Every Child's Champion

Send us a text Have you ever considered that PLAY might be the missing piece in making children’s education truly effective and joyful? Join me in this episode as we explore the transformative potential of PLAY-based learning in the classroom. Reconnect with your inner child and rediscover the joy of teaching. We know how life's pressures can overshadow our passion for education but there are strategies to reignite that spark through playful engagement. Educators can become co-players in inquiry-based learning, helping children naturally grasp complex concepts like stabilization through playful interactions. This episode is packed with practical strategies to elevate your teaching game! Learn how to spark meaningful conversations with children using open-ended questions, self-talk, and parallel talk, all while fostering their language skills and critical thinking. Do you know that emotional support and secure attachments contribute significantly to both cognitive and emotional development of these children? By prioritizing these connections, educators can inspire children to become confident, problem-solving individuals. Embrace PLAY, foster curiosity, and witness the transformative impact on both you and your students. Make sure you tune in to this podcast, and share it with colleagues, as we discover the inner secrets of beingEvery Child’s Champion! (Refer to the Chapter Markers tab for time-stamped highlights) Thank you so much for joining us on today’s episode. If you liked listening to this episode, don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE!   On Apple Podcasts                      On Spotify              On Google Podcasts   Make sure you’ll never miss out, Children’s Champions!!!   For a copy of all our show notes, go HERE ß   Even better if you could also join ourFacebook Page to share your thoughts and let us fire your sparks, dear Champions! Or follow us on Instagram.   Have you missed the last episode? Take a listen here →Creating Joyful Classrooms: Enhancing Child Relationships and Educator Well-being, Ep30

Send us a Text Message. Imagine being the cornerstone of a child's development, where every action you take has the potential to shape their future. As educators, your mental, emotional, and physical well-being is indispensable. In this episode, we will delve into the profound influence you have on your students. Reflecting on self-efficacy, we urge you to list your strengths and find joy in your teaching practice, even amid the current staffing crisis and high stress levels. This episode is a tribute to your immense value, to foster a positive mindset that will enhance both your effectiveness and the learning experience for your students. Building strong relationships with students is at the heart of our discussions. Drawing from attachment theory, we’ll figure out how early relationships influence a child's ability to trust and regulate emotions. By prioritizing personal connections and maintaining a positive attitude, educators can create a secure environment that supports both emotional and behavioral development. This episode is packed with practical advice and heartfelt insights designed to help you become an even more nurturing and effective Champion for every child in your classroom. Make sure you tune in to this podcast, and share it with colleagues, as we discover the inner secrets of beingEvery Child’s Champion! (Refer to the Chapter Markers tab for time-stamped highlights) Thank you so much for joining us on today’s episode. If you liked listening to this episode, don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE! On Apple Podcasts                  On Spotify            On Google Podcasts Make sure you’ll never miss out, Children’s Champions!!! For a copy of all our show notes, go HERE 🡨 Even better if you could also join our Facebook Page to share your thoughts and let us fire your sparks, dear Champions! Or follow us on Instagram. Have you missed the last episode? Take a listen here → On Addressing Teacher Shortages and Behavioral Challenges in Early Childhood Education, Ep29

Send us a Text Message. What happens when nearly one-third of early childhood educators abandon their classrooms? The alarming ripple effects of teacher shortages, inadequate training, and rising stress levels are unraveling a crisis in early childhood education. In this eye-opening episode of Every Child's Champion, Sara unpacks the statistics and stories behind this troubling trend. Let’s explore the urgent necessity for systemic change, including better support structures like mental health consultants, on-site coaching, and comprehensive training to help educators navigate these turbulent waters. There's hope! This episode can guide you to actionable strategies that can transform early education experiences for both teachers and children. Every Child's Champion offers resources and community support designed to empower teachers. Let’s uncover how we can collectively bring about the broader societal and systemic changes needed to fortify early childhood education for the future. Make sure you tune in to this podcast, and share it with colleagues, as we discover the inner secrets of being Every Child’s Champion! (Refer to the Chapter Markers tab for time-stamped highlights) Thank you so much for joining us on today’s episode. If you liked listening to this episode, don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE! On Apple Podcasts On Spotify On Google Podcasts Make sure you’ll never miss out, Children’s Champions!!! For a copy of all our show notes, go HERE 🡨 Even better if you could also join our Facebook Page to share your thoughts and let us fire your sparks, dear Champions! Or follow us on Instagram. Have you missed the last episode? Take a listen here → Preventing and Responding to Challenging Behaviors: The Pyramid Model, with Deidre Harris, Ep28

Pyramid Model Overview

The Key to Building Strong Relationships with Parents of the Most 'at risk' Children

These kids are STILL driving me crazy!

As we've shared in other podcasts, the prenatal to 3 period of development is all about incredible amounts of brain development that is occurring at this time, with billions of new connections forming the very architecture of the brain not only during the prenatal period but for the entire span of these early years. The sensory inputs (not the least of which is touch) a child is receiving throughout this period is what makes this development happen. In this Sensori-motor period, the ability to touch, taste, smell, see, and hear the world around babies is literally the curricular landscape for infant / toddler teachers. This week's podcast is all about the power of touch for infants and the parents, caregivers and other adults to whom they become attached. An interview with certified infant massage instructor Lynn Barts, owner of Baby and Me, LLC. Lynn brings over 29 years of experience in Prenatal to 3 work, with Early Intervention, Home Visiting, and Early Childhood Professional Development for teachers and caregivers. She shares what a beautiful compliment to the parent-infant bonding experience Infant Massage can be, as well as how this simple but powerful practice can be offered through early childhood programs across multiple sectors of the early childhood field. 

Today’s podcast message goes to all children’s champions out there. Sara is sharing ideas and resources for our own emotional and mental health. Difficult times will always be ahead of us even post pandemic and still, teachers are really hit the hardest. So, how are you all holding up emotionally and physically?  When our minds are under stress, it is really difficult to focus. So in this episode, Sara will take you to a place of mindfulness, of simply paying attention to the experiences of paying attention. Let us support emotion management and reduce the stress that might have built up since the pandemic started. Every teacher should learn to do this for their own self-care practice. So we can give from a place of inner fulfillness, rather than depletion (from the article of Sharon Salzberg, Care for the Caregiver: How to Practice Self-Compassion).  Make sure you tune in to this podcast, share it with colleagues, as we discover the inner secrets of being Every Child’s Champion! Thank you so much for joining us on today’s episode. If you liked listening to this episode, don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE!  On Apple Podcasts                      On Spotify              On Google Podcasts   Make sure you’ll never miss out, Children’s Champions!!!   For a copy of all our show notes, go HERE    Even better if you could also join our Facebook Page to share your thoughts and let us fire your sparks, dear Champions!   Have you missed the last episode? Take a listen here →Anxiety, Depression, and the Polyvagal Theory: My Story, Ep23

In this podcast, Sara shares her own personal history with trauma, depression, and anxiety, and introduces what she has learned about the different ways children cope with trauma. Why do some children have hairpin triggers, lashing out at their classmates, teachers, and virtually anyone else who tries to set limits on their behavior? On the other hand, why are some children “walled off,” aloof, or mostly disconnected from others, socially? Humans are social beings, and we all need other people. When children experience scary, stressful situations in their lives, this can impact the ways they relate to others, and we see this regularly with some children who have great difficulty adapting to basic Pre-K expectations. The Polyvagal Theory provides a framework for understanding the many complex behaviors teachers are faced with on a daily basis, as well as the most helpful ways for responding to them. So in this podcast, we look at the different response patterns that are built-in to all of us, and how things like abuse, neglect, or chronically high-stress levels can set children up for some very maladaptive social behaviors. We also talk about the primary solution to helping these children adapt and learn how to interact in more socially acceptable ways. Make sure you tune in to this podcast, share it with colleagues, as we discover the inner secrets of being Every Child’s Champion! (Refer to the Chapter Markers tab for time-stamped highlights) Thank you so much for joining us on today’s episode. If you liked listening to this episode, don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE! On Apple Podcasts On Spotify      On Google Podcasts Make sure you’ll never miss out, Children’s Champions!!! Even better if you could also join our Facebook Page to share your thoughts and let us fire your sparks, dear Champions! Have you missed the last episode? Take a listen here →A Play Therapist’s Perspective on the Impacts of Trauma on Children’s Behavior, Ep22

“You need to work on building your relationship with that child.” How many times have you heard this from a supervisor or coach, when trying to get support for dealing with extremely challenging behavior? What more do we have to DO, beyond what we do with all students? Our guest today will answer this question, as we explore the reasons why the RELATIONSHIP you build with a challenging child is the  KEY to healing their heart and changing their behavior. In today’s podcast, play therapist Megan Wolf expands our understanding of how things like abuse, neglect, and dangerous home environments can impair children’s ability to form relationships and get along with others. Megan is a licensed clinical social worker in the state of Missouri who works with all ages of children, and their families. Her caseload includes some of the most challenging kids who have experienced abuse, neglect, developmental trauma, severe medical issues or disability. Developmental trauma is the cumulative impact of chronic, high levels of stress and fear. These experiences can elicit strong feelings and physical reactions that impact children’s development and cause major disruptions in their behavior and their ability to form relationships. As teachers, we can provide immediate aid to these children in ways that are fun and helpful for the child. This episode is going to open our eyes to some simple but very effective methods of building relationships, calming, and building social skills with some of our most challenging children. Make sure you tune in to this podcast, share it with colleagues, as we discover the inner secrets of beingEvery Child’s Champion! (Refer to the Chapter Markers tab for time-stamped highlights) About Megan Wolf Megan Wolf is a licensed clinical social worker in the state of Missouri. She got her MSW from Washington University in St. Louis Brown School of Social Work, and her undergraduate degree was from Augustana College in Illinois in sociology and social welfare. Megan works with lots of different types of families and lots of different types of kiddos. She does early intervention and deals with children who have developmental delays, medical issues, and disabilities. She also helps parents work through that. She practices play therapy with some of those children, specifically the children who've had mental or medical traumas who are in foster care or were in the foster care system and subsequently were adopted. She helps these kiddos survive to learn some skills and to learn how to regulate their bodies and deal with their traumas. ____________________________________________________________ Thank you so much for joining us on today’s episode. If you liked listening to this episode, don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE! On Apple Podcasts On Spotify On Google Podcasts Make sure you’ll never miss out, Children’s Champions!!!  Even better if you could also join our Facebook Page to share your thoughts and let us fire your sparks, dear Champions! Have you missed the last episode? Take a listen here →Children and Trauma: A Look at Resilience in Early Childhood Development, with Allen Rosales, Ep21

The incidence of childhood trauma is higher than most people think: many, many of our children have experienced what experts refer to as “developmental trauma,” meaning the cumulative effects of chronically dangerous and stressful environments and daily life circumstances. Often, we teachers are unaware of the fact that challenging behaviors in the classroom are actually symptoms of this early trauma. There are strategies available to help teachers and children alike in developing resilience throughout their day-to-day living. This episode  hopes to bring a trauma-informed lens to all of our work.  Our guest for today’s podcast, Allen Rosales, has been in the early childhood field for  over 27 years, and is the Director of Professional Learning and Development for the Carole Robertson Center for Learning in Chicago, a large, urban Head Start agency. He has published an early childhood curriculum book for teachers entitled Mathematizing, an Emergent Math Curriculum Approach for Young Children. In 2021, he published Allen children's books series focused on supporting and developing children's resiliency skills. Allen’s impression of the roots of childhood trauma, the toxic stress that children in poverty are exposed to, and his appreciation for the keys to building resiliency can benefit all of us. His books and his explanations will take us all deeper into understanding what children need in order to cope with traumatic or stressful experiences and develop life skills for weathering whatever storms may come in their futures.  Make sure you tune in to this podcast, share it with colleagues, as we discover  the inner secrets of being Every Child’s Champion! (Refer to the Chapter Markers tab for time stamped highlights)  About Allen Rosales  Allen Rosales has been a teacher, an education manager, a coach, and is still currently a  professor and a national presenter. He is an author and now he's currently the Director  of professional learning and development for the Carole Robertson Centre for Learning  in Chicago. He designs and facilitates professional learning communities for leadership  and for teaching staff, in the process of trying to enhance the learning climate and the  culture of the organization. Allen has published several books. He's published an early childhood curriculum book  for teachers that was titled Mathematizing: An Emergent Math Curriculum Approach  for Young Children, which is a really good book. Also, in the summer of 2021, Allen  published a series of four children's books that are focused on supporting and  developing children's resiliency skills.  Thank you so much for joining us on today’s episode. If you liked listening to this  episode, don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE!  On Apple Podcasts On Spotify On Google Podcasts Make sure you’ll never miss out, Children’s Champions!!!  Even better if you could also join our Facebook Page to share your thoughts and let us fire your sparks, dear Champs!  Have you missed the last episode?  Take a listen here 🡪 Push Past It! An  interview with Dr. Angela Searcy, Ep20

Research has shown that teachers who provide high levels of emotional support for their students (create a positive climate, are highly sensitive, and support children’s autonomy and individuality) AND who provide high levels of classroom organization interactions (supporting behavior management, productivity, and engagement levels), these classrooms have lower levels of aggressive behaviors! Dr. Angela Searcy, the researcher, professor, speaker, and author of the book “Push Past It: A Positive Approach to Challenging Classroom Behaviors,” is our guest for today’s podcast. In her lively, energetic, and insightful style, Dr. Searcy reminds us all that it really is the teacher who determines how successfully challenging behaviors will get turned around. You won’t want to miss this! Make sure you tune in to this podcast, share it with our fellow champions as we discover the inner secrets of being Every Child’s Champion!   (Refer to the Chapter Markers tab for time stamped highlights) About Dr. Angela Searcy Dr. Searcy is an author, a national speaker, and trainer. She's been in the education field for lots of years. She has a doctorate in education and her specialization has been in neuroscience. Her research revolves around brain based learning as assessed by the CLASS Assessment Scoring System assessment scoring system and its correlation to aggressive behaviors in preschool kids. She published a book called “Push Past It: A Positive Approach to Challenging Behaviors”, through Griffin House Publishing. Dr. Searcy has been adjunct faculty and a seminar leader as well at Erikson Institute. She is the owner and founder of Simple Solutions Educational Services. Also, she's on TV and radio programs all over Chicago, Illinois, and nationally. Thank you so much for joining us on today’s episode. If you liked listening to this episode, don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE! On Apple Podcasts On Spotify On Google Podcasts Make sure you’ll never miss out, Children’s Champions!!! Even better if you could also join our Facebook Page to share your thoughts and let us fire your sparks, dear Champs! Have you missed the last episode? Take a listen here → Equity and Implicit Bias, Part 1 (Ep 19) 

Everywhere we look, on every news channel, all our social media feeds, all around us, we see race-related actions and expressions, both hate-charged and promoting of unity and healing. Racial attitudes have become blatant and polarized, more so than many of us can ever remember. And now we even have an extensive research base supporting the notion that many of our policies in education and child care have been influenced by racial bias. In this the first part of a multi-episode podcast, we lay out some of the topics and issues related to the problem. How we think about and how we treat children and families of color should be on the forefront of all of our minds, because we have a real problem in our country with suspending and expelling children of color at more than twice the rate of white children. Additionally, children of color make up a disproportionate amount of our kids who experience trauma and live in poverty another outcome of our inequitable systems. If we are willing to be open, be honest, and share our own narratives about race within safe coworker teams, we can all play a part towards creating more equitable classrooms and learning experiences for all our children.

So your program is re-opening after a long period of quarantine. So much to do to get ready- so much stress! In this episode of the Every Child's Champion podcast, Sara gives you several key areas of focus and stresses the most important things you can do to ensure a smooth and healthy return for everyone. She shares a plethora of great resources for helping kids understand new routines, systems, and protocols; providing clear rules and routines; and building positive relationships right from the start. 

In this episode, Sara will explain the executive function skills of self regulation. Self Regulation capacities involve calming the physical body, understanding and expressing emotions, and having some problem-solving skills. Although developing self regulation depends on brain development, we know that brain development itself is highly dependent upon the relationships and interactions children experience with parents and teachers. In addition to providing a safe, nurturing place to grow, there is a great deal that teachers and parents can do to proactively teach self-calming, management of emotions, and problem-solving in relationships with peers. The more children have problems coping with expectations and frustrations, the more we need to focus on teaching self regulation skills. The good news is, with the right mix of patient, calm, co-regulation by adults, and some very explicit teaching of specific self regulation skills, children can learn to take control of stressful situations and get along with others in learning settings and at home. 

This week we are reviving part of our first broadcast on "How to enjoy your job". A year ago, we would have thought things couldn't get any more stressful when it came to the work we do and juggling it all with families, education, etc.....None of us was prepared for a pandemic! Our world has really changed, and so has teaching! So it is a great time to revisit the topic of stress reduction, and getting our mindsets in a positive place about the work we're doing. Never was creating a safe, consistent learning space for our students more important than it is at this very moment. And never was there a more critical time for guarding and championing our own health and mental health! Find out how in this podcast.

 Drawn from the e-book “Think UP! Developing High Level Instructional Supports – A Guidebook for Coaches and Instructional Leaders,” (which is currently in development!) this episode looks at teacher intentionality. The ultimate goal is for all teachers to become conscious and competent practitioners. In this podcast, Sara discusses the benefits of pushing oneself, as a teacher, to become more intentional, and what this means. Using some real classroom examples, we promote taking the initiative with our reflective practices and doing several things to move towards greater intentionality: 1)to carve out specific time each week to reflect upon our teaching practices and the outcomes they are generating; 2)to make more efforts to dialogue with colleagues about the individual instructional support strategies (CLASS™ indicators and behavioral markers) so that we deepen our own understandings; 3)to think about what connections to previous learning or to their own experience children might make; and 4) to mindfully plan specific instructional conversations, open-ended questions, analysis and reasoning strategies, advanced vocabulary, etc. when you do your lesson planning. In this podcast Sara outlines key behaviors of an intentional teacher, when it comes to engaging in high level instructional supports. 

Lions, and tigers, and bears – Oh My! Water, and sand, and air – what flies!?  Flowers, and weather, and bugs – these too! Planets, and textures, and weights – computers, machines, and tunnels and ramps! Hot and cold, smooth or sticky. Skin, fur, feathers, and scales! Experimenting, mixing, and cooking! All of these things fit in the category of science teaching and learning. It’s about things that that live, things that grow, things that move, things that happen, causes and effects, tools and technology. In fact, there are sciences concepts and processes to be found in every single topic and every single center in the Pre-K classroom. As teachers, many of us need to change our lenses and view Science as “the multitude of opportunities to WONDER” that the world around us holds for not only children but for us! With this podcast, I’m going to explore science in the early childhood classroom. We’ll talk about standards, learning objectives, planning, and questioning strategies you can use to promote inquiry, exploration, experimentation, and how to capture that sense of wonder that’s so, so important! With an open mind and an expanded view, we realize that there’s science in EVERYTHING, and we can capitalize on children’s innate curiosity and inquisitiveness to achieve high levels of engagement and open the doors for so much rich learning and deeper understandings of the world all around them. 

Math is a subject alot of teachers either shy away from or don't really know how or what to teach. Yet, research has shown that early Math skills are predictive of later math AND reading achievement; there is a strong tie between children's expressive vocabulary and their math learning in Pre-K. In this two-part podcast (episodes 012 and 013), Sara looks at the number and math items from the ECERS-3, and goes into depth on teaching math in meaningful ways. She reviews the many math concepts and skills teachers should introduce to students, and how to make math fun and meaningful by connecting these concepts and skills to the topics and activities children are most interested in. Challenging children's higher-order thinking skills by focusing in on the "how" and the "why" of things, utilizing number, measurement, shapes and spatial awareness to find the answers to children's important questions - all of this is done within the context of children's play and the every day routines and activities like outdoor time and making snack. Through this podcast, Sara offers some words of inspiration that will help teachers look at the teaching of math concepts and skills as an opportunity for fun, creativity, and student engagement.  

Math is a subject alot of teachers either shy away from or don't really know how or what to teach. Yet, research has shown that early Math skills are predictive of later math AND reading achievement; there is a strong tie between children's expressive vocabulary and their math learning in Pre-K. In this two-part podcast (episodes 012 and 013), Sara looks at the number and math items from the ECERS-3, and goes into depth on teaching math in meaningful ways. She reviews the many math concepts and skills teachers should introduce to students, and how to make math fun and meaningful by connecting these concepts and skills to the topics and activities children are most interested in. Challenging children's higher-order thinking skills by focusing in on the "how" and the "why" of things, utilizing number, measurement, shapes and spatial awareness to find the answers to children's important questions - all of this is done within the context of children's play and the every day routines and activities like outdoor time and making snack. Through this podcast, Sara offers some words of inspiration that will help teachers look at the teaching of math concepts and skills as an opportunity for fun, creativity, and student engagement.