Jana has worked in the field for more than 20 years, working in instructional, leadership, and advocacy experiences. She has taught pre-K, directed child care centers, and managed the early learning program of Catholic Charities of Baltimore.
When I explored the options Zoom provided during virtual meetings, I discovered that its Spotlight feature and the mute button were two ways to work toward learning goals and an approach focused on the whole child.
My favorite part of my work with families, educators, staff, and children is the privilege of mentoring, encouraging, motivating, and learning alongside them.
We may not be able to control the spread of the virus, the changing mandates, or the inequities and social justice issues intensified by the pandemic, but we can control how much our children feel loved by us.
For Alyssa Smith, the pandemic enabled her to view her courses on play and curriculum as a big “look into the mirror” to discern what matters and what was important about becoming a teacher.
The books featured here provide a sampling of books and activities that can be used to introduce foster care and adoption into the early childhood classroom.
Contact with nature can help mitigate the negative effects of stress. Through nature-based encounters, we can provide children with strategies to use while they are in our care and beyond.
Grief can feel devastating to both children and teachers, but the patience, courage, and responsiveness you show will be a lasting gift to a child and family who are grieving.
If we help young children understand death, we help them cope with a personal loss that has already occurred or prepare them to understand and cope with a personal loss at a later time.
Young children with responsive caregivers are likely to thrive, whereas young children who experience emotionally unavailable environments are more likely to experience negative impacts on their cognitive, social, language, and emotional development.
Authored by
Authored by:
Vonda Jump Norman, Audrey C. Juhasz, Krista Nicole Useche, Kristine M. Kinniburgh
In order to be part of an effective safety net for young children’s emotional well-being, we need to understand their unique vulnerability to trauma and extended stress during the first few years of life.
Since emotions are learning opportunities in an early childhood setting, a developmentally appropriate goal is for children to learn strategies to manage and express their emotions through warm, attentive teacher responses.
The three de-escalation activities detailed here can be useful in targeting anxiety—two are used for de-escalating children’s anxious behaviors, and the third assists children in identifying the cause of their anxiety and in developing coping skills.
Authored by
Authored by:
Sierra L. Brown, Allison McCobin, Stephanie Easley, Kara E. McGoey
