Our Strong From The Start In-person Training event was a huge success! We want to thank our host St. John the Divine, for allowing us the use their facility so that we could spend the day with our amazing Centers of Excellence.
Our COEs met to:
100s of families took a “ride” on our Collab-Lab this week during Spring Break at Discovery Green!
Our Collab-Lab is a mobile classroom that brings critical, future-focused early childhood education directly to the community at no cost. Designed to be convenient for families, it connects parents and their youngest children with experts, educators, resources, and proven programs whose goal is to ensure that kids have the skills essential to learning from the moment they walk into kindergarten for the first time.
Aboard our Collab-Lab, children and their families learned about STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) and how they can help solve 21st-century issues affecting Houston.
Plus, children got the chance to design and build their very own STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) boat that operates off of wind power (or any power they can imagine) and can help to clean up oil that spills in our oceans.
The Home Visitation Team hosted a Group Connection at a local Home Depot earlier this month. Families were connected to a new experience offered each month by Home Depot. Families were invited to construct wooden pinball machines with their children during the event to improve their fine motor skills! At the end of the event, families went home with a brand-new pinball machine, “the rainbow fish” book to add to their at-home library, and a Lakeshore backpack!
Thanks to the 100s of families that came out to visit the Collab-Lab at Camp Fair this month! Camp Fair is a free event hosted by Houston Family Magazine where parents can speak with education representatives from Houston and the surrounding areas.
There was music, kid-friendly activities, face painters, giveaways, and the Collab-Lab! Collab Kids got to climb aboard our mobile classroom, bringing critical, future-focused early childhood education directly to the community.
Collab-Lab uses our core I WONDER curriculum, applying an innovative, hands-on, and project-based approach that utilizes 21st-century learning focused on reflection, critical thinking, technology, and problem-solving. The curriculum primarily addresses social-emotional development while bolstering positive child outcomes in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).
Thanks to our funder, Save the Children, for this training that focuses on Trauma Informed Caregiving. We offer this coaching to business owners and directors in the Gulf Coast Region. Attendance for these sessions is capped, so registration ahead of time is recommended if you or your center is looking to join. This training is very popular, so be on the lookout for future opportunities!
This past weekend’s training was full of activities that kept the “child in mind.” “Building What a Child Needs” and “Protective Factors in Action” were just a few of our fun and interactive activities.
A special thanks to the Lighted Path Volunteers from St. John the Divine for helping to create a fantastic session!
