PUT EDUCATORS ON THE CUTTING EDGE OF BRAIN RESEARCH & BEST PRACTICES

This skills development course presents an overview of research-based best practices that should underscore early math instruction in preschool. Specifically, participants will examine five content areas—Number and Operations, Geometry, Measurement, Algebra (Patterns), and Data Analysis (Graphing—Classification) identified by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) as focal points for preschool mathematics. Participants will engage with this material and content in a way that closely mirrors the dialogic, hands-on learning through which young children should experience mathematics. A variety of teacher-directed and child-initiated contexts, including whole group, small group, and play-based practice center activities, will be presented in this skills development course for teachers.

This skills development course will focus on the connection between early literacy and numeracy skills and review strategies to create a rich environment to help develop these in tandem. This connection is critical in terms of early school success and is a necessary building block in other content areas.

Center time is a significant part of an early education day. However, many educators are uncertain about how to make this an effective, purposeful practice time. This session will give educators the tools, strategies, and examples to make the most of center time. Participants will learn about the best methods of designing centers for optimal impact. This skills development training features activities that help children solidify previously taught concepts by providing intentional practice.

Participants in the skills development course will be guided in lesson adaptations for children with special needs, dual language, or younger children. Classroom strategies will be modeled and applied to help teachers meet their children’s needs. Three’s and Frog Street Pre-K resources will be investigated for suggested use in the classroom.

Developmentally appropriate practices require that teachers make daily, intentional decisions based on their knowledge of each child’s level of development, taking into consideration the child’s learning style as well as cultural and social differences. This skills development course will help teachers learn how to maintain a classroom environment that helps to promote the cognitive, physical, emotional, and social needs of children.

The first few years of life are a time of great opportunity and vulnerability for brain growth and development. The experiences children have during this time can actually shape the structure of the brain and alter its functions. This skills development training reviews numerous factors that affect brain development, with a focus on the key findings of early brain research, including the Windows of Opportunity during the formative early years.

We know that children learn best in environments where they feel comfortable, accepted, and safe. This skills development course for teachers will focus on the Dual Language Learner:  A child who is acquiring two or more languages at the same time or a child who is learning a second language while continuing to develop their first language. We will cover effective teaching strategies and the environments needed to support children who are learning two or more languages in this skills development course. You will learn about activities that support the child’s cognitive, social and emotional, language/literacy, and physical development, as well as strategies that promote a learning environment that is safe, nurturing, and responsive, as well as language and communication-rich.

Infants and toddlers need many opportunities to hear and be exposed to language. Teachers need to talk to them about what is happening, and they need a language-rich environment in order to understand what is taking place. In this skills development course, early childhood educators will understand the importance of early language skills for infants and toddlers.

Participants are guided along a developmental sequence of emergent literacy based on the research documented in the article “Developing Early Literacy: Report of the National Early Literacy Panel” (2008) and supported by the book Early Childhood Literacy: The National Early Literacy Panel and Beyond (Shanahan & Lonigan, 2012). Participants will review literacy instruction models that include strategies to build oral language skills focused on vocabulary and comprehension, phonological awareness, concepts of print, expressive writing, and alphabet knowledge.

This skills development course will identify the most effective strategies for teaching vocabulary based on the research documented in the article “Developing Early Literacy: Report of the National Early Literacy Panel” (2008) and supported by the book Early Childhood Literacy: The National Early Literacy Panel and Beyond (Shanahan & Lonigan, 2012). Participants will review myths of vocabulary instruction and expand their knowledge of research-based practices, including tiered vocabulary instruction.

Children develop three times more high-level vocabulary from listening to a story than from conversation (Jim Trelease, 2015). It is a vital, shared experience that builds listening, vocabulary, and key comprehension skills before, during, and after reading. This skills development course gives early childhood professionals an opportunity to explore research-based strategies to effectively implement reading aloud and embrace the joy of literacy among children.

This skills development course stresses the importance of recognizing and adapting to the individual developmental readiness for writing in young children. The course will feature age-appropriate modeled, shared, and independent writing strategies focused on functional and compositional writing. Participants will engage in activities and strategies to nurture children’s writing and expand their skills.

This skills development course will focus on the connection between early literacy and numeracy skills and review strategies to create a rich environment to help develop these in tandem. This connection is critical in terms of early school success and is a necessary building block in other content areas.

Center time is a significant part of an early education day. However, many educators are uncertain about how to make this an effective, purposeful practice time. This session will give educators the tools, strategies, and examples to make the most of center time. Participants will learn about the best methods of designing centers for optimal impact. This skills development training features activities that help children solidify previously taught concepts by providing intentional practice.

Participants in this skills development course in education will be guided in lesson adaptations for children with special needs, dual language, or younger children. Classroom strategies will be modeled and applied to help teachers meet their children’s needs. Three’s and Frog Street Pre-K resources will be investigated for suggested use in the classroom.

Developmentally appropriate practices require that teachers make daily, intentional decisions based on their knowledge of each child’s level of development, taking into consideration the child’s learning style as well as cultural and social differences. This skills development course will help teachers learn how to maintain a classroom environment that helps to promote the cognitive, physical, emotional, and social needs of children.

The first few years of life are a time of great opportunity and vulnerability for brain growth and development. The experiences children have during this time can actually shape the structure of the brain and alter its functions. This training in skills development reviews numerous factors that affect brain development, with a focus on the key findings of early brain research, including the Windows of Opportunity during the formative early years.

Center time is a significant part of an early education day. However, many educators are uncertain about how to make this an effective, purposeful practice time. This session will give educators the tools, strategies, and examples to make the most of center time. Participants will learn about the best methods of designing centers for optimal impact. This skills development training features activities that help children solidify previously taught concepts by providing intentional practice.

Developmentally appropriate practices require that teachers make daily, intentional decisions based on their knowledge of each child’s level of development, taking into consideration the child’s learning style as well as cultural and social differences. This skills development course will help teachers learn how to maintain a classroom environment that helps to promote the cognitive, physical, emotional, and social needs of children.

This training reviews the developmental milestones that characterize young children’s progression and acquisition of fine and gross motor skills. Fine motor skills concentrate on the development of eye-hand coordination and manipulation of small muscles involved in basic skills, such as cutting, gripping, and squeezing.Gross motor skills are more complex, incorporating a full range of movement and coordination within larger muscles involved in balancing, moving in place, taking aim, throwing, or executing a series of movements to get from one place to another. Participants will learn strategies for incorporating and integrating physical development activities throughout the school day, such as through writing, drawing, outdoor learning experiences, and music and movement. Participants will engage in hands-on activities and lessons from the Frog Street continuum of curriculum offerings.

During this skill development training, we will discuss how to take feedback reports, such as CLASS, to set goals for improvement. In addition, we will review best practices in classroom interactions that will make the biggest impact.

Curriculum, lesson plans, classroom materials, engaging interactions and assessment (CLASS) are all essential, but they may have teachers feeling a little frazzled. Educators can sometimes struggle to find the common thread between each of these essential components and executing them with high quality in the classroom. We will highlight that common thread and support educators in exploring how to effectively apply our coaching tips and instructional strategies that could help increase CLASS scores all while being mindful of instruction and materials available. We will highlight components from Frog Street Curriculums as examples throughout our time together.

This training will provide systems and strategies to effectively manage classrooms to optimize student learning in a joyful, positive learning environment.Classroom management systems will help with student learning and behavior, sustaining an orderly environment, enhancing academic skills, and furthering social and emotional development. Effective teaching and curriculum implementation cannot take place in a poorly managed classroom. The goal of this training is to provide teachers and directors with a greater understanding of positive guidance and classroom management techniques so they can spend more time teaching and enjoying children. Participants will gain resources and tools to help implement strategies to provide this critical ingredient for optimal learning.

Frog Street’s Birth to Five Continuum of Curriculum Offerings utilizes a variety of assessment methodologies and tools to help early childhood teachers, caregivers, and administrators successfully monitor young children’s progress in the domains of social-emotional, language and literacy, cognition, and physical development. This training orients users to various formative assessment strategies, such as work sampling and anecdotal records, as well as summative measures, including screeners, direct assessment, rubrics, and standardized criterion-referenced tests, all of which can be used in tandem with the Frog Street Birth toFive Curriculum Offerings. The content of this training can be adapted to meet the customer’s individual assessment needs and state, federal, or program accountability requirements.

Beginning experiences with coding (or computer programming) provide children with an intellectual structure and problem-solving mindset that is valuable for their lifelong learning and development. This training reviews the processes, knowledge, and skills that young children need to successfully engage with and learn the foundations of coding in a preschool classroom. This hands-on training is designed to help teachers, coaches, administrators, and caregivers understand the scope and sequence of skills and activities introduced in Frog Street’s Coding with Frog-E curriculum embedded in the new edition PreK four-year-old program or offered as an enrichment, supplemental program.

As early childhood directors, you will manage mostly through relationships, so this skills development training will guide you through the steps to build respectful, dynamic, and welcoming relationships with families and staff. We will cover all traditional early childhood administration topics in this skills development for teachers, from financial management to marketing, while also recognizing and exploring the human side of management and the critical role of emotional intelligence in effective leadership.

During this skills development training, we will discuss how to take feedback reports such as CLASS to set goals for improvement. In addition, we will review best practices in classroom interactions that will make the biggest impact.

This skills development course provides participants with the opportunity to explore the foundation for family engagement that emphasizes the process of working with your school family.

Developmentally appropriate practices require that teachers make daily, intentional decisions based on their knowledge of each child’s level of development, taking into consideration the child’s learning style as well as cultural and social differences. This skills development course will help teachers learn how to maintain a classroom environment that helps to promote the cognitive, physical, emotional, and social needs of children.

This workshop helps teachers understand STEAM as an intuitive part of children’s sense-making activity rather than just an additional set of curriculum objectives that must be taught and integrated within the school day. Participants will explore hands-on how children engage in engineering practices, which they use to explore their interests, act on their inquiries, and incorporate into all forms of play(construction, exploratory, pretend, etc.) in a meaningful context that matches their social-cultural realities. Learn strategies and effective practices (e.g., experiments, connections to literature, games, and outdoor experiences) as well as the big ideas that underscore STEAM learning objectives in the curriculum to help scaffold children’s ongoing engineering activity as it occurs informally and formally in the classroom environment. A hands-on STEAM kit is included for the first 50 participants. Additional STEAM kits may be purchased.

This workshop reviews literacy instruction strategies to build oral language skills focused on vocabulary and comprehension, phonological awareness, concepts of print, expressive writing, and alphabet knowledge. Participants will engage in activities and opportunities to nurture children’s pre-reading and writing skills. A hands-on literacy kit is included for the first 50 participants. Additional literacy kits may be purchased.

We know that what happens in the first three years of life is crucial fora child’s brain development. Intentional experiences are important. This work shopprovides families with background information to help them understand how the brain is wired. In this session, participants explore specific activities for home to support the development of the four learning domains: language, cognitive, social-emotional, and physical. We will thoroughly explore the components, review the family digital portal, and model activities included in the kits.

The first five years of life are crucial for children’s successful school experiences. This workshop offers teachers and families the tools for children’s school readiness. Teachers and families will discover the importance of family engagement in helping set a strong foundation for children’s readiness for life-long learning. The program components will be explored, and participants will learn how to use the books, activity cards, and manipulatives provided in the backpack. Additionally, we will review the family digital portal, and model activities included in the program