The Office of Instructional Supports: Early Learning supports South Carolina’s districts and will offer several free professional learning opportunities (PLOs) for teachers, teaching assistants, reading coaches, and administrators that will consist of face-to-face experiences to focus on literacy instructional strategies that impact student learning for students in four-year-old kindergarten (4K) through middle school. Participation in these PLO sessions will afford attendees the opportunity to deepen their knowledge and understanding of the Profile of a Ready Kindergartener, Profile of the South Carolina Graduate, South Carolina Early Learning Standards (SC-ELS), and South Carolina College- and Career-Ready Standards.

If your school or district would like to request a book study or additional support via virtual training or face-to-face training please submit a request by visiting the following link: Office of Instructional Supports Early Learning Request for Assistance Form.

New CERDEP Teacher PLO

New CERDEP Teacher Training
In this PLO, new CERDEP teachers and assistants will learn more about the Profile of Ready Kindergartener, South Carolina Early Learning Standards, CERDEP monitoring, the Early Language and Literacy Classroom Observation (ELLCO) Tool, classroom schedules, literacy rich environments, assessment, and purposeful play. This will be a one-day regional PLO with various dates teachers and assistants may select from.

Pyramid Model PLOs

The Pyramid Model Sessions
Beginning early in life, executive function is key for helping preschool children to understand and manage their emotions, feel, and show empathy for others, establish healthy relationships, set positive goals, and make responsible decisions. South Carolina has adopted the Pyramid framework to promote the social and emotional competence of children birth to age five in the context of nurturing relationships and high-quality learning environments.

The Pyramid PIECES State Leadership Team (SLT) is an interagency group of state-level partners who collaborate to plan, implement, evaluate, and sustain a professional development system that supports high fidelity use of the Pyramid Model in our state.

As part of the SC Pyramid, PIECES developed three different options for educators interested in the Pyramid Model. Pyramid Webinars will allow participants the opportunity to gain information and easy to follow strategies for each of the three tiers. SC-ELS and Pyramid will be a face-to-face option for educators to learn how to incorporate the Pyramid Model in their current curriculum and daily routines. The Pyramid Cohorts will include three face-to-face sessions with an in-depth focus on ways to implement and sustain evidence-based approaches that support the learning and engagement of ALL children through concrete strategies. In addition, early childhood educators and practitioners now have FREE access to modules.  Visit the following link for more information on the modules:  Pyramid Model Resources - Pyramid PIECES (external link)

The Pyramid Model Webinars
The Pyramid Model builds upon a tiered approach to provide universal supports to all children to promote wellness, targeted services to those who need more support, and intensive services to those who need them.  Links for the webinars will be sent to registered participants prior to webinar date. The Pyramid Model Tier 1: Universal Supports and Establishing the First 21 Days of School includes the practices needed to ensure the promotion of the social development of all children and the first 21 days of school. The Pyramid Model Tier 2: Responsive Teaching Practices to Support Positive Behaviors will focus participants on targeted social emotional supports through explicit instruction in the areas of self-regulation, expressing and understanding emotions, developing social relationships and problem-solving. The Pyramid Model Tier 3: Individual Supports will be comprised of practices related to individualized intensive interventions and behavior support plans.

South Carolina Early Learning Standards (SC-ELS) and The Pyramid Model (One Day Sessions):
The participants of this session will connect SC-ELS and assessments to the Pyramid Model. Participants will leave understanding how to implement their learning to curriculum design, daily routines, transitions, and anecdotal notes to support the growth and development of all children, especially children with diverse learning needs.

Pyramid Regional Cohorts (Three Day Sessions)
As part of the SC PIECES State leadership work, we will provide regional cohorts where educators will participate in three Pyramid sessions designed to develop executive function competence for academic success. Each participant should be willing to commit to attending three regional sessions, as well as developing a plan to support executive function development within their classroom, school and/or district. These three sessions will focus on ways to implement and sustain evidence-based approaches that support the learning and engagement of ALL children through concrete strategies. Session one will focus on developing nurturing, responsive relationships and designing high-quality supportive environments. The focus of session two will be how to implement and sustain evidence-based approaches that teach strategies for social and emotional competence through developing friendship skills, controlling anger and impulse, and developing problem-solving skills. Session three will focus on developing an individualized behavior support plan with intensive intervention.

South Carolina-Early Learning Standards (SC-ELS) PLOs

SC-ELS Sessions: Purposeful, Playful Mathematics in Early Childhood Education
This training will focus participants on being intentional while nurturing and engaging each student in his/her development of mathematical thinking, reasoning, and problem solving within data analysis, geometry, and measurement. This session will build an awareness of how development occurs through counting, sorting, classifying, and later patterning as well as how to scaffold students’ development of mathematical concepts through hands-on, purposeful play scenarios throughout the preschool day to build an understanding of geometry and measurement, focusing specifically on 2-D and 3-D shapes as well as weight using balance scales. Participants will leave with a goal and next steps in how to intentionally promote, encourage, support, and expose children to math in different everyday playful learning situations and activities for each child in their care.

SC-ELS Sessions: Scaffolding Preschooler’s Early Writing Skills
Writing is just one part of a busy early childhood classroom, but even in little doses, a nurturing approach can work wonders and help children connect the natural writer inside them to a life of expressing themselves on paper. The OELL team will explore a framework teachers can use to provide writing opportunities, easily evaluate children's writing, and help children take the next step in their writing development. This session will address the importance of fostering early writing skills, how writing typically develops in young children, and how teachers can actively support this development.

SC-ELS Sessions: Effectively Using Assessments to Support School Readiness
By closely observing student behaviors and actions in classrooms, teachers can identify and gain insight into student interests, strengths, learning styles, behavior, and academic progress. The information gathered through kidwatching can be used to plan and implement class tasks, strategies and tools tailored to students’ needs and interests. During this session, participants will observe students, record observations, and plan learning experiences to support school readiness for all students.

SC-ELS Session: I Am a Teacher Too
This session is designed for the preschool teacher’s assistant and paraprofessional. During this session, participants will have the opportunity to listen, interact and exchange ideas to ensure their performance in the classroom maximizes student outcomes. Topics will include the participants role in oral language development through interactions and engagement, purposeful play-based activities, and recording observations.

Additional PLO information 

Palmetto Pre-K Jamboree: Rooted in High Quality Early Learning Environments
The Palmetto Pre-K Jamboree is a collaboration between the SCDE, Head Start, SC First Steps and the SC Department of Social Services (DSS) and is supported by the Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five Initiative (PDG B-5). This training will focus on ways to support and uplift the child’s natural curiosity through natural play and learning. All SC pre-K/preschool teachers, support staff and administrators are invited to join the virtual event. Conference information forthcoming. 

Champions Symposium –The Building Blocks of Literacy
The Champions for Young Children Symposium aims to provide a rich professional development experience around a specific theme for participants and to offer an opportunity for professionals from multiple facets of early childhood education and parents to access information and network (e.g., mental health, Head Start, pre-K (public and private), early intervention, home visitation, child care, early childhood education, early childhood special education). This conference will inspire and empower participants to understand their role related to reigniting their passion for supporting young children and their families and renewing their use of strategies to engage young children in learning. Conference information forthcoming. 

All attendees can qualify for SC DSS/SC Endeavors credit hours.  For more information on the Champions Symposium, please visit the following link:  https://www.scinclusion.org/champions-symposium/ (external link).