Welcome Region 2 Early Childhood Educators

Cynthia Cook, Director of CAL-NET.

It is a wonderful time to be an educator of young children! Exciting brain research, validation of all that we knew about young children, and recognition of how important we are to young children make our roles as early childhood educators rewarding. In classrooms and homes throughout the region, it is so important that we remember to be playful and purposeful in our planning of activities. We want to optimize the windows of opportunity for learning by presenting content that is meaningful and fun. The CAL-NET Grant gives you the support and encouragement to learn research based strategies to scaffold young children's learning as well as the resources so that you can continue your education.

We are most honored to be selected as the first Early Childhood Educator Professional Development Grant in California. Take advantage of this opportunity to participate in our unique offerings.

The CAL-NET Team

Carla Piper Ed.D. - CAL-NET Consultant

  Welcome to the CAL-NET website. I am delighted to be a part of this exciting grant   that benefits the young children of Northern California. I am pleased to be learning   along with all of our grant participants through the many CAL-NET and Early   Reading First activities that have been provided. It has been a wonderful   opportunity to work with CIRCLE, E-CIRCLE, and Teachscape in order to make   professional development accessible in our nine-county region. This grant has   brought together the most amazing and dedicated group of early childhood   educators. Cynthia, thanks for outstanding leadership. I also want to thank Janne   Bradshaw, one of our Soundpiper partners, for pulling all of our photos, programs, and evaluation documents and designing a wondeful website in celebration of all that has been accomplishe in CAL-NET.

Carla Piper Ed.D is the university consultant for CAL-NET and developer of ClipBoard, a comprehensive electronic teacher portfolio system designed to guide the professional development of early childhood education. Dr. Piper began to use electronic portfolios with Title One students in 1995. She continues her research on the use of electronic portfolios in teacher education and professional development with ClipBoard. ClipBoard allows teachers to collect artifacts that document teaching competencies aligned with national and state standards for early childhood educators. Dr. Piper has been involved with CAL-NET since the beginnning of the ECEPD grant, coordinating professional development for the Tehama Department of Education with Shasta College, College of the Siskiyous, and the University of the Pacific. She works with teachers throughout the nine-county region as the Pacific faculty for E-CIRCLE coursework in early literacy and mathematics. She teaches computer classes for early childhood educators, addressing developmentally appropriate uses of computers with young children. She presents workshops on the musical intelligence and using the elements of music to develop literacy and numeracy with preschool children.