JMECC Community Outreach Inclusion Program

We are so proud of Ms.Megan, Ms. Stefanie, and Ms. Charlene!

We hosted 2 VECAlliance trainings so far in 2026. Last month our members had the opportunity to learn from Ms. Laura a Curriculum Coordinator and Coach at JMECC/DSECC, all about Teaching Behavior Expectations. We learned about the difference between an expectation and a rule, discussed how rules and expectations can prevent challenging behaviors, sang songs to use in the classroom/centers, and we even played a Kahoot! to showcase our learning.
This month we focused on Promoting Student Engagement with Tweety Yates from the Pyramid Model Consortium. We learned the importance behind student engagement and how it helps to prevent challenging behavior. Tweety also shared some amazing ideas to increase engagement by using student’s interests.

Go to our website to learn more about the VEC Alliance and RSVP for our next training!
https://sites.google.com/vvsd.org/jmecc-coip/vec-alliance

En lo que va de 2026, hemos organizado dos capacitaciones de VECAlliance. El mes pasado, nuestros miembros tuvieron la oportunidad de aprender de la Sra. Laura, Coordinadora de Currículo en JMECC/DSECC, sobre la enseñanza de las expectativas de comportamiento. Aprendimos la diferencia entre una expectativa y una regla, hablamos sobre cómo las reglas y las expectativas pueden prevenir conductas desafiantes, cantamos canciones para usar en el aula/centros, e incluso jugamos un Kahoot! para mostrar nuestro aprendizaje.

Este mes nos centramos en promover la participación estudiantil con Tweety Yates, del Consorcio del Modelo Pirámide. Aprendimos la importancia de la participación estudiantil y cómo ayuda a prevenir conductas desafiantes. Tweety también compartió ideas increíbles para aumentar la participación aprovechando los intereses de los estudiantes.

¡Visite nuestro sitio web para obtener más información sobre la Alianza VEC y confirmar su asistencia a nuestra próxima capacitación!

We love Ms. Tionia!! 🩷

2025 Year In Review✨🎉
We are so excited to continue our work in 2026!

We had our last VEC Alliance for 2025. Lisa Cipriano came to talk to us about The Impact of Trauma on Behavior in Early Childhood Development. We took time to talk about behaviors and some strategies we can use to help our students. We especially loved our bear and balloon breaths.
Join us in January for our first VEC Alliance of 2026!
Celebramos nuestra última reunión de la Alianza VEC de 2025. Lisa Cipriano nos habló sobre el impacto del trauma en el comportamiento durante el desarrollo infantil temprano. Dedicamos tiempo a conversar sobre comportamientos y algunas estrategias que podemos usar para ayudar a nuestros alumnos. Nos encantaron especialmente nuestros ejercicios de respiración como ositos y globos.

¡Únanse a nosotros en enero para nuestra primera Alianza VEC de 2026!

Here’s what attendees are saying about the VEC Alliance…

Join us for our next training tomorrow at 6:00pm, click the link to our website to RSVP!
https://sites.google.com/vvsd.org/jmecc-coip/home

Esto es lo que dicen los miembros sobre la VEC Alliance…

¡Únase a nuestro próximo entrenamiento mañana a las 6:00 pm! Haga clic en el enlace a nuestro sitio web para confirmar su asistencia.

Last week we hosted all of the teachers, assistants, and directors from each of our program partner sites. We came together to continue our learning about the Pyramid Model with a special focus on creating inclusive environments. Thank you to Ron Roybal for such an engaging session with our community.

La semana pasada recibimos a todas las maestras, asistentes y directores de cada uno de nuestros centros asociados. Nos reunimos para seguir aprendiendo sobre el Modelo Pirámide, con especial énfasis en la creación de entornos inclusivos. Agradecemos a Ron Roybal por una sesión tan enriquecedora para nuestra comunidad.

Last week we hosted another VEC Alliance meeting. Our topic was Talking to Parents about Developmental Concerns, so many members joined us and some new members came too. Our team shared about the developmental milestones for children aged 3-5. We also talked about considerations in the classrooms, Kindergarten expectations, our referral process, and ideas for embedding academics into play. The prizes were all items that can help children to meet their milestones.
Go to our website to learn more about the VEC Alliance and RSVP for our next training!
https://sites.google.com/vvsd.org/jmecc-coip/vec-alliance

La semana pasada organizamos otra reunión de la Alianza VEC. Nuestro tema fue "Hablar con los padres sobre las preocupaciones del desarrollo", por lo que muchos miembros se unieron y también asistieron algunos nuevos. Nuestro equipo compartió información sobre los hitos del desarrollo de los niños de 3 a 5 años. También hablamos sobre consideraciones especiales que deben tomar en cuenta, las expectativas del kínder, nuestro proceso de evaluar niños, e ideas para integrar actividades académicas en el juego. Los premios consistieron en materiales que pueden ayudar a los niños a alcanzar sus hitos.

Visite nuestro sitio web para obtener más información sobre la Alianza VEC y confirmar su asistencia a nuestra próxima capacitación.

This week our whole team has been at the Sharing a Vision Conference in Peoria, Il. So while we are all together we wanted to take a minute to let you get to know each of us a little bit.
(Names in order left to right in the photo).

Jess Schaffer Jensen, Community Based Itinerant Speech-Language Pathologist
Jess is a speech-language pathologist with 15 years of experience working with the birth-to-five population. She lives in Lisle with her husband and three boys. As a community-based itinerant speech-language pathologist, Jess enjoys providing direct therapy to students in their daycare and preschool settings, while also coaching community staff on a variety of speech-language strategies.

Ally Pedersen, Early Childhood Special Education Community Based Itinerant Teacher
Ally has been a classroom teacher in our full day program at JMECC for the last 8 years. She lives in Manhattan with her husband and twin 2 year old girls. Now as an Itinerant Teacher, Ally enjoys building relationships with students in the community and watching the excitement of the community staff as they learn new practices.

Stefanie Echols, Community Outreach Coordinator
Stefanie comes to this position with over 15 years of experience in early childhood education most of which being an early childhood special education teacher. I live and work in the Valley View community with my family and I love helping children tap into their creativity and become lifelong learners.

Laura Gress, Early Childhood Special Education Community Based Itinerant Teacher
Laura has been a classroom teacher for 17 years before transitioning into the role of an itinerant teacher. She is most excited to build relationships with both students and staff alike. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her 21 year-old twin sons, going on vacations, cruising to the Caribbean Islands, going to the gym, seeing local bands, attending concerts, shopping, water parks, amusement parks, zoos, festivals, pumpkin patches, musicals, and eating tacos.

Megan Hillegass, Inclusion Coordinator
Megan was a Dual Language Early Childhood Special Education teacher for 20 years before moving into her role as Inclusion Coordinator in 2024. She is proud to have been named Illinois Early Childhood Teacher of the Year in 2022. Megan lives in New Lenox with her husband and three teenagers. Megan’s favorite part of this work is watching all children transform and learn from each other in inclusive settings. **Spanish speaker**
Megan fue maestra de educación especial en la primera infancia en lenguaje dual durante 20 años antes de asumir su cargo de Coordinadora de Inclusión en 2024. Está orgullosa de haber sido nombrada Maestra del Año en la Primera Infancia de Illinois en 2022. Megan vive en New Lenox con su esposo y sus tres adolescentes. La parte favorita de Megan de este trabajo es ver a todos los niños transformarse y aprender unos de otros en entornos inclusivos.

Today, Ms. Megan and Ms. Stefanie presented at the Sharing a Vision Conference in Peoria, Il. Their presentation shared about the process to developing the Community Outreach Inclusion Program for our district, the lessons we have learned so far, and information about our own programs inclusion goals.

Hoy, la Sra. Megan y la Sra. Stefanie presentaron en la Conferencia Sharing a Vision en Peoria, Il. Su presentación compartió sobre el proceso para desarrollar el Programa de Inclusión de Comunitaria para nuestro distrito, las lecciones que hemos aprendido hasta ahora, e información sobre las metas de inclusión de nuestros propios programas.