April 23, 2020 Task Force Recap
On April 23, the OSSS Task Force had its first webinar meeting over Zoom! Attended by over a hundred early childhood educators and advocates, this meeting featured an overview of OUSD's Kinder-Transitions practices by Kindergarten Readiness Manager Maria Sujo, and a panel discussion with community leaders - parent leader Suad Mohamed, preschool teacher Neymiya Moore, special education teacher Kristin Brett, and San Antonio FRC site director Carla Jasso. Using Zoom chat, attendees introduced themselves, asked questions of speakers and panelists, and shared their gratitude for the work of Kinder-Transition teacher leaders.
As a way to practice self-care in the COVID-19 crisis, the meeting opened with a relaxing breath awareness exercise. OSSS partners shared updates on their COVID-19 reponse. Kym Johnson of BANANAS discussed the work of Alameda County Emergency Child Care Response Team, which is supporting child care providers that have closed during this time and coordinating child care for essential workers. Addressing the digital divide in OUSD, Christie Herrera of OUSD Early Learning shared the school district's efforts to both use online preschool teaching methods, as well as mail paper activity packets in different languages to families with young children. Christie also highlighted the preschool educators who have been reaching out to families and transitioning their teaching online. We're proud of Oakland's educators and early learning community who are addressing this challenging time.
Maria Sujo, OUSD's Kindergarten Readiness manager, presented an overview of OUSD Kindergarten Transition Practices, which supports Oakland's youngest children and families in their transitions to elementary school. Maria highlighted the Kinder-Transition Teacher-Leader program, which includes Kinder, Pre-K, and TK teachers -- who work together and build relationships between schools and families to ensure young children enter elementary school successfully. During shelter-in-place, teacher-leaders have moved from building in-person connections to creating videos for both children and families. Maria also discussed equity practices in kinder-transitions, especially for special education students, and the scaling of the program over the course of three years. For more information, please visit the OUSD Kindergarten Readiness page.
In the panel discussion, Suad, Neymiya, Kristin, and Carla centered the importance of relationship-building in kinder-transitions, being rooted in community, and their responses to COVID19. A preschool teacher in MLK in West Oakland, Neymiya said, “Early childhood education is important because it's a way for children to be children. They get to explore. There's no right or wrong. It's a trial and error." Suad said that her family loves helping people, and as a parent, she helps teachers with translation to nurture connections between schools and communities. Special Education teacher Kristin shares: "Family members are the first teachers. Preschool teachers come along, TK teachers come along. There's a lot of learning that happens before they walk in the doors of elementary school for kindergarten." Describing how San Antonio FRC’s playgroups have closed in COVID-19, Carla explains how their program has transitioned to connecting with families over phone, text, and email, and has also coordinated food and diaper deliveries.
Click here to view the Task Force video.
As a way to practice self-care in the COVID-19 crisis, the meeting opened with a relaxing breath awareness exercise. OSSS partners shared updates on their COVID-19 reponse. Kym Johnson of BANANAS discussed the work of Alameda County Emergency Child Care Response Team, which is supporting child care providers that have closed during this time and coordinating child care for essential workers. Addressing the digital divide in OUSD, Christie Herrera of OUSD Early Learning shared the school district's efforts to both use online preschool teaching methods, as well as mail paper activity packets in different languages to families with young children. Christie also highlighted the preschool educators who have been reaching out to families and transitioning their teaching online. We're proud of Oakland's educators and early learning community who are addressing this challenging time.
Maria Sujo, OUSD's Kindergarten Readiness manager, presented an overview of OUSD Kindergarten Transition Practices, which supports Oakland's youngest children and families in their transitions to elementary school. Maria highlighted the Kinder-Transition Teacher-Leader program, which includes Kinder, Pre-K, and TK teachers -- who work together and build relationships between schools and families to ensure young children enter elementary school successfully. During shelter-in-place, teacher-leaders have moved from building in-person connections to creating videos for both children and families. Maria also discussed equity practices in kinder-transitions, especially for special education students, and the scaling of the program over the course of three years. For more information, please visit the OUSD Kindergarten Readiness page.
In the panel discussion, Suad, Neymiya, Kristin, and Carla centered the importance of relationship-building in kinder-transitions, being rooted in community, and their responses to COVID19. A preschool teacher in MLK in West Oakland, Neymiya said, “Early childhood education is important because it's a way for children to be children. They get to explore. There's no right or wrong. It's a trial and error." Suad said that her family loves helping people, and as a parent, she helps teachers with translation to nurture connections between schools and communities. Special Education teacher Kristin shares: "Family members are the first teachers. Preschool teachers come along, TK teachers come along. There's a lot of learning that happens before they walk in the doors of elementary school for kindergarten." Describing how San Antonio FRC’s playgroups have closed in COVID-19, Carla explains how their program has transitioned to connecting with families over phone, text, and email, and has also coordinated food and diaper deliveries.
Click here to view the Task Force video.