Early Childhood Education Professional Development Programs

2020 Training Dates

Nebraska Extension’s The Learning Child team is pleased to offer live, interactive, online professional development opportunities throughout the months of April and May. These classes will be FREE, as we do our part to support our communities during this unprecedented time. All classes offer NDE APPROVED in-service hours!


Date \| Time	Topic	Description	Cost \| In-Service	Contact
10/16, 10/23, 10/30 \| 6:30 – 8:30 pm	Go NAP SACC (attendance is required at all 3 dates of the training series)	Go Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Child Care (NAP SACC) is designed to promote healthy child development by supporting healthy eating and physical activity for the children in your care. It is intended for providers that care for children birth to 5 years of age. Ideally, child care centers will bring a team to the training, consisting of the director/assistant-director and your lead teachers for infants, toddlers and preschoolers.	No Cost \| 6 hrs.	Audra Losey - alosey2@unl.edu or Register Here
04/06 \| 5:30 – 7:30 pm	Cultivating Healthy, Intentional, Mindful Educators (CHIME)	The CHIME Program provides education and guidance on how to incorporate mindfulness and reflective practice into your daily routine, teaching and caregiving. Engaging in mindfulness and reflective practice has many benefits for health and well-being of both providers and young children — including reduced stress, improved emotion management, better sleep quality, increased focus and attention, and enhanced relationships. There is a 2-hour introductory course and an optional follow up course, over 7 weeks. You can attend JUST the 2-hour course, but you must attend the 2-hour course to attend the 7 weekly sessions.	$10/person - MUST Prepay \| 2 hrs.	Katie Krause - katie.krause@unl.edu or Register Here
04/13, 04/20, 04/27, 05/04, 05/11, 05/18, Tuesday 05/26 \| 5:30 – 7:30 pm	CHIME Follow Up Sessions	Limited spots available, participants should try to attend all 7 sessions if possible.	$75/person \| 14 hrs.	Katie Krause - katie.krause@unl.edu or Register Here
05/07 \| 1:00 – 2:30 pm	Showing Children’s Learning Through Documentation	Documenting Children’s learning is a crucial tool for planning and assessment. We will talk about a variety of ways that you can document children’s learning, including digital documentation through various apps. During this class, participants will learn the basics of what documentation is, how to start or strengthen documentation practices, and why documentation is important. We will share ideas for documenting learning, see examples from other teachers, and create a documentation action plan. An additional hour of credit will be available by completing and submitting optional activities following the class.	FREE!!! \| 1.5 hrs. of inservice - 2.5 hrs. total available.	Katie Krause - katie.krause@unl.edu or Register Here
05/14 \| 1:00 – 3:00 pm (this is a repeat of the class offered on 04/07)	Responsive Routines and Environments	Promoting Social Emotional Competence is key to children’s success in school and life. In this training, we will discuss how to support young children’s social emotional development through the routines and environments that we create for them while they are in childcare.	FREE!!! \| 2 hrs.	Katie Krause - katie.krause@unl.edu or Register Here
05/20 \| 1:00 – 3:00 pm OR 6:30 – 8:30 pm	Creating a Natural Learning Environment in Your Outdoor Space	Over the last decade there has been a huge movement in response to the lack of time children spend in the outdoors. During this class, we will talk about the many benefits of children spending time outdoors and talk about the barriers we experience in getting children outdoors more often. We will also take time to think about our own outdoor spaces and brainstorm ideas to make them more natural, comfortable and engaging for children. Some programs may be interested in following up with additional assistance to create a design for a naturalized outdoor space, including how to find funding and grant opportunities!	FREE!!! \| 2 hrs.	Katie Krause - katie.krause@unl.edu or Register Here
06/05 \| 1:00 – 2:00 pm OR 06/08 \| 7:00 – 8:00 pm	Gardening with Young Children	This class is for adults who care for young children, who are interested in starting a garden. We will go over the basics of starting a vegetable garden and how to integrate caring for the garden with your daily activities and curriculum, for children ages birth to 5.	FREE!!! \| 1.0 hr.	Katie Krause - katie.krause@unl.edu or Register Here
06/09 \| 6:30 – 7:30 pm	Supporting Children’s Well-being During Change	The coronavirus outbreak has led to many changes in our lives. While information and recommendations may change during this uncertain time, what we do know is that children continue to learn, develop and thrive in safe, predictable, loving environments. Following best practice recommendations can support young children and their families as they return to child care during this pandemic. Join us for an interactive discussion about supporting children’s well-being during change. Holly Hatton-Bowers, University of Nebraska - Lincoln and Sami Bradley, Rooted in Relationships will start us off with the latest research and information on this topic. Following their presentation, Nebraska Extension Educators will facilitate small group discussions in break-out rooms. Space is limited and we are expecting this class to be in high demand. Sign up soon!	FREE!!! \| 1 hr.	Katie Krause - katie.krause@unl.edu or Register Here
06/09 \| 1:00 – 3:00 pm OR 06/10 \| 6:30 – 8:30 pm	Helping Children Cope with Crises and Helping Caregivers Recover: Self-Care Choose a day that works for you!	Teachers, childcare providers and volunteers working with children following (or during) a crises can be overwhelmed by the emotional toll taken on the children they serve, their staff, as well as their own personal lives. While many of those who work with children on a daily basis are experts in supporting children through stressful times, it can be very challenging to support children during and after a community-wide emergency. This course was designed to help equip child-serving professionals with tools to take care of children and themselves.	FREE!!! \| 2 hrs.	Katie Krause - katie.krause@unl.edu or Register Here
06/10 \| 7:00 – 8:00 pm	4-H STEM Reading Connections Early Childhood Program: Option #2 Download the Flyer	Discover how you can incorporate the newly developed STEM Reading Connections storybook guides into your program. The storybook guides aim to provide early childhood professionals and families with learning resources to support literacy development, enhance relationships, and make connections with local libraries. Register by May 4th to receive your zoom link via email. To learn more about the Storybook Guide visit the website: https://child.unl.edu/nebraska-4-h-stem-reading-connections-program.	FREE!!! \| 1 hr.	Sarah Roberts - sarah.roberts@unl.edu or Register Here
06/16 \| 1:00 – 2:30 pm OR 7:00 – 8:30 pm	Child-led Play and Learning through Emergent Curriculums	Learn how to identify the interests of the children in your classroom and discover how tailoring your curriculum to follow children’s interests will help create a higher quality learning experience, as well as reducing problem behaviors and your stress level! Come prepared for a great discussion with your fellow participants!	FREE!!! \| 1.5 to 2 hrs.	Katie Krause - katie.krause@unl.edu or Register Here
06/18 \| 1:00 pm MT, 2:00 pm CT	Look Who’s Hatching	Hatching out chicks is a wonderful experience for young children. It’s even more fun, and full of learning opportunities, when you don’t tell the children what kind of animal is going to hatch out of the eggs. Instead, spend the 3 weeks that the eggs incubate learning about a variety of oviparous (egg laying) animals! Learn how to care for the egg and how to implement Look Who’s Hatching in your program. Participants will have the opportunity to hatch chicks in their own program for an additional fee.	FREE!!!	Katie Krause - katie.krause@unl.edu or Register Here
06/22 \| 1:00 – 2:00 pm OR 7:00 – 8:00 pm	Full STEAM Ahead – Condensed Version	What is STEAM and what does it mean for the future of education? Take home ways to excite your children (and yourself) about learning through inquiry-based, hands-on activities and experiments. Registration Deadline: June 19, 2020 Download the Flyer	FREE!!! \| 1.0 hr.	Sarah Roberts - sarah.roberts@unl.edu or Register Here
06/29 \| 1:00 – 2:00 pm OR 7:00 – 8:00 pm	What’s New in Children’s Literature?	This workshop focuses on strategies to help young children learn language and literacy. It features newly published children’s books and how to make them come alive for young children through before, during, and after reading response activities. Registration Deadline: June 26, 2020 Download the Flyer	FREE!!! \| 1.0 hr.	Sarah Roberts - sarah.roberts@unl.edu or Register Here
07/13 \| 1:00 – 2:00 pm OR 7:00 – 8:00 pm	Read for Resilience	Read for Resilience is a program to support adults in promoting young children’s resilience and understanding of their emotions. Participants will be introduced to engaging storybooks with themes of coping, ideas for prompts and activities, and ways to bring Read for Resilience to their communities. Registration Deadline: July 10, 2020 Download the Flyer	FREE \| 1.0 hr.	Sarah Roberts - sarah.roberts@unl.edu or Register Here
07/22 \| 1:00 – 2:30 pm	Introduction to Children with Autism and Other Special Needs	This professional development opportunity will focus on introducing attendees to the topic of supporting young children with autism and other special needs in home or center childcare settings. Attendees should prepare to discuss challenges they have experienced in their settings.	FREE \| 1.5 hrs.	Katie Krause - katie.krause@unl.edu or Register Here
07/23 \| 1:00 – 2:30 pm OR 7:00 – 8:30 pm	Mindfulness and Self-care	The well-being of early childhood educators is increasingly recognized as being importantly connected to high quality education and care. Practicing mindfulness provides one way of promoting well-being. Mindfulness offers strategies for maintaining health, personal well-being, developing healthy self-regulation, and providing more responsive care to children.	FREE \| 1.5 hrs.	Katie Krause - katie.krause@unl.edu or Register Here
07/27 \| 1:00 – 2:00 pm OR 7:00 – 8:00 pm	Don’t get bugged out! Exploring bugs with young children (with special guest, entomologist Dr. Jody Green!)	Young children are often fascinated by bugs. Learn about the important role bugs play in our live. Learn how to support children in there exploration of bugs, in a way that is comfortable for you, too!	FREE \| 1.0 hrs.	Katie Krause - katie.krause@unl.edu or Register Here
07/29 \| 1:00 – 2:30 pm	Supporting Children with Autism and Other Special Needs During Transitions	This professional development opportunity will focus on providing attendees with an understanding of strategies to support children with autism and special needs during transitions to and from home to childcare and during daily activities in the childcare setting. Attendees should prepare to discuss challenges they have experienced in their settings.	FREE \| 1.5 hrs.	Katie Krause - katie.krause@unl.edu or Register Here
08/25 \| 1:00 – 2:30 pm OR 7:00 – 8:30 pm ONLINE Possible in-person follow-up in early September (Date TBD)	Connecting children with nature: anytime, any place, any budget!	Learn ways to include nature in your program, no matter where your are located or what your budget is. All children should have free access to wonderful experiences in and with nature, no matter where your program is located, or what your budget is.	FREE \| 1.5 hrs.	Katie Krause - katie.krause@unl.edu or Register Here
TBD	Upcoming Classes	We have several other classes we are working to schedule in July, August, and September. Topics we are working on include: Cultivating Healthy Intentional Mindful Educators, Exploring Bugs with Young Children, Full STEAM Ahead, Reggio-inspired learning, and Harvesting and Food Safety in the Child Care Garden. If you are interested in any of these classes, you can Sign Up Here for more information.		Katie Krause - katie.krause@unl.edu
Summer of 2021	Summer “Study Tour Series”	Do to COVID-19 related concerns, the Summer Tour Series will be postponed until 2021. If you have any interest in having your program be one of our featured sites, please contact Katie Krause.		Katie Krause - katie.krause@unl.edu