Note from the President
Hello North Dakota K-Team!
A big "Thank-You" goes out to Traci and Michelle along with their planning team from Grand Forks for a successful turn-out at the 2019 NDKA Fall Conference. Everyone who attended took ideas straight to their classroom from Dan St. Romaine. Being such a gracious speaker, Dan is also providing a break-out session for our line-up this year as well.
2020 Fall Conference....
It broke our heart to consider cancelling our 20th Annual Conference, so our planning has continued "Covid-Style."
Our 1st Virtual Conference is underway as we want to offer the ND K-Team continued professional development.
We are also excited to offer a graduate credit for the first time. This has been requested in the past and we knew we could make it possible.
If you need a credit for licensure or your district, we have one for you.
Every year we look forward to coming together to share ideas and hear amazing keynote speakers at the North Dakota Kindergarten Conference. This coming year will be no exception as we transition to a "virtual" conference. We are also excited that it will be celebrating our 20th Anniversary of our association.
Please continue to check our website and Facebook page as we update them with information about the 2020 Fall Conference. As always, we look forward to you joining our Fall Conference!
Mistie Holland
NDKA President
NDKA Newsletters
Click on the link below to download a PDF of our current or past Newsletters.
The downloadable PDF document is a copy of our organization's constitution.
Please feel free to download and review it.
NDKA Constitution
Registration & Conference Info
Included
Pre-K Makes Some Headway in North Dakota
by: Shelly Murphy
NDKA Vice President
During the 2013 North Dakota 63rd Legislative Assembly, two pre-school bills, Senate Bill 2229 and House Bill 1429, were introduced to legislators to provide funding for pre-k programs in North Dakota schools.
Initially the two bills were identical, but in the end one bill would allow for local funding if a school district should choose to provide pre-k within their own district. The second bill allowed funding for a study to assess pre-k needs in ND.
This pre-K study is currently being undertaken by the DPI and a committee of ND stakeholders with the help of Coloradan consultants. This study is due by the end of May and will be presented to the legislature in June.
NDKA is able to have a representative, Deb Ahmann from Bismarck Public Schools, to serve on the committee.
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Heather & Amy were finalists for 2016 ND Teacher of the Year!
Two kindergarten teachers from the North Dakota Kindergarten Association Executive Board were state finalists for North Dakota Teacher of the Year.
Heather Tomlin-Rohr, Secretary from Jamestown and Amy Neal, Treasurer from Minot were recognized as finalists. Other finalists were Matt Myrold of Fargo and Heath Rydell of West Fargo.
Heather and Amy had no idea that they would run into each other until they met at a luncheon during the interview process in August of 2015. They have known each other for several years through their affiliation with NDKA. Having two kindergarten teachers represented among the 4 Finalists just goes to show that KINDERGARTEN ROCKS!
On September 23rd, 2015, Amy Neal was the recipient of the 2016 North Dakota TOY recognition during a ceremony at Lewis & Clark Elementary School in Minot. Governor Jack Dalrymple and Superintendent Kirsten Baesler were in attendance to recognize all finalists for their outstanding service to children in North Dakota.
NDKA Conference Rotation 2020 - Virtual
2021 - Minot
2022 - West Fargo
2023 - Bismarck
2024 - Jamestown
2025 - Mandan
2026 - Fargo
2027 - Grand Forks
NDKA Regional Map
This map indicates the four regions of our state where we have representatives for our executive board.
RESPECT
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Early Childhood Care & Education Committee
by: Deb Ahmann
NDKA State Rep
The Early Childhood Committee will meet numerous times this year under the direction of Dr. Carrie Germeroth, University of Denver, MCREL.
The purpose of this committee is to report Pre-K needs to Kirsten Baesler, DPI Superintendent, with information in the following areas:
*define the meaning of quality early childhood education.
*track trends and monitor implementations & assessments currently utilized across all state-wide early childhood agencies.
*identify and collect fiscal data for private and public child care providers.
*coordinate focus groups with public and private care providers throughout the state after receiving information from the data collected from surveys and other means.
The committee members are from a variety of early childhood advocacy groups from across North Dakota and Deb Ahman gets to represent NDKA on the committee.
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