Learn eight ways to build personal resilience. Identify practical methods on how to apply your strengths to manage compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress, and vicarious trauma. 

Barbara Rubel, M.A., Community Health, Thanatology, Author

Working with children is joyful and rewarding but it also takes great reserves of strength and energy. Discover ways to use Heart-Centered Self-Care techniques to support yourself and your teachers while creating a foundation for a well-working organization.

Heart-Centered begins with an appreciation for the wonders of the world and the people around us. It is a way of leading that honors individual gifts and helps teachers bring their best selves to their work with children. Organizations led by heart-centered leaders become interdependent, mutually supportive, and joyful. That doesn’t mean people don’t work hard, get discouraged at times, or face challenges. What it does mean is that any challenge is secondary to the sense of purpose and pleasure felt by a shared commitment to an important mission.

Through interactive experiences discover how an appreciation of the world around us can guide interactions with teachers, children and families. Participants will leave with a set of self-care tools to help cultivate a Heart-Centered work environment.

Heather Fox & Kirsten Haugen, Nature Explore

Early exploration is key to STEAM and building future success for infants and toddlers. Throughout this webinar, we will explore the basics of implementing STEAM, as well as dive deeper into how to integrate STEAM throughout your infant/toddler learning environment. From authentic experiences to facilitated persistence, we will explore how to build STEAM throughout the day!

Ron Mohl, B.A., Lakeshore Learning Materials

ACEs (Adverse childhood experiences) matter in the lives of the families we serve, and in our own lives as well. Learning about how we can build protective factors and resilience to lessen the impact of childhood stressors is important in ordinary times, but our advocacy is more important than ever as we emerge from the pandemic. Children will be coping with issues in their individual life-worlds as we all relearn social cues and classroom rules. It’s going to take a lot of patience and understanding.

Laura Wilhelm, Teacher & Author, Kaplan Early Learning Company

Making lasting change–in your work-life or home-life is not an easy task. If it was, we would all eat healthier, exercise more, and be closer to living our dreams. We’re creatures of habit–and changing those habits can be scary and uncomfortable. This session looks at practical strategies for becoming more successful at making lasting change.

Jeff Johnson, Explorations Early Learning

KEYS 4 Healthy Kids staff will present the most up-to-date research that supports raising an adventurous eater and it starts earlier than you might imagine. The session will focus on tips from a developmental approach to raise adventurous eaters: AKA NOT a picky eater, Presentation will include video demonstrations of hunger cues and more. We will save the best for last with sharing and demonstrating homemade baby food recipes with food you already have in your family home, facility, or center. 

Jamie Jeffrey, MD, Pediatrician and Clinical Associate Professor of Pediatrics at WVU School of Medicine-Charleston Division, Founder/Medical Director of KEYS 4 HealthyKids

https://www.healthychildren.org/English/tips-tools/ask-the-pediatrician/Pages/Is-it-OK-to-make-my-own-baby-food.aspx

https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/baby/feeding-nutrition/Pages/Starting-Solid-Foods.aspx

Breastfeeding provides the healthiest start in life for infants, but children who are routinely cared for by someone other than their parents are less likely to be breastfed. When child care centers provide support and encouragement for breastfeeding families, it may make it easier for mothers to continue breastfeeding, thus continuing to provide the optimal nurturing and nutrition for babies. Although child care standards and best practices emphasize the importance of breastfeeding support, many child care centers and providers find it challenging to provide such support. The “Baby-friendly Hospital Initiative” is a global effort launched in 1991 by WHO and UNICEF to implement practices that protect, promote and support breastfeeding. The BFHI’s “Ten Steps” to successful breastfeeding have been shown to increase breastfeeding initiation and duration. The Ten Steps were adapted for use in child care with the same goals in mind. The presentation will describe the components of the WVBFCI, including its history and purpose along with the training efforts and resources currently in use.

Jodi A. Giancola, MS, CLC- WV WIC, Nutritionist III, Breastfeeding Coordinator

Molly McMillion, RN, BSN, IBCLC, LCCE, Director, The WV Breastfeeding Alliance

In this webinar, we will dive into visual arts, music and movement and dramatic play to discuss how to engage infants and toddlers in meaningful, developmentally appropriate art activities. Through the arts, we will embed meaningful learning opportunities that support language, math, fine and gross motor, and social emotional development…all while having fun!

Patti Jo Wilson, Lakeshore Learning

This session will address the growing need for one to one attunement with children in group care by incorporating social play through guided activities. Discover manageable ways to create connections through intentional interactions that develop vital synaptic pathways for impulse control and self-regulation, while developing health relationships with caregivers.

Elizabeth Montero-Cefalo, Conscious Discipline

This session will support classroom teachers in their use and understanding of both assessment and observational data to shape children's learning and development. This session empowers teachers to understand and use data gathered from developmental instruments as well as their own observations to promote change and growth in their pedagogical and curricular practices. Using sample student data, we will explore the direct connections between children's developmental data and curriculum planning for their care and development. In addition, participants will explore ethical principles of developmentally-appropriate evaluation practices with young learners and their application in an early childhood context. 

Angela Eckhoff, PhD, Associate Professor of Teaching and Learning, Director of the Virginia Early Childhood Policy Center, Old Dominion University, VA

In this webinar, we deepen our understanding of math concepts appropriate for our infants and toddlers to understand developmentally appropriate skills and how to support infants and toddlers in developing and mastering these skills. We will discuss how to utilize materials in our classroom intentionally to support the development of the children in our care. As well, we will focus on providing effective facilitation of learning and development.

Elda Perez, MS, Professional Development Specialist, Lakeshore Learning Materials

This Live Online session will focus on supporting high-quality learning experiences for infants and toddlers by incorporating nature into their environments and daily routines. We will analyze possible natural materials for this age group and discuss video clips of infants and toddlers in action in nature. Join us as we expand ways to foster the excitement and love of nature for our youngest children by supporting them through developmentally appropriate nature-rich experiences.

Heather Fox, Nature Explore

In this webinar, we will look at blocks to engage infants and toddlers in multiple areas of learning. We will align to children’s development as we explore the power of blocks through sensory engagement, repetition, bridging and enclosures. By bringing intentional connections to various stages of play, we will complement their natural curiosity that can be found with blocks and beyond.

Ron Mohl, B.A. Lakeshore Learning Materials

Groups of infants and toddlers are too often seen as anti-social, rather than joyful and loving. Understanding the causes of inappropriate behaviors can help teachers feel more relaxed. Babies will pick up on the teacher’s mood and respond accordingly. Deeper understanding of developmental issues can help us see why some toddlers bite, shove, and resist sharing. Classroom arrangement and daily schedule are powerful tools in promoting positive behaviors in very young children. Learning and teaching some basic baby sign language increases communication and lessens frustration between toddlers and their teachers. Interventions like shadowing the victim, exercising growing jaw muscles, and providing multiples of popular items, can prevent negative behaviors before they happen. We will also generate lists of inexpensive & intriguing activities that make for busy, happy infants and toddlers.

Laura Wilhelm, Teacher & Author, Kaplan Early Learning Company

This session will support teachers’ understandings of the ‘environment as teacher’ in early care settings. Participants will learn about new ideas for environmental design that are built upon contemporary research in both learning sciences and early childhood development. We will also spend time engaged in a critical viewing of a variety of classroom environments to explore how teachers’ understandings of teaching, learning, and children are reflected in their classroom designs and materials choices.

We will, create an action plan to support the initial application of new ways of employing the environment as an active support for learning and exploration.

Angela Eckhoff, PhD, Associate Professor of Teaching and Learning, Director of the Virginia Early Childhood Policy Center, Old Dominion University, VA

The best toy for our youngest children is YOU. As dedicated early childhood professionals, we often find it hard to devote the one-on-on time needed to create meaningful relationships with every child in our care. Research is clear: Optimal child development is dependent on healthy relationships with adults. With Baby Doll Circle Time your ratio can drop to 1:1 as children relive connected moments with you while delighting in circle time with their baby dolls. This model helps children develop healthy templates for relationships, sense of self and self-regulation for the rest of their lives.

Elizabeth Montero-Cefalo, Conscious Discipline

It is sometimes difficult to imagine how a single, small, and ordinary moment fits within the complex challenges and rising demands for outcomes of early care and learning, yet such moments are the most essential building blocks of a healthy community. Finding meaningful ways to understand, appreciate, and promote such moments can be encouraging, enriching, and empowering at every level of the child- serving system. At the foundation of every child’s healthy development is the power of human connection – and we will explore the power we have to build connections and contribute to the positive development of the children around us.

Dana Winters, Ph.D., Rita McGinley Executive Director, Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning & Children’s Media, St. Vincent College

This Live Online session will focus on supporting high-quality learning experiences for infants and toddlers by incorporating nature into their environments and daily routines. We will analyze possible natural materials for this age group and discuss video clips of infants and toddlers in action in nature. Join us as we expand ways to foster the excitement and love of nature for our youngest children by supporting them through developmentally appropriate nature-rich experiences.

Heather Fox, Nature Explore

This is an interactive, video-based, and practice-focused workshop to strengthen human interactions between adults and children. In this session, we will be using the “Simple Interactions” approach to closely examine adult-child interactions in everyday contexts. We will practice appreciative “noticing” and reflective “wondering” to understand the dynamics within even the simplest human interactions. We will discuss how these interactions weave together four basic building blocks of the human relationship – connection, reciprocity, inclusion, and opportunity to grow – to make positive developmental impacts. This session pulls from a broad range of settings working with infant, toddlers, preschool, and school age children, including home visiting, early childcare centers, family childcare, Head Start, and formal k-12 classrooms.

Dana Winters, Ph.D., Rita McGinley Executive Director, Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning & Children’s Media, St. Vincent College

Moving beyond the stress and challenges of the past year requires leaders to be intentional and focused on all that is possible. This motivational presentation will guide participants in creating a vision focused action plan for effectively managing their time. New strategies and well-researched tools will inspire participants to incorporate new habits, rituals, and daily practices to enhance their well-being and reignite their passion for leading early childhood programs. 

Susan MacDonald, Professional Speaker, Author and Coach

Working with children can be physically and emotionally exhausting and many caregivers spend so much time focused on the needs of kids that they fail to take care of themselves. This often leads to stress and burnout as caregivers struggle to find time in their busy lives for self-care. The result? Stressed, anxious, drained, frustrated, and burnt-out early learning professionals. Based on the books, Finding Your Smile Again and Keeping Your Smile.

Jeff Johnson, Explorations Early Learning

Empathetic and compassionate childcare providers, those who work with families and home visitation, can experience burnout. During this program you will identify strategies for wellbeing and work-life balance and identify ways to manage professional grief. If you have been impacted by non-death and death related loss in families with infants, toddlers, preschool, and school age children, this program will offer insight on grief models, posttraumatic growth, and meaning making, which can be applied to families, as well as yourself.  

Barbara Rubel, M.A., Community Health, Thanatology, Author

Professionals who work with older children often view infants and toddlers in terms of what they cannot yet do. Treasure baskets are a supplement to regularly planned curriculum activities that showcase many wonderful things that children between six and thirty-six months can do already. Heuristic learning presents opportunities for the child to discover through five (and more) senses. Parents, as well as new and veteran childcare providers can quickly become expert at an individual child’s interests and capabilities. 'Heuristic' is a new term for many of us that comes from the same root as 'eureka', which emphasizes discovery learning. Treasure baskets are designed to highlight how much longer very young children will attend to something when they are intrigued by it. We will discover how and why to design treasure baskets with household and natural objects at little or no cost. We’ll discuss why plastic mass-manufactured toys are less appealing with their less varied textures, similar temperature, bright colors, and sometimes overpowering lights and sounds. We will share teachers’ ideas about the best ways to incorporate heuristic activities within existing curriculum for 6 to 36-month-olds. 

Laura Wilhelm, Teacher & Author, Kaplan Early Learning Company

In the first three years of life, infants and toddlers spend a lot of time learning how to use their bodies. Whether you are rocking to a lullaby or bouncing to the beat, movement is a natural response to music. Will discuss ways you can support infants and toddlers with daily experiences that encourage listening, singing, fingerplays, and dancing. We will explore ways that music supports a young child’s social emotional, language, and motor development.

Elda Perez, MS, Professional Development Specialist, Lakeshore Learning

This training will help anyone providing Home Visitation, Family Child Care, education and related services recognize the signs of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders and tailor interventions to help affected children reach their full potential. With—and only with—recognition and the right supports, the one out of 20 children with FASD can go on to live happy, productive lives.  Participants will receive a basic grounding in FASD, enough to serve as a foundation for future learning and practice. 

Kathryn Page, PhD, President, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders in Northern California (FASD NorCal)

In this session, we will discuss how implicit biases impact relationship-building among providers and the families they serve. Through discussions and reflection, we will explore how implicit biases breed microaggression and relationship barriers that impact how we interact with one another as educational leaders, engage with families, and ultimately the relationship with the children we serve, from infants to school age. The goal of this session is that participants will understand various strategies and techniques to promote continuous reflection that supports conversations and action steps in addressing unconscious biases.

Melinda Young, MSEd, Assessor & Training Specialist

Activities that accompany rhymes and songs can be used to give children of all ages the opportunity to learn and practice self-regulation skills, build self-confidence, increase vocabulary, build math skills, develop familiarity and positive feelings themselves and about books. Using rhymes and songs during family engagement programs enables educators to give parents tips about child development while encouraging appropriate, nurturing physical behavior between parents and their children. After experiencing brain development in a fun and unforgettable way, we’ll examine how research findings can be translated into rhyme and song activities for children of all ages and abilities in classrooms, family child care settings, library programs, during home visitations, in children’s hospital wards, and during family engagement programs.

Betsy Diamant-Cohen, Ph.D., Mother Goose on the Loose Early Literacy Program

Working with children is joyful and rewarding but it also takes great reserves of strength and energy. Discover ways to use Heart-Centered Self-Care techniques to support yourself and your teachers while creating a foundation for a well-working organization.

Heart-Centered begins with an appreciation for the wonders of the world and the people around us. It is a way of leading that honors individual gifts and helps teachers bring their best selves to their work with children. Organizations led by heart-centered leaders become interdependent, mutually supportive, and joyful. That doesn’t mean people don’t work hard, get discouraged at times, or face challenges. What it does mean is that any challenge is secondary to the sense of purpose and pleasure felt by a shared commitment to an important mission.

Through interactive experiences discover how an appreciation of the world around us can guide interactions with teachers, children and families. Participants will leave with a set of self-care tools to help cultivate a Heart-Centered work environment.

Heather Fox & Kirsten Haugen, Nature Explore

Research has shown self-regulation skills are the underlying proficiencies necessary for learning and success in school. These skills begin developing in infancy and their development can be supported both at home and in the classroom. We will discuss what self-regulation is and review/practice activities for infants and toddlers that will support its development. The session will explore ways these activities and self-regulation development can be supported both at home and in the classroom.

Patti Jo Wilson, Lakeshore Learning

This interactive session supports the caregivers understanding of how music and movement can be used to intentionally support language, fine motor, gross motor, and social emotional development. Caregivers will explore ideas and examples of musical activities to incorporate into daily routines. We will also explore playing the ukulele.

Paula Stewart, BA, Infant Toddler Specialist, LINK Child Care Resource & Referral Agency

Like it or not, since everything infants and toddlers encounter is new, exciting, and a chance to learn, caregivers are Professional Role Models. Based on the book, Babies In The Rain, this session looks at the importance of the emotional environments caregivers create with young children. It also looks at the importance of Here and Now caregiving and at meeting children where they are developmentally.

Jeff Johnson, Explorations Early Learning

This session is a game of Jeopardy that will give the participants the opportunity to have some fun at the end of the conference and learn some new information.

Bethany Houchins, M.Ed., BA, I/T Specialist, MountainHeart South