May 27, 2020 Working With Young Children During COVID-19 Join HiMama on May 28 for their HiMama Helps webinar, “Working With Young Children During COVID-19.” About This session will explore ways to support young children as new guidelines refine what “normal” looks like in child care. Presenters will discuss the following: how to prepare young children to return to a child care setting, how to support families and staff during the pandemic, what it means to serve essential workers, and additional tips through a community Q&A session. Registration To register and learn more, visit the event webpage.
May 12, 2020 Just Breathe: Discussing Ways to Relieve Workplace Stress Everyone with a job feels the pressure of work-related stress at some point, even those who love what they do. While we can’t always avoid on-the-job tension, we can take steps to manage work-related stress. This online course introduces its participants’ potential relief strategies for workplace stress. Through varied group discussions and engaging exercises, we invite each participant to identify and define stress through a uniquely personal lens, reflect upon their personal role in the creation and reduction of stress, and think of personal and group strategies for relieving stress. Limited spaces are available. All registrations must be submitted by May 20 at 5 p.m. Course Information Timeline: May 22 – June 12, 2020 Instructors: Sarah Byrne Houser and Mimi Loughead CKC: D6.4 C1 Keystone STARS Alignment: SQ. 3.4.5 CDA Subject Area: Maintaining a Commitment to Professionalism. Three PQAS and Act 48 hours available. Registration To register, please visit the event registration page. More Information For more information, contact Rosie Hogan at rosie@tryingtogether.org.
May 5, 2020 Promotion, Prevention, and Intervention Services for Children Join the Pennsylvania Association for the Education of Young Children (PennAEYC) on May 13 for their webinar “Promotion, Prevention, and Intervention Services for Children” to better understand how to support children, families, and staff as they seek to support young children during the COVID-19 pandemic. About Join Brandy Fox, Director of Cross-Sector IECMH Initiatives for the Pennsylvania Key, for a conversation about early childhood services grounded in a promotion, prevention, and intervention framework. Learn about the general landscape of early childhood services and “where” they fall on this continuum. Identify simple steps that may help families navigate these services to best meet the needs of their children. Registration To register, visit the event webpage.
Caring for Children in Group Settings During COVID-19 Do you have questions on how to keep children and staff healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic? Join the National Center on Early Childhood Health and Wellness (NCECHW) on May 6 for their webinar, “Caring for Children in Group Settings During COVID-19: A Follow-up Conversation.” About Early childhood education (ECE) programs have many questions about how to keep children and staff healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Guidance for open programs is now available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics. This question-and-answer chat is a follow-up to the webcast Caring for Children in Group Settings During COVID-19 to add guidance from pediatric infectious disease expert, Michele Cheung MD, FAAP. Registration To register, visit the event webpage. The registration link can be used for both the live event and on-demand viewing. The recording will be available to watch on-demand starting 30 minutes after the live event ends, until May 31, 2020. Because access to the live event is limited and the session may be full, the hosts recommend watching the webinar on-demand. A version with English closed captions will also be posted on the Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center (ECLKC) website in the future. *Information provided by NCECHW
August 8, 2019 Applications Open | Building Capacity for Coaching Initiative In collaboration with The Pennsylvania Key, the Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) recently announced the “Building Capacity for Coaching Initiative” in support of developing internal coaches in STAR 3 and STAR 4 facilities. About The purpose of this initiative is to leverage coaching supports from Penn State Better Kid Care (BKC) and other professional growth activities to develop internal coaches in STAR 3 and STAR 4 facilities. Selected applicants will demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of early childhood practices and must have the approval of their administrator or director as this will require a time commitment. Family Child Care providers can apply if they are able to support other family child care providers in their coaching efforts and commit the time necessary to complete the program. Benefits Facilities will develop the internal capacity to offer coaching to other staff to ensure continuous quality improvement; receive exceptional professional development opportunities at no cost as well as access to the Learning Community; and gain valuable insight as OCDEL works to learn about needed coaching supports for ECE providers. Coaching & Staff coaches receive a one-time stipend of $2,500 and teachers receive supports and coaching on areas of practice that can strengthen or improve child experiences in their classroom. What Will Be Expected Facilities participating in this program must meet the following expectations: Facility identify a coach (lead teacher, director, assistant director, or another instructional leader); have two teachers, identified by the coach, complete four free modules; have coach-staff teams select one coaching guide as a framework for coaching; and complete additional recommended professional development supports as needed. Coach attend a one-day in-person coach training; complete two free BKC online modules; observe and then facilitate bi-weekly coaching sessions with selected teachers; complete a coaching log; participate in monthly learning community webinars; and participate in two touchpoints per month. Applications To apply for this program, visit their online form. All applications must be submitted by Friday, September 20, 2019. Learn More To learn more, visit the Pennsylvania Key website. Questions For more information or questions, contact Barbara Willier at barwil@pakeys.org.
February 5, 2019 All for All Spring Educator Forum Join All for All, the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh, and Remake Learning for a day-long forum focused on the ways that teachers, staff, and administration can create more welcoming school environments for immigrant and refugee students. For further information, visit the event website.
October 18, 2018 Worst Case Scenarios: Child Care Provider Emergency Planning and Management Register today for the Worst Case Scenarios min-conference. Pre-registration is required. Child care providers, whether a single family home provider or staff at large center, need to have a plan and be prepared for challenging situations that could threaten children and staff, including the impact on children and staff with special health care needs and disabilities. The goal of this conference is to provide information that will improve caregiver’s knowledge of what to do in emergency situations, and familiarize them with the local people to contact. The cost is $15 per person for the half-day conference which includes a continental breakfast. PQAS hours are available. View this flyer for event and registration details.
January 9, 2018 UnConference Through the generous support of PNC Grow Up Great, Trying Together is proud to present a series of UnConferences as part of its leadership and professional development courses. <span data-mce-type="bookmark" style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" class="mce_SELRES_start"></span> About The UnConference is an innovative, hands-on professional development training format where a deeper experience is provided around a particular theme. Local and national speakers are invited to present and participants are encouraged to engage hands-on in the workshops. The day concludes with a roundtable discussion on how to apply these experiences and ideas in the early childhood environment as well as share ideas on how to partner with new colleagues. Would you like to hear about future UnConferences? Sign up to receive emails from us. Upcoming Unconferences UnConference: Navigating Early Intervention Partnerships, March 8 UnConference: School-Age/Out-of-School Time, June 5 (more information to come) Past UnConferences 2024 Beyond the Playground: Advancing Racial Equity in Play, October 14 UnConference: Launching School Age Summer Programming, June 6 UnConference: Mental Health in Early Childhood Education, February 19 2023 UnConference: Race Equity in Practice, February 11 2022 UnConference: Creating a Safe Place with Trauma-Informed Care, February 8–18 2021 Exceptional Care with a Team Approach to Inclusion, January 19–29 2020 Virtual UnConference: Caring in a “New Normal”, September 14–23 Re-Opening to Our ‘New Normal’, May 26 2019 The Business of Child Care, October 19 Young Learner’s Guide to Tech, March 30 2018 P.R.I.D.E. Speaker Series – Reimagining Early Childhood: Being Intentional About Race and Young Children, September 27 Being Intentional about Race and Young Children, September 29 Play for Change, October 30 Destination Moon, November 3 2017 Maker Tots, May 20 (part of Remake Learning Days) Mindfulness, August 10 Get Dirty!, September 22 Friedberg-Segel Early Literacy featuring Hervé Tullet, October 14 2016 An unprecedented six UnConferences were held, including: Total Leadership, March 9 Maker Tots, May 14 Children+Arts 2.0 Get Dirty! Fred Rogers—The Friend, Teacher, Advocate Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood 2015 The UnConference: Children+Arts was presented with the Reggio Emilia Pittsburgh Initiative, NAREA and the Jewish Federation of Pittsburgh. In addition to a private tour of the “Wonder of Learning” exhibit presented by NAREA, this UnConference explored the importance of arts in early childhood education and highlighted its evolution of innovation through the lens of Reggio Emilia’s philosophy. Keynote speaker was Reggio Emilia expert Jennifer Strange. Workshop presenters included: Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, Opera Theater of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, Attack Theatre, Gemini Theater, Pittsburgh Opera, Carnegie Museum of Art and the Andy Warhol Museum. 2013 The inaugural UnConference, Game On! was presented in collaboration with the CREATE Lab and Google Pittsburgh. This UnConference focused on how to embrace and appropriately use old and new technology with young children. In addition, Trying Together presented a “hackathon,” during which app ideas presented by teachers were brought to life through a hackathon team of programmers, designers, and teachers. Keynote speaker was Illah Nourbakhsh from CREATE Lab. Workshop presenters included: Google Pittsburgh, TechShop, Dream Flight Adventures at Shaler Elementary, Pittsburgh Center for Creative ReUse, Schell Games, MAYA Design, Education Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon University, CREATE Lab, MakeShop at Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, Etcetera Edutainment and Assemble.
