The Everything ECE Podcast

In this episode of The Everything ECE Podcast, Carla Ward welcomes Ann Kay, co-founder of the Rock 'n' Read Project, for a conversation about the connection between music, brain development and early literacy.

Together, they explore why singing, rhythm and musical play matter so much in early childhood, including how babies begin responding to musical experiences long before they can speak.

Ann shares the importance of active music-making, how rhythm and movement support learning, and why educators don't need to be trained musicians to make music a meaningful part of their programs.

This conversation is a reminder that music is so much more than a transition tool or a fun activity. It's an important part of how children learn and develop.

MEET ANN KAY

Ann Kay is the co-founder and education coordinator of the Rock 'n' Read Project, a Minnesota-based nonprofit dedicated to helping children develop the foundational skills needed for reading through music. Her background includes teaching music and directing choirs.

Connect with Ann and the Rock 'n' Read Project

Website: https://www.rocknreadproject.org/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rocknreadproject/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rocknreadproject.org

Thank you to our episode sponsor, The ECE Exchange!

The ECE Exchange is a new marketplace connecting early childhood education trainers, coaches and consultants with child care programs looking for their expertise.

Whether you're an ECE professional growing your consulting business or a program director looking for professional learning opportunities for your team, The ECE Exchange is helping make those connections easier.

Learn more at https://TheECEExchange.com

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Website: carlatheece.com

Instagram: @carlatheece

In this Dear Carla episode of The Everything ECE Podcast, Carla responds to Boarded Out in Early Learning, who asks whether parent-governed boards are still an effective model for childcare organizations, particularly larger and multi-site centres.

Having spent most of her career working with boards of directors, Carla has seen the value they can bring, as well as the challenges that arise when governance and day-to-day leadership blur.

Drawing on her experience as a childcare supervisor and board member, Carla explores the benefits of bringing diverse professional perspectives to the table, the complications of parents serving as both families and employers, and the importance of clearly defining responsibilities between boards and centre leadership.

She also considers alternative governance structures, including skills-based boards and parent advisory councils, that could preserve meaningful family involvement while supporting the increasingly complex responsibilities of childcare organizations.

At the heart of this conversation is recognizing and respecting the expertise of early childhood educators and the leaders responsible for their programs.

ASK CARLA

Have a question? Ask here

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If you loved this episode, please take a moment to subscribe and leave a review. Your support helps us reach more ECEs who are in the thick of it!. Thanks for tuning in to The Everything ECE.  See you next week!

CONNECT WITH CARLA

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Website: carlatheece.com

Instagram: @carlatheece

In this episode of The Everything ECE Podcast, Carla is joined by Vicki Salazar and Emily Massey of The Educator's Table for an honest conversation about the relationship between families and early childhood educators.

Vicki brings the perspectives of a child care centre owner and parent, while Emily speaks from her experience in the classroom. Together they created The Educator's Table to bring those perspectives into the same conversation and build more understanding between home and child care.

Carla, Vicki and Emily talk about the ordinary moments that establish trust before a difficult conversation is needed. A genuine greeting at drop-off can matter more than it seems. They discuss helping newer educators find their voice with families, the assumptions made on either side of the classroom door, and Carla's own experience with the greeting rotation a mentor asked her to try early in her career. They also consider what happens when a family shares something an educator cannot solve alone, and how to respond with care while respecting professional boundaries.

This episode is a reminder that strong family relationships grow through everyday contact, not only when there is a concern to address.

ABOUT THE GUESTS

The Educator's Table was created by Vicki Salazar and Emily Massey to bring families and early childhood educators into the same conversation. Emily is an early childhood educator, while Vicki is a parent and child care centre owner. Together they discuss child development, parenting and the realities of early learning.

LINKS

• Website: https://educators-table.com/

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the.educators.table/

• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@the.educators.table

• Podcast: https://educators-table.com/#podcast

• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-educators-table/id1896054006

  
  

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If you loved this episode, please take a moment to subscribe and leave a review. Your support helps us reach more ECEs who are in the thick of it!. Thanks for tuning in to The Everything ECE.  See you next week!

CONNECT WITH CARLA

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Website: carlatheece.com

Instagram: @carlatheece

In this episode of The Everything ECE Podcast, Carla is joined by Jessica Karpathios, founder of The Curious Educator Collective, to make pedagogical leadership feel less like an abstract title and more like the work that happens in a classroom.

Jessica is a Registered Early Childhood Educator whose experience includes working with toddlers, supervising child care programs, teaching future educators and supporting professional learning across organizations. She brings those perspectives to a conversation about what educators need when a familiar routine is no longer serving the children in front of them.

Together, Carla and Jessica explore the shift from habit to intention. Instead of stopping at “no running inside,” what can educators learn by asking why a child is running and what the environment may be communicating? They discuss observation, reflection with a team and the value of a fresh set of eyes that helps educators think rather than arriving with a list of fixes. They also talk honestly about the time this role requires and why adding it to an already full supervisor's workload can make the work harder.

This conversation offers a clearer picture of pedagogical leadership and another possibility for experienced ECEs wondering where their work could grow.

ABOUT JESSICA

Jessica Karpathios is a Registered Early Childhood Educator, pedagogical leader and founder of The Curious Educator Collective. Her experience spans early learning programs in Canada and abroad, child care supervision and field faculty work at Humber College. She partners with organizations to support pedagogical growth.

LINKS

Website: https://www.jessicakarpathios.com

Instagram: @curiouseducatorcollective

LinkedIn: Jessica Karpathios 

Pedagogical Leader Mentor Guide: https://www.jessicakarpathios.com/pedagogicalleadermentoringguide  

Book: Creating a Culture of Reflective Practice, The Role of Pedagogical Leadership in Early Childhood Programs. And it's written by Anne-Marie Coughlin and Lori McGee Barrett. LINK

Transcript

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CONNECT WITH CARLA

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Website: carlatheece.com

Instagram: @carlatheece

In this Dear Carla episode, an educator writes in about confidence, imposter syndrome and the pressure they feel to appear confident while leading their team.

Carla challenges the idea that good leadership requires having all the answers and talks about what it actually takes to build confidence over time. From doing things scared and paying attention to your own self-talk to collecting the “receipts” that remind you of what you’re capable of, this conversation is about learning to trust yourself, even when that little voice gets loud. 

With ideas inspired by Mel Robbins, Brené Brown, Brendon Burchard and Stephen Covey, this episode offers practical places to start without pretending confidence has a quick fix.

Maybe it’s time to stop faking it till you make it and start practising it until you believe it.

Resources mentioned:

The High 5 Habit — Mel Robbins

Brené Brown — Dare to Lead

High Performance Habits — Brendon Burchard

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People — Stephen R. Covey

Dear Gabby meditation — Gabby Bernstein

ASK CARLA

Have a question? Ask here

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If you loved this episode, please take a moment to subscribe and leave a review. Your support helps us reach more ECEs who are in the thick of it!. Thanks for tuning in to The Everything ECE.  See you next week!

CONNECT WITH CARLA

Email Newsletter: ⁠⁠Click Here⁠ 

Website: carlatheece.com

Instagram: @carlatheece

In this episode of The Everything ECE Podcast, Carla Ward explores block play, provocations, three-dimensional learning, problem-solving, and what can happen when children are given more time and space to build, experiment and figure things out.

From rethinking the way we respond when structures come crashing down to considering what hands-on learning offers children in an increasingly digital world, this episode is an invitation to take another look at the block area in your early learning environment.

In this episode:

• Block play beyond building towers

• Using provocations to extend children's thinking

• Three-dimensional learning and spatial awareness

• Supporting problem solving and resilience through play

• Rethinking safety without unnecessarily limiting children's ideas

• Block play in a world of screens, technology and AI

• Simple ways to add curiosity to your block area

Books

Iggy Peck Architect

Resources mentioned:

Purdue University — Block play could improve your child’s math skills, executive functioning: https://www.purdue.edu/research/features/stories/block-play-could-improve-your-childs-math-skills-executive-functioning/

Research article on block play and mathematics:https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7954229/

Transcript

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If you loved this episode, please take a moment to subscribe and leave a review. Your support helps us reach more ECEs who are in the thick of it!. Thanks for tuning in to The Everything ECE.  See you next week!

CONNECT WITH CARLA

Email Newsletter: ⁠⁠Click Here⁠ 

Website: carlatheece.com

Instagram: @carlatheece

In this episode of The Everything ECE Podcast, Carla is joined by Pat Rumbaugh, better known as the Play Lady, for a conversation about why play belongs to adults as much as it does to children.

Pat spent 30 years as a physical education teacher and coach before helping start a community play day in Takoma Park, Maryland. That work grew into Let's Play America, a nonprofit that organizes free play events and helps other communities make room for people of all ages to play.

Together, Carla and Pat talk about giving children real choice in their play, what happens when adults join in, and the joy of bringing different generations together through games. Pat shares what an adult play day can look like, while Carla reflects on how they met at a workshop about play for grown-ups. Their conversation moves from community events to small, everyday invitations: hopscotch on a walk, a game with friends, or simply making time for something you enjoy.

If you spend your days protecting children's opportunities to play but rarely think about your own, this episode may help you find your way back to it.

ABOUT PAT

Pat Rumbaugh taught physical education and coached at Washington International School from 1981 to 2011. She founded a play committee in Takoma Park in 2009; it became the nonprofit Let's Play America in 2014. Pat has written two children's books on play, given two TEDx talks and organized 49 Play Days.

LINKS

Let's Play America: https://www.letsplayamerica.org

Instagram: @lets.play.america

Facebook: @letsplayamericaltd

TikTok: @letsplayamerica

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If you loved this episode, please take a moment to subscribe and leave a review. Your support helps us reach more ECEs who are in the thick of it!. Thanks for tuning in to The Everything ECE.  See you next week! 

CONNECT WITH CARLA

The ECE Entrepreneur Experience

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Instagram: @carlatheece

This week’s Dear Carla question comes from Lime Green, an educator who will be working with a four-year-old with selective mutism.

They’re looking for ideas and strategies to support the child, and the question takes Carla back more than 20 years to one of the first children she ever taught.

In this episode, Carla draws on that experience, what she learned along the way, and what she wants Lime Green to consider as they begin building a relationship with this child.

ASK CARLA

Have a question? Ask here

SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW

If you loved this episode, please take a moment to subscribe and leave a review. Your support helps us reach more ECEs who are in the thick of it!. Thanks for tuning in to The Everything ECE.  See you next week!

CONNECT WITH CARLA

Email Newsletter: ⁠⁠Click Here⁠ 

Website: carlatheece.com

Instagram: @carlatheece

In this episode of The Everything ECE Podcast, Carla sits down with Cheryl Sutherland, founder of PleaseNotes, for a conversation about journaling, self-trust, confidence, and learning to pay attention to what we actually need.

Cheryl shares why she once considered herself a “journaling hater,” how journaling can help us recognize patterns and make clearer decisions, and why the words we use with ourselves matter more than we may realize.

Carla and Cheryl also talk about the very real overwhelm educators carry, the pressure to be everything to everyone, and what can happen when we acknowledge that something isn’t working instead of continuing to push through it.

And Carla makes a commitment during the episode: 30 days of journaling. Listen in, then join her for the experiment.

Transcript

CHERYL SUTHERLAND

Cheryl Sutherland is a speaker, author, and founder of PleaseNotes, a Toronto-based personal growth brand offering guided journals, planners, and affirmation cards for confidence, clarity, and self-trust. She also works as a facilitator and mindfulness speaker for corporate clients, ERGs, and HR teams, with a background spanning banking, sales, and business coaching. She has run four successful Kickstarter campaigns and has been featured in Forbes, Fast Company, InStyle, HuffPost, CBC, and Inc. She is passionate about helping people build self-trust through journaling and reflection. 

LINKS

Website: PleaseNotes & cherylsutherland.com

Instagram: PleaseNotes / Cheryl Sutherland

TikTok: Cheryl Sutherland

Affirmations in Abundance: Link

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Tiny Experiments by Anne-Laure Le Cunff

If You Want to Change the World, Start Off by Making Your Bed - William McRaven, US Navy Admiral

SEE CHERYL LIVE

Cheryl will be speaking at the ECE Entrepreneur Experience on November 14, 2026. www.carlatheece.com/ece-entrepreneur-experience 

30 DAYS OF JOURNALING

Carla is taking Cheryl’s advice and turning journaling into an experiment: 30 days of showing up and seeing what happens.

Want to join her? Tag @carlatheece and Cheryl/PleaseNotes on Instagram so you can do the 30 days together.

SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW

If you loved this episode, please take a moment to subscribe and leave a review. Your support helps us reach more ECEs who are in the thick of it!. Thanks for tuning in to The Everything ECE.  See you next week!

CONNECT WITH CARLA

Email Newsletter: ⁠⁠Click Here⁠ 

Website: carlatheece.com

Instagram: @carlatheece

In this episode of The Everything ECE Podcast, Carla Ward sits down with Saira Remtulla, Ontario Certified Teacher and founder of Connected Start, for a conversation about rethinking circle time in early learning.

Circle time can be one of the most powerful opportunities for connection in an early learning program, but only when we’re clear about why we’re gathering in the first place.

Carla and Saira talk about the difference between entertaining children and genuinely engaging them, why participation doesn’t always look like sitting still, the importance of flexibility and intentionality, and what can happen when circle time becomes less about getting through the plan and more about creating a shared experience.

They also explore educator confidence, following children’s interests, the role of songs, rhymes and repetition, and why connection needs to come before content.

Whether you love circle time, avoid it, or have been wondering if it still belongs in early learning, this conversation will have you thinking differently about what gathering together can be.

SAIRA REMTULLA

Saira Remtulla is an Ontario Certified Teacher with over 19 years of experience, specializing in early years education. Her work is grounded in fostering connection, creativity, and meaningful learning experiences for young children. As the Founder of Connected Start, Saira has developed joyful, hands-on programming for children from birth to age four, that sparks curiosity, supports emotional development, and lays the foundation for lifelong learning. Saira is committed to empowering early years centres with accessible, high-quality resources that enrich their programs and strengthen the communities they serve.

LINKS

Website: www.connectedstart.ca 

Instagram: @connectedstart & @learnwithmssaira

LinkedIn: Saira Remtulla

SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW

If you loved this episode, please take a moment to subscribe and leave a review. Your support helps us reach more ECEs who are in the thick of it!. Thanks for tuning in to The Everything ECE.  See you next week!

CONNECT WITH CARLA

Email Newsletter: ⁠⁠Click Here⁠ 

Website: carlatheece.com

Instagram: @carlatheece