Kim Schneider, a Program Specialist focusing on early literacy in San Bernardino County, discusses the importance of reading to young children. She emphasizes that reading builds language skills, vocabulary, and comprehension, citing research by Hart and Risley, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the National Institute for Literacy. Schneider recommends interactive reading, using expressive tones, and creating a routine. For different age groups, she suggests sturdy board books for infants, interactive books for toddlers, and alphabet and counting books for preschoolers. She also highlights the importance of making reading a daily habit, even if it's just a few minutes.

Early Education and Development webpage:
https://www.sbcss.k12.ca.us/index.php/en/ess-2019/early-education-and-development

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Nancy Sherod, Ana Garcia, and Heather Smith spend time discussing the work the Early Education and Development department is doing with regards to the mixed delivery system for early learning and childcare on behalf of San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools. This work aims to increase equity and access by sharing the options to families about the various settings like Transitional Kindergarten, state preschool programs, Head Start, and family childcare providers. The UPK mixed delivery work group, led by Elaina Holley, includes diverse stakeholders to develop a system that meets the specific families' needs throughout San Bernardino County. This episode focuses on an upcoming family survey that will help the workgroup gather data on barriers and successes for supporting their children, with a specific focus on families with children aged 3-4. The goal is to create actionable steps based on this data to improve early education and care throughout the county.

UPK Needs Assessment
https://bit.ly/SBCUPKNeeds

Early Education and Development webpage:
https://www.sbcss.k12.ca.us/index.php/en/ess-2019/early-education-and-development

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Karen DiCarlo, Executive Director of Santa Claus Inc., discussed the organization's history and impact on San Bernardino County's children. Founded in 1952, Santa Claus Inc. serves about 244,000 children annually through various programs, including Christmas distributions, foster youth support, and emergency assistance. DiCarlo highlighted new initiatives like Operation Comfort for Kids and Santa's Good Deed Depot. Funding comes from grants, private donors, and partnerships with organizations like Delivering Good and Good360. Despite the challenges posed by COVID-19, the organization continues to grow, with plans for a VIP reception on November 13 to showcase their work.

https://santaclausinc.com/

Email:  karen.dicarlo@santaclausinc.com 

Early Education and Development webpage:
https://www.sbcss.k12.ca.us/index.php/en/ess-2019/early-education-and-development

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Dominique Metoyer, an ECE Community Coach at Child Care Resource Center (CCRC), discusses her journey from classroom teacher to community coach, emphasizing her passion for working with children aged 0-3. She outlines her role, which includes delivering training sessions on topics like CLASS, SEFEL, and fatherhood engagement. Metoyer highlights the Nurturing Fathers program, a 13-week course designed to foster father-child relationships, noting its success in engaging fathers and promoting emotional growth. She stresses the importance of male role models and the impact of fatherhood programs on family dynamics. Metoyer encourages participants to show up and be present, emphasizing the ripple effect of their actions.

Nurturing Fathers Link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYegMvm6ai0
Additional Nurturing Fathers Videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbVTsdzTzk0

https://youtu.be/t1o1Zk8uqqY

Early Education and Development webpage:
https://www.sbcss.k12.ca.us/index.php/en/ess-2019/early-education-and-development

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Nancy Sherod and Ana Garcia celebrate the one-year anniversary of their podcast "Tomorrow's Readiness Starts Today," highlighting their global reach with over 2,000 downloads and episodes in 12 countries. They discuss the achievements of San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools, focusing on early education and development initiatives. Tracy Chambers, Assistant Superintendent of Education Support Services, and Heather Smith, Director of Early Education and Development, join the duo to emphasize the importance of support for early childhood education providers, including family childcare providers, state preschool teachers, and Head Start programs. Their conversation also shared the upcoming launch of a new website and season two of the transmedia project, "Learn with Me".  As their final episode of year one comes to an end, Nancy and Ana's conversation concludes with highlights of their favorite moments, plans for future episodes (including professional development content) and their excitement for upcoming guests.

Early Education and Development webpage:
https://www.sbcss.k12.ca.us/index.php/en/ess-2019/early-education-and-development

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Veronica Valente, an Early Education Specialist at San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools, discussed her role in the Quality Start San Bernardino rating system and social-emotional coaching for teachers. She highlighted an upcoming family series aimed at supporting parents and teachers with strategies for managing children's behaviors and fostering positive interactions. The series, consisting of five sessions, covers topics like building family relationships, understanding children's behaviors, and developing friendship skills. The sessions are virtual and open to anyone, including grandparents and family members. Registration details will be provided through the OMS link and newsletter.

Family Series:  Keeping it Positive.      October 29, 2024 3:004:30.   
 https://sbcss.k12oms.org/2729-244774

Family Series:  Why do Children do What They do?  January 29, 2025 3:00-4:30.     https://sbcss.k12oms.org/2729-244781

Family Series:  Behavior Has Meaning.  February 19, 2025. 3:00-4:30. 
https://sbcss.k12oms.org/2729-244782

Early Education and Development webpage:
https://www.sbcss.k12.ca.us/index.php/en/ess-2019/early-education-and-development

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Nancy Cruz, is the Senior Manager for State Preschool at San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools with the Student Services Branch. Nancy, began in education, working at a private daycare center and did that for about two years, She got her degree, and then I began working with the districts with CSPP. She came on with the SBCSS in 2001 she began as a state preschool teacher, then moved up as program supervisor, and her most recent role is now Senior Manager.

Early Education and Development webpage:
https://www.sbcss.k12.ca.us/index.php/en/ess-2019/early-education-and-development

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Today's episode is focusing on a transformational opportunity for whole child education by jumping into all things California Community Schools. With us to share more about how these programs are transforming schools into community hubs is Jennifer Gateley the Director of Learning Systems and Support and one of her Community Schools Coordinators, Yvonne Molles.

Early Education and Development webpage:
https://www.sbcss.k12.ca.us/index.php/en/ess-2019/early-education-and-development

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Today we have James Moses, The Regional Director for Child Care Resource Center. James has 35 years of experience working specifically with children and families in in San Bernardino County in Social Service Programs .

Early Education and Development webpage:
https://www.sbcss.k12.ca.us/index.php/en/ess-2019/early-education-and-development

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Today we have our friends from Cal State San Bernardino. Amanda Wilcox a faculty member for over 25 years and the Chair of the Department of Child Development and Amy Van Schagen, Associate Professor in the Child Development Department.

CSU San Bernardino Child Development webpage:
https://www.csusb.edu/child-development

Early Education and Development webpage:
https://www.sbcss.k12.ca.us/index.php/en/ess-2019/early-education-and-development

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Today we're shining the light on Quality Start San Bernardino County, or as we're going to refer to it for most of this podcast QSSB. This is a vital initiative in California designed to elevate the quality of early learning experiences for children aged zero to five. Joining us today is our very own Ana Garcia, my co host who is deeply involved in QSSB's operations.

QSSB's website:  https://qualitystartsbc.org/

Early Education and Development webpage:
https://www.sbcss.k12.ca.us/index.php/en/ess-2019/early-education-and-development

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Elaina is one of our early education and development teammates, who plays a big role in the building of early educator workforce. She brings with her a huge heart for all things, little people, and the adults who work with them .

EETD/QCC Tuition Reimbursement Support Program: https://sbcss.instructure.com/courses/2427

Early Education and Development webpage:
https://www.sbcss.k12.ca.us/index.php/en/ess-2019/early-education-and-development

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Today we're diving in to build an understanding of what a mixed delivery system is. And we're going to help share the role that it's playing to support our three to four year olds. This work and supporting parents in choosing among different program types and allowing them to select one that best meets their needs, is at the heart of a lot that we are doing here in San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools, it will be a look at how mixed delivery will support directing children towards programs that meet their development and learning style.

Contact Nancy and Ana

Nancy - nancy.sherod@sbcss.net
Ana - ana.garcia@sbcss.net
909-386-2658

First 5
https://www.first5california.com/en-us/
Child Care Resource Center
https://www.ccrcca.org/apply/
Quality Start San Bernardino County
https://qualitystartsbc.org/
California State Preschool Program
https://www.ccrcca.org/headstart/programs/california-state-preschool-program-ages-3-5/
Universal PreK CDE
https://www.cde.ca.gov/eo/in/ts-universalprek.asp
Early Education and Development SBCSS
https://www.sbcss.k12.ca.us/index.php/en/ess-2019/early-education-and-development
Cradle to Career Roadmap
https://c2c.sbcss.net/en

Early Education and Development webpage:
https://www.sbcss.k12.ca.us/index.php/en/ess-2019/early-education-and-development

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This month we are sitting down to chat with our Early Education and Development team member Denise Cates-Darnell and the executive producer of KVCR Lillian Vasquez, they are here to share with us the launch of our transmedia television project. 

Early Education and Development webpage:
https://www.sbcss.k12.ca.us/index.php/en/ess-2019/early-education-and-development

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In this episode, we are excited to be sitting down with Footsteps to Brilliance Chief Officer, Eugene Narciso and their CEO, Ileen Rosenthal.

Footsteps to Brilliance for San Bernardino County
https://www.footsteps2brilliance.com/sanbernardinocounty/

Early Education and Development webpage:
https://www.sbcss.k12.ca.us/index.php/en/ess-2019/early-education-and-development

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Since this is our launch into the world of podcasting, we thought it'd be important to speak to the why behind not just this podcast, but also the creation of our brand new department, Early Education and Development. And to do this, it seemed fitting to invite our one and only San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools. Ted Alejandre and the  director of Early Education and Development Department, Heather Smith. 

Early Education and Development webpage:
https://www.sbcss.k12.ca.us/index.php/en/ess-2019/early-education-and-development

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Early Education and developments mission is to support the foundation setting and structure of Early Education and Development Services for all San Bernardino County children, ages zero to eight for families, educators and community partners by bridging resources that transform the capacity for each educational system to impact the whole child in their formative years.

Each month you will be introduced to someone who has played an important role in the preschool to third grade initiatives will fill you went in on some of those key topics that impact learning environments for our littlest learners, and share with you some of the awesome things we're doing here in the early education and development department at the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools.

If you're a parent, a teacher, family childcare provider, administrator or anyone that has passion for all things early learning, then you are going to want to tune in.

Early Education and Development webpage:
https://www.sbcss.k12.ca.us/index.php/en/ess-2019/early-education-and-development

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