Amy Hoffman A few weeks ago, a friend commented that her 5-year-old had been “feeling all the feelings” earlier in the day. He was reacting to those feelings by crying when she left his sight, yelling at his younger sister, and refusing to follow directions. And how did my friend react to this? She set...Read More

Quality Tips by Pam Schaffner  The assessment team in PA is often asked if they have any tips to make meeting quality standards easier. Since they have experiences visiting many programs in their professional careers, they have seen many programs employ strategies to make things easier, more efficient, and more effective. Implementing quality can be...Read More

Erin DelRegno As teachers, you won’t learn anything about the children in your classroom or about their developmental needs if you are going to do all the talking. You are there to guide children’s learning, not to give them all the answers, or ask them questions that they already know the answer to. As assessors,...Read More

Kitty Syster Serving fluid milk is an important component of the CACFP (Child and Adult Care Food Program) guidelines. It must be served at breakfast, lunch and dinner and can be one of the two components you choose to serve at snack for all children who are over 12 months of age. Not everyone is...Read More

By Betsy Saatman, TA Specialist/SAC Initiatives (Guest Blogger) 1989: Alicia Custodio, a volunteer for Upward Fund, an organization that runs after school programs in East Harlem, New York, was observed helping children with the use of a computer.Read More

by Tracy Walter During the time of the COVID-19 shelter in place order, we found ourselves at home with all of our family members trying to get used to a “new normal”. Parents were trying to work from home, school aged children were trying to do school from home, parents were trying to be the...Read More

Erin DelRegno and Angel Avery-Wright With STEM careers on the rise, creating makerspaces/centers for children to explore in school-age spaces is a great idea. Pocono Services for Families and Children (PSFY) took this one step further and began focusing on career exploration with their school-age children and building needed skills for jobs; filling out timecards,...Read More

Pam Schaffner The assessment team in PA is often asked if they have any tips to make meeting quality standards easier. Since they have experiences visiting many programs in their professional careers, they have seen many programs employ strategies to make things easier, more efficient, and more effective. Implementing quality can be stressful or time...Read More

By: Kitty Syster Are you tired of making the same lunches over and over? If you participate in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), you know how important it is to provide nutritious, well balanced meals for the children in your care. But sometimes it can be difficult to create new lunch and...Read More

Leah Zabari Cold weather creeps up, leaves begin to change, and pumpkin everything enters the stores. This is my favorite time of year when I get to decorate with pumpkins, cornstalks, and hay bales and when holidays like Sukkot and Thanksgiving leave my heart full of gratitude for friends and family. The Fall season always...Read More