- Home
- About Us
- Education & Events
- Membership
- Support
- Resources
- News
- Head Start Information
COVID-19 Resources for Head StartThe health and safety of our members, their staff and their families are our primary concerns. We encourage you and your staff to comply with the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention CDC recommendations and take all precautionary measures, here. Below are some additional resources which will be updated as they become available. For any other questions related to COVID-19 in Florida, please contact the Department’s dedicated COVID-19 Call Center by calling (866) 779-6121. The Call Center is available 24 hours per day. Inquiries may also be emailed to [email protected] FHSA What You Need to Know Top [email protected] Archives
Office of Head Start Resources:Coronavirus Prevention and Response
Wage & benefit flexibility: In response to COVID-19, OHS is advising grantees to coordinate with local health authorities and implement their existing policies and procedures related to the closure of Head Start centers during infectious disease outbreaks. Closure of centers in areas heavily impacted by COVID-19 is an important element of containing and limiting its spread.Food flexibility: Head Start and Early Head Start programs may provide meals and snacks to children during center closures. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has waived its group setting meal requirement for closed schools and authorized special flexibilities for many states. Supporting Grantee Leadership Regarding Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) webinar National Head Start Association ResourcesCOVID-19 Destination Reopening Playbook, updated July 2020 NHSA’s Kitchen Table Talks: Join the Head Start community at 3 pm ET this Wednesday, and every Wednesday until the threat of COVID-19 has subsided. This is your forum to offer your input and receive updates on what we know about the ever-changing situation, and share what may be useful for you and your Head Start family. Register now Other Resources and Information:White House/CDC/FEMA Guidance on Coronavirus, check for latest updates
Managing Coronavirus Risks: What Should the Head Start Network Think About? - Community Action Program Legal Services
Food Services & Distribution:USDA Announces Online Tool to Help Families Find Meals for Kids During COVID-19 Emergency, the Meals for Kids site finder. (added April 17, 2020) CACFP During COVID-19: New USDA Flexibilities Offer Program Options: FRAC Food Research & Action Center (Webinar added April 6, 2020)
TrainingRecorded/On-Demand Training- Responding to the Challenges of COVID-19Early Childhood Leaders Managing the Stress of Working in Response to COVID-19, in partnership with Region 9 Head Start Association This webinar, recorded March 19, 2020, provided leaders with useful information to help them manage their own stress response to the uncertain climate created by COVID-19 and identify concrete practical strategies they can use right away to buffer stress and build resilience. Learn more
Emergency Response Strategies to Support Young Children and Families during COVID-19, in partnership with Region 9 Head Start Association This webinar, recorded on March 19, 2020, provided early childhood educators with concrete practical strategies they can use right away to support young children and families impacted by the stress and effects of social distancing resulting from COVID-19.
Earn Continuing Education Units - On continued.com - click here and enter promo code: FREESUPPORT For centers that are closed, this is also a perfect opportunity to take an individual training course or work on CDA requirements with Kaplan amazingly low priced online training platform Quorum. Kaplan is running a special for FL Headstart and Early Head Start programs. $89.95 for a 12-month membership, or $30 per course. Available Online in Quorum. Click here to view details. Free Resources from FHSA members to help provide support to Teachers and Families:Our Friends at TeachingStrategies® has partnered with the founders of Baby Einstein and created a new app for parents and families of young children from birth through age 5. ParentPal™ is an all-in-one personal parenting coach, providing tools to take the guesswork out of parenting. To support parents and families at home during these challenging times, we are offering access to ParentPal™ at no cost through June 30, 2020, excited to extend this free access period until later this summer. ParentPal™ provides families a daily roadmap to follow each day that promotes active, joyful engagement and developmentally appropriate progress through key developmental milestones from birth through age 3, with additional activities and support, such as Mighty Minutes® activities, through age 5. Click here to learn more. Our friends at Frogstreet are offering a Summer Program and Online Parent Resources. Frog Street Summer Program is a 4-week complete review of key literacy and math skills for young learners to prepare children for Kindergarten Readiness. The instruction is fully English and Spanish. They are also providing Online Parent Resources which are complementary activities to help young learners ages 3-5 years old to use at home during school closures due to COVID-19. Our friends at Lakeshore have over 1,000 FREE resources designed to support essential skills in math, language, science and social studies for pre-k through elementary grades. These resources are for parents as well as teachers needing to help their children learn at home. Our friends at Kaplan are offering hundreds of different FREE resources including how-to videos and directions to create fun and learning while in a center or at home!
Our friends at Teachstone have developed a place of helpful Coronavirus resources such as blog posts, their CLASS® at Home guide, and other downloadable resources. They are committed to keeping this page updated with all of their latest resources so be sure to bookmark it. Our friends at Nemours has also shared some additional resources for your use. Use this link to read their Q & A about the virus. The links below are materials teachers can use in their classrooms to promote excellent hygiene. These materials are part of Nemours Kids Health in the Classroom series, which can be handy in the class as well as sharing with parents and children of all ages.
English & Spanish version of Stop the Spread of COVID-19, updated April 8, 2020 Our friends at Ready4K is offering its virtual parenting curriculum and family engagement tool, free for the rest of the 2019-2020 school year. Ready4K is an evidence-based whole-child curriculum that provides fun facts and at-home learning activity ideas for children ages 0-9, all delivered via text message. Implementation is quick and easy, so all of your families can start getting activities within a week. Effective immediately we are implementing several changes to Ready4K to better serve families and partners during this difficult time.
Visit https://ready4k.parentpowered.com/covid.html for details. In addition to these great resources, Ready 4K has partnered with School Closures to provide parents, teachers, community leaders with a wide variety of free resources and information to see you through this crisis. Visit https://schoolclosures.org/ for more information. Added April 9, 2020 Free Resources for Families and Teachers: http://www.fldoe.org/em-response/resources-families.stml
|