Whenever I go to a conference or
workshop I like to post about it, so here goes!
On February 28th &
March 1st I went to the Kansas Division for Early
Childhood Conference with two other preschool teachers in our
district. The keynote speaker was from the University of Washington
and spoke about a project there dealing primarily with children who
had been identified and placed on the Autism Spectrum. Following her
address, there were breakout session the rest of the morning.
The first session I went to talked
about the positive aspect of flexible seating, which I would LOVE to
incorporate into my classroom environment somehow. I am currently
researching the cost and feasibility of this idea! Next, it was time
for lunch.
After lunch, we thought we would
attend a session entitled “Move & Grow Together: Creative
Movement Groups for Young Children. We thought it might get our
blood pumping after a delicious lunch. We were sadly mistaken.
While the information shared was good, it did not involve attendee
participation.
The next session I attended was
“From Frustration to Success: A Social-Emotional Journey.” I was
thrilled to hear the speaker talk about all of those piece of
classroom practices that are near and dear to my heart. In addition,
she mentioned my three edu-heroes: James Moffett for Derby Hills
Elementary School in Derby, KS, Jim Sporleder my guru from Walla
Walla, WA, and Rebecca Pancratz-Lewis from ESSDACK, right here in
Hutchinson!!
The last session of the day that I
attended was “Strategies to Meet the Social and Emotional Needs of
Early Childhood Students. This covered some of the same ideas and
strategies I already use in my classroom, as well as some other ideas
I may look in to.
The next day there were just two
sessions: “Beyond the Typical Preschool Classroom” and
“Exploring Kansas MTSS and Alignment Through a Preschool Lens.”
The one about beyond a typical preschool classroom was amazing and
interactive! We learned about different ways pf engaging families,
implementing flexible seating, and STEM activities for Preschool. So
much fun!!
The last session we attended was,
honestly, a stab in the dark, but we were so glad we went to it! The
facilitator talked about how preschool is foundational in the public
school setting. Since we will be having a district preschool meeting
this next week, we are taking the ideas shared in this session to
that meeting.
Reflecting on those two days, I
would have to say that I learned a great deal, my brain is spinning,
and I was blessed to spend two days with our fabulous preschool
team...even though I missed my students terribly!!
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