SEL & Mental Health in Distance Learning

News

September 11, 2020

SEL & Mental Health in Distance Learning

Are you interested in learning how to implement social-emotional and mental health supports for your students and staff? Attend the webinar “SEL & Mental Health in Distance Learning: District Leaders Share Best Practices” on September 15 to hear best practices from education leaders.

About

In this webinar, presenters will share:

    • how to connect and build trust with students, laying the groundwork for engagement and learning;
    • best practices for supporting students in special education in distance learning;
    • how to ensure staff feels safe and supported;
    • how to implement SEL that supports anti-racism and equity in distance learning; and
    • how to implement digital tools in an MTSS for efficacy and sustainability.

School and district administrators will learn concrete steps they can take to deliver effective, trauma-informed SEL and mental health supports to students and staff as schools and communities continue to grapple with the challenges of COVID-19.

This recorded webinar will be of interest to school and district leaders of pre-k through high school grade levels, federal program coordinators, and those involved in student mental health.

Registration

To register and learn more, visit the event webpage.

Feelings Behind the Mask: Building Emotion Vocabulary

News

September 9, 2020

Feelings Behind the Mask: Building Emotion Vocabulary

Are you interested in learning strategies to expand children’s feeling and emotion vocabulary? Join Trying Together on September 30 for our online session, “Connections and Conversations: Feelings Behind the Mask: Building Emotion Vocabulary.”

About

Connections and Conversations Virtual Check-Ins are biweekly interactive sessions that highlight topics of interest to the field of early childhood education. Participants engage in virtual discussions with child development experts while interacting with early learning practitioners to share questions, experiences, and expertise about the highlighted topic. Sessions offer one hour of PQAS credit. Act 48 credit will not be provided.

In this session, participants will learn about strategies to expand children’s feeling vocabulary in order to support their abilities to correctly perceive and respond to feelings in themselves and others. Identifying and expressing emotions are key skills in a child’s development. Children need a large and complex feeling vocabulary to make finer discriminations between feelings, to better communicate with others about their internal affective states, and to engage in discussions about their personal experiences with the world.

Session Details

    • Session Date: Wednesday, September 30  |  6 – 7 p.m
    • Instructor: Nancy Loughead
    • CKC: Curriculum and Learning Experiences
    • CDA Subject Area: Social & Emotional Development
    • Registration Deadline: Monday, September 28

Registration

To register, visit the course PD Registry page. Space is limited.

Participants will receive the course Zoom link via email within 24 hours before the start date for the course. For questions, contact Jasmine Davis at jasmine@tryingtogether.org.

Session Rules and Guidelines

These virtual discussions are designed to provide educators the opportunity to grow professionally and share knowledge on early childhood topics. During the meeting, participants should follow the guidelines below to ensure a successful virtual meeting for all participants.

    • Please allow all participants a chance to speak. Listen respectfully and actively.
    • Commit to learning about each other, not to debating the topic.
    • Embrace differences of opinion as healthy and support each person’s authentic self-expression.
    • Participants will be muted for the beginning portion of the session.
    • Participants may use the “Raise Hand” feature in Zoom to request an opportunity to comment or ask a question. Individuals will be temporarily unmuted by the moderator.
    • Participants may type a comment or question in the Chat or may send comments or questions directly to the moderator for them to share.
    • To receive PQAS credit, you must complete an evaluation at the end of the session and include your PD Registry number.
    • Have fun, make connections, and engage in the conversations!

More Information

For questions or more information, please contact Jasmine Davis at jasmine@tryingtogether.org.

Connections and Conversations: Infant Sensory Experiences

News

Connections and Conversations: Infant Sensory Experiences

Are you interested in learning about the importance of sensory development in infants and toddlers? Join Trying Together on September 16 for our online session, “Connections and Conversations: Infant Sensory Experiences.”

About

Connections and Conversations Virtual Check-Ins are biweekly interactive sessions that highlight topics of interest to the field of early childhood education. Participants engage in virtual discussions with child development experts while interacting with early learning practitioners to share questions, experiences, and expertise about the highlighted topic. Sessions offer one hour of PQAS credit. Act 48 credit will not be provided.

This session will define and explore the processes of sensory integration and the importance of sensory development in infants and toddlers. Participants will receive an overview of infant sensory development and ways to contribute to children’s learning within classroom settings as well as adaptations that can be made for students with behaviors due to the way they process sensory experiences differently. Participants will be lead in creating various developmentally friendly sensory toys with objects found in their own homes.

Session Details

    • Session Date: Wednesday, September 16  |  6 – 7 p.m
    • Instructors: Jennifer McKain and Alicia Sebastian
    • CKC: Child Growth and Development
    • CDA Subject Area: Principles of Child Growth & Development
    • Registration Deadline: Tuesday, September 15

Registration

To register, visit the course PD Registry page. Space is limited.

Participants will receive the course Zoom link via email within 24 hours before the start date for the course. For questions, contact Jasmine Davis at jasmine@tryingtogether.org.

Session Rules and Guidelines

These virtual discussions are designed to provide educators the opportunity to grow professionally and share knowledge on early childhood topics. During the meeting, participants should follow the guidelines below to ensure a successful virtual meeting for all participants.

    • Please allow all participants a chance to speak. Listen respectfully and actively.
    • Commit to learning about each other, not to debating the topic.
    • Embrace differences of opinion as healthy and support each person’s authentic self-expression.
    • Participants will be muted for the beginning portion of the session.
    • Participants may use the “Raise Hand” feature in Zoom to request an opportunity to comment or ask a question. Individuals will be temporarily unmuted by the moderator.
    • Participants may type a comment or question in the Chat or may send comments or questions directly to the moderator for them to share.
    • To receive PQAS credit, you must complete an evaluation at the end of the session and include your PD Registry number.
    • Have fun, make connections, and engage in the conversations!

More Information

For questions or more information, please contact Jasmine Davis at jasmine@tryingtogether.org.

Supporting Fathers as Central to Family Life

News

September 8, 2020

Supporting Fathers as Central to Family Life

Are you interested in learning about what changes are needed to make room for fathers in the “first shift” of family life? Join Brazelton Touchpoints Center on November 17 for their webinar, “From ‘Second Shift’ to ‘First Shift’: Supporting Fathers as Central to Family Life.”

About

This webinar will focus on institutional, practitioner, and family changes that must occur to make room for fathers in the “first shift” of family life. It will showcase a user-friendly tool from the Supporting Father Involvement (SFI) program that can help organizations assess their “father friendliness.” Agency and program changes that increase fathers’ inclusion in family life will be shared. Presenters will highlight fathers’ contributions to family life in over-burdened, under-resourced communities, which often go unrecognized.

Registration

To register and learn more, visit the Brazelton Touchpoints Center website.

Parent and Child Voices: Fathering and Co-Parenting

News

Parent and Child Voices: Fathering and Co-Parenting

Are you interested in learning about the Supporting Father Involvement (SFI) program? Join Brazelton Touchpoints Center on October 20 for their webinar, “Parent and Child Voices: The Importance of Fathering and Co-Parenting.”

About

This webinar will feature the voices of children, fathers, and mothers on the importance of fathering and co-parenting. Presenters will explore how the SFI program helps parents learn to hear what their partners and children need, and figure out—together—the routines, parenting strategies, and future plans they want to keep or change to best sustain their family. The webinar will include short videos of children talking about what their father’s presence or absence means to them, and of parents discussing how SFI changed their families.

Registration

To register and learn more, visit the Brazelton Touchpoints Center website.

Father Involvement and Co-Parenting: Why It Matters

News

Father Involvement and Co-Parenting: Why It Matters

Are you interested in learning about the impact of fathering and co-parenting on child and family development? Join Brazelton Touchpoints Center on September 29 for their webinar, “Focus on Father Involvement and Co-parenting: Why It Matters.”

About

This webinar will explore the positive impact of fathering and co-parenting on child and family development and how the Supporting Father Involvement (SFI) model supports fathers as equal partners in parenting. Presenters will introduce SFI’s Five Domain Model and its engagement tool for tapping father involvement and increasing shared parenting responsibilities. Directors from two community agencies serving diverse families will discuss the impact of implementing the SFI program in their communities.

Registration

To register and learn more, visit the Brazelton Touchpoints Center website.

Photo Credit

Photography by Emily O’Donnell.

Helping Parents & Caregivers Navigate a School Year Like No Other

News

September 2, 2020

Helping Parents & Caregivers Navigate a School Year Like No Other

Are you interested in hearing from the country’s leading experts about topics such as social-emotional wellness, mental health, learning resources, tech safety, and more? Join Remake Learning and other presenting organizations for the “So Now What?” virtual series!

About

The series will bring the country’s leading experts in education and childhood development, including PBS Kids, Common Sense Media, Learning Heroes, and UPMC Children’s Hospital, together with parents and caregivers to share and learn from one another. Presenters will cover a range of topics specific to this moment in time, including:

    • social-emotional wellness,
    • mental health,
    • learning resources,
    • communication,
    • tech safety,
    • and much more.

Available Sessions

The series includes the following sessions:

Registration

To register, complete the online registration form.

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COVID-19’s Impact on Early Childhood and ACEs

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COVID-19’s Impact on Early Childhood and ACEs

Are you interested in hearing guidance from experts on early childhood development, adverse childhood experiences, and the impact of COVID-19 on children? Join the NIHCM Foundation on September 10 for their webinar, “Protecting Our Children: COVID-19’s Impact on Early Childhood and ACEs.”

About

Although most children are not at high risk for contracting COVID-19, the pandemic has disrupted their lives and exacerbated challenges to children’s health and well-being. This webinar will convene experts to provide information and guidance on early childhood development, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), and the impact of COVID-19 on children.

Speakers will discuss the following topics:

    • the importance of early childhood experiences in lifelong health and how adversity affects both the developing brain and other physiological systems;
    • what ACEs initiatives are doing to respond to COVID-19 and the opportunities and challenges the pandemic has produced for professionals in the field; and
    • lessons from a health plan’s investment in programming that addresses ACEs, including education on ACEs for teachers, policymakers, and health care professionals.

Registration

To learn more and register, visit the event webpage.

Stress Management Tools and Techniques

News

September 1, 2020

Stress Management Tools and Techniques

Are you interested in learning evidence-based tools parents, teachers, and children can use to self-soothe and regulate their emotions? Join Coach Troy Byer on September 22 for “Stress Management Tools and Techniques.”

About

In this webinar, Mind Care & Emotion Regulation Expert Troy Byer will highlight tools and tips parents, teachers, and children can use to self-soothe and regulate their emotions – especially when confronted with stressors, threats, or challenges.

Coach Troy will help participants learn exercises focused on self-soothing and emotion regulation techniques that address confusion, anger, anxiety, depression, and help children regulate their behavior. Participants will complete this webinar with a toolbox of organic, quick, effective, and fun techniques.

Featured Topics

This webinar will feature the following topics:

    • how to use Emotion Regulation Finger Holds, how they work, and why they work so well;
    • how to distinguish emotional triggers and how to deactivate a trigger before it is expressed negatively; and
    • the importance of maintaining a state of peace and right brain/left brain coherence and how to organically regulate the experience.

Registration

To register, visit the event webpage.

Virtual Community of Practice Meetings

News

August 31, 2020

Virtual Community of Practice Meetings

Are you interested in discussing topics of interest and current trends with fellow professionals in the early childhood field? Join ELRC Region 5 for their virtual Community of Practice sessions!

About

Community of Practice sessions provide early learning professionals with opportunities to discuss topics of interest, current trends in the early childhood field, and offer insight and inspiration to their fellow professionals.

In September, these virtual sessions will discuss the most current school-age care updates, information, trends, resources, and professional development opportunities. Participants will connect with out-of-school-time partners and professionals, and they will receive support as new or existing school-age care programs. The session will also focus on supporting virtual learning, daily schedules, and keeping the children engaged.

Available Sessions

More Information

For questions, contact ELRC Region 5 at  elrc5@alleghenycounty.us or 412.350.3577.

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