Terps Bring Knowledge, Expertise to Community During COVID-19
Monday, April 6, 2020
Supporting Early Childhood Administrators
The Children Study Their World (CSW) project, developed by the Center for Early Childhood Education and Intervention in HDQM with funding from the Maryland State Department of Education, offers a preschool curriculum implemented in about 200 classrooms across Maryland to build teacher capacity and support successful implementation. As the state battles COVID-19, schools have been closed since mid-March and most expect to remain closed through the end of April, if not longer.
During this time, the CSW team, under the guidance of Dr. Christy Tirrell-Corbin, Principal Investigator and Project Director on the grant, has maintained steady contact with school system early learning coordinators and child care center directors to offer support and share guidance from other early learning programs, the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The team, too, has provided these coordinators guiding principles for eLearning experiences and instructions on how to stay connected using recorded videos, digital storytelling, and photos of children's work.
In the week of March 30, CSW Family Activities packets were distributed in English, and soon after, packets were given in Spanish. In addition, the team offered coordinators activities to extend to families promoting self-care and stress management for children, as well as identified several YouTube videos of the children’s books in the CSW projects for read aloud opportunities.
Cyber CYC
The Center for Young Children (CYC) is a laboratory school under the College of Education and it is currently closed in response to COVID-19. To keep teaching, the CYC has set up an online environment for teachers to reach preschoolers and their families, while also taking advantage of Google Sites, Zoom, Google Hangouts, and biweekly emails. (Stay tuned in to CYC news!)
The website, Cyber CYC, gives each classroom a platform on which to share videos and assignments, such as outdoor activities and puppet time.
The CYC also shared a video of Mr. M, music teacher at the CYC, offering online music classes, which are also available through Music Classes with Mr. M.
