Please note: ELCFH offices will be closed December 23-26, 2024 and December 31, 2024 and January 1, 2025
Warmline Inclusion
Concerned about your child’s development! We can help!
Our team offers:
- Developmental screenings,
- Developmental assessments,
- Individualized planning focused on your child’s strengths and needs,
- Fun activities and games to play at home and in child care to help your child grow and develop,
- Parenting resources,
- Connection to Early Steps or the FDLRS (Florida Diagnostic Learning and Resource System) for additional screening and evaluation.
Call our Warm Line and an Inclusion Specialist will speak with you about your concerns and determine what the next steps should be.
You can also call the State of Florida Warm Line (toll-free): 866-357-3239
Transitioning to Kindergarten
As your child prepares for the exciting journey into kindergarten, we offer a variety of resources to support families in this important transition. From practical tips to engaging activities, our goal is to ensure that both you and your child feel confident and ready for this new chapter.
Resources
Find Your School
Use our resources to locate schools in Florida and access district websites for Charlotte, DeSoto, Hardee, and Highlands counties.
School District Websites
ELCFH Top 10 Websites for Families!
Parent Pages Monthly Newsletter
https://www.fldoe.org/schools/early-learning/parents/parent-pages.stml
The Division of Early Learning Resources for Parents and Providers
https://flbt5.floridaearlylearning.com/resources.html
Baby Navigator- What every parent needs to know about their baby’s development
Kids Health from Nemours- Advice on children's health, behavior, and growth- from before birth through the teen years
Reading Rockets- launching young readers!
https://www.readingrockets.org/
Healthy Kids Healthy Future
https://healthykidshealthyfuture.org/5-healthy-goals/get-kids-moving/
The National Child Traumatic Stress Network
https://www.nctsn.org/audiences/families-and-caregivers
USDA My Plate
The Pyramid Model Consortium; Family Engagement
https://www.pyramidmodel.org/service/family-engagement/
Early Literacy
Reading 101: A Guide for Parents
https://www.readingrockets.org/literacy-home/reading-101-guide-parents
It’s not an easy thing, learning to read and write. Discover what it takes to build important literacy skills, and how you can help your children grow as readers, writers, and thinkers!
Reading Tips for Parents in Multiple Languages
Literacy Resources for Childcare Programs
The Development of Phonological Skills
Phonological skill develops in a predictable progression. This concept is important, as it provides the basis for sequencing teaching tasks from easy to more difficult.
Nursery Rhymes: Not Just for Babies!
https://www.readingrockets.org/topics/activities/articles/nursery-rhymes-not-just-babies
There’s a reason we learn nursery rhymes as young children. They help us develop an ear for our language. Rhyme and rhythm highlight the sounds and syllables in words. And understanding sounds and syllables helps kids learn to read!
The Florida Early Learning and Developmental Standards
https://flbt5.floridaearlylearning.com/standards.html#d=IV
Language, communication, and early literacy and writing are critical to children’s ability to learn, work, and play with others. Language and literacy development involves the way children learn to communicate with sounds, words and gestures, and eventually, the way they learn to read and write.
Fun and Effective Literacy Activities for Preschoolers
Whether you’re a teacher, curriculum specialist or other educational professional (or you aspire to be), one thing you can never have too much of is fun activity ideas for students!
12 Tips to Boost Early Literacy
https://www.startearly.org/post/12-tips-to-boost-early-literacy/
Through just this one simple act you are bonding with your child, inspiring a love of reading—and are helping them develop strong early language and literacy skills that will become the foundation for their future learning and success. In fact, studies show that reading aloud is a primary driver of young children’s early language development.
Literacy Tips for Parents from Birth to Grade 5
Easy activities to help your child learn to love reading!
How to Read “With” Children: Reading Tips for Birth-Age 5 Children
Bring books to life by reading “with” children! Engaging with children around reading is an essential tool for brain development that helps spark a child’s imagination and creates a bonding and learning experience.
