The Infant Toddler Children’s Center
Acton, Massachusetts
Understanding the Power of Intentionality
Saturday, February 9, 2008
8:45 AM to Noon
3 PDPs given for attendance
$35 per person or $25 per person for 4 or more from the same school.
Do your conferences build trust and partnership through two-way conversations? Are you the thread that weaves the connection between home and school? Do you and your parents share a common language of child development, program expectations and mutual respect? Join us as we look at how observation, documentation and assessment prepare us for meaningful parent-teacher communications. We’ll reflect together about how to discuss issues in more depth and how to tackle those hard questions or conflicts that sometimes arise during parent teacher meetings. We’ll also look at how to celebrate the child-parent teacher connection as we broaden the understanding and trust between early childhood educators and families. Handouts will include samples of conferences, planning forms and suggestions for how to word your observations.
Kathy Linnane and Vivian Ricketts
Have you ever finished a great explanation to a parent on the wonderful play their child was involved in only to have her say, “But what did he learn today?” Play is essential to effective learning for young children. We as early childhood educators accept this idea readily but parents and our society in general have a hard time understanding the importance of play in young children’s lives. Come join us to discuss what play is for young children and how we can creatively get the message out to parents and our communities. In an era of standards and testing, the message about the importance of play is desperately needed!
Susan Twombly and Moe Desrosiers
Is bringing nature into the lives of children an important part of your practice? How do you or your center define your nature program within the context of the environment and your curriculum? How do you communicate these beliefs and practices to parents, while building a partnership around nature programming? Join us as we share our experience and help you explore your own values about nature. We will discuss how to include parents in several different ways as you help the children in your classroom learn about and appreciate the world around them. Together we will look at how to create and extend this enthusiasm and how to involve parents so that they, too, become active in this process.
Janet Noël and Kate Margolus
How does curriculum get built in your program? Do you struggle with ways to tell your classroom’s story? Do you sometimes wonder if your families “get it?” Wonderful things happen every day in all of our classrooms and it is our job to carry those threads from day to day, and week to week, weaving a curriculum that supports children’s thoughts and actions and reflects what we believe about children and learning. Join us as we explore some ways to support evolving curriculum ideas, in both toddler and preschool classrooms. We will have an opportunity to discuss curriculum planning, project work, journaling, and various forms of documentation that invite parents into the conversation. We will explore several projects in depth, and spend some time doing some brainstorming, based on your interests and questions.
Cindy Heaney and Kate Noland