20 SUMMER 2022 | WWW.SHAKER.LIFE
Meet Ellen Barcus,
Family Connections
Program Director
Ellen Barcus is Family Connections’
program coordinator for the Play and
Learn Station. She has worked in child
care since 1979 and at the Play and
Learn Station for the past 22 years.
The busy preschool teacher planned
the Play and Learn Station room
layout, researching and identifying the
furniture and age-appropriate materials
that make the Play and Learn Station a
rich learning environment.
“I love interacting with families and
truly enjoy the many opportunities to
meet families from other countries,” she
says. When the Play and Learn Station
was closed during the renovation and
the pandemic, Barcus kept in touch
with many of her families. She is
especially happy to be back at work,
where she delights in the “excitement
and the magic.”
Barcus attended the University
of North Carolina at Greensboro. She
taught preschool in the Washington
D.C. area from 1979 to 1994 and served
as a librarian at a preschool for three
years. She lives with her husband of 34
years in Cleveland Heights, where they
raised two daughters.
Her best advice for parents and
caregivers? “Play, read, listen, talk, sing,
and move with your children every day.”
Equipping the room was the next
task. It is designed to mimic a typical
preschool classroom with learning
centers, where children and parents or
caregivers can work and play together.
Emergent literacy concepts are reinforced
throughout the room. Everything is fun,
yet everything has a purpose.
To expose preschoolers to print,
everything is labeled. Vocabulary
development is encouraged through
dramatic play; sound sensitivity is
emphasized in nursery rhymes and
singing; story knowledge is developed
with a puppet theater; book knowledge is
expanded in the reading corner; alphabet
knowledge can be explored at the writing
center; print-sound relationships are
solidified at the listening table. Important
school-readiness social skills such as
sharing, listening, and working in a group
are taught during group sessions.
A key component of the program
is adult-child interaction. Written
directions for each activity are posted
with suggestions for follow-up at
home. Signs that encourage discussion
and word development abound, and
a preschool teacher is available to
encourage and guide parents, caregivers,
and children. The connection with the
home is essential, so there are books and
resources on a variety of parenting topics.
Both the Library and Family
Connections are proud of their 24-year
collaboration to benefit young families
and children, and look forward to
welcoming a new generation to the joys of
playing and learning.
Meet Joanne Federman,
Co-founder of the Play
and Learn Station
Joanne Federman’s career working on
behalf of families and young children has
spanned more than 50 years and includes
childcare centers, hospitals, community
colleges, and family centers in Boston,
San Jose, and Cleveland. She is a graduate
of Oberlin College with a master’s degree
in Child Study from Tufts University and
a Certificate in Nonprofit Management
from Case Western Reserve University.
After serving for 29 years, Federman
retired from her position as executive
director of Family Connections of
Northeast Ohio last May. Hired as the
first executive director of the Shaker
Family Center in 1993, she oversaw the
2010 merger between the Heights Parent
Center and the Shaker Family Center to
form Family Connections.
Before joining Family Connections,
she was employed as a pre-kindergarten
teacher with the Mayfield Jewish
Community Center as well as an
instructor in the early childhood
department of Cuyahoga Community
College – Eastern Campus.
Her many honors include the
National Association for the Education
of Young Children’s Community Support
of the Year award and the Hanna Perkins
Center for Child Development’s Eleanor
M. Hosley Memorial Award.
“I think the most rewarding part
of my job has been the people and the
many partnerships I’ve made in so many
different communities,” she says. Her
best advice for parents and caregivers is
to seek help from peers and community
resources when needed. “Children do not
come with instructions; raising them is
one of the hardest and most important
jobs a parent/caregiver has,” she says. SL
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