MEET THE SPEAKERS

Chris and Nik Nikic

1% Better -- Reaching My Full Potential and How You Can Too

Chris Nikic set a new world record by being the first person with Down Syndrome to compete in the IRONMAN® Triathlon. Chris and his father Nik Nikic will deliver an inspiring speech about Chris’s determination and Nik’s underlying principles of success, coaching and execution to achieve full potential using the 1% Better System. Hear the compelling story of how they worked together so Chris could pursue his dream of competing in the IRONMAN competition — and you’ll take the lessons learned right into the classroom! An accomplishment of this magnitude requires foundational principles, and a well-designed and executed plan!

Chris and Nik’s Bios:

Chris Nikic set a new world record by being the first person with Down Syndrome to complete a 140.6-mile Ironman. His mission is to inspire others like him to pursue their dreams and goals. His greatest achievement is showing others how shifting your focus from your disabilities to your abilities and pursuing your dreams with an unwavering tenacity, a positive attitude and a no-quit grit can help anyone achieve their goals and dreams.

Nik Nikic brings over 20 years of experience in helping clients maximize top line revenue by implementing the 1% Better System for sustainable continuous improvement. Over the years Nik and his organization have worked with many global companies, including United Technologies, Cognizant, United Airlines, Enterprise, Quad Graphics, Computer Sciences Corporation, NICE Systems and many others. My Greatest Coaching Achievement has been teaching my son how to achieve the impossible by getting 1% Better Every Day.

Angela C. French

Social Skills

Make & Take: Social Skills

Angela will lead participants in exploring a variety of social skills and their everyday implementation through creating crafts and activities that can be used in a variety of ways to meet student needs. 

Angela’s Bio

Angela French is the Senior Product Development and Content Manager at Excelligence Learning Corporation for the brands Discount School Supply, Really Good Stuff, and Steve Spangler Science. She plays a vital role in bringing hundreds of proprietary new products to the marketplace each year. Angela leads a team of teacher product developers that create products in several categories including curriculum, classroom management, social-emotional learning, storage, and furniture; to name a few. She is an award-winning product developer, author, and national speaker.

Prior to joining the Excelligence family, Angela was a classroom teacher for 14 years and has taught regular education, inclusion, literacy intervention, and gifted and talented classes. She holds an AS in Education, a BS in Interdisciplinary Studies, and an MS in Early Childhood Education from Old Dominion University in Virginia.

Angela loves to travel and spend time with her husband and daughter. She is a US Navy Veteran and former professional photographer.

Bari Koral

Yogapalooza with Bari Koral: The best tools for yoga and mindfulness now

Ever wish you could just wave a magic wand and create instant calm? It’s all possible. Get ready for Yogapalooza! Let these wonderful activities take care of you and your children. Even if you can’t touch your toes, or don’t have a yoga mat, these activities are for everybody. In this interactive and engaging presentation, Bari will share the best techniques you can use to calm anxiety in minutes. Learn bite-size mindfulness moments like Rainbow Relaxation, Rocket Ship Breath and more. Enjoy engaging, musical kids yoga breaks that burn off energy and really help kids (and adults!) focus. You will gain actionable wisdom that you can implement immediately to help you and your kids manage stress and feel good.

Bari’s Bio:

Bari Koral is a beloved children’s recording artist and an internationally recognized kids yogi. Bari’s hit kids yoga and mindfulness YouTube channel regularly brings yoga and mindfulness to millions around the world. Bari Koral has been called a “kids yoga pioneer” (Kaplan) and the “it girl of kids/family music” (New York magazine). She has become a major resource during the Covid 19 pandemic, helping to support many educators and the children they serve. She has been on the forefront of bringing kids yoga to the top of children’s curriculums and as a vital self-care resource for teachers.

Christi Gonzales

Celebrate You & Professional Learning Communities Too!

As teachers, we strive to be the best version of our teacher self. We set goals to keep us in check and lead us to self -improvement. There are many aspects to being a teacher, and oftentimes we get overwhelmed and stressed with learning new material and curriculum. Setting goals and being involved in a PLC can help alleviate some of those negative feelings and help lead you to a pathway of positivity and success.

Let’s do you, and PLC too!

Christi’s Bio:

Christi is an accomplished Early Interventionist and Title -1 Pre-K / SPED & High School Sped Teacher with 27 years of experience and a Louisiana Pathways Approved Trainer. In 2016-2017, Christi received the Louisiana Council for Exceptional Children’s Special Education Teacher of the Year award. Christi served as Louisiana’s Early Childhood Association State Board District 4 representative for the past 15 years and during that time authored various articles for the LAECA Collaborations Journal. She is active in Delta Kappa Gamma Teacher’s Society as the 1st Vice President and sponsor of the Class of 2023.

Claudia Castillo-Magallanez

Preparing the Classroom Environment for Dual Language Learners

The classroom’s physical environment sets the stage for active and engaged learning. Getting the classroom ready for dual language learners should begin before the child’s first day, creating an environment which successfully shows respect for diversity and is prepared to welcome and support different languages and cultures. This session focuses on creating an environment where children can increase their confidence, feel comfortable, and build a foundation for positive relationships with teachers and their peers.

Claudia’s Bio:

Claudia is a Professional Learning Bilingual Specialist with Frog Street and an Adjunct Faculty at San Antonio College. She has 25 years of experience in the Early Childhood Education field, obtaining a Master of Education in Early Childhood with Bilingual Specialization from Texas A & M University. Her career experience includes Head Start administration, teaching, coaching, mentoring as a reliable certified CLASS observer, family engagement and Master Trainer in the state of Texas. She serves as the President for the San Antonio Chapter of TXAEYC.

Crystal Radke

Make & Take and Phonemic Awareness

Pre-Conference: Make & Take

Join Crystal in creating hands-on learning opportunities for your young learners. Strengthen students’ tripod grasp while helping them reinforce simple math and literacy skills in a fun and engaging way.

Phonemic Awareness

Fill your toolbox with fantastic phonemic awareness mini-lessons, songs and center activities. Understand the hierarchy of phonemic awareness skills to build the foundation your young learners need to become great readers with excellent comprehension skills. From guessing games to snapping syllables, you’ll take home terrific strategies for helping students notice, think about, and work with sounds. 

Crystal’s Bio:

Crystal is an educational leader, speaker and best-selling author. She writes the website Kreative in Kinder for early childhood educators to encourage and support their role in children’s learning, educating the whole child.

Don Monopoli

All Aboard For Early Learning

This fascinating, uplifting musical presentation engages participants in a magical, super-charged sensory explosion that will open up your eyes. Revive and rejuvenate as you explore the tremendous value and benefits of interactive music and movement. You’ll sing, dance, laugh and become more motivated than ever! Get up and move!

Don’s Bio:

Don Monopoli is the leading presenter, songwriter, performer and YouTube personality for The Learning Station. Their content is founded upon “Healthy Music for a Child’s Heart, Body and Mind.” New action, dance and learning videos for kids are uploaded weekly to YouTube. Don has written over 500 children’s songs since 1985 and has toured mostly in the U.S. with nearly 5,000 presentations since 1986.

Greg Smedley-Warren

Centers Made Simple – DIY

Centers Made Simple – DIY

Are you looking for inspiration to create your own DIY center or workstation activities? Look no further! You will learn how to elevate your center activities with everyday items. Engage your students during center time with these budged-friendly ideas!

Session 1 – Mad Science

Do you want to elevate your classroom into a mad science lab? Transform your students into mad scientists with this fun, hands-on science session! Learn the benefits of doing hands-on science with your students and learn easy to do science experiments for your class!

Session 2 – Small-Group Instruction Simplified

Are you looking to reduce your workload and make your small-group instruction simple? This session will show you how to incorporate what you’re already doing in your whole-group instruction into small groups to cut your planning in half! In this session, you’ll learn organization tips, research-based lessons, and activities and see small-group instruction in action in a real kindergarten classroom.

Session 3 – Sight Word 60 Routine

Are you looking to elevate your students’ sight word recognition? This research-based 5-day sight word routine is just what you’re looking for! Sight Word 60 provides your students with 60 plus exposures to each sight word. You will learn a routine that includes reading words, spelling words, games and sentences that takes just a few minutes each day. 

Greg’s Bio:

Mr. Greg has been teaching for 16 years. He spent a year teaching fifth grade, two years in second grade and is currently in his 13th year in Kindergarten, which is his calling. He plans to never leave the classroom, as the students are what drive him. He received his bachelor’s degree from Indiana University and received his ELL certification from David Lipscomb University. When not in the classroom, he enjoys spending time with his family, blogging, creating curriculum and sharing his classroom best practices with teachers via presentations and conferences online and in-person.

Jody Martin

Enhancing STEAM Learning Experiences Through Nature-Based Activities

STEAM learning can happen naturally as children explore, play, and try new things. They learn to recognize problems and find ways to solve them creatively. STEAM activities allow children to use engineering to connect science, technology, the arts, and mathematics while working with classmates on a common goal. This training will provide ideas for creating nature-based experiences to help you inspire young children’s sense of wonder about the natural world around them.

Jody’s Bio:

Jody Martin has over 35 years of extensive and diverse experience in the early childhood field. She is presently the Professional Learning Content Manager and contributing author for the new Frog Street Pre-K curriculum. Jody has authored several teacher resource books that cover health and safety, nature-based activities, and early childhood classroom environments.

Lori Miranda

Walking Down Frog Street with Partnership, Pandemic, and Positive Attitudes: 1 Year Later: Where Are We Now?

Last year, we shared our story of how a very large school district met a very large Head Start in the middle of a global pandemic and developed a collaborative agreement and a commitment to walking down Frog Street together. Join us as we share our bumps and potholes in the Street, the prolonged pandemic impact, and how we are doing 1 year later!

Lori’s Bio:

Lori is a 33-year Florida educator and currently oversees the PreK ESE programs for the School District of Palm Beach County, Florida. She has owned/operated a large preschool, taught special education in public and private sectors, and worked as a regional facilitator for a State discretionary project supporting PreK programs and local partners. Lori served as a Florida accreditation reviewer and federal reviewer for the Office of Head Start. She holds Master’s degrees in Educational Leadership and Exceptional Student Education. Weekends are spent with family, friends, and outdoors!

Monica Cordoba

Celebrating Center Time

CENTER TIME!!! Whether you call them Practice Centers, Learning Centers, Free Choice Centers or Play Time…It all comes down to students being in a safe place created for learning through investigation and play. In this session, participants will dig deep into what makes an effective Practice Center. We will talk about using Frog Street and other strategies from planning to implementation. We will talk about the steps we must take to create a center where students are able to learn through play while managing themselves and gaining independence. Participants will also discuss the role of teachers during center time. We will also touch on other daily components like Small Groups and Meaningful Transitions that happen in conjunction with Practice Centers.

Monica’s Bio:

Monica is as Professional Learning Bilingual Specialist for Frog Street. Her degree of Interdisciplinary Studies is from Texas A&M University and post-grad in Educational Administration. Her early childhood education career includes teaching, coaching, mentoring and becoming a certified Toddler/PreK CLASS observer, all while implementing Frog Street Curriculum. These attributes have allowed her to contribute to the development and facilitation of workshops in all areas of Early Childhood, providing educators with effective resources and solutions to provide joyful, successful classrooms.

Stephen Fite

All Aboard the Musical Brain Train

This participatory workshop will give teachers a new perspective on using music with children. They will see the connection between music & movement and the brain, as well as how it can aid in teaching a multitude of skills children will carry into the future.

Stephen’s Bio:

Stephen is an award-winning musician/writer whose albums have received 18 nationally recognized honors. Suitable for the classroom, car or living room, his upbeat brand of children’s music spans the spectrum from Rock to Reggae, Pop to Blues, Dixieland and many other styles. His songwriting and recordings span nearly three decades with 17 CDs and 1 Concert DVD as testament to his work in Early Childhood. Those years of work have led him to one undeniable conclusion: children learn best when they are moving and actively involved. That belief is his daily focus and prime motivation for creating and producing tunes that do just that: let children move.

Private: Wendy Norris

Get Your GLOW On ~ One Educator At A Time

“Get Your GLOW On” will ignite the spark in educators and bring them together as a community to spread the GLOW.  Educators ~ it is time to invest in yourselves!! Reconnect with your WHY by learning about vision boards and how to utilize them as an educator.  Create your very own and learn how to utilize them.  Learn about reconnecting to each other and your families/children.  Bring joy and kindness back into your workplace and before leaving to spread the GLOW ~~ end with a mini GLOW party with GLOW STICKS and music in celebration of the work we do as EDUCATORS!!

Wendy’s Bio:

Wendy is a “GLOW ~ Getter” for early childhood! She is a former Early Childhood Educator for 30+ years as a preschool teacher, administrator and presenter at national conferences. She has directed a middle school musical, Suessical Jr., with a 52-member cast. She has hosted many charity events, including Kick It for Kids Cancer for Ronald McDonald House. She is a mom of a 22-year-old son, Anthony, and she is the girlfriend of an amazing man, Ron. She is a lover of Jesus, nature, the beach, water sports, football, traveling, exploring the world, and Dr. Seuss.