Take time to connect with resources on the Resources for Early Childhood website. You will find a rich array of lessons, articles, and other features that enhance teaching and energize learning.

Connect to REC Resources and Features
Planning Topic: Visiting Extended Family and Friends

The late fall is traditionally a time for holiday parties and family get-togethers. The resources in the Visiting Extended Family mini-collection may help you and your children use these times for some interesting learning opportunities related to historical thinking and sharing personal histories in the revised social studies standards.

The following picture books complement the topic of visiting family and friends. Each book can be found on an Early Childhood Bookshelf page. Click on the title of the book to open the Bookshelf page, where you can see the book cover, read a commentary, and find Literary Links that describe ways to use the book to further children’s learning.

I Miss You Every Day by Simms Taback
What a Family! by Rachel Isadora
My Nana and Me by Irene Smalls
My Pop Pop and Me by Irene Smalls
The Aunts Come Marching by Bill Richardson
My Map Book by Sara Fanelli

Resources in the Spotlight
Here are some excellent resources you’ll find in the spotlight this month! You may want to add them to your REC Collection. (Register for free at http://rec.ohiorc.org/register/default.aspx to start your collection.)

EC Bookshelf: Numbers and Counting (REC #10323)
Inquiry Project: The Woods Project (REC #12751)
EC Building Block Brief: Creating Caring Classroom Communities Through Reader’s Theater (REC #9852)
Infant Toddler Resource: Rub a Dub Read (REC #10961)
Preschool Resource: What’s the Difference Between Discipline and Punishment (REC #9608)
Getting Ready for Kindergarten Resource: A Guide for My Child’s Kindergarten Teacher (REC #9632)
Key Special Needs Resource: Inclusive Classroom Terminology Page
Inclusive Classroom Lesson: Lots of Labels (REC #6463)

Have You Seen This?

Did you know that there is an easy link to the main ORC website from the REC website? At the very bottom of the REC website, the words Ohio Resource Center will guide you to ORC. ORC offers PreK resources, Literacy, Science, and Math Bookshelves, and a multitude of other features to help teachers. When you want to get back to REC, use the link near the bottom of the left navigation column that says Resources for Early Childhood.

Connect with Other Educators

Ohio Professional Development Network
Remember that you can use the Ohio Early Childhood Professional Development Network (OPDN) to find the best in early childhood professional learning. It provides a forum for input and involvement of early childhood advocacy and professional organizations, and their public and private partners, to examine early childhood professional development initiatives. This collaborative partnership continues its efforts to strengthen and build a system that provides support for the continued growth, learning, and advancement of early childhood professionals in Ohio.

Connect with the REC Website
Resources for Early Childhood (REC) is a project undertaken by the Ohio Resource Center.

The REC website seeks to support Ohio's early childhood teachers, parents, teachers of early childhood teachers, and children by providing peer-reviewed, web-based resources to assist with instructional planning, professional learning, and the implementation of the Ohio early learning standards for mathematics, science, English language arts, and social studies and program guidelines.

The REConnections newsletter can connect you with REC on a monthly basis. Simply JOIN REC and click in the REConnections box to subscribe.

Connect to REC by becoming a follower of our Twitter feed at http://twitter.com/OhioRC_EarlyEd. We are constantly updating you with the latest news and hints from REC.

If you have feedback or if you have a favorite REC resource you would like to tell others about, email Nancy Brannon, nbrannon@ohiorc.org. The ORC staff would love to include your favorites in an upcoming issue of REConnections.