Early Childhood Character Ed

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Our new lesson plans assist teaching staff as they work with children on social-emotional skills. Teachers tell us they love having additional lessons and idea related to teaching and reinforcing social-emotional skills! 

The 28 easy-to-use lessons focus on social-emotional development use a common vocabulary that reinforces concepts being taught in preschool. 

• Supplement and enhance your existing social-emotional approach and curriculum. 
• Offer common vocabulary for preschool and home that advance social-emotional development. 
• Are linked with Teaching Strategies GOLD Assessment Social-Emotional Objectives & Dimensions. 
• Can be used for PBIS Tier 1 strategies and can be adapted for Tier 2. 

Family Engagement 

Materials (in English and Spanish) help parents connect with their child’s program and promote positive parenting: 

• Parent Guide promotes the common vocabulary (trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship) and offers fun activities for parents and children together. 
• Parent Pages for each lesson help extend learning for the child and provide fun activities for parents and children. 
• Parent materials and their use can help fulfill program requirements for parent communication, family engagement and parent involvement. 
• The Early Childhood Parent Survey gives parents the opportunity to share about their experiences and give valuable feedback to the program. 

Free Materials, Training, and Parent Assessment 

The Robert D. and Billie Ray Center at Drake University is offering a grant opportunity for CHARACTER COUNTS! Early Childhood Training and materials for central Iowa early childhood providers at no cost thanks to funding from Prairie Meadows. Included in the grant is:

• A four hour CHARACTER COUNTS! Early Childhood training for a team of 4-6 administrators and teachers in your program. This training is DHS approved!
• Four CHARACTER COUNTS! Early Childhood Kits for your classrooms. Each kit includes:
  • Twenty-eight social and emotional learning focused lessons plans that are easy to implement and use common vocabulary
  • Parent engagement pages to reinforce classroom concepts
  • Lesson crosswalk with Teaching Strategies GOLD objectives to maximize planning, observation, and assessment time in the classroom
  • Recommendations for integration with PBIS
  • Choices Count musical CD to enhance music and movement time with common language
• Thirty English or Spanish CHARACTER COUNTS! Early Childhood Parent Guides to encourage families to engage with pillar language and concepts at home
• A CHARACTER COUNTS! Early Childhood personalized banner for your early childhood program
• Additional thirty English or Spanish CHARACTER COUNTS! Early Childhood Parent Guides 
• A Culture of Excellence and Ethics Assessment to survey families about the culture and climate of your early childhood program. A report will be provided to help with decision making and planning. A report consultation with a Ray Center staff member is also available. 

Value:

• Four Hour CHARACTER COUNTS! Early Childhood Training: $1200
• Four CHARACTER COUNTS! Early Childhood Kits: $396
• One CHARACTER COUNTS! Early Childhood Banner: $25
• CEEA Survey for Families:  $300
• Additional CHARACTER COUNTS! Early Childhood Parent Guides:  $32

TOTAL: $1,953 

Cost to you: FREE! to you with support from a Prairie Meadows Community Betterment Grant

We encourage each program to bring a team of 4-6 people, including administrators and teachers essential to implementing new pre-k to second grade programming. Training will be conducted at The Robert D. and Billie Ray Center at Drake University. There are two options to choose from for training dates. 

Option A:  Tuesday, February 5th AND Tuesday, February 12th 6:30 - 8:30 PM 

Option B:  Saturday, February 23rd 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Apply Here: https://fs25.formsite.com/cciniowa/EC

Applications are due Monday, December 10. 

Please contact Tabitha Choquette, Program Coordinator, at The Robert D. and Billie Ray Center at 515.271.2193 or tabitha.choquette@drake.edu with any questions.

What We’re Hearing 

“I think that the activities are wonderful and piggy back with our Second Step Curriculum and what we do with the Creative Curriculum.“ 

“It is one of those lessons you pull out again when you need to remind students of appropriate behavior in the classroom.” 

“I like that I can modify the lessons for my group of children.” 

Check out our Resource Library

If you'd like more information our new early childhood program, please contact us at 515-271-1910 or raycenter@drake.edu.