Duration: 2 - 4 hours

Children who present with challenging behaviours can put us all to the test. This interactive workshop is designed to look at what may be the underlying cause to challenging behaviours and offers practical ideas and strategies that have been proven to work if given the chance.

Duration: 2 hours

Children learn best from the everyday experience of solving problems which are meaningful to them. If we start to frame children's challenges, conflicts or problems as an opportunity for growth we can guide them to practice and develop their problem-solving skills. As educator's, it is helpful to observe moments when children have problems and help them think about ways to solve them on their own. 

This interactive workshop examines the educator’s role in developing children’s problem solving skills. We will actively explore strategies that teach children the steps to solve social problems by role playing different scenarios.

Duration: 2-3 hours

Dealing with challenging behavior in preschool children can be a daunting task. Before we can address challenging behavior, it is necessary to look at the classroom environment and what coping strategies are needed.

Children's behaviours communicate their needs, if they are exhibiting challenging behaviours, it can mean that their needs are not being met. This interactive workshop identifies strategies that ELCC educators can apply to interpret children’s behaviours and understand what they may be communicating about their classroom environment. Participants will explore ways to adapt classroom environments and revise practices to lessen challenging behaviours.

Duration: 2 hours

Effective supervision is an essential element in the safe provision of child care. Supervision, together with thoughtful design and arrangement of children’s environments, can prevent or reduce the likelihood of accidents and the severity of injury to children. Child care providers need to actively supervise children to identify risks and therefore minimize injury. Workshop participants will examine strategies and principles of active supervision that ensure children’s play is enjoyable and learning opportunities are promoted in a safe environment.

Duration: 2 hours

Transitions don’t have to be stressful and frustrating experiences for both children and adults. Short simple activities can offer new ways to capture children’s attention and transition them onto new activities with ease. This workshop explores techniques and strategies that can provide fun, engaging and successful transitions for children.

Duration: 2-3 hours

Young children experience their world as an environment of relationships, and these relationships affect virtually all aspects of their development – intellectual, social, emotional, physical, behavioural, and moral. Whether your interactions are spontaneous or planned, thoughtful or automatic, individualized or one size fits all, the kind of interactions you have with children matters. This hands-on workshop provides participants with opportunities for self-reflection and explores the power of positive interactions.

Duration: 2 hours

Participants will engage in hands on activities to better understand Inclusive Child Care, the benefits of including special needs children in your population, and the development of effective approaches to working with the special needs child and their families.

Duration: 2 hours

Our children are growing up in a diverse society. Research reveals they are aware, at three and four years of age and sometimes earlier, of ethnic, racial, gender, language and physical differences. They notice differences and similarities as part of their natural developmental process and assimilate positive and negative, spoken and unspoken messages about difference. These influences are part of the child’s development of self-identity and self-esteem.

Early learning educators must recognize, respect and celebrate diversity. They have a responsibility to help children build a foundation for the acceptance of diversity. 

This interactive workshop challenges participants to reflect on how as early learning educators they define diversity, what presence does it have in their own lives and what role does it play in the early learning environment? Participants will explore their own values and attitudes in relationship to diversity and equality to better understand who they are and recognize that they impart attitudinal information to children.

Duration: 2 hours

Early learning and childcare programs are often challenged by the many complex and diverse needs of children and families. All children are unique, yet have much in common. This makes it imperative for ELCC educators to adopt and follow a philosophy of inclusion that includes Designing services around children and their families, rather than fitting them into existing services. 

Workshop participants will examine their core values and reflect on their current inclusionary philosophy and practices. They will explore strategies for including all children and establishing a good foundation. Facilitators will guide participants through activities that will allow them to identify with their own ethical responsibilities and help them overcome barriers to inclusion.

Duration: 2 hours

The classroom environment is the child’s home away from home as well as the learning environment. It must be warm and inviting and packed with learning opportunities for all children as they learn new concepts and practice developing old ones.  This workshop will guide participants through an evaluation process to assess the effectiveness of their inclusive classroom environment and identify which if any changes need to be made. They will explore and share ideas on how to set up classrooms that are visually appealing, offer choices to all children, have logically arranged centres, and are safe places to learn.

Duration: 2 hours

Developing a program that meets the needs of all children is a difficult task at best. Curriculum involves decisions about how children learn, when learning takes place, and what is to be learned. It requires ELCC practitioners to "Implement curriculum that is thoughtfully planned, challenging, engaging, developmentally appropriate, culturally and linguistically responsive, comprehensive, and likely to promote good outcomes for all young children." (NAECY, 2003).

This workshop is designed to help participants identify with the many elements of an inclusive, comprehensive curriculum. It will guide them through developmentally appropriate standards of practice. Through hands-on activities participants will explore strategies to set the stage for individualized learning and the importance of establishing schedules, routines and transitions.     

Duration: 2 hours

A family centred approach is the best way to deliver services to all children. It is based on collaboration and open communication and requires mutual respect and equality in relationships between parents and professionals. Through hands-on activities and open discussion workshop participants will explore strategies that foster supportive relationships with families to promote healthy development. 

Duration: 2 hours

When children with diverse abilities are included in a classroom setting, the child, family and ELCC professionals may need additional support. What support services are available, who should you contact, where do you begin. These are common questions asked by the ELCC field. For inclusion to be done well there must be support services for ELCC programs, children and families.

This workshop provides participants with some of the answer and guides them through the support structure by identifying community partners and providing strategies on how to connect to services and resources.

Duration: 2 hours

ELCC programs have a role in assessing children’s strengths, progress and needs. Every child is unique and brings a wealth of prior knowledge and experiences as well as differing abilities. Evaluating the progress of children is as valid for a child with a disability as it is for a child without a disability. This workshop addresses the importance of observation and record keeping, introduces several assessment tools and examines the purpose of assessment and how the data can be used to support better outcomes for children.

Duration: 2 hours

It takes a team to meet a child’s diverse developmental needs. It is important to know what each team member does and there are often many team members.

How do we build effective ELCC teams? Who needs to be on the team, what are their respective roles, and necessary skills? How do teams support each other through coaching & mentoring? How do programs build capacity and leadership? Answers to these questions will be explored throughout this hands-on interactive workshop. Participants will have opportunities to reflect on their individual strengths and what they bring to the table to support the inclusion of every child in their program.

Duration: 2 hours

Deciding on what intervention strategies and/or action plans to use will depend on the individual needs of the child and include input from the family and other professionals involve. For some children specific goals and/or individual program plans (IPP’s) based on their strengths and areas of need are developed to provide the necessary guidance and support to the ELCC professionals.

This workshop is designed to help participants work through the intervention process and guides them through the development of measurable goals and program plans for individual children.  

Duration: 2 hours

Programs must be regularly evaluated in order to determine whether or not they are meeting their goals and whether children and their families are benefiting from the program. Multiple indicators of progress may be used and all components of a program evaluated. Without evaluation, it is difficult to know which aspects of a program are doing well and which are not.

This interactive workshop provides participants with opportunities for self-reflection and program reflection. Facilitators will introduce evaluation and monitoring tools ELCC programs can use effectively and implement immediately.

Duration: 2 hours

As we look at developmental milestones it is important to reflect on our own practice and how it impacts the healthy development of children. Both timing and sequence of development can vary among children and within cultures. When thinking about expected patterns of growth and development many factors must be considered as milestones are only approximations. This interactive workshop will explore key areas of growth and development. It will touch on recent brain research and how ELCC professionals can use this research to enhance and support children’s development and inform their own practices.

Duration: 4 hours

Although it is difficult to identify children during the preschool years that may later be identified as having a learning disability, there are developmental areas that signal risks and ELCC programs are well positioned to recognize problems and respond appropriately.

This workshop defines disabilities, disorders and challenges commonly found in ELCC settings. It provides participants with a greater understanding of the disability. They will be engaged in activities that support the identification of early intervention services and the development of strategies.

Duration: 4 hours

Young children exhibit challenging behaviour for a variety of reasons. They may experience difficulty in their initial transition into an ELCC program, with communication, or with a convergence of delays and environmental factors. As a result of these many contributing factors, young children with challenging behaviour may pose significant disruptions for the entire classroom. These behaviours may compromise the learning and/or safety of other children. (Tuge, Odero, Hogan, & Etz, 2003; Hamre & Pianta, 2001).

Duration: 2 hours

Once it has been determined that a child has challenging behaviours and information has been gathered what are the next steps. What triggers the behaviour? What skills does the child need? What responses maintain the challenging behaviour? And most importantly what is the purpose or function of the behaviour? Once these questions have been answered it is time to select strategies based on the problem and the purpose of the challenging behaviour.

(a multi-cultural celebration of the season)

Duration: 3 hours

Let's celebrate! As we think of celebrations throughout the year we begin to realize that people everywhere in the world are celebrating. What are they celebrating? This workshop is a celebration of celebrations in recognition of the rich cultural diversity of our country and the cultures around the world. Participants will be engaged in cultural activities which can be easily introduced to the children in their programs and will provide networking opportunities to share their own cultural backgrounds and traditions around this festive season.

Duration: 2 hours

Designing and implementing an age appropriate and interesting program for children 0 -5 years of age is one of the most exciting challenges that face Early Childhood Educators. This hands on workshop challenges participants to look at their own practice, share ideas and to think out of the box. Participants will be introduced to age appropriate activities related to various topics and celebrations. Strategies to plan based on children’s interests will be presented as well as a tableau of fresh programming ideas that can be implemented immediately.

This workshop can be modified to meet the developmental needs of any age group.

Duration: 2 hours

Developing and implementing a comprehensive and inclusive early childhood curriculum is a challenging task. The children who you engage in activities have different learning styles, preferences and intelligences. This workshop is designed to help the ECE weave together the many elements of a comprehensive curriculum and ensure that it is implemented in a manner that provides direction and recognizes children’s individual interests.

Emergent curriculum is a way of planning curriculum based on the child’s interest and passions as well as the educator's. To plan an emergent curriculum requires observation, documentation, creative brainstorming, flexibility and patience. While this concept appears simple enough "Emergent Curriculum" is often misunderstood and therefore poorly implemented in early learning settings.

This 4 part series provides participants with a greater understanding of this active participatory learning approach. Through self-reflection, scaffolding learning, and hands-on activities participants will gain an understanding of the learning environment, identify the role of the adult, develop skills in observation and interaction with children, plan based on children’s interests and discover how individual children think and reason.    

Duration: 3 hours

Emergent curriculum is based on the premise that children are most successful at learning when curriculum experiences take into account their interests, strengths, needs, and life realities. Educators committed to this philosophy use observations of children throughout their day as a tool for constructing curriculum content. Meaningful learning opportunities are then provided in support of key developmental skills. When ongoing opportunities for practice lead to skill mastery, educators respond by enriching the learning experience through the planning and implementation of increasingly difficult tasks or scaffolding learning experiences.

Part one of this series identifies the core foundational principles of an Emergent Curriculum approach to active participatory learning. Participants will gain an understanding of the basics of positive adult-child interactions and how forming authentic relationships with children creates a support climate for learning. 

Duration: 3 hours

Educators play an important role in their commitment to the implementation of emergent curriculum in the classroom. In the beginning, skilled observers use their knowledge of child development and follow the child’s lead by providing materials for children to actively explore as a means of inspiring a deeper understanding of a particular topic of interest.

In addition to providing ongoing opportunities for play-based exploration, emergent curriculum requires educators to document learning as it unfolds. Observation and documentation of learning experiences helps us to better understand the child’s interests and abilities inspiring ideas for where the curriculum might go. This role is complex and develops gradually.

Facilitator's will guide participants to reflect on their role as educator’s and  will identify how adults support children as active learners.

Duration:  3 hours

Young children need space to use materials, explore, create, and solve problems, space to move about, spread out, talk freely and space to work alone or with others. An active learning environment is designed to support the types of play that young children enjoy.

This interactive workshop explores strategies for arranging active learning settings. Participants will engage in group discussions and hands-on activities to assess environments in terms of active learning. Along with facilitators they will identify strategies on how to arrange toys, materials and equipment into specific learning settings and how to establish routines which flow smoothly from one interesting experience to another while supporting children’s interests.

Duration: 3 hours

In emergent curriculum, both adults and children have initiative and make decisions. This power to impact curriculum decisions and directions means that sometimes curriculum is also negotiated between what interests children and what adults know is necessary for children’s learning and development. Ideas for curriculum emerge from responding to the interests, questions, and concerns generated within a particular environment, by a particular group of people, at a particular time. Thus, emergent curriculum is never built on children’s interests alone; teachers and parents also have interests worth bringing into the curriculum.

This final workshop in the series will challenge participants to identify ongoing opportunities and approaches to learning. Facilitators will introduce web based planning as an aspect of emergent curriculum and explore the benefits. Participants will engage in hands-on webbing activities to full understand how it allows for flexibility in programming, encourages creative and open-ended thinking and considers children’s needs and interests.

Duration: 2 hours

Documenting learning experiences helps early learning educators understand where they have been and inspires ideas for where the curriculum might go next. It also helps children remember and understand the process of their own learning and gives parents concreate representations of their children’s development and growth.

This hands-on, interactive workshop will challenge participants to identify what their documentation should to communicate and to whom. Together with the facilitator they will examine many different forms of documentation before creating their own.

Duration: 2 hours

Play helps children learn new skills, build self-confidence and develop healthy relationships. An important part of any developmentally appropriate Early Learning and Childcare program, what exactly does it mean to play and why is it so important for young children? This hands-on, interactive workshop will define the ECE’s role as facilitator and provide strategies to enhance children’s daily play experiences.

Duration: 2 hours

Everything around us is connected to nature. Nature inspires, refreshes, and nurtures us. When experiences with nature are embedded in the early learning curriculum and daily routines, children benefit physically, emotionally, and intellectually as they have new experiences, exercise their bodies, and enjoy the feeling of freedom that comes from being connected to the natural world.

This interactive workshop explores the many benefits of nature play and engages participants in take away, hands on exploration with nature activities they can immediately implement in their classrooms.

Duration: 2 hours

It will be messy, and that’s O.K! Art for young children is all about the experience, experimenting and having fun. Open-ended art activities give children an opportunity to explore and express themselves. They can enjoy the process of creating without any expectations or rules. Participants will roll up their sleeves, experience messy activities and learn to accept that now and then messy is O.K.

Duration: 2 hours

Open-ended art is about the experience of creating, not the end result. It is a wonderful way to encourage artistic expression in young children. Open-ended art allows them to explore art materials to express their thoughts, observations and feelings through the creative process without being told what to create or what materials to use. Children who self-select and self-direct creative activities learn to solve problems and initiate actions, which are useful traits in adulthood.

Workshop participants will explore open-ended art activities where children are free to follow whatever idea catches their fancy, and create works of art that have meaning to them personally. 

Duration: 2 hours

Preparing children for literacy involves immersing them in a language rich environment where they have naturally occurring opportunities for interactions with language. Child care and preschool settings are ideal environments for the introduction to early literacy. Explore strategies and fun activities that promote early literacy and support children’s language development.

Duration: 2 hours

Story telling opens many channels of communication and stimulates children's emotional, imaginative and linguistic development. This hands-on workshop will provide participants with strategies to infuse imagination and early literacy into their programs. You will learn the art of storytelling, practice fun techniques and share ideas.

Duration: 2 hours

The best part of circle time is the routine it creates for children, they begin to know what to expect when the day begins and it will establish an order of events for the remainder of the day. Holding children’s interests during circle time requires planning, active engagement and flexibility.

This interactive workshop will provide participants with an opportunity to participate in an engaging circle time, work through the planning process and experiment with role play.

Duration: 2 hours

There is a natural curiosity and creativity in children that lends itself perfectly to cooking.  Inviting children to cook and involving them at a very young age fosters good habits that will have lifelong benefits. It provides early learning educators with a wonderful opportunity to discuss with a 3 year old how fish can help make you smart and to talk informally about types and origins of food, food production and nutrition.

This interactive workshop explores ways that cooking related activities can help children learn basic skills, build self-confidence and better understand nutritional concepts.

At its very core, cooking with children should be about fun, connection, and exploration.

Duration: 2 hours

To sustain children’s eagerness and interest, it is important to introduce them to scientific exploration through engaging and meaningful experiences. With careful and intentional planning, ECE's can help children learn new concepts and skills that will deepen their understanding of the world around them. This interactive workshop provides 2 hours of fun, exploring science activities that will keep children and participants motivated and excited about learning.

Duration: 2 hours

Sensory activities provide children with a meaningful avenue for learning. Sensory tables or tubs rotated regularly with wondrous sensory materials are worthwhile investments for hours of learning, exploring, and fun. Because children learn best by having "hands on" experiences with materials, providing an environment rich in sensory experiences is vital to children's learning and development.

This hands-on interactive workshop will explore why sensory play is important for children. Facilitators will introduce participants to many fun and stimulating activities to enhance sensory experiences in early learning environments.

Duration: 2-3 hours

It's gross that's why they love it! If you thought that science was dull, here’s a workshop that will change your mind. There are so many things that peak the senses and get the giggles going, from awful ooey gooey sensory experiences to disgusting smells, gross songs, and stories. Throughout this hands-on interactive workshop participants will roll up their sleeves for some serious mess making, exploring all that is gross.

Duration: 2 hours

Regular sand, water and yes MUD play can be a fun activity that also allows children the opportunity to practice many valuable skills. Water, sand, and mud play allows children to explore and interact with each other. Through new experiences and discovering new things within shared spaces they offer a great opportunity for social development; children practice sharing with each other and working together while engaging in play. There are also many opportunities for communication, language development and social growth.

This workshop examines the benefits of including sand, water and mud play in the early learning environment. It will provide participant with fun, fast and fabulous activity tips and tools to implement immediately in their programs. 

Duration: 2 hours

Are blocks boring or beneficial? Research suggests that blocks are a valuable learning tool that encourages children to become "master builders," they have been found to be a useful tool for self-education where young children can play or work together. As children use blocks to construct and represent their experiences in daily living, they grow across all developmental domains.

This interactive workshop explores the steps Early Childhood Educators can take to encourage children’s involvement in block play. Participants will reflect on ways they can create a block center that is an exciting place for children to play; a center that is attractive and well stocked with blocks, that provides invitation to learning and space for group building and play. We will look at what learning opportunities educators can offer children and what children may discover in using them.

Duration: 2 hours

What are Loose Parts? In an early learning setting, loose parts are materials that can be moved, carried, combined, redesigned, lined up, and taken apart and put back together in multiple ways. They are materials with no specific set of directions that can be used alone or combined with other materials. Loose parts can be natural or synthetic.  

There are many reasons why play spaces should include a multitude of loose parts. This interactive workshop will explore those reasons and identify the educators role. Facilitators will additionally, identify strategies to manage loose parts in the early learning classroom and introduce participants to real hands on material that they can adapted and manipulate in many ways.

Duration: 2 hours

The key to physical activity in early childhood is enjoyment. Should physical fitness be a concern during the early childhood years? Don't young children get all the activity they need naturally by being children? Unfortunately, the statistics suggest otherwise. This interactive workshop looks at fun ways to include physical activity into each day

Duration: 2 hours

The outdoors provides an educational tableau that offers endless opportunities for creative early childhood educators. This interactive workshop is designed to help ECE's understand the importance of outdoor play, their role in facilitating daily experiences and explores ideas to maximize outdoor time and learning.

Duration: 2 hours

Movement can help children develop, not only motor skills but emotionally and socially as well. Their well-being can be greatly enhanced if they are given simple foundations in all areas during their early years. These foundations will carry through as they continue to develop and learn at home and at their early learning program. Research shows that movement and activity also encourages brain growth and improves children’s attention and memory.

This highly interactive workshop will identify the importance of regular daily movement opportunities. Facilitators will lead participants through hands on, take away activities they can implement immediately in their programs.

Duration: 2 hours

Children's early social and emotional development depends on a variety of factors. These factors can have a positive or negative influence on children’s development. ECE programs which create trusting, safe and developmentally appropriate environments can help children get along well with others.

This interactive workshop will guide participants through hands-on activities to identify strategies they can use to promote healthy social and emotional development in their programs.

Duration: 2 hours

As we look at developmental milestones it is important to reflect on our own practice and how it impacts the healthy development of children. Both timing and sequence can vary among children and within cultures. This interactive workshop will explore key areas of a child's growth and development. It will touch on recent brain research and how ECE’s can use this research to inform practice.

Connecting with children 0 – 6 years of age

Duration: 6 hours (excellent choice for a staff P.D day)

Developing age and stage appropriate practices and connecting with children is at the core of being an exceptional early learning and childcare professional. Grounded in current research on child development and the knowledge base of how children develop this concept is not difficult however the principles can be misunderstood.

This workshop explores the basics of developing good child care practices and encourages participants to engage in self-reflection on their understanding of core concepts and implementation in everyday practice.

Developing age and stage appropriate practices and making meaningfully connections with children is at the core of being an exceptional early learning educator. Grounded in current research on child development and the knowledge base about how children develop at various stages the concept is not difficult however, the principles can be misunderstood.

This series explores Early Childhood Educator practice in early learning programs caring for children from 3 through 4 years of age. It encourages participants to engage in self-reflection on their understanding of core concepts and implementation in everyday practice.

Developing Age and Stage Appropriate Practices: Making the Connection with 3 to 4 year old children.

Duration: 2 hours

Positive relationships are essential for learning and development. They lead to the development of personal responsibility, build capacity for self-regulation and support constructive interactions with others. Children who see themselves as cared about and connected are more likely to feel secure, thrive physically, get along with others, learn well, and feel like part of a community (NAEYC position statement). Participants will reflect on and assess their role and practice in the development of healthy relationships, they will examine how they connect with children; do or fail to do on an everyday basis.

Duration: 2 hours

Children learn best when they are deeply engaged. Both when they themselves primarily shape the activity and when adults thoughtfully plan and guide the activity, the key components are the level of children's interest and engagement. This interactive workshop will challenge participants to examine their own practices and explore strategies to create learning environments that foster children’s interests through active exploration of materials and engagement with others.

Duration: 2 hours

A developmentally appropriate curriculum addresses in all areas of development; physical, social, emotional, and cognitive. It also addresses health, language development and literacy, mathematics, science, social/cultural and creative arts. Participants will assess a variety of curriculum models including their own, they will have opportunity to engage in curriculum planning which is developmentally appropriate and addresses the key areas of development.

Duration: 2 hours

Assessment is done for specific reasons: planning and adapting curriculum to meet child's developmental and learning needs, monitoring children's progress, evaluation, improvement of program effectiveness, and screening to determine potential disabilities or special needs.  Participants will be introduced to a variety of assessment tools and methods facilitators will guide them through discussions to identify how these tools can be used to develop plans which support child, family, and program needs.

Duration: 2 hours

Early childhood educators and parents must work together when making decisions about how best to support children’s development and learning and how to handle problems as they arise. Through self-reflection participants will examine their own practice and explore effective ways to develop positive reciprocal relationships with families which maximize good outcomes for children.

Developing Age and Stage Appropriate Practices: Making the Connection with 5  to 6 year old children (the Kindergarten Year).

Duration: 2 hours

The learning environment is an import and powerful tool. Much of an educators work is done before the children ever arrive. If your environment is set up to inspire with the knowledge of how children learn and develop it can positively support exploration and learning.

How do you set up activity centres that inspire? How do you extend children’s play experiences? How does the environment influence children’s behaviours? These are just a few of the questions this interactive workshop will challenge participants to consider. We will design play spaces and evaluate our practice to ensure we are maximizing children’s play experiences.

Duration: 2 hours 

Self-regulation in the early years gives children a foundation for them to develop and grow with positive attitudes, improved social skills and better skills in learning.

Self-regulation brings together nature and nurture. A child’s biology and their experiences are important to their development, and their ability to self regulate is shown to play a bigger role in a child’s future school success. The ability to regulate emotions and arousal is the foundation of self-control. Support for learning self-regulation is important; one does not naturally learn to self regulate as they grow older.

Facilitators will lead participants in the discussion to guide them to understand the need for self-regulations and to develop activities and tools which promote self-regulation in young children.

Duration: 2 hours

Often difficult behaviours arise from overstimulation or under stimulation in the classroom. What can educators do to help their children be more successful?

We live in a time where everyone including young children, are bombarded with more visual images than ever before experienced by human beings.  Researchers are linking detrimental behaviours with over and under-stimulation. Even though most early learning environments have little to no screen opportunities, children do manage to access them outside of programs. Educators are well-positioned to make positive, impactful changes to the programs they offer; allowing children to make sense of visual information that guides them to achieve desired behaviours.

Facilitators will lead participants in the discussion to create an awareness and understanding of the power of their learning environments and how to proactively make changes that can positively impact children’s behaviour.

Duration: 2 hours         

Keeping Children Safe both within and outside of their community of learning is an important responsibility of educators.  As educators are a constant in a child’s life and often spend the majority of their day with the same children, it is necessary for them to be able to respond effectively and professionally to concerns regarding abuse.

Keeping Children Safe provides educators of children from infant to12 years of age with tools and strategies to recognize signs of abuse so they can create a safe environment for all.  Participants will not only learn how to recognize and respond to signs of abuse in children but also how to educate children so that their voices are heard and respected.  

Duration: 2 hours      

What does it mean to be an intentional teacher? How does choosing to be intentional impact the children in your classroom?

Intentional teachers have specific goals or outcomes for children’s learning. They are skilled at building on learning, or scaffolding. Learning that is meaningful to the children, building on their current interests and merging it in various developmental domains can build a life long love of learning for young children.

Facilitators will lead participants in the discussion to guide them to begin using tools and strategies to become intentional in their practice with children.

Duration: 2 hours

What the Project Approach? How can it impact children’s learning and ability to investigate?

The Project Approach is not a whole curriculum, so it partners well with and is complementary to other teaching approaches. Project-based learning is centred on the learner and allows them the opportunity of deep investigations of relevant and interesting topics. Learners become more autonomous and build artifacts that represent their learning.

Facilitators will lead participants in the discussion to create an awareness and understanding of the Project Approach and how to integrate it into their program.

Duration: 2 hours   

This is the accompaniment to Introduction to the Project Approach.  This session allows educators to build on their learned skills and offer deeper learning for their children.

The Project Approach is not a whole curriculum, so it partners well with and is complimentary to other teaching approaches. Project-based learning is centred on the learner and allows them the opportunity of deep investigations of relevant and interesting topics. Learners become more autonomous and build artifacts that represent their learning.

Facilitators will lead participants in the discussion to create an awareness and understanding of the Project Approach and how to integrate it into their program.

Duration: 2 hours   

What is schema? Schema's are patterns of repeatable behaviour which can often be noticed in young children's play.

Although children often show particular schemas in their play, not all children appear especially schematic. Some show one schema particularly strongly that will seem to fade, possibly to be replaced by another. Schemas offer a key to understanding ways in which children behave and learn. In the planning process awareness of children's interests and needs coupled with knowledge of schemas will help ideas flow and ensure programming is individualized. This session will explore schema and how we support the children using them.

Facilitators will lead participants in the discussion to create an awareness and understanding of schema and how it impacts learning.

Duration: 2 hours   

As educators we are eager to teach; and to teach, we believe, means to talk, to question, to nudge, to instruct, to challenge. As professionals, we need to talk less and interact more genuinely.  We tend to fire questions at children, one after another, a rapid-fire sequence of queries that have nothing to do with what is interesting to the child and are not even interesting to us as teachers. What colour is that? Which tub holds more? How many blocks is that? What letter does your name start with? These questions do not prompt a child to investigate more. So how do we reframe our questions?

Duration: 2 hours

Children are born with a sense of wonder and a natural curiosity about nature. Educators can enhance their indoor learning environments by bringing in more natural and allowing children to explore those materials through art.

When focusing on processed based art, educators can enrich their classroom with natural materials that inspire surprise, curiosity and deeper learning. Nature materials lend themselves well to the ECE classroom; they are often free or very affordable and inspire curiosity in young children.

Duration: 2 hours         

Research shows that stress among children is estimated to have increased 45% over the past 30 years.  By helping children learn positive coping strategies to deal with stress, we can help build their resiliency and prevent stress from escalating to distress, anxiety and meltdowns.

Everyone handles stress differently the key is to find what works best for each child. Making good decisions and problem-solving are important skills for children to learn. Perhaps, more importantly, learning how to recover from a bad decision; figuring out the next steps, how to fix it, make amends, learn the lesson and move on.

Facilitated group discussion and hands-on activities will guide participants to better understand the impact stress has on a child’s coping skills and how this affects behaviour and learning. Participants will learn concrete strategies to help reduce and effectively manage some of the stress in children’s lives and how to adapt these strategies in the early learning environment.  

Duration: 2 hours         

Music can magically change children’s experiences and the atmosphere of any classroom. It provides an outlet for creativity, self-expression, and individual uniqueness. Music and finger play are a wonderful tools for teaching and enhance programs for all children.  This interactive workshop will introduce participants to a variety of techniques and a wide selection of favourite children’s songs and finger plays. Participants will leave with a tableau of new ideas ready to implement in their programs.

Duration: 2 hours         

In a post-pandemic world, more and more we are seeing many children who are behaviorally challenged because they are delayed in their social emotional development.

Many children, now 3 or more years old are entering care for the first time in their lives, and are struggling with being in a group setting, adjusting to unfamiliar expectations and navigating how to get the one-on-one attention they have become used to receiving over the past two years.

Facilitators will lead participants in discussion and activities to create an awareness and understanding of how interactions and adjustments to the classroom environment can easily and effectively grow a child’s capacity to thrive in a group setting. When a child feels part of greater group and understands expectations and boundaries, there will be a positive impact on their behaviour.

Duration: 2 hours         

There is now an explosion of knowledge that tells us that healthy development cannot happen without good relationships between children and the important people in their lives, both within the family and outside of it. Young children experience their world as an environment of relationships, these relationships affect virtually every aspect of their development. Relationships are the active ingredient in healthy development, especially brain development. We are wired to connect to others.

How do children learn about the world? The world of infants, toddlers and preschoolers is one of extraordinary brain activity and learning. We all learn by observing others and we seek connection and relationship. This workshop explores simple ways to build connections to support the process of relationship building through positive adult-child interactions.