This week, Sarah Meyer, Farm to School Specialist with the Nebraska Department of Education, joins us to discuss the Farm to Early Care and Education program. Sarah highlights how connecting young children to fresh, local foods fosters healthy habits, community support, and respect for our food and its journey. Tune in to explore how this program is shaping the future of Nebraska, and how to access its resources!

We're thrilled to welcome back one of our favorite guests, Carrie Gotschalk, Nebraska Extension Engagement Zone Coordinator and Licensed Mental Health Practitioner. She returns to the Quality Time Podcast to discuss the critical topic of trauma-informed care. Carrie examines how trauma impacts a child’s neural development and highlights the vital role of self-compassion for educators supporting children through these challenges. She also shares practical tools to help educators create supportive and nurturing learning environments.

In this episode, we welcome Catie Limbach, Education Specialist at the Nebraska Department of Education, to discuss the power of a purposeful curriculum. Catie explains how an intentional approach—one that follows children’s interests—can be fun while also fostering engaged, active learning. She also emphasizes how a well-designed curriculum can create quality experiences for every child, highlighting its role in advocating for meaningful early childhood education.

This week, we’re joined by pediatric speech-language pathologist Cari Ebert, MS, CCC-SLP, who discusses the transformative impact of play-based learning on child development. Cari shares insights on how play goes beyond fun—it fosters deeper learning and embraces neurodiversity through experience-based activities. She also highlights the importance of advocating for play as a powerful, research-backed tool in brain development, helping children learn in ways that best suit their unique needs.

In this episode, we explore the Nebraska Go NAPSACC program with Ashton Figgner, UNL Extension Educator and Go NAPSACC Coordinator. Ashton shares insights into how the program equips childcare providers to implement best practices in nutrition, physical activity, and overall well-being. We also discuss how Nebraska Go NAPSACC works in partnership with Step Up to Quality, to advocate for healthier, high-quality environments for young children across the state. For more information on Go NAPSACC, visit https://unlcms.unl.edu/ianr/extension/negonapsacc/.

Continuing our season-long theme of advocacy, for episode 2 of Quality Time we welcome Katie Krause, early childhood extension educator at UNL and Hannah Rennard-Ganley, director of education & outreach at Keep Omaha Beautiful. Both Katie and Hannah are advocates of nature-based learning, and in this episode they talk about what nature-based learning is, why it is important, how it fits into Step Up to Quality's process and how we can all be advocates for the outdoors.

Season 3 of Quality Time is all about advocacy. In our first episode of season 3, Step 5 providers Liz Arnold and Shannon Hampson, both from Lincoln, share with us how they weave advocacy into their everyday lives and how they model it for the children in their care. They share ideas like championing play-based learning, sharing stories on social media, collaborating with other providers, challenging perspectives, inviting parents to advocate, giving encouragement to fellow providers, sharing resources, and visiting the capitol.

We're putting the Quality Time podcast down for a nap again as we prepare for Season 3! Thank you to all our listeners, especially the early childhood education professionals in Nebraska who work so hard to provide a high quality experience for our littlest learners. We're looking forward to continuing the self-care conversation we started this season as we move our focus toward advocacy in Season 3. See you this fall!

In this Mindful Moment, our coaching specialist Lynne encourages us to reframe our daily tasks. Take a few minutes to center yourself and find gratitude for where you are, what you need to do today, who you are and what you mean to the people around you.

We created the Quality Time podcast especially for early childhood educators in Nebraska. Our intention at Step Up to Quality was to uplift and support all the teachers, directors, administrators and others who educate our future leaders. We know it can be a difficult and exhausting job, so we went a step further and recorded some special guided meditation episodes. We had two in Season 1, and we'll have two in Season 2. We hope you return to these again and again for a moment of calm and reflection. Special thanks to our coaching specialist Lynne who is our meditation expert and recorded these special episodes just for you.