Community Cultural Collective, Joint Initiatives, and Simple Gift Schoolhouse collaborate to address the gap in Early Childhood Education Workforce.
The Simple Gift Series (SGS) and Simple Gift Schoolhouse, is a program created and developed by Linda Weise, who at the time was the founder and primary early childhood instructor at the Colorado Springs Conservatory (CSC). In partnership with the early childhood experts at CPCD HeadStart and over the course of 30 years, the music and creativity program evolved to become a staple for the Early Childhood Educators at CPCD across El Paso and Teller Counties. Teacher trainings, in classroom mentorship, and instruction on site at the CSC were ongoing and served to enhance the professional development specific to those classrooms.
The program evolved during COVID when the work was transferred to the television platform and was nationally televised on PBS. The books, songs, and tools inform teachers to be courageiously creative while demonstrating attention to compliances critical to the classroom and students. In the years since COVID and in an attempt to address the need for teachers in the Early Childhood Workforce sectors, more and more partners were using the program as a joyful AND intentional means to recruit and retain workforce and experienceing success. Hense the demand for teacher training, Simple Gift Scholars became one of the workforce sectors that The Community Cultural Collective (CSCCC) is focused on. Simple Gift Schoolhouse is the creative platform through which all Early Childhood Enrichment training. and outreach takes place.
Expanding this model beyond the classroom, CSCCC offers bi-monthly playgroups and enrichment for Family, Friends and Neighbors (FFN) childcare centers, parents, grandparents and caregivers. This valuable training teaches adults how to connect music, movement and literacy to improve early reading skills.
Additionally, the playgroups address the social isolation that FFNs experience and create a community so essential to mental health and well-being. We now offer the playgroups and any additional training that the FFN group requests, at no cost to participants.
The goal is to reach 500+ FFNs throughout El Paso and Teller Counties and to establish playgroups in areas outside of downtown Colorado Springs. Playgroup attendance now averages 50+ children ages birth to 5 and 40+ caregivers to include grandparents, extended family members, caregivers, centers and single parents.
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The Early Childhood Enrichment teacher training program offers skills to Family, Friend, Neighbor (FFN) Groups, educators, and care providers through workshops and coaching that combine music, movement, and early reading skills. The program emphasizes risk taking, fun, team building, and creativity while teaching. SG Scholars is the training program that provides professional development that meets Colorado’s pre-kindergarten standards. Cognitive, social emotional, motor, phonemic awareness, numeracy, literacy, spacial and other touchstones critical to child development are part of the Simple Gift Schoolhouse creativity teacher toolbox. Teachers can immediately take lessons learned from the trainings and put them to use in the classroom.
The partnership with Joint Initiatives for Youth and Families affords access to school districts, regional early childhood centers and other such certified caregiver partners and childcare employers who use SG Scholar training as a stackable credit for increased employee pay and retention. The goal of this funding is to serve no less than 500 early childhood educators through onsite, offsite and in classroom trainings during the time of this grant. We also intend to build a ‘train the trainer’ program through outreach to include partnerships with regional higher education institutions and area school districts. CSCCC will work toward creating internships that include support at playgroups, research and development and in classroom work to bring the younger demographic of educators more immediately to the place of full time employment in this sector.
For more information or to schedule a teacher training, please fill out the form below.
The successful program offers skills to preschool teachers through workshops and coaching that combine music, movement, and early reading skills. The program emphasizes taking risks, fun, building teams and being creative while teaching. The SG Scholars program provides professional development that meets Colorado’s pre-kindergarten and kindergarten literacy standards. Teachers can immediately take lessons learned and put them to use in the classroom. The program partners include the Joint Initiatives for Youth and Families and is also used by local preschool and childcare employers as a stackable credit for increased pay and employee retention.