Tuesday, April 21, 2020

Louisiana Department of Education Expands At-Home Care and Learning Supports for Families with Young Children

Official Louisiana Department of Education press release:

DEPARTMENT EXPANDS AT-HOME CARE AND LEARNING SUPPORTS FOR FAMILIES WITH YOUNG CHILDREN

Apr 21, 2020

New Supports Include Free, Three-Month Subscription to Nickelodeon's Early Learning Service


BATON ROUGE, La. -- The Louisiana Department of Education today announced it has expanded its at-home care and learning supports for families who are home with young children as a result of the ongoing Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak.

New supports include:

  • Guidance for Early Learning at Home: (will open in new tab) A guidance document that walks families step-by-step through the process of creating a productive daily schedule, including tips and sample schedules, along with age-appropriate, play-based learning activities to enhance that schedule. The guidance document also includes lists of academic resources for all students, including students with disabilities and English learners.
  • Noggin Cares: (will open in new tab) The Department has partnered with Noggin, Nickelodeon's learning service for children age 2 and above, to offer a free, three-month subscription to families. The app is loaded with read-aloud e-books, learning games, songs, and other engaging content. It also provides ideas for off-screen family activities, and it provides special content to help young children cope during this time.

"During this extraordinary time, Louisiana must support the hearts and minds of our youngest learners," said Assistant Superintendent Jessica Baghian. "Today, the Department is thrilled to further expand families' access to books, games, and play-based activities."

The new supports announced today mark the latest efforts by the Department to support the state's youngest learners and their families.

Last month, for example, the Department released a Continuous Education Toolkit for School Systems that contains academic resources (will open in new tab) to support learning for all grade levels, including early childhood. The early childhood resources include information on child development and lists of high-quality instructional materials and services that can be accessed online and through text messaging.

The same Continuous Education Toolkit also includes new early literacy support (will open in new tab) for families with children in grades Kindergarten through 2. The information is designed to provide families a better understanding of how children learn to read and provides practical activities families can use each day at home.

In addition, the Department partnered with Louisiana Public Broadcasting to launch an online hub of at-home learning supports (will open in new tab) for all ages, as well as to broadcast high-quality educational programming.

Finally, the Department opened the Child Care Assistance Program to essential personnel (will open in new tab) who need reliable child care amid the public health crisis. At the same time, nonprofit advocacy organization Agenda for Children partnered with Care.com (will open in new tab) to provide three months of free service to those same workers to help them identify potential caregivers.

For more information and to access all resources, visit the Department's COVID-19 web page. (will open in new tab)

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From https://www.noggin.com/noggin-cares-louisiana/?step=sign-up:

Noggin is FREE for 90 days

Here at Noggin, we know school closures and child care issues are disrupting life. We remain committed to providing high-quality, digital learning experiences for your kids. That is why we are offering our service FREE for 90 days in partnership with our friends at the Early Childhood Department of Louisiana.

90 FREE Days of Noggin

No credit card required.

Here at Noggin, we understand the impact school closures have on kids, that's why we're proud to partner with the state of Louisiana to help families learn and play together, at home.

Enjoy our full library of books, games, interactive episodes, and learning videos all for FREE.

Easy Access to Noggin

1) Tap here
2) Create an account (no credit card required)
3) Download the app and sign in

Sign in to Noggin on more than one device

Apple App Store (iOS devices and Apple TV), Amazon (Android devices), Roku Players, Google Play (Android devices).

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Louisiana education officials have also released guidance to help families create a productive list of daily learning activities and learning to help young children keep learning during the stay-at-home order.


More Nick: Nickelodeon Launches #KidsTogether--A Global Prosocial Initiative to Help Kids and Families Stay Informed and Engaged With Activities; Noggin to be Offered Free to Kids in Need in Partnership with National Head Start Association and First Book

H/T: WBRZ News2.
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