Inspiration Posts

• 3 reasons to partner with ADES for child care assistance
• A hands-on approach to learning
• A Warm Welcome: Tips for welcoming new children and families
• Books and Beyond
• Boost Your Program’s Improvement Efforts with an Informal Assessment
• Boost Your Program’s Improvement Efforts with an Informal Assessment
• Building Healthy Handwashing Habits
• Caring for Infants and Toddlers During COVID and Beyond
• Caring for Yourself, So You Can Care for Others
• Child Care Health Consultants help your program achieve healthier environments for children
• Child Care Provider Appreciation: 5 Ways to Say Thanks
• Child-focused learning: following their lead to new adventures
• Communication Matters: Talking with families about learning through play
• Cooking and Sharing: Providing high-quality nutrition in your program
• Cozy, comforting and clean: Providing softness in today’s early learning settings
• Decoding Little Minds
• Director’s network provides support during challenging times
• Earth-Friendly Early Learning
• Engaging Families in Your Quality Improvement Process
• Family child care: Where we love is our home
• Find early childhood programs in communities across Arizona
• Five tips to enhance active play in your program
• Free Play, Not Free-For-All
• Fun with food: How child care providers can help children build positive relationships with food
• Handling the Holidays: Honoring different cultures and traditions
• Healthy Teeth Keep Kids Smiling and Learning
• Help is Here: New System Supports for Arizona’s Early Childhood Programs
• Honoring Extraordinary Staff: Tips from a Program Leader
• How to provide physical distancing in the early education setting
• How will you respond? Preparing for a positive case at your program
• I am Moving, I am Learning: Partner with your child care health consultant to get kids actively learning today
• I is for implementing action steps. Five tips to help you on your goals.
• I is for Investigate: three ways to look at your current practices
• It’s Time to Eat: Tips for Mealtime Mastery
• Keep great teachers at your program: Three ways to boost retention
• Keeping Children Active and Safe in Summer Weather
• Keeping Children Safe with Active Supervision
• Laying the foundation for math with infants and toddlers
• Lullabies to letters: Developing language and literacy through music
• Making the most of your informal assessment feedback
• Marvelous, Miraculous Mud: Celebrating Messy Mud Play
• More than ABC’s: How LETRS is changing the game of language and literacy
• N is for Note Impact of New Practices
• New Levels of Support
• New Routines to Protect Children’s Health
• Nurturing a love of nutrition
• O is for Ongoing Monitoring and Adjustment
• Onboarding New Employees: Advice from Two Program Leaders
• Outdoor classroom is fertile ground for learning
• Playing with sounds: Phonological awareness prepares kids for reading
• Quality First helps prepare kids for school success
• Quality in Action
• Reducing the risk of contamination in diapering areas and handwashing sinks
• Returning to Child Care: Big Feelings, Common Behaviors and Practical Strategies for Teachers
• S is for Setting Goals: Creating an Effective Quality Improvement Plan
• Setting the stage: Learning through free play
• Start building a love of math and science early in life
• Strong Hearts, Strong Minds: Cultivating character through critical thinking
• Supporting learning from a distance
• Take it outside: Learning in the great outdoors
• The Power of Positive Book Times: How Early Educators Can Spark a Love for Reading with Young Children
• Three changes coming soon to Child Care Health Consultation
• Tips for Making Materials Accessible to All Ages
• Tips for supporting literacy development 
• Toilet Learning in the Preschool Room: A Changing Table Story
• Tools to reduce preschool expulsions
• V is for Vision: Casting your vision for quality
• Water play activities to support learning
• Your Quality First Marketing Toolkit In Action: Part 1 – Leveraging physical tools for success
• Your Quality First Marketing Toolkit in Action: Part 2- Optimizing Your Digital Tools

Program Updates

• Quality First Revision Playlist
• Announcing a Revision to Quality First
• Quality First Orientation
• Professional Learning from the Arizona Department of Education
• Levels of Support Handouts
• Informal Assessment Request Form
• 2023 QF Updates
• A Note about Public and Non-Public Ratings
• Early Childhood Resource Guide
• Quality First Expansion-funded programs
• Quality First Forum Recording
• Quality First Scholarships for 2025
• Quality First Participant Guide
• Participant Forms
• All-New Marketing Toolkit
• New Opportunity: Earn a Star Rating While You Wait
• Updated First Things First Brand Guidelines for 2024
• Self-Reflection Guides
• Updated Assessment Random Draw Procedure
• Safety Information
• 2024 QF Updates