Helping PEI families make the early years count!

The Family Home Centre Network will meet one evening monthly (1st Thursday)  to work together to collaborate in ways of providing high quality childcare.  It is a “come when you can” Network, for anyone who wants to talk about fresh ideas, needs help breaking down barriers, or is interested in professional development!  We know that Family Home Centres play a vital role in communities and Early Childhood Education, and especially now with PEI being a part of building a Canada Wide system.  We hope that this Network will build on the foundation and help more families have access to high quality spaces in their communities!  If you have any questions about the Family Home, please contact  Jennifer Nangreaves at 902-368-0070 or email [email protected]

In this session we will explore principles and strategies for creating enjoyable and enriching opportunities for young children to explore fundamentals of visual art, music, dance, and drama as avenues for creativity, expression, performance, and more. Some portions will be participatory and we will move, create, laugh and learn in a safe supportive environment. Participants will leave the session with detailed plans for a variety of tested activities for children ages 1-6 (with extensions for school aged children) and increased confidence to bring more art into their programs.     Karen Begley supports and empowers educators to feel fantastic about the work they are already doing by making connections between their underlying values, everyday programming, and pedagogical theory. Her playful style makes for interactive workshops that generate new ideas and increase participants’ confidence and competency to bring practical and enriching experiences to the children in their care. To learn more about Karen, her work, and thoughts on childhood, learning, and care, join her monthly newsletter list at www.natureplaystudios.com.     Participants will be given the link to the video and are required to participate in one of two ways-- with a microphone/built in speaker or through the chat. In addition there will be a log tracking which members contribute and which do not, and those that do not contribute will not receive PD hours. We ask that you leave your camera on for the session.

The Director Network Meeting gathers on the third Wednesday of each month from 9:30 am - 12:00 pm.  We are happy to provide a hybrid meeting space, with the option to meet in-person at the ECDA Boardroom or via Zoom, to help with travel house ratio i.e., if you're cooking lunch. This network is open to all supervisors, directors, and administrators of licensed early learning and childcare programs. The intention of the group is to encourage open conversation and collaboration to enhance quality practices, such as human resource practices and policies, pedagogy, and leadership. We have an open-door policy for all network meetings, we invite you to come as you are, when you can, if you are in a supervisor position! We will share and support each other in our professional and pedagogical roles. Each meeting we will spend our time together thinking more deeply about topics of interest, current trends and daily practice. We will approach problems from a solution-based lens together and have lively and respectful round table discussions. We would love to have someone from every centre join us as we continue to support one another through the journey! Bring yourself, invite a friend, and we can't wait to meet you, or see you again :)