Center-Approved PD

Recognizing Our Own Triggers to Assist Others

In this two-part series, we will discuss various triggers (or hot button) behaviors exist for both adults and children. Once those triggers have been identified, we will then begin to assess what types of strategies can be put in place to help lesson or even eliminate them through tips such as mindfulness, deep breathing, etc.

Program and Classroom Assessment

The Program and Classroom Assessment Course focuses on self-evaluation in a single classroom or across multiple classrooms in a center-based program, or in a family child care home. The purpose of the course is to prepare early child teachers, administrators, and family child care providers for self-guided, self-evaluation. This course reviews the methods of program and classroom evaluation and how to use objective information to make changes in practices. This course involves two field assignments and evaluation tools. A field assignment involves completing an activity away from the computer.

Literacy for the Early Learner

This professional development series aims to increase the knowledge of early literacy skills for those who work and engage with children from birth to kindergarten. The four sessions focus on oral language, vocabulary, phonological awareness, alphabet knowledge, pre-writing skills, and age-appropriate ways to engage with text to promote comprehension.

Engaging Families with Social Media

Many teachers and administrators build quality relationships with families in their schools and community-based organizations. Internet-based social media tools offer multiple ways to support communication between school, home, and community partners. In this course, participants will learn the key characteristics of family engagement practices and the basic fundamentals of using social media tools for family engagement.

Enriching Indoor Environments

Participants will explore strategies to improve the indoor learning environment, including how to set up a classroom for optimal child development, the connection between classroom design and behavior, the importance of creating a fully inclusive classroom, and how to make their classrooms a more pleasant and enriching place for children and adults.

Self-Care for Educators

Taking care of children is a fun and rewarding job, but it’s not the easiest. Add that to the rigors of daily life, and many educators experience stress on a daily basis. And chances are you’re putting everything and everyone on your “to do” list ahead of yourself. Part of what makes people in helping professions good at what they do is their natural inclination to put others first. That can also be their downfall. Self-Care for Educators explains why self-care is essential, identifies the benefits of engaging in self-care, and provides tips and strategies for doing just that. The course also shows the connection between the Protective Factors Framework and educators’ self-care.

Health and Wellness During COVID-19

COVID-19, a disease that did not exist in late 2019, was sickening people on every inhabited continent in the world by the spring of 2020. As scientists scrambled to learn everything about this illness, people around the world struggled to figure out what to do and where to turn for rapidly changing information. Prepare for the challenges COVID brings related to health and safety and social-emotional development. Engage in strategies to support the early learning community of students, educators, parents, and yourself.

Putting the Pieces Together, Understanding Sensory Integration

This presentation will help those in attendance to understand sensory integration as a condition, how it affects school-age children, and will offer tips for helping students who have need for sensory supports in schools.

Emergent Curriculum: How to Inspire Curious Children and Encourage Meaningful Learning

How do you plan your curriculum ahead of time and still follow the children’s lead? What role does project-based learning play? What about children’s questions? Learn what emergent curriculum means, how it came about, the benefits to this type of learning and hands-on, practical ways to plan for it and implement it each day. Learn how to use this type of learning to engage both your children and their families, while changing the energy of the classroom into an exciting place to be every day. You will come away with specific strategies and ideas to begin this and to grow at your own pace. This is focused on Toddler and Preschool Children (18mo. -5 yrs.).

Anti-Racist Classrooms

All of us would like to believe that our classrooms are free of bias and racism, but the truth is that in many educational settings, a child’s race and ethnicity play a large role in the quality of education the child receives. Teachers are in a unique position to put in place structures and practices that can help dismantle racism in our society. This course looks at critical issues related to race and race relations and how they relate to early education. Teachers will learn about how bias shapes interactions between people, including how a teacher might perceive and treat children in their class. Teachers will also understand how to plan and implement a culturally competent curriculum and how to build a classroom community that implements the tenets of anti-bias and gives children the tools they need to build an anti-racist society.

Creating Schedules and Routines

Learn how to use schedules to manage your days with young children more efficiently and how to ensure that arrival, toileting, clean-up, eating, resting and sleeping, dressing, and departure routines contribute to children’s positive development.

Conferencing with Parents

Effective parent communication systems are critical to all child care programs. Parents need both daily information about their children’s routine and development, and formal communication sessions. Learn to plan and conduct productive conferences, group meetings, and home visits with parents and maintain a positive relationship with parents. Includes sample conference preparation, agendas, attendance improvement suggestions, and many helpful tips and guidelines for better meetings.

Sun Safety

Sunlight is essential for life and health, yet overexposure can cause skin cancer. Learn effective ways to protect children and yourself from the harmful effects of the sun’s ultraviolet rays.

Toilet Learning

Manage this important step in young children’s development in a positive way that will ensure their cooperation and success.

A Joyful Life of Caregiving

A Joyful Life of Caregiving includes lots of ideas to get your creative juices flowing. We really enjoyed creating this course as we brainstormed ways to help caregivers relax and invigorate days of providing care to children.

Do You Speak Fluent Infant? How Proficient Are You at Reading Infants’ Cues?

Is that the hungry cry? The tired cry? What if it’s distress and I should respond right away? If it’s boredom, am I helping or hurting to respond right away? If you want to UPLEVEL your ability to ‘speak infant,’ then this is the session for you. A baby may not always understand why they’re crying, but you can feel more confident in identifying the signals and knowing how to respond in the most helpful way. This training focuses on infants up to 18 months old.

Fun and Fitness: Addressing Childhood Obesity

Explore the physical movement needs of children and ways to meet these needs as well as dietary and other factors that contribute to obesity in this two-hour course. Learn ways to help children avoid or reverse obesity.

Children with Special Needs: Physical Disabilities

All children have needs; some have more specialized needs than others. In this 8-hour online course, you will learn the goals of early education for children with special needs, the characteristics of common physical disabilities, how various disabilities affect children’s ability to function, and curriculum adaptations to meet the needs of children with physical disabilities and help them develop and learn.

Supporting Breastfeeding in Child Care

Written for all child care providers who work with parents of infants, this two-hour course describes the importance of breastfeeding, best ways to support breastfeeding mothers, how to store and handle breast milk, how to create a comfortable environment for breastfeeding mothers, how to share your support policy with families and staff, and current state laws regarding breastfeeding.

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.

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).

Watch Me! Celebrating Milestones and Sharing Concerns

As an early care and education provider, you play a critical role in the health and well-being of children. You are also well positioned to help identify children who might need extra help in their development. This online training course from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) helps you fulfill this role by providing tools and best practices for monitoring the development of children in your care and talking about it with their parents.

Certificate of Completion: Yes

Using Motivational Interviewing Techniques to More Effectively Partner with Parents

This webinar examines the importance of developing strong relationships with families. Highlighting the techniques of motivational interviewing, the webinar provides information and strategies on how to more effectively partner with families to foster relationships and support children’s growth and development. This webinar is available in English and en Español.

Certificate of Completion: No

Strategies to Support and Encourage Healthy Active Living Course

This online, interactive self-study course was developed to advance the skills and knowledge of Head Start and Early Head Start staff. However, with a focus on healthy, active living for children and families, this course is relevant for anyone working in the early care and education field. Practice building skills to effectively communicate and engage with families around creating and maintaining a healthy, active lifestyle. This course is available in English and en Español.

Certificate of Completion: Yes

Teaching Strategies® Online PD Courses

Teaching Strategies® offers robust online courses that provide early childhood educators with the opportunity to extend their learning in ways that fit their schedule and allow them to earn CEU credit upon completion. Each course contains learning activities (e.g., tutorials, applications, and knowledge extension articles) that are organized into several different topics, called “interests.” The courses are designed in a flexible and modular format so that users can complete the course “interests” in the order that best suits their individual needs.

Teaching Strategies® online courses can be completed by individual teachers or purchased by programs for program-wide PD initiatives. Courses are available for family child care educators, program administrators, preschool and Pre-K teachers, and infant and toddler teachers. Each course is 10 hours; participants can complete the courses at their own pace.