Center-Approved PD

Establishing and Sustaining Exceptional Relationships with Families: Going Beyond Johnny Had a Good Day

This training will help participants gain knowledge of basic communication skills to be applied in their daily interactions with families. In addition, participants will learn how to build and sustain relationships with families by providing strategies for communication in a variety of ways.

Developing and Implementing a PBIS Model in Your Program (to Assist with Challenging Behaviors)

Are you looking for assistance with both classroom and behavior management that moves beyond quick fixes and magic wands? Then this is the workshop for you! This training will introduce participants to the basics of PBIS (Positive Behavior, Interventions and Supports) and help them develop and implement a system- wide approach to teach and encourage pro-social skills and behaviors. Participants will also be offered specific social-emotional examples of tools to implement in their classrooms and be able to view short video clips of exemplary classrooms. Some examples are picture schedules and social stories.

Helping Families Make It through the Night: Supporting Sleep and Recovery through Trauma-informed Care for Families with Substance Exposed Newborns (SEN)

The session provides an overview of research on clinical care for Substance Exposed Newborns (SEN) and their families, with a special focus on sleep as well as trauma-informed care for this specific population. We also look at agency partnerships to support high quality services to SEN and their families.

Piramide’s Interactive Storytelling

The Piramide Approach is a scientifically-based method that amplifies young children’s learning when applied to any early childhood curriculum. Piramide’s Interactive Storytelling uses Piramide’s Four-Step Distancing Process with children’s literature to intentionally broaden and deepen children’s understanding of story concepts and ideas. Learners will become familiar with the Piramide Approach and will develop strategies for integrating Interactive Storytelling into classroom practice. Piramide’s Interactive Storytelling provides a brief overview of the Piramide Approach to Learning. This course helps teachers intentionally apply the Approach to the use of children’s literature. Interactive Storytelling is a strategy that will broaden and deepen children’s understanding of story concepts and ideas. In this course, participants use children’s literature to create developmentally appropriate strategies and facilitate children’s learning. This course provides training suitable for teachers working within the early childhood education field.

Inspiring Creativity: All the World is a Stage

Explore how creativity develops through playful experiences, rather than concern for the finished product. Creativity is not talent, skill, or intelligence. It is about thinking, exploring, discovering, and imagining. Creativity is self-expression that arises out of interaction and exploration of self, others, culture, and environment. Through interactive learning activities, group discussion forums, classroom examples and videos, and reflective writing exercises, participants will learn how to inspire creativity through tasks and activities that engage children in learning that is targeted and fun.

Making Transitions Magical

Transitions are teaching opportunities, and they abound in the early childhood classroom environment! They may be different than other learning opportunities in purpose, length and frequency, but they are just as important. By attending this workshop, teachers will learn some new strategies for transition times and be able to decide which type to use depending on the type of transition that is involved (e.g., arrival, waiting, active, quiet).

Successful Strategies for Feeding Young Children

Feeding young children can be a notoriously tricky job. In this workshop, we will explore the best practices for nutrition and feeding style for children 0–5 years.

S.O.S. — Smiling on Stress

Who couldn’t benefit from lowering their stress level on the job, or in their personal life? This workshop will assist you in identifying some of your stress triggers and help you develop strategies to help you de-stress, both in the moment and as long-term goals. We will also discuss strategies that help not only adults de-stress, but children too, such as deep breathing, spending time outdoors on mindfulness walks, and yoga movements. One additional feature of these strategies is the art of aromatherapy, which will conclude the workshop.

Understanding Child Abuse and Prevention

In this course, participants will learn how to identify the signs of abuse and neglect, describe how abuse and neglect impacts development, implement strategies to build resilience in children suffering from abuse and neglect, and identify the mandated responsibilities of reporting cases of abuse or neglect. Early childhood teachers have a unique opportunity to affect the life of a child suffering from abuse and neglect. Many children spend as many as 10 hours a day in early childhood programs, and children depend on their teachers to provide a safe, nurturing place to grow and learn. Unfortunately, some of those children come to child care with experiences of abuse and neglect. High-quality child care centers, with professionals who have action-oriented information, can make a difference for children that has long-lasting benefits. The principles discussed and the strategies described will help teachers understand the importance of their role and build resilience in young children suffering from abuse and neglect. This course provides training suitable for anyone related to or involved in the field of early childhood education.

School-Age Care: Learning By Design

Understand the school-age child and how to create an environment that engages the whole child and fosters learning. Examine how to encourage exploration, uncover interests, and support peer relationships in a school-age environment. Identify the basic needs of school-age children and learn how to create an environment that supports these needs. Assess the role the environment plays in learning and describe an ideal, quality learning environment for school-age children. Explore a variety of strategies and activities to support peer relationships, self-esteem, literacy and math learning, and physical development. Through interactive learning activities, group discussion forums, scenarios, and reflective writing exercises, participants will gain a solid understanding of the school-age child and creating an environment that supports personal needs, learning, and development.

Challenging Behavior: Reveal the Meaning

Children express their needs through words, facial expressions, body language, and behavior. When communication is sent in the form of challenging behavior, understanding the message can be difficult. This course explores the ways children speak to us through behavior and examines the role teachers play in the two-way conversation. Participants will learn how to interpret children’s behavior, how to effectively teach social skills, how to develop an environment that supports cooperative and meaningful learning, and how to build partnerships with families. Through case studies, interactive learning activities, group discussion forums, and reflective writing exercises, participants gain a solid understanding of what challenging behaviors communicate and how best to respond. This course provides training suitable for any professional working within the early childhood education field or with young children, directors, family members, and parents.

Responsive Caregiving: Nurturing Relationships with Infants and Toddlers

Responsive caregiving is the foundation of quality infant and toddler care. Nurturing relationships, one component of responsive caregiving, creates a secure base for infants and toddlers to develop socially and emotionally. When infants and toddlers spend time in the care of others in various settings, caregivers and families share the responsibility of developing nurturing relationships. This course begins with an overview of responsive caregiving, then goes deeper into the aspects of developing nurturing relationships with infants and toddlers. Participants will explore Attachment Theory which is at the heart of responsive caregiving, examine the role of the caregiver in understanding social and emotional development, and review a variety of communication strategies that foster nurturing relationships.

Enriching Play

Enriching Play advances the role of the teacher as a play facilitator. In this course, participants will explore how to establish classroom conditions that promote rich play, when and how to join child-initiated play without disrupting it, and how to purposefully plan and initiate play that captures and expands children’s imagination. Finally, the course offers strategies to support those children who might be overlooked or misunderstood because they are unable to engage in play. Enriching Play is based on the Dutch Piramide Approach to Early Learning, a scientifically based approach that deepens and broadens young children’s learning.

Create Healthy Habits: Developing a Wellness Plan for your Early Childhood Program

Early childhood programs are uniquely positioned to promote healthy habits among children birth to 5 years old and their families. This training will guide program coordinators and directors in the creation of a wellness policy and action plan for their site, and provide resources for successful implementation.

Dual Language Learners

The number of dual language learners in early care and education programs and public schools in the United States has risen over the past 20 years, with some states experiencing over a 200% rate of growth. Currently, nearly one out of three children enrolled in preschool programs come from homes in which a language other than English is spoken. Regardless of whether a child began learning multiple languages at birth or was first exposed to English upon entry to an early care and education program, the same strategies can be used to help her become proficient in her home languages and in English.

This course covers separating myths from facts, creating a supportive environment, supporting English language and literacy acquisition, supporting the home language, and assessment. Participants will be able to define dual language learning in the early childhood education classroom. They will learn to assess the roles of parent, child, and teacher in supporting dual language learning. They will be exposed to the components of best practice for including more than one language in the classroom. Finally, they will learn to implement a variety of activities that support dual language learners.

What’s All the Fuss about EF? (Executive Function)

Have you heard people discussing the importance of executive functioning skills, but were confused as to what this topic is all about? This workshop will answer many of your questions by offering an overview of executive function, briefly discussing the architecture of how the brain develops, and offering resources and strategies for children that are struggling with self-regulation, attention issues, and creative thinking.

Character-Building: 10 Crucial Concepts Regarding Character Education for the Early Childhood Classroom

The early childhood years provide a solid foundation for what a child needs to learn regarding social, moral, and intellectual development. By attending this workshop, participants will learn how to develop the type of environment and daily learning opportunities that teach children character values such as respect, responsibility, and courtesy. Participants will share their own ideas for promoting character building, and will learn new strategies along the way to take back to their classrooms.

Early Childhood Stress: Serious Stress in Children’s Lives

Learn the effects of serious stress—including a parent’s military deployment, natural disasters, serious illness and hospitalization, and homelessness—on children. This training also covers children’s characteristic reactions to serious stress and strategies for helping children cope with stress and fear.

Biting Hurts

Learn reasons why young children bite, strategies to prevent biting, appropriate ways to intervene in biting incidents, and how to talk to parents about biting.

Family Engagement: The Road to Better Outcomes for Children

Family engagement refers to the reciprocal relationship between families and early childhood educators. It occurs when families are purposefully included in the decisions, plans, and activities that promote their child’s learning. Research has shown that engaging families in their child’s education improves school readiness and later academic success. To implement successful family engagement practices, program staff need effective strategies to bring teachers, families, and community members together to support children. In this course, participants will learn the key characteristics of family engagement practices and research-based strategies to successfully engage families.

Essentials of Leadership in Early Childhood Education

Explore leadership competencies both broadly and in the early childhood setting. Leadership essentials include awareness of self, others, and the profession; communication and team-building skills; cultural competence; and ethical conduct. These characteristics are embedded in everything the leader does. Learn to address the challenges of being a leader through practical application of these concepts; learn to lead with integrity, inspiration, and purpose.

Teaching with Intention

Learn what it means to teach with intention. Teaching is not only familiarity with content, it is also the way teachers think about and approach the act of teaching itself. This session provides several ways to learn about and experience this thoughtful approach to teaching. This course provides training suitable for individuals working within a learning environment designed for students from infancy to kindergarten.

Growing Language for Infants and Toddlers

Watching the development of language in young children is truly inspiring. From day one, an infant begins trying to figure out the code that sets humans apart from other creatures. Learning to talk is one of the marvels of human development. This course will focus on the developmental sequence of expressive and receptive language, understanding the child’s form of communication and strategies for families and teachers to support development. The window of opportunity for language development begins before birth. Infant and toddler teachers have an opportunity to significantly impact language acquisition for the children in their care by creating a stimulating, language-rich, and responsive environment. Learning about strategies—such as talking with children during routine care, extending vocabulary by using rich descriptions, tuning into individual methods of communication, and making story-reading a central focus—will support language acquisition for our youngest children. This course provides training suitable for teachers working with students in the field of early childhood education, but it specifically focuses on young infants, infants, and toddlers.

Safe Spaces and Places to Grow and Learn

This course prepares early childhood teachers to create and maintain a safe environment for young children. The focus will be on risk factors for injury as they relate to stages of development, strategies to prevent injury, and active supervision. Information will be provided for participants to access rules and regulations, national standards, safety checklists, product recalls, and more. The safety of children is the number one mission of early childhood organizations and it is the first principle of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) Code of Ethical Conduct and Statement of Commitment (P-1.1). Early childhood teachers have a tremendous responsibility to keep the children in their care safe while they provide them with rich and engaging opportunities for learning. The principles discussed and the strategies described will help teachers implement injury prevention practices that meet the needs of the individual children in their care. This course provides training suitable for teachers working within early childhood education (infancy–kindergarten).

Piramide: The Power of Play

In this course, we will explore the role of play in child development, the developmental stages of social play, and the different types of play. Then, using the Piramide Approach, we will assess the richness of different types of play. Participants will know the types of play and how they progress from “nearness” (concrete, here and now) to “distance” (abstract and imaginary). They will be able to identify the preconditions that promote play and use a checklist to assess the types and richness of play behaviors in their classrooms. This course provides training suitable for teachers working with students from infancy through kindergarten.