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Parent Family Community Engagement
Learning Genie
Your school is now using Learning Genie to track in-kind volunteer hours and family engagement activities!
Good news! We are excited to announce that we will be using Learning Genie app to communicate and share learning resources with families to collect mandatory in-kind and volunteer service hours for at-home activities to continue enhancing your child’s early learning at home. Download the app using the QR code.
- QR Code for Parents to scan to DOWNLOAD App (English) (Word Doc)
- Parents Onboarding Flyer (English) (PDF)
- Parents Onboarding Flyer (Spanish) (PDF)
- Create Your Parent Account (English) (PDF)
- Instrucciones par Abra tu Cuenta (Spanish) (PDF)
Caregiver Resources
Caring for an infant or young child can sometimes feel overwhelming and parents may need extra help and support. Caregivers who are stressed or depressed, for example, have fewer resources available to help them to support and meet the needs of a growing child. The well-being of the adults who care for young children is critical: we need to attend not only to young children’s development, but also the behavioral health needs of their caregivers.
Adults caring for young children not only nurture healthy development, they also can be the first to detect emerging social, emotional, and behavioral issues.
About 1 in 6 children (ages 2-8 years) has a diagnosed mental, behavioral, or developmental disorder, including attachment and relationship disorders, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Young children living in poverty, exposed to violence and other traumatic events, and living in families struggling with mental health or substance use challenges are at increased risk of developing mental health issues. This underscores how connected the wellbeing of young children is to the well-being of the adults who care for them. To nurture children’s healthy development, we also need to attend to the behavioral health needs of their caregivers.
PRIDE Leadership Academy
The resources below provide information to help parents and caregivers during these times.
ACF Video Series on Early Childhood Social Emotional Development and Mental Health and Caregiver Well-being: Features a series of short videos to spotlight the importance of robust social emotional development and mental health support strategies within programs serving young children and their families.
- Early childhood experiences can strengthen or disrupt a young child’s social, emotional, and cognitive development, with consequences that can last a lifetime. This video spotlights the importance of integrating support for the social emotional development of young children and the well-being of their caregivers into all child- and family-serving programs.
- Why Does it Matter? Children’s Social and Emotional Developmenthttps://cblcc.acf.hhs.gov/shareable-media/videos/acf-video-series/why-does-it-matter-childrens-social-emotional-dvelopment-and-mental-health/
- When adult caregivers are doing well and able to promote and provide safe, nurturing, and responsive relationships, then children will do well.
- Parent Well-being Matters videohttps://cblcc.acf.hhs.gov/shareable-media/videos/acf-video-series/parent-well-being-matters/
Resources: Family Tools
This What Works Brief is part of a continuing series of short, easy-to-read, “how to” information packets on a variety of evidence-based practices, strategies, and intervention procedures. The Briefs are designed to help teachers, parents, and other caregivers support young children’s social and emotional development. They include examples and vignettes that illustrate how practical strategies might be used in a variety of early childhood settings and home environments. http://csefel.vanderbilt.edu/resources/wwb/wwb9.html
Scripted Stories for Social Situations Scripted Stories for Social Situations help children understand social interactions, situations, expectations, social cues, the script of unfamiliar activities, and/or social rules. As the title implies, they are brief descriptive stories that provide information regarding a social situation. When children are given information that helps them understand the expectations of a situation, their problem behavior within that situation is reduced or minimized. | |
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Scripted Stories for Social Situations Tip Sheet
I go to Preschool (on the bus)
I go to Preschool (in the car)
What Do We Do In Circle?
I Can Be a Super Friend
I Can Stay Safe
I Can Use My Words
Tucker Turtle Takes Time to Tuck and Think (16 pg)
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Book List -Using Books to Support Social Emotional Development | |
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Book Nook These easy-to-use guides were created especially for teachers/caregivers and parents to provide hands-on ways to embed social-emotional skill-building activities into everyday routines. Each book nook is comprised of ideas and activities designed around popular children’s books such as Big Al, Hands are Not for Hitting, On Monday When It Rained, and My Many Colored Days. Examples of suggested activities include using rhymes to talk about being friends, making emotion masks to help children identify and talk about different feelings, playing games around what to do with hands instead of hitting, and having fun music and movement activities to express emotions. | |
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Teaching Social Emotional Skills |
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“You Got It!” | |
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Tools for Developing Behavior Support Plans | |
Observation Cards | |
Positive Attention Data Sheet
Some Starters for Giving Positive Feedback and Encouragement (1 page) 
Children's Book List
Abiyoyo by Pete Seeger
Baby Cakes by Karma Wilson; Illustrated by Sam Williams
Big Al by Andrew Clements
Glad Monster Sad Monster by Ed Emberley & Anne Miranda
Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney & Illustrated by Anita Jeram
Hands Are Not for Hitting by Martine Agassi
I Can Share by Karen Katz
"I Have A Problem," Said The Bear by Heinz Janischney
Llama Llama Misses Mama by Anna Dewdney
My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss
Mouse was Mad by Linda Urban
No Biting by Karen Katz
No Matter What by Debi Gliori
On Monday When It Rained by Cherryl Kachenmeister
Pat Them Gently by Melanie O'Brien
Quiet LOUD by Leslie Patricelli
Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister
Sometimes I'm Bombaloo by Rachel Vail
Taking a Bath with the Dog and Other Things That Make Me Happy by Scott Menchin
The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn
When I am by Gladys Rosa-Mendoz
Super Friend Award
Emotion Faces
Feeling Chart: English
Feeling Chart: Flowers
The Turtle Technique
Turtle Pattern
Problem-Solving Steps
Solution Kit
Solution Kit
Solution Kit Cue CardsNew Horizon Head Start Center & EBRPSS Literacy Parent Feedback
Children’s Special Health Services Regional Resource Guide: Region 2