW Canada’s FOOD GUIDE: https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/

For more information on nutrition resources, explore our health and nutrition

Resources for Licensees: https://www.interiorhealth.ca/YourEnvironment/

ChildCareFacilities/LicenseeResources/Pages/Health-and-Nutrition.aspx

.

The Childcare BC Maintenance Fund (formerly Minor Capital Funding) has been enhanced under Budget 2018 to offer more support to more licensed child care providers in order to ensure that existing spaces can be properly main

tained and continue operating. The Childcare BC Maintenance Fund was available to support eligible organizations to

address emergencies, make necessary repairs, and/or replace equipment for their operations with funding available up

to a maximum of $10,000 per fiscal year for non-profit licensed Group child care providers, $5,000 per fiscal year for

private licensed Group child care providers, or $2,000 per fiscal year for private licensed personal residence child care

providers. With the budget allocation fully subscribed for fiscal 2018/19, funding is currently only available to address

emergency circumstances. In addition, eligible licensed Group, Preschool, and School Age child care facilities that are

required to relocate may be eligible to access by up to $25,000 to enable them to quickly resume their services, and re

main in compliance with licensing requirements under the Community Care and Assisted Living Act and Child Care

regulations.

Licensing Reg https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/family-social-supports/caring-for-young-children/running-

daycare-preschool/childcare-bc-maintenance-fund

MINISTRY INFORMATION AND UPDATES

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EARLY CHILDHOOD IN THE CENTRAL OKANAGAN

News from the SEAT Committee The Train Analogy

That Will

Completely

Change How you

See Your Crying

Child.

News from the Child Care Council of Central

Okanagan Committee The Council was busy over December and January meeting with

the four municipalities in the Central Okanagan to support them in

their UBCM grant application for a Central Okanagan Child Care

Planning and Needs Assessment. The grant application was ap-

proved by all four municipal council and was successfully submit-

ted in mid-January. We’re proud of the collaborative effort of the

Central Okanagan communities, and look forward to supporting the

Needs Assessment once the grant funding is approved.

https://www.kelownacapnews.com/news/central-okanagan-

municipalities-work-together-for-childcare-needs-assessment/

Early Childhood Education is the key to the betterment of society —Maria Montessori

This month's theme "Be Kind to Yourself" activi-

ties are:

Self care activities (take time to do those things for yourself you haven’t had time to do lately)

-Take a walk by yourself or with an adult friend

-Read a book

-Go to a class - i.e. music or painting

-Dance in your living room or find a dance class and try something new

-Plan an evening out, ei-ther date night or a girls night out and then go!

Spend some time without your child, contact a friend or family member that said they would love to help and let them

The second poster "Be Kind to Yourself" is here and paper

copies are available for pick up at:

Childhood Connections, 4-1890 Ambrosi Rd, Kelowna,

Westbank First Nation

Early Years Centre at

Westbank First Nation

Youth Services Building,

1880 Quail Lane, West

Kelowna

The Family Hub,

Pearson Road

Elementary,

700 Pearson Rd, Kelowna

To participate on social media, post a picture of yourself and/or young children doing one of the monthly activities (or something similar), and tag it with #OKFamilyConnections and #OKCOEYP to enter our monthly prize draw. You could win membership to the Childhood Con-nections Toy Lending Library, a YMCA Family Pass, Dr. Mac-Namara's book Rest, Play, Grow, or a children’s book! Winners names will be posted on our website. Congratulations to our No-vember/December winner Bridget Brownrigg!

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News from the Hub Leadership Committee: The Central Okanagan Family

Hub Celebrates 10,000 Visits!

Celebrating the Central Okanagan Family Hub 10.000th visit! Congrats to the Leadership Team : KCR - Community Services, Central Okanagan Public Schools, Central Oka-nagan Early Years Partnership, Childhood Connec-tions and the entire leadership team for making this such an amazing, supportive resource centre for families

Childhood Connections has been a big supporter of the

Family Hub since it’s inception three years ago: our Executive

Director has sat on the Leadership Team Committee, our

Family Resource Program Coordinator and CCRR Consultant

have provided early years supports and consultation, as well,

our COUSI/ASQ Coordinator has provided training and guid-

ance to Hub staff and provided early screening tools and sup-

ports to families that visit the Hub. This January, we just start-

ed up a new Family Resource Program at the Hub: Early

Childhood Connections Group. We’re happy to be a part of

this amazing community space. Go Team HUB!

Hub facelift with Early Years

consultations by our CCRR

Consultant and COUSI-ASQ

Coordinator

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News from the Central Okanagan Partners for Literacy (COPFL): Community

Family Screen Time Research Project

Child care providers have noted increased anxiety among the children in their programs, and this has been noted around the various Early Years tables that Childhood Con-nections collaborates with. During discussions around the COPFL table, an opportunity to study Family Screen-time evolved.

UBC Okanagan researchers, in collaboration with Project Literacy, Childhood Connections, and the Central Okana-gan Early Years Partnership have launched a new re-search study.

The goal is to identify healthy and unhealthy patterns of technology use in families with young children.

We are looking for Okanagan residents with at least one child between the ages of 2 and 5 to complete a 20–30 mi-nute online questionnaire. To show our appreciation, eve-

ryone who participates will be given a $10 gift certificate.

Please encourage your families to participate by going to:

www.familyscreentime.ca

Central Okanagan Early

Years Partnership

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“Children are not things to be moulded, but people to be unfolded.” ~Jess Lair

Scavenger Hunt

Scavenger hunts help exercise the mind by reinforcing

problem-solving skills and they help to keep kids active!

The hunts can be done in-doors or out and can be made

more or less difficult for the many different age groups.

Here are some ideas!

LEARNING THROUGH PLAY

Creating Colored Snow!

It’s really quite simple—most children

love color! Fill squirt or spray bottles

with water and some food coloring or

paint. Try using different amounts of

color to get the boldness you would

like. This activity also helps to

develops those hand muscles!

Warning: You will fill the bottles a

few times as this activity is a hit!

Happy St. Patrick's

Day!

Soft

Red

Bumpy

Sticky

Smelly

Green

Noisy

Cold

Blue

Hard

Crunchy

Yellow

Fuzzy

Light

Heavy

Broken

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Friendly reminder to carefully

clean the toys and bins before

returning them. Also please

follow our three steps to en-

sure a safe and enjoyable li-

brary experience:

1. Count and inspect the toys

within 48hrs of borrowing

and call the office to report

any discrepancies

2. Clean and disinfect the toys

and bins

3. Count and inspect the items

as you return them to the

disinfected bin

Please return all pieces you

find in your home or facility.

No piece is too small.

Thank-you from the CCRR

Staff.

“Childhood means simplicity.

Look at the world with the

child’s eye — it is very

beautiful”

-Kalilash Satyarthi

Spilt Milk — helps use

imagination to create

shapes out of a puddle of

spilt milk

Dinosaur Felt Board –helps with matching, colour recognition and simple di-nosaurs songs/names.

In Nov/Dec the CCRR office had 267 parents calling or

stopping by the office looking for a list of

child care options.

The staff supported 222 visits to our Toy &

Resource Lending Library. During office

closures such as evenings, weekends and

holidays parents can search the online data base for child

care options.

In Nov/Dec 329 parents searched the website.

Childhood Connections CCRR Statistics

TOY & RESOURCE LIBRARY

If you Take a Mouse to School – Teaches beginning story telling skills.

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Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2

3 4 FRP Program 5 6 7 8 Parenting 101 9Parenting 101

10 11 FRP Program 12 Making Lan-

guage Visual WS

13 14 15 16

17 18 FAMILY DAY

FRP Prog. CLOSED

19 20 21 22 23

24 25 FRP Program 26 27 28

February 2019

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2

3 4 FRP Program 5 6 7 8 9ASQ 3 & SE

First AID

10 11FRP Program 12 13 14 15 16

17 18FRP Program 19 20 21 22 23SEL Workshop

24 25FRP Program 26 27 28 29 30

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March 2019

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CCRR Program Staff

Cindy Polachic, Referral Consultant

Yvonne Stauble, Program Consultant

Oksana Martens, Admin Support Worker

Please print and share our newsletter

with staff and colleagues!

Join us on Social Media:

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/childhoodconnections

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/childhoodconnections

CCRR Office

#4-1890 Ambrosi Rd.

Kelowna, BC Y1Y 4R9

Phone: 250-762-3536

Fax: 250-861-1299

Email: resource@childhoodconnections.ca