Note: The html version of the newsletter has been condensed for easy reading. For the complete newsletter, please download the pdf.

In this Issue:

• Welcome
• Content Updates
• New Documents
• January County Showcase: Fresno County
• Plan4Preschool News and Notes

Welcome

Welcome to the Plan4Preschool January Newsletter! Even though this preschool planning website is still quite young, nearly 100 registered users have already joined the effort! In this edition we will highlight user activities, chronicle local planning processes, and spotlight shared community documents. But remember that you have to be logged in to interact!

While logged in at Plan4Preschool.org, if you visit document pages you can begin lively discussions about the challenges and key issues surrounding preschool in our state by leaving your comments and opinions.

Updates to the Website

• New commentaries about preschool planning efforts have been added to the county showcase pages for Sacramento, San Francisco, San Mateo, Fresno, Merced, Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego and Ventura counties.
• "Taking Stock: Assessing and Improving Early Childhood Learning and Program Quality," authored by the National Early Childhood Accountability Task Force, has been added to our library of documents. The Task Force brings together experts in child development, early education and state policy to help states design an approach to early childhood accountability that meets the demands of legislators and the needs of children, programs, and families.
• The Plan4Preschool websearch has been updated to yield better results. Give it a try and give us your feedback!

New Documents Uploaded By You!

The following two documents are a sample of the recent uploads that have been added to Plan4Preschool by registered users during the past month.

One article, uploaded by member Fran Biderman of First 5 Contra County, is entitled "Play in the Early Years: Key to School Success." Authored by Bay Area Early Childhood Funders, this article focuses on the importance of the integration of play within the preschool curriculum and within a child's development.

The other, "Possible Existing Funding Sources for Preschool," authored by Susan Muenchow, Karen Manship and Jennifer Anthony, all of AIR, focuses on various funding opportunities available to preschools. This article was uploaded by co-author Jennifer Anthony.

We appreciate these and all the other uploads that are continually made to the site. We encourage all members to make contributions. Through your efforts important resources and tools are shared with thousands, supporting local efforts in preschool planning, quality enhancement, and implementation throughout the state.

January County Showcase: Fresno County

Fresno County, with funding and support from the Packard Foundation, First 5 Fresno and leaders in the local business community, has taken steps to create an accessible and effective network of important early childhood education services in Fresno.

The Fresno County Office of Education, in part with the Karen Hill Scott Company, is in the process of developing a Preschool Master Plan. On the Fresno County Showcase page at Plan4Preschool.org, you will find the schedule of public meetings, meeting output from previous meetings, the past Fresno strategic plan and other resources for preschool planning developed during this process and other features to support this broad based collaborative effort.

You will be able to see how the early childhood, public K-12, parents, community based providers, and the business community will join together to create a strategic plan for preschool in Fresno County-a plan that relates children's achievement and positive social development to the stability and productivity of Fresno County as a whole.

Plan4Preschool.org hosts County Showcase pages for all 58 California counties. Please visit your county’s homepage, and if you don’t see a document or local event that you think should be there, upload it yourself! This is a chance to showcase your local efforts to the public!