Early Care and Education Professional Development
The foundation of quality early care and education is training. The amount of training an early care educator has directly impacts the quality of child care they can provide.
The Nurturing Center offers child care provider training and development by offering business and professional education along with child development and guidance classes. This is done one-on-one for those who need it and in group settings for a sharing experience. All classes that we offer meet the Montana Early Childhood Project guidelines as approved training. Montana requires a minimum of 8 training hours per year in order to maintain a child care provider registration or license.
Along with child care provider classes, we offer the Bringing Early Suc cess Training (B.E.S.T.) program for ‘new to the business’ child care providers. B.E.S.T. is a mentoring program that offers new child care providers the support they need to thrive while experiencing the overwhelming demands of their new business.
Training & Technical Assistance is offered for child care providers who are struggling to keep their business viable.
We also have a lending library of books, videos, curriculum and themed activity boxes (see list below) for child care providers to borrow in an effort to help develop their individual programs to benefit the children in their care.
The Nurturing Center’s Child Care Provider Services
is here to help interested people in becoming registered or licensed early care educators and help them achieve the highest level of
quality care for the children they care for.
We have many themed activity boxes in our Lending Library to enhance your program.
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Baby #1
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Baby#2
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Button Maker
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Dinosaurs(2)
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Disabilities
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Dress-Up Beauty Salon
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Dress-Up Camping
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Dress-Up Careers
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If you would like to borrow an activity box,
Contact Sherrie at 756-1414 or 1-800-204-0644
sherrie@nurturingcenter.org
“Mini grant applications are now available from the Nurturing Center. For more information or to download an application click here, call or stop by! Mini Grant proposals for the 3rd quarter are due into the Nurturing Center by 5:00 pm Thursday, April 1, 2010.
"Looking to the Future"
Early Childhood Environments in Montana
Written and Narrated by Susan Christofferson,
Produced by Flathead Valley Community College
 View Video -12min.11sec.
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Provider Rates September 1, 2009
Nurturing Center Workshop Registration Policies
- Pre-registration and pre-payment are required prior to the class date. Contact Michelle at 756-1414 or 800-204-0644 or email your request to michelle@nurturingcenter.org.
- Five or more participants must be enrolled for a class to be held in Flathead, Sanders, Lincoln or Lake Counties. All classes are scheduled at convenient local sites.
- Classes may be rescheduled due to poor weather or other uncontrollable circumstances. Pre-registered participants will be notified if a workshop is cancelled.
- All workshops are approved for required training hours from the Montana Early Childhood Project.
- For more information about the content of any class, contact Sherrie Smith at sherrie@nurturingcenter.org.
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USDA- Child & Adult Care Food Program Training Schedule click here. Eligible businesses are required to complete 4 hours of training annually in current program requirements and food safety.
Pre-registration is required. To register for a class, contact Gayle at 406-756-1414, 800-204-0644 or email your request to gayle@nurturingcenter.org
To learn more about training requirements for Montana early care educators and upcoming approved trainings for all regions, visit the Montana Early Childhood Project (ECP) website at Montana Early Childhood Project . Montana Early Childhood Project is housed at the University of Montana and partners with Montana’s Early Childhood Services Bureau, Montana Resource & Referral Network and all others who are committed to bringing the highest quality, consistent early care and education to of Montana’s children. To learn more about early care and education, visit the following websites:
The Nurturing Center
Professional Development Calendar
January - March 2010 |
Development Calendar updated regularly-----last update February 17, 2010
(check for class changes or additions)
download printable format here |
Classes are typically held at Flathead Valley Community College
(Rm 132 - Business & Social Sciences Building download map here) and
Orientation at The Summit/Carriage House.
Please check on your class location! |
To register Contact Michelle at 406-756-1414,
1-800-204-0644, or michelle@nurturingcenter.org.
Pre-payment and preregistration are required prior to classes.
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C:
HSN:
CG&D:
O&A:
CG:
P:
ED:
PM:
F&CP: |
Curriculum
Health, Safety & Nutrition
Child Growth &Development
Observation & Assessment
Child Guidance
Professionalism
Environmental Design
Program Management
Family & Community Partnerships
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Novice - Intermediate - Master |
January 2010 |
| Jan 14 |
Abuse Prevention/Mandatory Reporting
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All |
HSN |
$10.00 |
| Jan 19 |
New Provider Orientation |
Orientation |
0 |
| Jan 21 |
Developing Centers In Your Child Care Setting |
Inter |
ED |
$10.00 |
| Jan 26 |
“Lets Talk Behavior “ Provider Round Table |
All |
CG |
$10.00 |
February 2010 |
| Feb 11 |
Routines & Transitions—A Valuable Learning Time |
Inter |
CG |
$10.00 |
| Feb 11 |
Tax Prep -Thompson Falls |
Inter |
PM |
$10.00 |
| Feb 16 |
New Provider Orientation |
Orientation |
0 |
| Feb 16 |
Intentionality & Play |
|
|
$10.00 |
| Feb 25 |
Making Referrals/Using Community Resources for Kids with Special Needs |
Inter |
CG&D |
$10.00 |
March 2010 |
| March 4 |
Movement & Learning |
Inter |
C |
$10.00 |
| March 16 |
New Provider Orientation |
Orientation |
0 |
| March 18 |
”Lets Talk Bag of Tricks” Provider Round Table |
All |
CG |
$10.00 |
| March 25 |
Health & Safety in Your Child Care Environment |
Inter |
O&A |
$10.00 |
To register Contact Michelle at 406-756-1414,
1-800-204-0644, or michelle@nurturingcenter.org.
Pre-payment and preregistration are required prior to classes. |
FAEYC Meeting - FVCC Early Childhood Center 6:00pm -7:30pm
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| Essential Connections FVCC Early Childhood Center 6:30pm-8:30pm (15 hour module is 5:30pm - 8:30pm) Jan.—May |
| A variety of 2 hr. evening classes are available at the Pablo Head Start Center. They are open to all providers at no charge. Access the regional training calendar on the ECP website, www.mtecp.org. |
Need Training? We’ll Come To You.
Our trainer will come to your facility to train you, your staff and
other interested parties on any existing topic in our training calendar.
A minimum of 5 participants and prepayment is all that is required.
Contact The Nurturing Center at 756-1414 for more information. |
Would you like to receive training credit without leaving your home?
The Nurturing Center is now offering correspondence courses…
CHILD CARE HEALTH ADVOCATES is a correspondence course where you can receive up to 20 hours of approved training without leaving your home. This course offers nine modules. You may take a 2-hour module or all 9 modules.
Online Training
Living in Montana presents its own set of challenges, one of which is long distances between communities and educational opportunities. Following is a list of sites that offer online training for early care educators.
Child Care Resources offers many online training opportunities available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Learn from home! For a full description of available courses, visit www.childcaretraining.org
CARE Courses
These correspondence courses are approved for Montana practitioners. For a full description of courses available visit www.carecourses.com
Flathead Valley Community College Online Courses click here to go to Flathead Valley Community College Online Non-Credit Child Care and Parenting Courses
Questions and concerns about training approval and training records may be addressed to the Early Childhood Project at ecp@montana.
Special Needs Resources
For information about resources for children with special needs in Montana, visit the following site: childcareplus.org,
For national organizations go to parentsletsuniteforkids.org or CouncilforExceptionalChildren.org.
Child Care Providers Needed:
Would you like to own your own business?
Do you like working with children?
Then opening an in-home child care may be for you.
Benefits of operating your own child care include:
Ability to stay home with your own children
Be your own boss
Great tax deductions
Reimbursement for feeding the children in your care
Qualification for Merit Pay (State incentive for taking training)
Support of The Nurturing Center, your local Resource & Referral agency - devoted to the care of young children
Free referral services to your program
For more information about becoming an in-home child care provider, call 406-756-1414 or email us at info@nurturingcenter.org. To learn more about the process and benefits of becoming an in-home early care educator, go to http://www.dphhs.mt.gov/hrd/childcare/index.shtml
Meet the Board of the Flathead Chapter of Montana Association for the Education of Young Children (FAEYC) pictured here during the 2007 state conference. Pictured here is: (front row left to right) Laurie Pfeiffer and Linda Crayne (back row left to right) Collette Box, Mary Bolick, Becky Madison, Teresa DeStefano, Peggy Seaman and The Nurturing Center’s Former Executive Director, Susan Christofferson.
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To join the Flathead Chapter of Montana Association for the Education of Young Children, click www.naeyc.org and register with the National organization they will contact your local chapter who will then contact you. For more information about upcoming meetings or trainings, email Collette Box at ddiscovery@centurytel.net |
