October Professional Development
Professional Development for the Month of October
Teaching Beyond the Square:
Learning Through Block Play
with Jean Schreiber, Thursday, October 19th, 5:30-7:00 PM (ET)
Do certain children in your class monopolize the block corner? Is clean-up time a struggle or a teachable moment? Participants will learn about the developmental stages of building and how to set up a block corner. We will discuss techniques to integrate block building with other areas of the curriculum and provide strategies and games to make clean-up a positive experience. This interactive workshop will focus on practical ways to turn your block corner into an exciting learning center that fosters independence, cognitive development, and cooperative play.
Women Business Development Council:
Financial Foundations: QuickBooks Self-Employed
with Zayed Rodriguez, Wednesday, October 11th, 1:00-2:00 PM (ET)
Join Zayed Rodriguez, WBDC Business Advisor for a hands-on session to learn how to manage your business finances with QuickBooks Self-Employed. This version of QuickBooks works best for very small businesses that don’t have employees, don’t need to invoice their clients, and process all income and expenses through their business checking or credit card accounts. It comes with a mobile app for easy access. In this session, you’ll learn a broad range of bookkeeping functions, from setting up QuickBooks Self-Employed, to handling money in/money out, being prepped for taxes, and more. If you’re thinking about using QuickBooks to manage your business finances, keep better track of your income and expenses, or are struggling to collect parent fees, this class is for you!
If you have employees and are looking for bookkeeping tools, we invite you to join our 3-Part QuickBooks Online course instead – learn more here.
Meeting ID: 871 9589 5228
Stamford Youth Mental Health Alliance:
Youth Mental Health First Aid Training
Monday, October 9th, 9:00-5:00 PM (ET)
The Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA) training is designed for adults who regularly interact with young people. It introduces common mental health challenges for youth, reviews typical adolescent development and teaches a five-step action plan for how to help young people in a crisis and non-crisis situation.
Training includes:
* Common signs and symptoms of mental health conditions in this age group that included anxiety, depression, eating disorders and attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD).
* How to interact with a child or adolescent in crisis.
* Common signs and symptoms of substance use challenges.
* How to connect youth with help.
* Expanded content on trauma, substance use, self-care and the impact of social media and bullying.
If interested in attending this training, please email Denique at youthmentalhealthct@gmail.com to begin the registration process. Please include the training date in the subject line with your name, phone number and any organization/community group you represent.
The YMHFA training session is for informational purposes only and not medical/professional advice
AllOur Kin:
Grounding Your Coaching in the 3Rs: Relational, Responsive, and Reflective Practice
October 23, 25, and 27 from 11 am to 2 pm
Are you a new staff member working with family child care programs, or an experienced professional looking to refresh your skills? Are you interested in learning about being an intentional and reflective practitioner? If any of these resonates with you, our NEW three-part virtual series is for you!
All Our Kin is excited to offer Grounding Your Coaching in the 3Rs: Relational, Responsive, and Reflective Practice, which is rooted in our unique family child care coaching model. This training will define relational, responsive, and reflective practice as it relates to coaching in family child care. It will also be an opportunity for you to build relationships with a network of professionals doing this work!
The series will be facilitated by All Our Kin’s Education Mentor Coach, Marina Rodriguez. Marina has over 20 years of experience building deep relationships in family child care, both as a coach working directly with educators and as a mentor to staff.
About the Educational Coaching Series
- The virtual training will be on October 23, 25, and 27 from 11 am to 2 pm ET each day.
- Cost is $375 per participant. This series is best suited for individuals who work directly with educators.
- Learn more here!
- Register here!
Questions? Please contact marina@allourkin.org
Accreditation Quality Improvement Support:
Orienting New Staff
with Sarah Witkiewicz, EdAdvance, Tuesday, October 3rd, 1:00-3:00 PM (ET)
This session views orientation of new staff as a golden investment – in both your new hire and your program. Effective orientation maximizes the new hire’s chances of becoming an asset to your program. We will explore systems to make orientation effective, meaningful, and manageable while examining a variety of tools and timelines that can be modified for each program’s own use. The first 10 registrants who attend will receive a copy of The Right Fit: Recruiting, Selecting, and Orienting Staff by Kay Albrecht.
Intended audience: Program Administrators
NAEYC Code of Ethics
with Liz Parmelee, CES, Tuesday, October 10th, 10:00-12:00 PM (ET)
This course will help child care providers become familiar with the NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct, understand the difference between Ideals and Principles in the Code, understand the difference between an Ethical Responsibility and an Ethical Dilemma, know the steps to solving an ethical situation using the Code, and practice using the Code on provided case study scenarios. Learn how to use the Code for improved practice starting today. This training supports NAEYC standard 6.
Intended audience: Program Administrators, Educators, Teacher Assistants, Paraprofessionals
Issues of Equity
Thursday, October 12
Thursday, November 9
Thursday, December 14
From 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
This 3-part series will support participants in increasing their cultural competence, help them identify ways to reduce implicit bias, and consider strategies for affirming diversity in early childhood classrooms.
NAEYC’s Position Statement Advancing Equity in Early Childhood Education will serve as the foundation for this professional learning. Participants should plan to attend all 3 sessions.
Intended audience: Program Administrators, Educators
One Size Does Not Fit All: Resources Designed for Infant and Toddler Care
with Kristen Kennen, EdAdvance, Friday, October 20th, 1:30-3:30 PM (ET)
Working as an infant/toddler caregiver or teacher, have you ever felt like you were expected to use a preschool resource and just “make it fit” for your age group? It’s like wearing your sister’s hand me down prom dress even though you and she are NOT the same size! Have you ever wondered what resources were developed specifically for the infant and toddler age groups? This is the session for you! You will have an opportunity to both learn about and directly explore resources that were created with the infant/toddler age group in mind. These
resources will include websites, curricular materials, evaluation tools, and more. You will develop a plan for selecting at least one explored resource and determining how you will use it within your infant/toddler setting. Some of these resources are free and easy to access online. If you are a program administrator with limited infant/toddler experience yourself, you will also find this session very beneficial! If possible, please bring a device such as a laptop or tablet for some of our explorations. The first 10 registrants that participate will receive a
copy of the Infant /Toddler Environment Rating Scale – 3rd Edition (ITERS-3) by Harms, Cryer, Clifford, and Yazejian
Intended Audience: Program Administrators; Infant and Toddler Educators
Designing Learning for Infant and Toddlers
with Sheri Lambert, EASTCONN, Wednesday, October 25th, 5:00-7:00 PM (ET)
What do you mean you don’t do whole group with infants and toddlers?! When we focus on the importance of supportive and nurturing relationships we can better adjust our routines and schedules to best help infants and toddlers develop. This session will look at daily
schedules, large and small group activities, and how to incorporate information shared by families into the classroom daily.
Intended audience: Educators and Assistant Educators
Curriculum, Standard, Assessments
with Sheri Lambert, EASTCONN, Wednesday, October 18th, 6:00-8:00 PM (ET)
Now that the school year has started and educators are adjusted to their new young learners, it is time to think more deeply about curriculum, standards, and assessment. In this session, participants will dig deeper into what high quality learning experiences look like and
how to align to standards while taking effective data to document growth and progress for children.
Intended Audience: Leadership, Educators, and Support Staff
OEC:
A Place to Call Home: Addressing Housing Instability — Supporting Young Children and Families in Connecticut
Tuesday, October 31, 2023, from 1 to 3 p.m
In this webinar hosted by OEC, learn more about the impact housing instability has at both a national and state level. Get connected to resources and supports that help families experiencing housing instability.
The session will include:
- Opening remarks from Barbara Duffield, Executive Director at SchoolHouse Connection
- Panel discussion
- Special message from Elena Trueworthy, Deputy Commissioner of OEC
Click here to register
Past Webinar:
The OEC hosted a webinar entitled Taking a Different Path: Positive Approaches to Address Challenging Behavior in Early Childhood Programs.
The full video recording of the webinar is now available on the OEC Behavioral Health Initiatives webpage. You’ll also find information about an upcoming OEC webinar A Place to Call Home: Addressing Housing Instability — Supporting Young Children and Families in Connecticut.
