From Corrine Hendrickson

New Glarus

To the Editor:

The Green County Child Care Network (GCCCN) would like to thank the Only in Wisconsin Giving Foundation for the generous grant to increase the quality and accessibility of child care in the county through professional development. GCCCN will use the grants to provide free monthly training for members, along with annual CPR certification. This funding allows several members to take the required courses to become mentors/trainers/consultants of child care professionals thereby increasing opportunities for quality training within our county utilizing our current professionals.  

Furthermore, more expensive professional development courses will be offered for free, allowing educators to better meet the social emotional and foundational educational needs of the children through the following courses: The Pyramid model increases the teacher’s ability to meet the children’s needs they care for and educate reducing teacher burnout, increasing inclusion of all children, lowers expulsion rates, and better prepares all children with the social emotional skills and self-awareness necessary to fulfill their potential and lead happier and healthier lives. This training increases partnerships with parents as they navigate meeting their child’s needs and have conversations about the potential need for evaluation by birth-to-3 or the school district (3 and up) of children suspected of having a disability/special need getting the child the supports necessary for their development. The Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards course to ensure that the learning environments are created to meet all the following developmental needs: health and physical, social emotional, language and communication, and cognition and general knowledge through play! These two courses also enable programs to earn higher star ratings in the states Youngstar quality indicator rating system.