TECTA 2nd Quarterly Report 2013

The Week of the Young Child™ is an annual celebration sponsored by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). The purpose of the Week of the Young Child™ is to focus public attention on the needs of young children and their families and to recognize the early childhood programs and services that meet those needs. The 2013 Week of the Young Child™ is April 14–20 and the theme is Early Years Are Learning Years®. Please visit the website below for more information.

http://www.naeyc.org/woyc 

2013 Early Childhood Summit Student Scholarship Request Form

All scholarship requests are due by April 19, 2013.

NAEYC would like to include your Week of the Young Child^™ (WOYC) event on their interactive map that displays 2013 WOYC events from around the country and the world. If your event is not already listed, please provide the event information by filling out the form on the page to help community members find your event and join the celebration. More than 40 events are already displayed. Let’s spread the word that Early Years are Learning Years^®!

Celebrate the 3rd birthday of Let’s Move! by throwing a birthday party in your program or community! Let your celebration be inspired by Let’s Move!-make it healthy and active!

If this is your first time having a healthy birthday party, use this as an opportunity to teach kids that healthy celebrations are not only good for us, but fun too! Talk to families about how you’re replacing the usual cupcakes, pizza, and soda with healthier alternatives and fun activities, and make your Let’s Move! birthday party the kick off to a new, healthy way of celebrating  birthdays and holidays.

Want tips to help plan a celebration? Here are some of our favorite ideas:

• Focus on fun activities. Try this dancing activity. You can download free songs and lyrics from Color Me Healthy.
• Make birthday hats out of construction paper and decorate them with crayons, markers, and stickers. Have your kids wear them during the celebration!
• Let your kids come up with an activity they want to do-inside or outside!
• Encourage parents to bring in healthy treats like veggies and dip, yogurt and fruit parfait, or graham crackers dipped in unsweetened applesauce.
• Hold a taste test. Bring in fruits and veggies that might be new to kids like cactus pear, grapefruit, kiwi, passion fruit, tangerines, sweet potatoes, squash, or zucchini. Let them try a bite and enjoy the new flavors!

Be creative and come up with fun ways to make your Let’s Move! birthday party healthy and festive!

See if you can create a dance, story, or game involving the First Dog Bo.

We will highlight the top 10 most creative ideas on the Let’s Move! website (www.letsmove.gov) and the Let’s Move! Child Care website (www.healthykidshealthyfuture.org). Share your photos and what you did to celebrate by sending an email to LMCCHelp@cdc.gov by Tuesday, March 26 and your program could be featured!

Have fun!

Let’s Move! Child Care

              
On March 6, we’re hosting a free webinar on new and upcoming Team Nutrition resources, featuring “Nutrition and Wellness Tips for Young Children: Provider Handbook for the Child Care and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP)”. This resource is valuable for all providers to use when planning meals and activities for preschool-age children 2 through 5 years old, regardless of participation in CACFP. It’s full of ideas and tips that can help you-or the programs you support-make changes and meet the Let’s Move! Child Care goals to help kids grow up healthy.

To register, go to:

www2.gotomeeting.com/register/902662114

In the Provider Handbook, you will find:

• Ideas for meal planning, shopping, and food preparation
• Tips for creative menus
• Hints for meeting meal pattern requirements (if you participate in the CACFP, also known as the ‘Food Program’)
• Ways to serve foods safely
• Activities for hands-on learning
• Suggestions for active play
• Success stories from providers
• Links to additional resources

Join us on Wednesday, March 6 from 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. EST to learn more about this and other new resources, and find out ways to encourage healthy eating and physical activity for the children in your care.  

You will earn a certificate for participating!

Speakers:

• Erika Pijai, MS, RD, U.S. Department of Agriculture
• Andrea Farmer, MS, RD, LD, U.S. Department of Agriculture

To download “Nutrition and Wellness Tips for Young Children: Provider Handbook for the Child Care and Adult Care Food Program”, visit:

http://teamnutrition.usda.gov/Resources/nutritionandwellness.html. This resource was developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

“In states that make it a priority to educate our youngest children…studies show students grow up more likely to read and do math at grade level, graduate high school, hold a job, form more stable families of their own.  We know this works.  So let’s do what works and make sure none of our children start the race of life already behind.”  

                                                                                                                                              President Barack Obama

                                                                                                                                             State of the Union

Click here to view the entire article

http://www.tubechop.com/watch/931101