PreKTeachandPlay.com Podcast

In this episode you'll learn about my six reasons that pacing guides, and other means to standardized curriculum, won't help young children thrive in school or in life.

1. You've ever asked, "Why do we use pacing guides in Pre-K?"
2. You've helped create a pacing guide and were left feeling less than satisfied.
3. You want to ensure all children in your program have the same opportunities but don't want undermine your teachers or standardize the process of early learning.

This episode's freebie is a handout that contains links to several Big Ideas for Early Learning resources. Go to https://prekteachandplay.com/podcast31 to request.

In this episode, I take on the topic of quality curriculum for inclusive Pre-K programs. And for those who think it comes in a "box" or is delivered to your door...it's not!

This episode is for you if...

1. you've ever asked, "What is the best curriculum to be using with young children?"
2. you're currently in search of a curriculum, particularly for use in a blended pre-K program
3. you've been wondering, beyond licensing stars and steps, "Is this program of high quality?"
4. you're a policy maker or a leader aiming to align early-childhood-recommended practices with other educational initiatives and requirements

An eight step process for selecting and implementing a quality curriculum is shared (free download at https://prekteachandplay.com/podcast30).

Listeners can also access the transcript and request our free Quality Curriculum Framework Rating Rubric at https://prekteachandplay.com/podcast30.

This Pre-K Teach & Play episode is for you if you are interested in learning more about the importance of self-regulation, about common myths or misperceptions about self-regulation, and why our job is critical in ensuring children's success in school and of course in life.

Your take away is that the brain areas associated with self-regulation are malleable, and self-regulation can be practiced and strengthened!

As a bonus to this episode, you'll learn more about how important it is to address development and learning from a whole child perspective, how to use Dr. Megan McClelland and Dr. Shauna Tominey's book, Stop, Think, Act to create embedded learning opportunities with evidenced-based interventions, and about a self-paced course they offer through Oregon State University called Red Light, Purple Light: A Self-Regulation Intervention Program.

We all know that learning centers, and center time for that matter, play a key role in the delivery of early experiences for children. So what's the downside and how can they be improved to support wholeness and integrated brains?

This episode is for you if:

1. You'd like to take a more intentional look at how to best design learning centers
2. You want to ensure a "YES Brain" approach to early learning
3. You're supporting other educators and want to know "What makes a good learning center?"

Episode includes a free download with seven strategies to ensure learning centers are engaging, designed in ways that build upon children's interest and different abilities, and incorporate a "healthy mind platter".

In this podcast episode, Laura Fish and I share how early educators can broaden their perspective around the "causes" for challenging behavior. You will learn how to discover the "why" behind a child's behavior.

This episode is for you if you are interested in:

1. Helping children remain the Green Zone (how to respond instead of react)
2. Strengthening your understanding of what may contribute to challenging behaviors
3. Understanding the concept of prevention and promotion vs. intervention
4. Aligning teaching practices with children's basic needs and drives

Have you ever wondered "what comes before being able play with friends at recess" or what skills children need to pass the "3rd grade reading guarantee"? In this episode, I explore how we can better understand how children...get from here to there...in terms of early development and learning.

This episode is for you if you've ever wondered...

1. Is this something all children should be learning right now?
2. What comes before or earlier in development?
3. How do we scaffold and support a child who is struggling to make progress?

Lastly, this episode is also for you if you are interested in learning how to use an authentic curriculum-based assessment, the Assessment, Evaluation, and Programming, System (AEPS), to help you tackle these complex questions.

Episode includes a free download, which is an an infographic depicting the three types of sequences: developmental, pedagogical, and logical. You can request the free download at https://prekteachandplay.com/podcast26

In this episode, I continue the discussion into why circle time, and most other large group activities, just doesn't serve us in the way we would hope.

Spoiler alert! It has to do with children's interest...

And as always, after we admire the problem for a bit, I offer a number of suggestions on how to make activities and experiences, like circle time, optimal for learning, including:

1. Offering activities as a child's choice
2. Establishing and creating curiosity to you (C2U™)
3. Engaging in attuned communication and interactions
4. Differentiating what is being taught and basing the what on children's interests

In this episode, Laura Fish and I continue the conversation about teaching with the brain in mind by going deeper into mindfulness…a word we hear tossed around with a great deal of regularity these days.

It is our hope that through this conversation, early educators will see the complexity and the simplicity of mindfulness concepts and practices.

Meaning…we hope to help show how mindfulness in EC isn't a fad, or something we "just add to part of our routine"….and how mindfulness is more than a spiritual concept …it is in truth…a set of practices, which closely align to many quality care and educational practices that have a rich tradition in our field.

We also dig into how mindfulness is a key part of building children's brains and how we can create and embed opportunities throughout our daily routine. This is an episode you aren't going to want to miss.

Why do we see calendar time as a key part of many preschool routines? My colleague Dr. Jennifer Grisham-Brown argues, it's a habit. A habit that we should break. In this episode fellow #ECE {r}evolutionaries Jen Davis, Jolene Chavez, and Alicia Frost explore the "timely" topic of calendar time.

We all face resistance...and at times...demonstrate resistance. But when trying to get to a change in practice, what do we do when resistance is not in the best interest of those we serve? In this episode three tips are shared for how to use your superpowers in the face of resistance.