For Early Learning

What’s New?

California Department of Public Health Updated Guidance for Child Care Programs and Providers (June 17, 2020)
COVID-19 Response Chart and Sample Exposure Notices

Professional Learning and Development

Calendar of Webinars for Distance Learning

Updated July 30, 2020

Quick Links for Child Development Administrators

Quick Links for Early Childhood Educators

Emergency Child Care in San Mateo County

Two children playing

Reopening Child Care Centers

Child looking at camera

Childcare administrators and staff should also review the CDC’s guidance for schools and childcare programs. Please reach out to the San Mateo County Office of Education if further guidance is needed.

The following infection control measures should be in place in all childcare settings:
1. Screen children and staff for fever or cough daily, before entering childcare.
2. Exclude ill children and employees (those with fever or cough) from the facility.
3. Any children or staff who develop symptoms should put on a surgical mask, enter a separate room, and be sent home as soon as possible.
4. Ill children or staff should not return to childcare or work until they are well.
5. Children and staff should wash hands with soap and water or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer containing at least 60% alcohol (if hands are not visibly dirty) before and after eating, drinking, touching eyes/nose/mouth, toileting or diapering, and physical contact with each other.
6. Clean high-contact areas and surfaces frequently, using a 10% bleach solution or EPA-approved disinfectant, including counters, toys, solution or EPA-approved disinfectant, including counters, toys, telephones, and doorknobs. See the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) guidance on cleaning and disinfecting.)
7. Staff and children should practice good respiratory hygiene including coughing/sneezing into a sleeve and covering coughs.
- Licensed Early Learning and Care Companion document to the San Mateo County’s Pandemic Recovery Framework. This companion document provides guidance and resources from local, state, and federal agencies on reopening during COVID-19 Early Learning and Care Companion Document
- San Mateo County Health Order Revised 6/17/2020
- California Department of Public Health Issued Updated Guidance for Child Care Programs and Providers All childcare facilities can open with necessary modifications. The updated guidance for the childcare industry provides guidelines to minimize the spread of COVID-19 and ensure the safety of children, providers, and families. As programs begin to reopen and other programs transition from emergency childcare for essential workers to enhanced regular operations, all providers must apply new and updated policies and requirements and must update their emergency preparedness plan.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published decision-making tools for re-opening Child Care, Schools, and Youth Programs Plan, Prepare, Respond
- Child Care Decision Making Tool
- CDC COVID-19 Print Resources are print-only materials developed to support COVID-19 recommendations. All materials are free for download. They may be printed on a standard office printer, or you may use a commercial printer.
- Stronger Together: A Guidebook for the Safe Reopening of California’s Public Schools
Community Care Licensing has provided programs with postings for the classroom environment to support programs as they are preparing to re-open classrooms:
Local and statewide programs have shared parent and staff handbooks with the San Mateo County child care community in an effort to support each other as programs plan for re-opening. We are thankful to these programs for supporting collaboration and our learning through this unique time:
EveryChild California hosts various ECE Community Connection Webinars to help programs plan for re-opening child care centers. These webinars were designed to provide guidance and support for opening or re-opening child care centers: ECE Community Connection Re-Opening Part 1, ECE Community Connection Re-opening Part 2
Bright Wheel Webinars are informative webinars created to support early childhood programs in navigating COVID-19 and planning for re-opening.
Any school in any community might need to implement short-term closure procedures regardless of community spread if an infected person has been in a school building. If this happens, CDC recommends the following procedures regardless of the level of community spread: Interim Guidance for Administrators of US K-12 Schools and Child Care Programs

California Department of Public Health Workplace Outbreak Employer Guidance

What is Contact Tracing?

SMCOE Re-opening Meeting #6 Powerpoint

COVID-19 Response Chart (excerpt from the Pandemic Recovery Framework for Schools)

Exposure Notice to School Community when a Student or Staff Member is a Close Contact (Sample)

Exposure Notice to School Community When a Student or Staff Member is a Close Contact in a large Community (Sample)

Exposure Notice to School Community When a Student or Staff Member is a Case (Sample)

Supporting Early Childhood Educators

Two children playing with with adult

California Surgeon General’s Playbook: Stress Relief for Caregivers and Kids during COVID-19 Many of us are feeling a lot of stress right now. Even for adults, it can be tough to recognize that what we feel as irritability, difficulty focusing, insomnia or changes in appetite can actually be signs that our bodies are feeling the effects of stress. For kids, no matter the age, their brains and bodies are even more vulnerable to the harmful effects of stress than adults, and most often, they aren’t able recognize or verbalize it. Stress in kids may show up differently than our stress as adults do. This Stress-Busting Playbook can help you understand what to look out for and what you can do to protect your family’s health.
Staff Training Taking Care of Yourself Workbook When you are stressed, it is easy to react before even realizing you have reached a point of stress. In order for caregivers to successfully reduce their levels of stress and the impact it has on themselves and the children they care for, they must first recognize their stressors. This workbook leads providers through activities to help identify and manage stress and self-care.
- Taking Care of Ourselves Workbook
San Mateo County Health supports the wellbeing of our county, family, friends and colleagues.
- Coping With Stress During Infectious Disease Outbreaks, Spanish, Chinese (Simplified), Tagalog
- Things I Can Control / Things I Cannot Control Poster

Supporting Families of Young Children

Two children walking with parent

Child Care Response Team: Emergency Financial Assistance, Food, Housing, Utilities, and Other Basic Needs English Spanish Chinese

Great Plates: California Governor Gavin Newsom has started a home-delivered meals program for people who need to stay at home due to COVID-19. If eligible, you can receive free home-delivered meals from restaurants in your neighborhood. English, Spanish, Tagalog

ZERO TO THREE parenting experts address common parent questions and concerns during this challenging time. Baby Talks: Parent Coronavirus Questions Answered

Help Me Grow San Mateo County is open and ready to support families and the providers working with them through this stressful and unprecedented time. Help Me Grow has compiled a list of Covid-19 related sources for families and providers and will continue to update this list as additional resources and information becomes available. Help Me Grow San Mateo

The Inclusion Support WarmLine offers FREE support, information and referrals for including students of all ages with disabilities and other needs in your community. Offered in English, Spanish and Vietnamese (and other languages as needed) WarmLine English Flyer, Spanish Flyer

California Department of Public Health COVID-19 Guidance for Women & Families provides guidance for women, families, and health care professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic COVID-19 Women and Families

If You Are Pregnant, Breastfeeding, or Caring for Young Children (CDC)

Fighting the Big Virus: Trinka, Sam, and Littletown Work Together This free story was developed in collaboration with the National Child Traumatic Stress Network to help young children and families talk about their experiences and feelings related to COVID-19 and the need to stay inside. In addition to the story, which also serves as a coloring book, there is a booklet of common questions children may ask, a parent guide, and a feeling poster. The book and booklet can either be read to children or, parents may select specific pages for their children to color and talk about. These all can all be freely downloaded here: English Spanish

Family Play, Family Well-Being - Ideas from families, for families on play and family well-being

Responsive Early Education for Young Children and Families Experiencing Homelessness High quality early childhood education programs have the potential to be a source of healing and educational opportunity for young children experiencing homelessness. As this important book so clearly illustrates, this requires that educators and program leaders become aware of the extent of homelessness in early childhood, become informed of the negative effects homelessness can have on children’s behavior and development, and learn how to responsively support children in unstable living conditions

Learning at Home

Child looking through cardboard tube

Caring for Each Other Your friends on Sesame Street are here to support you during the COVID-19 health crisis. Sesamestreet.org

Family Math Activities for Everyday Moments: Created by leading scholars in the field of mathematics education—and with input from professionals in fields like yours—our playful and engaging family activities transform everyday household routines into math learning opportunities. No special skills or materials required. DREME Family Math

Early Math California has recognized that young children typically like math. They have a natural understanding of informal mathematics and are often curious about the world around them and how things work. This curiosity coupled with the activities and routines of daily living provide the ideal environment in which to build mathematical understanding. Preschool Math

Balancing Online/Remote Learning for Young Children - this article synthesizes in one place early childhood principles for distance learning. It translates these principles into easily understandable approaches for programs and families. Article

Ready Rosie Videos for Parents - Ready Rosie has produced a Healthy at Home Toolkit for Supporting Families Impacted by COVID-19. It is available in English and Spanish, and is updated weekly with a video-based curriculum for families, with short video clips modeling activities and routines at home. It is aligned with Creative Curriculum, with each mini-video containing links to applicable Mighty Minutes. Consider scheduling time to view the videos together with your families using FaceTime, Zoom, etc meetings. Ask them if they have questions, ask them to try out the activities with their children and then check back with them the following week to see how it went.

Bite-Sized Activities with Tip Sheet – Redwood City School District CDC has developed a great, concise, bilingual packet of ‘bite-size’ activities for parents to do at home with their preschool children. It is fully bilingual. English, Spanish

This family routine chart is customizable and flexible so families can create a routine that works for them: English, Spanish
“Racism exists in early childhood education. Writing that might be a shocking statement, but it is true because almost all institutions in the United States have policies and practices based in racism.” - from Our Children, Our Workforce: Why We Must Talk About Race and Racism in Early Childhood Education, by Kelly Matthews and Ijumaa Jordan, Child Care Exchange

Becoming Upended: Teaching and Learning about Race and Racism with Young Children and Their Families - an article from NAEYC published in the May 2018 addition of Young Child

Understanding Anti-Bias Education: Bringing the Four Core Goals to Every Facet of Your Curriculum

Resources to help adults talk with young children about race and understand how children develop their understanding about race:
- Your Kids Aren't Too Young to Talk About Race: Resource Round Up
- Are Your Kids Too Young to Talk About Race Milestone Chart
- Talking With Kids About Protest (Ages 6 & Under)
- The Office of Head Start recognizes the importance of supporting parents and staff as they talk with children and each other about race and racism. Explore these resources that address how young children learn about race and ways to talk to children to help them cope. Find books for teaching children to embrace diversity. These materials can help families and staff have open and healthy conversations with children of all ages: Talking to Children About Race and Racism Tips and Resources for Parents, Staff, and Children
- Liberation is the goal, abolition is the journey. Woke Kindergarten provides quality lessons and read alouds for young children.
- The Brown Bookshelf is designed to push awareness of the myriad Black voices writing for young readers.
- A collection of anti-racism resources for all ages ( a project by the Augusta Baker Chair, Dr. Nicole A. Cooke, The University of South Carolina)
- Diverse Book Finder - Using books to talk about race and racism with children
- 23 Books That Teach Young Kids About Diversity, Inclusion, and Equality
- How to Talk to Your Kids About Race and Racism
Sesame Street has developed many family and child friendly videos/resources on a variety of topics: