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April, 2022

FluentSeeds stands alongside our partner, Kidango, in support of SB 1047 (Limón), a bill written to expand eligibility for early learning and care programs to infants and toddlers as young as 18 months and make it easier for low-income families to enroll in CSPP (California State Preschool Program). Early childhood education has been proven to give children a head start in learning by providing stability for working families and increasing access to high-quality early learning experiences. If you are in California, we urge you to contact your legislator and voice your support for this important piece of legislation.
SUCCESSFUL PARTNERSHIPS
 

First 5 Santa Clara County‘s staff and providers care passionately about the children they serve and we are honored to count them among our partners. Every family childcare provider in their system is teamed with a SEEDS coach to facilitate and support learning and utilizing SEEDS strategies seamlessly throughout the day. Coaches support providers throughout the entirety of the program, customizing strategies to meet the needs of each child in their care and ensuring their young charges will be kindergarten-ready.

 

During the pandemic, SEEDS coaches were challenged to enter into Family Childcare homes without setting foot inside the door. They adapted creatively and successfully to continue supporting providers in SEEDS tools and strategies. Like businesses everywhere, FCC coaches took advantage of technology and utilized Zoom video for their observations, but childcare brings unique challenges! With active little ones and much movement back and forth between rooms, coaches gave providers tripods for their phones to facilitate easy movement from one room to the other, rather than carry a heavy computer back and forth. And after the initial greeting, coaches turned off their cameras to create less distraction for the children, who could then forget coaches were observing. Other methods of adapting included converting Family Resource Centers, formerly used as meeting sites, into storage and drop-off/pickup locations for necessary items such as diapers, art supplies, and more.

Maria Lorenzano is a SEEDS coach based out of Josephine Guerrero Family Resource Center. She works with a couple who just opened their center this past November. Krishnaveni Tiruvllur and Raghunandan Chakaravarthi immediately took the opportunity to learn and use every SEEDS strategy available, including sign in, auditory scripts, transition songs, repeated read-aloud and more. Within a few short weeks, children began recognizing letters and writing their names (the above photo is from a center parent who captured their 3-year old child writing her name on the beach during vacation). Delighted parents helped spread the word quickly, and Krishnaveni and Raghunandan’s center rapidly met capacity. Maria says, “It’s like a proud mom moment. That’s how I feel right now.” Children absorb much more than we think they are capable of when we make learning fun, engaging, and a natural part of the day.

This data shows the proportion of implementation fluency observed by coaches for SEEDS strategies, from “emergent” (just learning) to “accurate” (using the strategy but not yet unconsciously) to “fluent” (the strategy has become second nature). We can see steady progress over the months as childcare providers incorporate more strategies and become “fluent” in others. The graph will always fluctuate as more new providers enter the system and are new to SEEDS.
UPCOMING TRAININGS

Coming up in June we are offering our SEEDS of Learning for 3-5 Year-olds Train-the-Trainer program. This intensive runs over the course of 5 days and offers participants the necessary skills and tools to train other adults either virtually or in person, and to facilitate SEEDS of Learning sessions for their site-based teachers or tutors.
SUMMER

Exciting news! FluentSeeds will be coaching and training tutors at all Summer Learning sites for OUSD. We’ll have more details to share in our next newsletter.

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