Early Childhood Development Association of PEI
3 Brighton Rd C1A 8T6 Charlottetown, PE, Canada

This is Executive Director, Sonya Hooper's last week at ECDA before she starts her 1-year leave. The ECDA Board and Staff feel it is very important to recognize Sonya’s years of work on behalf of the ECDA and our membership! This is a friendly reminder about the Zoom Virtual "Hoorah!" TONIGHT - Wednesday, April 7th from 7:00-8:30 PM. ZOOM LINK - https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85141519005 (All are welcome and NO registration required!)... Bring a favourite story to share or just come chit chat and help us send Sonya off in ECE style! We hope to see you there!

Beautiful and colourful photos from today's celebration of Holi at Tiny Tot Pope Ave!

At Tiny Tot Pope, we try our best to deliver an inclusive program respecting and celebrating cultural diversity among children and educators as well. Today we celebrated Holi (Festival of Colours) with all the children and educators, including our Director. Holi is celebrated in almost every part of India and, during this festival, people play with colours forgetting all the resentments and hard feelings for each other and show respect and love to their close ones. This fest...ival brings a lot of positivity in our lives and Holi, full of vibrant colours, is a day worth rejoicing. The rituals start by lightning up the bonfire one day before HOLI to celebrate the triumph of good over the bad. Our Tiny Tot family celebrated the vibrancy of colours in the parking lot to ensure enough space for every group. We read the books about Holi with the children explaining them about Holi and we even watched some videos in which everyone was enjoying with colours and we also had a dance party. We encouraged everyone to wear white or light colour shirt to see the sprightliness of the colours. We did some role modelling in the beginning for children and then children jumped in quickly to not miss any fun! All the children loved it so much that they didn’t want it to end and educators participated in it too, putting colours on each other. Everyone enjoyed the dance party and pictures. We shouted Happy HOLI and sang some colour songs. ~ Gurpoonamdeep Sekhon, ECE at Tiny Tot Pope Ave.

Liberal MLA Heath MacDonald pressed Education Minister Natalie Jameson for more details on the province's pre-kindergarten program in the legislature Tuesday.

For those registered for the Supervisor's Network Meeting tomorrow (April 7th), please note that the time has changed to 10:30 AM!

Play builds brain pathways for thinking, creativity, flexibility, empathy and many other lifelong skills. Play is learning!

It is with excitement and sadness that after 18 years as ECDA Executive Director, Sonya Hooper has been granted a one year leave of absence from her position. Sonya has accepted another senior position with a focus on early learning. More specific details will be made in the days ahead. In any case, Sonya is taking her 31 years experience in this field into this exciting opportunity. I am proud to be an Early Childhood Educator and I am honoured to have had 18 years of worki...ng with ECDA members and so many strong leaders to advance this amazing profession. In Sonya’s absence, we are pleased to announce that Jennifer Nangreaves will be performing the duties of Executive Director. Jennifer comes to this position with a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Sociology from UPEI (2008), a Bachelor of Education specializing in Early Literacy and Indigenous Studies (2010), as well as an Early Childhood Certificate from New Brunswick Community College (2020). Jennifer also comes to this position with no affiliation to any licensed centre, over 5 years experience as a Director and brings a national perspective having worked in various locations from Alberta to PEI. Her work with the First Nations community has provided her an inclusive and cultural perspective that will serve her well in this role. Jennifer is recognized for her strong leadership skills and has been a mentor to many. She is skilled in developing and facilitating, adapting and modifying programs, as well as utilizing community resources to support the needs of clients. Proficient at connecting and engaging people in all settings, Jennifer is comfortable as a spokesperson and advocate. Jennifer is excited about this opportunity and will be a strong advocate and leader, working on behalf of ECDA members. While we realize a large gathering is not permissible at this time, the ECDA Board and Staff do feel it is very important to recognize Sonya’s years of work on behalf of the ECDA and our membership! We invite you all to attend a Zoom Virtual "Hoorah!" on Wednesday, April 7th from 7:00-8:30 PM. ZOOM LINK - https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85141519005 Bring a favourite story to share or just come chit chat and help us send Sonya off in ECE style!

Kati Melville, Owner & Director of Wee the West Childcare in Alberton was recently featured in PEI Living Magazine! "I want to give the community a place for their children to come and grow into the young individuals they are destined to be and give children and families a safe place for them to be themselves without any judgment; just love, support, and encouragement."

Early Childhood Educator, Lynn O'Neill created this Easter/Spring sensory bin for the children at Little Blessings! Great idea!

ECDA e-newsletter, "Week at a Glance" for Wednesday, February 17th. If you are not already on our mailing list, you can easily sign up to receive our weekly news!

Check out our new Handle with Care video and SHARE with anyone you know who may be interested in taking part in one of these amazing programs!

Check out this site for some fun Easter craft ideas to do with children!

For those registered for Part 2 of the Family Relationships online PD series, tonight's session has been postponed until Thursday, February 18th at 6:30 PM!

An #infographic on the findings from the 1st two sets of interviews for our #COVID19 focused #research project - How is the pandemic influencing the lives of Ma...ritime families with young children? Learn more about this project on our website under recent projects: http://ow.ly/9gyE50DvyEo Canadian Institutes of Health Research @MSVUResearch

Join Nadia Jaboneta and Deb Curtis as they share stories and approaches that transform teachers’ views of children’s competence and the profound importance of brain development and schema explorations during play. You will hear engaging ideas to work with teachers, using a variety of reflective tools and profound yet simple information, to help teachers really see children of all ages, and the roles they can play to enhance the teaching and learning process. Click here for more information!

Now more than ever, we could use some unplugged time to rediscover old hobbies, find new interests, and connect with loved ones. Take the Screen-Free 2021 Pledge today, and join thousands of people around the world in exploring the joy of life away from screens from May 3-9. Take the Pledge! https://www.screenfree.org/pledge/ Of course, this year looks different than Screen-Free Weeks past, and we know it might not be possible to go totally screen-free during the pandemic. ...But, you can still plan to make your celebration special while staying safe! Here are a few ideas to get you started: Plan a special hike or nature walk. Ask your kids if there are any special natural landmarks they might want to visit in your area, like a waterfall or a valley, and plan a visit there! Start a book club. Choose a book to read together (either alone or aloud!) and discuss it after dinner during your Screen-Free Week. Make it even more fun by inviting friends or family to join in on the book club via phone! Make something. Make bread, pottery, a list, a drawing, a garden, a poem, or anything else you can think of! Spread the screen-free joy by giving what you made to a friend. For even more tips, resources, and fun reading, take the Screen-Free pledge! We’ll be sharing all that and more in our monthly emails as we countdown to Screen-Free Week. Plus, when you take the pledge, you can choose to celebrate Screen-Free Saturdays to keep the fun going all year round. However your celebration looks this year, we hope it’s full of joy and meaningful connection. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to [email protected].

University of New Brunswick is pleased to announce that they are now accepting applications for the next cohort of Early Childhood Educators for their BEd in ECE. Applications are due March 31, 2021 and successful candidates will begin the program September, 2021. Please feel free to share this information with early childhood colleagues who may be interested in learning about this degree! You can also visit the UNB website for information and testimonials:... https://www.unb.ca/frederict/education/undergrad/early.html A list of the courses can be found here: https://www.unb.ca//frederi/bachelorofeducation/index.html