Links

• NAEYC
  National Association for the Education of Young Children
• SECA
  Southern Early Childhood Association
• VAECE
  Virginia Association for Early Childhood Education

Please Note: While we take care to review the following external sites, their inclusion is for your convenience only and does not necessarily imply endorsement of any kind.

• Careers in Child Care
  Features a national on-line job posting board and information on CDA and program operations.
• ChildCarePro
• Offers a resource center for Virginia child care providers, including program resources, staff development,  information on rating scales, and more.
• Children's Music        
  Provides a wonderful selection of music activities for children.
• Connect for Kids
  A virtual encyclopedia of information for adults who want to make their communities better places for kids.
• Division for Early Childhood of the Council for Exceptional Children
  DEC promotes policies and advances evidence-based practices that support families and enhance optimal development in young children with disabilities or young children who are at risk for developmental delays.

• Divorce Info
  Provides a good discussion of the effects of divorce on preschool children, providing information about reactions and behaviors that might occur and ways in which adults can help children whose families are undergoing a divorce.

• Ericdigests.com
  Information on The Anti-Bias Curriculum.
• Elizabeth Pantley
  Author and parent educator offers advice, hints, tips, links, videos, audiotapes, and books on raising children with love, compassion, respect, and consistency.
• High/Scope
  Researched improved opportunities for all children through high-quality educational programs.
• Keep Kids Healthy
  Provides information on preschool nutrition and provides concrete information about the nutritional needs, serving sizes, and balance of nutrients that children need each day for optimal growth and development.
• Kids Count  -  The Annie E. Cassey Foundation publishes the yearly Kids Count data book, which provides statistics on 10 key measures of child well-being.  The report provides national and state-by-state data about the condition of children. This site also provides information about advocacy programs that have experienced success.
• Kid-Fit 
  Provides plenty of ideas promoting healthy lifestyle habits, including physical education and fitness and sound nutrition.
• Learning Point Associates
  Provides suggestions for promoting learning for all children by acknowledging their diverse backgrounds. In particular, the focus is on two sides of the issue of “readiness” children’s readiness for school and the school’s readiness for children.
• NAFCC
  National Association for Family Child Care
• National Child Care Information Center
  A national resource that links information and people to complement, enhance, and promote the child care delivery system, working to ensure that all children and families have access to high-quality comprehensive services.
• National Child Development Institute
  Discusses shyness in children in more depth, providing insight into the behavior and offering strategies for helping shy children.
• National Institute for Early Education Research
  Provides reports and information about many timely issues, including federal and state programs for young children.
• National Network for Child Care
  Extensive resources related to child care and early childhood development.
• National Parenting Education Network
  Features a network for parent educators by facilitating linkages among practitioners, and providing information about best practices and research in the parent education field.
• New Horizons for Learning 
  Provides further information about Howard Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligences and its implications for teaching and learning.
• North Carolina Cooperative Extension          
  Provides valuable information on stress in children, its symptoms, potential causes, and strategies for helping children cope with stress.
• Nutrition Explorations      
  A variety of resources and ideas for nutrition education for young children, sponsored by the National Dairy Council which makes the Chef Combo nutrition curriculum available to teachers.
• PowerPlay: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
  Provides guidelines for teachers of young children when they engage in power play, the reasons why such aggressive play is appealing to some youngsters and guidelines for dealing with such play.
• Project Construct
  Provides numerous resources on using a constructivist approach to working with preschool through early elementary age children.
• TEACH Early Childhood ® Virginia
  Provides scholarships and increased compensation for child care providers to earn credentials up to an Associate Degree in Early Childhood Education at a local community college.
• Teaching Strategies
  Creative Curriculum's developmentally appropriate information for early childhood education, teachers, and children.
• The American Academy of Pediatrics
  Provides info about issues related to children’s health. The Academy is committed to attainment of optimal physical, mental, and social well-being of all children.

• The Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI)
  International early childhood organization that is dedicated to supporting the global community in providing optimal education and development of children from birth through early adolescence and to influence the professional growth of educators who work with these children.

• The Center for the Child Care Workforce (CCWF)
  Its mission is to improve the quality of early chare and education for all children by promoting research and policy initiatives. The aim of these is to ensure that the child care workforce is well educated and well compensated and has a voice in the workplace.
• The Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning
  A national center focused on strengthening the capacity of child care and Head Start programs to improve the social and emotional outcomes of young children
• The Children's Defense Fund
  National organization to protect children's rights.
• The Families and Work Institute is a nonprofit center for research that provides data about the changing workforce, family, and community in America. Some of the most comprehensive research about work and family issues are available on this Website.
• The International Reading Association
  A professional org. dedicated to promoting high levels of literacy by improving readiness instruction, disseminating research and information about reading, and encouraging good lifetime reading habits.
• The National Center for Family Literacy
  Works to create educational and economic opportunity for the most at-risk children and parents.
• This National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care
  Provides many useful links to numerous sites on topics that are relevant to issues of health and safety in child care.
• U.S. Department of Education
  Provides a wealth of information for teachers including lesson ideas and teaching resources on a variety of curriculum areas.
• Virginia Child Protection Newsletter   
  This is the Summer 2006 Virginia Child Protection Newsletter called Maltreatment and its Effects on Early Brain Development.  It is an important read for all.

• Virginia Department of Social Services Child Care Provider Training
  Provides classes throughout the Commonwealth for child care providers, as well as the TIPS Calendar  for private, non-profit and governmental organizations to list child care provider training.

• Virginia Department of Social Services
  Virginia Child Care Provider Scholarship Program
• Zero To Three
  Dedicated to the healthy development of Infants & Toddlers.