IECMHC Provides Resources for Helping to Calm Children Down
There are many skills that take great effort for children to muster from an early age, and one of them is the ability to calm themselves down.
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In a recent newsletter, the Pennsylvania Key’s Infant Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (IECMHC) provided resources on methods to help calm children down and how to teach children to calm themselves down.
Children are not born with self-control, the IECMHC wrote in the newsletter, so it’s important that caregivers help children to grow their ability to control their emotions, respond in appropriate ways to frustration, get along with others, and become independent.
The IECMHC’s resources discuss how caregivers can help young children learn skills to help them control or regulate themselves and how a calm-down corner – a special area of the classroom with calming materials and tools – can be useful for when children’s emotions feel too big for them.
Resources in the newsletter on calming corners and other calming methods include:
Webinar to Focus on Healthy Eating and Physical Activity for Children
The Pennsylvania Department of Health and The Pennsylvania Key will hold a webinar focusing on healthy eating and physical activity for children in October.
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The Pennsylvania Out-of-School Time (OST) Healthy Eating and Physical Activity (HEPA) Program Webinar will provide information to attendees about the HEPA program. It will include discussion of web-based asynchronous professional development events, resources, and strategies through the Out-of-School Nutrition and Physical Activity Initiative (OSNAP).
The HEPA program supports out-of-school programs to improve policies and practices to help children eat healthier snacks and move more. The webinar is recommended for anyone who currently runs an out-of-school time program for kindergarten through eighth grade students – including administrators and program staff, DHS-certified child care, 21 CCLC grantees, libraries, recreation programs, Boys and Girls Club administrators, and tutoring support.
The event will run from 11 a.m. to noon on Wednesday, Oct. 22 on Zoom. The program is free to attend and will award up to $750 in innovation awards.
Registration is open. If you cannot attend on this date and time, register and the recording will be available. Any further questions should be directed to Betsy O. Saatman at betsaa@pakeys.org or 484-955-5909.
News
September 8, 2025
OCDEL Asks Licensed Child Care Providers Charging Private Pay Rates to Take Survey
The Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) is requesting that licensed child care providers who charge private pay tuition rates complete a survey between Sept. 8 and Dec. 8.
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OCDEL is required to collect up-to-date tuition information from all licensed providers every three years. The 2025 Child Care Market Rate Survey helps OCDEL set child care subsidy payment rates that are reflective of the private pay market.
Even programs that don’t accept subsidies should fill out the survey. When all providers complete the survey, the date gives a more accurate picture of child care tuition rates across Pennsylvania.
Benefits of filling out the survey include:
The results help to set payment rates for child care subsidies over the next few years.
When more providers respond, rates are more fair and reflect real tuition rates.
It supports policies that better reflect the real structure and value of child care services statewide.
It strengthens the case for public investment in child care for everyone.
If you don’t respond, decisions may be based on other programs that don’t reflect your rates.
Participants who complete the survey will be entered into a raffle and could win a gift card. A total of 100 winners will each get a $100 e-gift card.
Surveys can be filled out online or on paper. A paper copy of the survey will be sent in mid-September to all programs that have not yet completed the survey online. Surveys should be returned in the pre-paid return envelopes that are provided. Or, those taking the survey can scan or take photos of it and submit it to ChildCareResearch@psu.edu.
It is being conducted by the Institute of State and Regional Affairs at Penn State Harrisburg, in partnership with OCDEL and the Pennsylvania Key.
The survey should be filled out between Sept. 8 and Dec. 8.
News
August 26, 2025
The Importance of Routines and Tips for Enforcing Them with Children
The Pennsylvania Key’s newsletter, Bright Start, Bright Kids, Bright Future, recently noted that the beginning of a new school year provides a great opportunity for caregivers to help children get into routines.
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After the summer – a season that, for children, provides more freedom than usual – it is important to ensure that children are getting back into routines. Doing so can create a sense of the familiar and stability. Routines can help to promote healthy and social emotional development.
According to Bright Start, Bright Kids, Bright Future, routines can help children to:
Make sense of the world and learn how it is organized
Feel secure and safe when many things in their environment are constantly changing
Develop their ability to regulate their own emotions and behavior
Learn skills and internalize habits through repetition
Learn self-discipline and develop personal responsibility
Set internal body clocks through such actions as eating meals or going to bed at the same time every day
Have a sense of independence and autonomy when much of what happens is out of their control
Engage in fewer power struggles, arguments, or conflicts with caregivers
Develop confidence and self esteem as various tasks are mastered
Anticipate and look forward to what comes next
Have continuity, consistency, and predictability in their lives, which is important in a world that is unpredictable
Bright Start, Bright Kids, Bright Future also provided some tips on how to establish and enforce routines. Caregivers should create visual reminders or a picture schedule for a typical day. They should plan structured activity periods – for example, play a game right after a nap.
Caregivers should break routines into steps – such as ordering activities when getting ready for bed: bath, pajamas, brush teeth, story time, and singing. It is also helpful to prepare a child for transitions from one activity to the next – for example, tell them that in a certain amount of time the next activity will commence.
Developing regular routines for daily activities – meals, bed time, or quiet time, for example – is important. But caregivers should also be flexible and creative and try not to be rigid or unable to adjust to specific circumstances.
Confluence Podcast Episode Focuses on How to Prevent Challenging Behaviors
Challenging behaviors in early learning classrooms can disrupt routines, affect classroom safety, and frustrate even the most experienced educators.
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A new episode of the Confluence Podcast focuses on how to prevent such behaviors before they even start. In the episode, Preventing Child Behaviors That Challenge Us and Resources Available to Providers, hosts Ruby Martin and Chris Loos discuss the real-world prevention strategies to help reduce challenging behaviors in early learning programs. Listeners will hear about proven ways to foster positive behavior before issues escalate.
Staci Kenney, division chief of the Bureau of Early Intervention and Family Supports, is a guest on the podcast. She provides insight into when and how to request early intervention support, helping providers know which signs to watch for and how to connect families with the right services at the right time.
The episode provides practical tools and resources to help educators – whether they are seasoned child care providers, supporting children with specific needs, or new to early education – create safer, more supportive learning environments.
OCDEL Announces It Will Offer Keystone STARS Award for 2025-26
Pennsylvania’s Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) has announced that it will offer the Keystone STARS Quality Improvement (CQI) Award again during the 2025-26 school year.
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The Keystone STARS CQI Award is paid directly through ELRCs to eligible child care programs that have a state Department of Human Services regular Certificate of Compliance and are designated as a Keystone STAR 2, 3, or 4.
The intent of the award is to improve, support, and recognize the quality of Pennsylvania’s early learning and school-age programs.
A child care provider application for this award is not required. Instead, providers who are eligible for the award will receive an eligibility and acceptance letter from their ELRC. The letter will include the maximum award amount that a child care provider is eligible to receive as well as contact information for their ELRC.
After spending the award on eligible expenses, the provider will be responsible for submitting a final expense report electronically to their ELRC.
To be eligible, a provider must possess a current, regular Pennsylvania Department of Human Services certificate of compliance. Providers with provisional certificates, those in a “refuse to renew” status,” or those whose certificates have been revoked are ineligible.
Pennsylvania Key Releases Resources to Prevent Measles Outbreak
The Pennsylvania Key has released new resources on measles as part of its health-related trends in early childhood for May.
Measles Outbreak
The resources were released amid a global measles resurgence that has increased the risk of outbreaks in the United States. Outbreak cases of measles – which is the most highly contagious preventable disease – have been reported in 12 states, including Pennsylvania.
As of mid-April, a total of 800 U.S. cases have been reported, which is a 180 percent increase over the number of 2024 cases. About 96 percent of people who caught the illness were unvaccinated or their vaccination status was unknown. Two school-aged children and one adult, all unvaccinated, have died from the disease.
Measles can be dangerous, especially for infants, young children, pregnant women, and unvaccinated people. Children and caregivers or staff could miss child care or school for long periods of time if they catch the measles. The disease can lead to severe complications that could result in hospitalization or death.
OCDEL to Release Updated Edition of PA Learning Standards for Early Childhood
The Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) will release an updated version of the Pennsylvania Learning Standards for Early Childhood.
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The soon-to-be-released update includes changes to Science Standards to ensure alignment with newly adopted Science, Technology & Engineering, Environmental Literacy & Sustainability (STEELS) Standards. The STEELS Standards were adopted by the state’s Board of Education in January 2022. Implementation of the standards in all Pennsylvania schools begins in the 2025-26 school year.
Revisions include updates to the state’s Early Childhood Learning Standards for:
Infant/toddler
Prekindergarten
Kindergarten
Grades 1 and 2
Early Learning Standards Continuum
“Approaches to Learning Through Play” and “Social/Emotional Development” domains are listed first in the standards, as these skills help children to develop competencies that are essential for success in school, life, and careers.
All licensed child care facilities – including PA Pre-K Counts, HSSAP, and Migrant Education programs – will receive one complimentary copy of the following:
2024 Infant, Toddler Learning Standards for Early Childhood
2024 Pre-Kindergarten Learning Standards for Early Childhood
2024 Early Learning Standards Continuum
Eligible providers are expected to receive their complimentary copies delivered between April and May. Early intervention agencies and state PQAS instructors and organizations will receive an email with the opportunity to request a complimentary set of the standards. Responses will be due by May 31.
Pennsylvania Learning Standards for Early Childhood will be available for viewing, download, and printing on The Pennsylvania Key website. Physical copies will also be available for purchase.
In late April, an asynchronous training titled “2024 Pennsylvania Learning Standards for Early Childhood Revisions Overview” on the transition to the new standards will be accessible on the PD Registry.
Any questions about the new standards should be emailed to ra-pwpaels@pa.gov.
News
February 26, 2025
OCDEL’s New Confluence Podcast on CPSL Requirements Now Available
In the podcast, hosts Ruby Martin, director of the Bureau of Certification Services, and Chris Loos, the bureau’s division chief, discuss and clarify Announcement C-25-01.
The announcement involves CPSL requirements for provisional hiring in all child care program types. The podcast hosts also answer some frequently asked questions about the field.
PennAEYC Honors Educators with Voice for Children Award
The Pennsylvania Association for the Education of Young Children (PennAEYC) recently honored educators during their 2025 Voice for Children Celebration.
The VOICE for Children Award is the only statewide award in Pennsylvania recognizing early care and education professionals, who are not paid advocates but go above and beyond their daily work in the field by being grassroots leaders through advocacy and public policy efforts. The award celebrates not only individual award recipients, but also the early childhood profession. PennAEYC presented this year’s award recipients at an event on April 4.
Trying Together recognizes and congratulates two honorees in particular who have worked closely with the organization.
Honorees
Photo credit: PennAEYC
Lesely Crawford, an educator and the executive director of Pittsburgh’s ABK Learning and Development Center, was among this year’s three honorees. She was nominated by Trying Together.
“Lesely’s love for children and her desire to educate them led her to open her own early learning center. She was concerned with the struggles of her students and felt that she could do more for them if she caught them earlier. Not wanting to leave any children behind, ABK Learning & Development Center was born. As she organized and structured the program, she felt compelled to focus on families that lacked sufficient care during nontraditional hours. ABK Learning & Development Center would be open 24 hours, seven days a week to accommodate parents. Through the partnership with the housing Authority the City of Pittsburgh, she opened her second facility, Bedford Hope Center. ” Read full bio.
Photo credit: PennAEYC
Eva Wood (executive director of Ligonier Valley Learning Center, Inc. in Latrobe) was also honored this year. She is a long-time partner of Trying Together and recently became part of Trying Together’s ECE Advocacy Fellowship. As a result of her involvement in the ECE Advocacy Fellowship, she began the Westmoreland Director’s Team which is already meeting and has grown to almost 40 members.
Most recently, Eva contributed a story to the “Day in the Life” advocacy project through Trying Together, which encourages others to gain a deeper understanding of the realities facing children, families, and early childhood educators across the state. Read full bio.
Other honorees include:
VOICE for Children Student Honoree: Sonya Geisinger (owner/operator of Sonya Sue Geisinger’s Family Daycare in Coopersburg)
Distinguished Career Nominee: Gail Nourse, a consultant and first director of The Pennsylvania Key
Vision Award Honoree: The Schuylkill Chamber of Commerce was this year’s Vision Award honoree.
The gala was held at the Hershey Lodge and more than 125 early childhood care and education professionals were in attendance. Jasmine Brooks, an anchor for CBS 21, acted as the event’s emcee.
