ESD 123 Early Childhood Services

March 2021 Newsletter

Child drawing on paved play area with chalk

Featured Program:

Early Childhood Education & Assistance Program

ESD 123's Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP) is a "whole child," comprehensive, family-focused preschool program that provides free services and support to eligible children and their families. The goal of ECEAP is to help ensure all Washington children enter kindergarten ready to succeed. Children ages 3-5 in the ECEAP preschool program enjoy activities that make learning fun. ECEAP Regional Director, Tammy Moody, shares examples below.

Columbia ECEAP Pet Study

At Columbia ECEAP, Pet Study was so popular with the students that it was expanded in January. Notes ECEAP Regional Director, Tammy Moody, "The Literacy and Math lessons I was able to observe were phenomenal to witness. Our littles are so smart and have the routines and expectations down. Ms. Jarbo and Mrs. Boosinger have worked hard to create a safe, loving, structured yet fun environment for our Columbia students."

Touchet ECEAP
Recyling Study

In Touchet last week, students experienced the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Study in a fun and hands on way. Just look at this “creation station” where students are encouraged to be as creative as they can be. Ms. Christina and Ms. Karla devised some creative solutions for materials-including finding donated scraps from a construction site and creating wooden blocks for the kids from the material scraps!

Meet the Director

Students who enter kindergarten knowing the basics, such as numbers and letters, have a greater chance at being successful in school. Working day to day with teachers and students for more than a decade as an elementary school principal, Matt Bona became discouraged at seeing too many students enter kindergarten without these basic skills.

Wanting better outcomes for students led Matt to take on his current role as Executive Director of Early Learning for ESD 123. Early Learning programs, such as ECEAP, truly prepare students to be not only academically ready, but also socially and emotionally ready to enter a kindergarten classroom successfully.

“Early learning and ECEAP is more than glitter, glue and washing your hands—(although very important these days). I want to give as many children as possible in our ESD 123 region the opportunity to be ready for kindergarten as we can.”

Matt says ESD 123 is a great agency to work for and the best part of his job is the people he gets to collaborate with each day. The pandemic has been difficult for all of us and Matt looks forward to the day when he can spend more time visiting kids and teachers in their classrooms.

Upcoming Dates

Mar: Co-Teaching Inclusion Training Saturdays.

Mar. 3: UW Haring Center Inclusionary Pratices Webinar - Hood Canal Preschool SEL

Apr. 7: 2021 NCPMI Annual National Conference

Apr. 15: Circle Makers Equity Institute Training

Watch for more early learning workshops and trainings in the ESD 123 Events Catalog:
www.esd123.org/learn

WSA Adovcacy Week

The Washington State Association of Head Start and ECEAP (WSA) held a successful advocacy week and virtual rally February 22-25!

More than 500 people participated to inform and educate the state legislature and community about the importance of programs like ECEAP. Read on for details!

How can one person advocate for kids?
Watch WSA's wonderful video to find out.

Study Shows ECEAP a GREAT Investment!
An analysis requested by the legislature showed amazing results for ECEAP. High quality early learning programs like ECEAP and Head Start help kids get ready for school, and the impacts last!

Join the WSA Board!
WSA has several board positions open Click here for more information on how to apply.

Contact the ESD 123 Early Childhood Team

Matt Bona
Executive Director of Early Learning
(509) 544-5753 | mbona@esd123.org

Kellie Musick
Director Early Intervention Special Services
(509) 544-5754 | khorn@esd123.org

Jennifer Kelly
P-3 and Migrant Academic Coordinator
(509) 544-5755 | jakelly@esd123.org

Kelley Correio
Inclusionary Practices Coordinator
(509) 531-2237 | kcorreio@esd123.org

Cindy Morris
Early Learning Coordinator (B-3 Quality Initiatives)
(509) 537-2105 | cmorris@esd123.org

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ESD 123 Early Childhood Services