After a long, cold and brittle winter, we often

forget about the wonderful opportunities

available in our area to explore the beauty of

spring. Some of us are able to take a walk

outside our back doors while others may visit

nature centers like Beaver Lake Nature Center

or take a stroll around Green Lakes.

During the NYSAEYC Conference, that was

held in Verona in April, the nature-based

centerpieces we donated to participant tables

at the event reminded everyone of the natural

beauty around us.

Message from Your Pres ident

Our Mission

The Syracuse

Association for the

Education of Young

Children supports the

development of

professionals to

promote quality care

and education for the

well being of all young

children and their

families.

In this issue:

Upcoming Calendar

of Events

2

Book Review—

Jacob’s Eye Patch

3

Endings & New

Beginnings

4

WOYC Event

Wrap Up

5

News & Updates 6

Your Board o f D irectors for 2013 /2014 Executive Committee

Barb Ridley-Pierson

Co-President

Kathy Dicosimo

Treasurer

Michele Ferguson

Secretary

Nancy Gabriel

Past Co-President

Syracuse Association of the Education of Young Children May - July 2014 Edition

sAEYC Newsletter

These 25 original centerpieces were created by

children in local child care centers using natural

materials such as moss, pine cones and stones.

Just by way of these simple centerpieces,

educators throughout New York State were

given a sense of beauty that our region has to

offer.

We were also lucky enough to collaborate with

Suffolk AEYC who added to the natural beauty

of NY by creating 25 ocean themed

centerpieces.

We would like to thank the following agencies

for their contributions to the event:

Exploring Your World

Kathy DiCosimo, Family Child Care &

Preschool

Salvation Army School Age Program

St Daniel’s Head Start

The Children’s Learning Center @ OCC

Barb Pierson, Co-President

Board Members

Ellen Barnes

Holley Burfoot

Mary Beth Curry

Susan DeCarlo

Desalyn DeSouza

Kristin Hogan

Karen Howard

Olga Kolva

Nancy Seward

Chandra Smith

Honorary Board Members

Pam Borreggine

Fran Dulcich

Carm Lomeo-Smrtic

Patricia Martin

Phyllis Reicher

Deborah Snyder

Stone Soup Supper

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Location: Onondaga Community College, Great Room

Time: 6:00—9:00 pm

Keynote Speaker: TBA

The successful event you have all come to love and

enjoy that is centered around an evening of fine dining

catered by the culinary students of OCC. The evening

also features a keynote speaker that will focus on a hot

topic.

As always we will keep you updated on our website

www.SAEYC.org

Growing Together Conference

Sunday, October 19, 2014

Location: Cayuga Community College

Time: 9:30—3:45 pm Cost: $20.00 (includes lunch)

Featuring Workshops by: Lisa Murphy, The Ooey Gooey Lady

Lisa will be doing three workshops:

1. The Importance of Early Experiences: How Playing IS

Kindergarten Readiness!

2. Identifying and Creating Child Centered Environments

3. Ooey Gooey Squishy Plop! Sensory Play for Every Day!

Registration for this event will be limited to 100

participants. First come, first served. Lisa will be selling her

materials at this event.

Registrations will be mailed in September.

Upcoming Ca lendar Events

Jacob’s Eye Patch Author Beth Kobliner Shaw

Illustrated by Jules Feiffer

In this page turner book we meet Jacob, a boy who

wears an eye patch. But more than that, we meet

Jacob, not just his eye patch. He is on an exciting

trip to a museum gift store to buy a special light up

globe and along the way is met by things which slow

down his journey. And this worries Jacob as the

museum gift shop is soon to close and his is sure it

will either be closed by the time he gets there with

his mother or the globe he wants will be sold out (as the last time he was there only one was left.) While the

story’s strongest intent is to introduce the ordinariness of human differences, it also works well to suggest

themes of dealing with frustration, impulse control and the possibility of not getting exactly what one may

want.

As Jacob makes his way on his afterschool journey, many things slow him down. Sometimes it is as simple as

waiting for a sibling to get out of school, but other times it is the questions of others who are curious about his

eye patch and want to stop and ask him about it as he pulls his mother and siblings along the sidewalk to the

museum. Jacob likes his eye patch, he usually likes to explain why he wears it and when and for how long, but

his frustrations rise as his desire to acquire the last light up globe impends and the reader learns that

sometimes we just don’t like, for many reasons, to talk about something that may make one different.

The fast paced book with laugh-out-loud illustrations will keep early childhood readers excited while pushing

empathy to the surface along with issues of impulse control. The story provides a wonderful opportunity for

early childhood educators, parents, guardians and caretakers to promote conversations about a special

difference each child has.

The book’s website, www.Jacobseyepatch.com offers a multitude of ways to use extension activities to the

story in the class room, provides curriculum lesson plans, projects and special printable “rewards” to weave

into the classroom experience. A section on parent tips, “9 Tips to Help Kids Cope with a Difference” is also

exceptional and developmentally appropriate.

Children will also love that there is a section in the back of the book written by Jacob himself, a “real boy,”

along with a section written by the author and Jacob’s mother.

This book is a new winner and surely soon to be a classic deserved to be read to every young child.

~~~ Book Review by, Heidi Nightengale, MS, is an Instructor at SUNY Empire State College,

whose children’s picture book, What Fragrance is the Moon? will be released in late spring 2014.

If you would like to contribute to this newsletter, please contact us at SAEYCsupport@gmail.com.

Book Rev iew

Supporting staff, parents and children in transition ...

There are a number of ways to support staff, parents and children in the transition of leaving preschool and

entering kindergarten. We want to celebrate the growth that

children have made over the years, growth that leads them to

greater independence and the life in the larger community.

We also want to express our investment in the loving

relationships that have developed among us: child and child,

teacher and child, and teacher and parent. We have shared

concerns and wonderful experiences over the year(s).

There are things that we can do to support children in a

smooth transition to new classrooms and new schools. It

helps children if we:

Focus on each child’s growth over the last year (use photos from early in the year to show how he/she is

taller, looks different) and talk about what each child has learned this year.

Acknowledge the changes that are coming and give children an opportunity to express their thoughts (be

an empathic listener); express your own worries about change and different ways to say goodbye.

Talk about the strengths each child has to meet new situations, make friends, build a relationship with the

new teacher.

Talk specifically about plans over the next months; make a calendar indicating when each student will be

home, at school, at camp, on vacation, and when school will start in the fall.

If you are nearby, play on the kindergarten playground in the summertime.

Children will benefit from a “moving on” celebration as well as having mementos of their time in

preschool: photographs in small albums (dollar store) and an address book of teachers and friends.

Use children’s books to talk about separating and going to a new school; a children’s librarian can help you

find some. For example, check out these titles:

A Place Called Kindergarten by Jessica Harper

Countdown to Kindergarten by Alison McGhee

It’s Your First Day of School, Annie Claire by Nancy White Carlstrom

Look Out, Kindergarten, Here I Come! By Nancy Carlson

My Teacher Said Goodbye Today by J. Osborne

Nick Joins In by J. Lasker

Off to Kindergarten by Tony Johnston

Timothy Goes to School by Rosemary Wells

Will I have a Friend? By M. Cohan

Encourage parents to maintain contact with their child’s friends

and teachers by arranging visits and play dates, placing phone calls,

and helping with writing letters.

~~~ Article submitted by, Ellen Barnes, Jowonio School

If you would like to contribute to this newsletter, please contact us

at SAEYCsupport@gmail.com.

ENDINGS AND NEW BEGINNINGS

Past Event Wrap Up

At the Week Of The Young Child (WOYC) event that took place on Tuesday, April 8, 2014 at

the Atrium in East Syracuse Desalyn De-Souza was awarded the Altes Prize for Community Service.

Desalyn De-Souza, a mentor in community

and human services and human development

at SUNY Empire State College, was selected

as a co-recipient of the Altes Prize for

Exemplary Community Service. De-Souza

was recognized for her work on the Syracuse

Touchpoints Collaboration, which works to

promote collaborative relationships between

parents and service providers in order to

encourage optimal child development, healthy

functional families, and competent and healthy

service professionals. De-Souza along with

the other members of the Touchpoints team, (Nikki Shrimpton, Dean of CNY Ctr of SUNY Empire State College,

Desalyn De-Souza, Dr. Jane Altes, sponsor of the award)

have trained over 1,000 people in Onondaga County who work with children and their families. She

created Empire State College studies which enable students to learn about the Touchpoints approach,

demonstrating her ability to blend her professional expertise with her mentoring position.

“As co-recipient of the 2013 Altes Prize for Community Service, it is a privilege to accept this award,”

said De-Souza. “For the past seven years, the Syracuse Touchpoints collaborative has worked

towards creating a community within Onondaga County that supports children and families during the

critical years of infancy and toddlerhood. The principles and assumptions upon which the Touchpoints

Approach is based, parallel that of the mentoring model at Empire State College. I am honored to

work with an amazing team of colleagues both at Empire State College and within my local

community.”

The Altes Prize celebration reflected the work of De-Souza, as an evening of family fun. The event,

held during the Week of The Young Child and co-sponsored by SAEYC; featured craft tables for

children, locally made ice cream, and magicians. Children big and small enjoyed the fun festivities.

The Altes Prize, named for Jane Altes, former long-time vice president of academic affairs and interim

president of the college, is awarded by the college annually to recognize exemplary community service

by college faculty.

SUNY Empire State College was established in 1971 to

offer adult learners the opportunity to earn associate,

bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the State

University of New York. The college pairs students

with a faculty mentor who supports the student

throughout their college career. The college serves

more than 20,000 students worldwide at more than 35

locations in the state of New York.

(children enjoying the magicians balloon talents)

SAEYC News & Updates

Accreditation

Onondaga County continued to be home to five

accredited child care centers. The following have

worked hard towards this goal:

Children’s Learning Center at Onondaga

Community College

County North Children’s Center

Children’s Beginnings

Upstate Child Care Center

Bernice Wright Nursery School

Congratulations also goes to:

SUNY Upstate for earning re-accreditation in

October 2013

And to our neighbors for successfully maintaining

their NAEYC accreditation:

SUNY Cortland Child Care Center

Cayuga Community College Preschool

If you are thinking about beginning the

accreditation process, please email Michele

Ferguson at fergusom@sunyocc.edu. She will

direct you to the many resources available from

NAEYC and put you in contact with others who

have gone through the process.

~~ Submitted by Michele Ferguson, Accreditation

Committee Chair

SAEYC LOOM at the NYSAEYC

EVENT

The SAEYC board put together a large frame

weaving loom as a hands on experience for

participants of the state conference at the Turning

Stone in April.

The activity was met with much delight and

questions about how to do a similar project in the

classroom for young children. Since cooperative,

experiential activities are pivotal to the physical,

social, cognitive and emotional development of

young children this activity was useful as a model

for the adults who work with children and

families. Participants were able to select a fabric

strip that pleased them and could weave it into

the net in a manner that fit their skill and sense of

design and pattern.

We are hoping to be able to do this project again

next year when the state conference returns to

the Turning Stone, the opportunity to build on

one’s learning is always instructive.

If anyone who was at this event has photos or

feedback about this project we would love to hear

from you!

~~ Reported by, Nancy Seward, SAEYC Board

Book Rev iews

Report by Nancy Seward, Board member of the SAEYC

There are two books I recently discovered which are similar in structure, though quite different in content.

For busy people, they are easy to read because the chapters are only 1 to 2 pages long, allowing you to read

bits and pieces as time allows. They are both available from the Onondaga library catalog.

The first, a memoir called The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida, was

written by a 13 year old boy with autism. This boy, though unable to

communicate with the world via traditional means, found a way to

share all that goes on inside his head and tells us how he thinks, feels,

perceives and responds. If, in frustration, you have ever asked a child

“What were you thinking!?!?!?, then this book will help you understand

the child’s experience. You will feel a newfound compassion that is so

necessary when we are working with young children of all abilities, as

well as a unique empathy for people with autism.

The second, Big Questions From Little People by Gemma Elwin Harris, is

a collection of delightful and profound questions children through the

ages have asked. The clever thing about this book is that the author

took those questions and gave them to authorities in fields that

connected to those topics and asked them to answer with precise,

succinct, honest responses. The experts are as varied as Noam

Chomsky, Mario Batali, Mary Roach, Philippa Gregory and Sir David

Attenborough. These “in a nutshell” answers are humorous and

deeply respectful of the child’s right to know.

As well, I found I learned many things that I had not previously known or understood. The beauty of both of

these books is the insight gained in a format that accommodates the very little time I have for reading.

Enjoy!

We’re also on Facebook at:

www.facebook.com/pages/Syracuse-Association-for-the

-Education-of-Young-Children-SAEYC/206112395129

PO Box 15410

Syracuse, NY 13215-5410

Tel: 315 708-3472

Web Site: http://www.saeyc.org

E-mail: SAEYCsupport@gmail.com

Syracu se Assoc i a t i on o f the

Educa t ion o f Young Ch i ldren

Hand in hand we can work together for the children in our communities.

We are trying to expand on our newsletters in order to bring our readers more information and ideas

then we can deliver in these short mailers. This way we are able to extend articles and add many more

features for you to enjoy.

You will now find extended versions of the current newsletters on our web site at www.SAEYC.org.

In addition to these articles what you will find is:

Book Review - Jacob’s Eye Patch, by Beth Kobliner Shaw - see page 3

Endings and New Beginnings - article on supporting staff, parents and children in transition of

leaving preschool and entering kindergarten - see page 4

Recognizing Accredited centers - see page 6

Earthloom - information on this project that was presented at the NYSAEYC Conference in

April 2014 - see page 6

more ...

This mailer edition is basically to inform you of our upcoming events. We hope you are enjoying the

expanded website editions of our newsletters. If you wish to contribute articles to this newsletter please

contact us at SAEYCsupport@gmail.com. Registration forms for events will be made available on our

web site.

News

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