CAFRA – Child Care Association For Resources to Administrators

Have you signed up for CAFRA’s FREE* Google Training course yet? Check your e-mail or see more information under Events on this page. Remember – this is in place of our January membership meeting. Sign up here: https://signup.com/go/xsCxTfd
*FREE for CAFRA members

Here are the details again:

After reviewing the technology needs survey we have arranged for Metro Continuing Education to deliver a Google Essentials workshop on Thursday, January 16.  The training will be delivered twice to ensure small group sizes of  20 people max. Organizations are asked to limit sign up to one person to give all programs the opportunity to attend.  Should space be available near the cut off time, you will be invited to sign up a second person from your organization.  We are pleased to offer this training as part of our professional development commitment for 2020, at no additional cost to the member.

Course Description We all know that Google is a big part of the online landscape—but does your Google savvy go beyond the search engine? Join us for a relaxed introduction to a series of Google’s most useful apps, including Google Drive, Docs, Sheets and Slides. We’ll also cover Gmail. By the end of the course, you’ll have a handle on what these apps do and how they work together. 
Course Location Metro Continuing Education, 7835 – 76 Ave NW, Edmonton
Course Date Thursday, January 16, 2020 (in lieu of CAFRA meeting)
Course Times 9am to noon OR 1pm to 4pm
Course Facilitator Shawn Gramiak
Please follow this link to signup  Registration will close on January 6.

In response to several requests for the opportunity to discuss recent cuts to the Benefit Contribution Grant we have decided to modify Thursday’s event’s agenda. The first 45 minutes of the morning will be used for round table work: 10 minutes venting and the next 35 minutes brainstorming solutions and a CAFRA position. We’ll then put it aside and focus on being with one another in play and celebration of successes.

If you did not RSVP yes for this event, but would like to participate in the the round table conversation, please respond to Shea at director@southsidemothers.com directly.

CAFRA Christmas Lunch
Watch for your Evite to the Christmas lunch, coming soon! The Christmas Lunch will be held at Mckernan Baptist Church from 10am to 2pm on December 19. The deadline to RSVP will be December 13. If you have any dietary restrictions you would like accommodated, you MUST let Vicki know before December 5. Send your dietary requests to her at admin@cafra.ca.

2020 Essential Pieces Conference Seeks Presenters
The 2020 Essential Pieces Conference will be held on April 25, 2020.

AECEA’s 2020 Essential Pieces Conference Committee is working hard on putting together an inspiring, professional conference for you for the 2020 conference. Look for registration details in January 2020.

In planning this conference, they would like to have workshop sessions that are relevant to the work that you do and topics that you want to learn more about. Therefore, they are putting out a call for presenters and would like your assistance in forwarding the form to presenters that you think may be relevant to AECEA members. It may be someone you have heard that has inspired you in your work and/or a session that you would like to participate in or it may be a session you present.

The deadline for proposals is Friday, December 6, 2019, all proposals must be submitted through the online form by that date in order to be considered. Find the Presenter Application Form here.

NEW professional development opportunities have been posted under Professional Learning. Know of any great opportunities we can share with CAFRA members? Send the information to admin@cafra.ca.

Are you familiar with the workshops and courses offered by Edmonton Chamber of Voluntary Organizations? They serve non-profits and charities in the Alberta capital region and offer a wide variety of events, workshops, and webinars beneficial to non-profit professionals. Check out their calendar of events. You can also subscribe to the ECVO newsletter here.

Mark your calendar: the next CAFRA members meeting will be our Christmas Lunch on December 19 from 10am to 2pm. More details will be sent out soon!

The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Association of Early Childhood Educators of Alberta (AECEA) will be held on Wednesday, September 26, 2019 at 4:00 p.m. The meeting will take place online via a GoTo Webinar video conference.

This is a very important meeting as the AECEA Board elections will be taking place.

Please register to attend HERE

October 3, 2019  9:00am – 5:00pm
Working for Kids – Coach Training
Orange Hub (100th Avenue and 156th Street)
Cost $125

For more information, see “Upcoming Professional Development Opportunities” under “Professional Learning” above and view the flyer below.

October 25, 2019

Understanding the importance of ongoing professional learning and development, CAFRA has designated the 4^th Friday of each October (October 25, 2019) as an Early Childhood Educator Professional Development Day. This will be a day where ECE’s have the opportunity to learn together, unite under the common focus of continuous professional learning and become stronger as a community.

Substantial research on high quality Early Learning and Child Care programs worldwide clearly demonstrates that the greatest indicator of program quality is the knowledge, education and capacity of the Educators who work with children and families. In other words, educational preparation and the ongoing learning of Educators remains central to the quality of Early Learning and Child Care.

Please click the links below to see what some of our CAFRA centres are doing during the ECE Professional Development Day for 2019! Centres followed by “**” have space available for you to join them for their PD Day! See the link for details.

Terra Child and Family Support Centre**
UPDATE: Terra’s morning session is FULL, but there are still 15 spots available for the afternoon.
Bissell Centre**
Allen Gray Child Development Centre**
Talmud Torah Society**
City West Childcare & Community Support Society
Jasper Place Child and Family Resource Centre
McKernan Child Development Centre
Students’ Union and Community Early Learning Centre
Southview Child Care