2024 Conference

“2024: Creating a Classroom with Purpose, Connection, Compassion, and Joy”

Online
Friday, March 8 from 5:30 PM – 8:30 PM ET
Saturday, March 9 from 10:30 AM – 3:30 PM ET

How do kindergarten teachers support all children to become resilient and compassionate learners in these challenging times?  What “new and old findings” encourage the healthy social/emotional, cognitive and physical development of kindergarten children?  Join us as we explore these questions and more. Learn how to meet district mandates while creating a classroom that values each child and builds on their interests. Feel the JOY!

“ Each generation, each decade, must shape its education in the light of new and old findings about children, learning and the evolving demands of society.” – Dorothy Cohen, The Learning Child, 1972

Keynote Speakers:

Wishes for a Hopeful Tomorrow: Walking With 5 Year Olds in the World of Today | Lesley Koplow
The Art of Gathering: Explorations with Found Objects | Maria Elena Richa
Lifelong Kindergarten: Cultivating Creativity through Projects, Passion, Peers, and Play | Mitchel Resnick
Jewels & Tools – How Books Shine for the Youngest Hearts and Minds! | Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney

Workshops:

Becoming a Voice for the Littles: Influencing Schools, Districts, and State Policy
Being a Kindergarten Teacher in the Age of College and Career Readiness
Choice Time: Play, Purpose, and Possibility
Collecting, Counting, and Learning about Numbers Together
Honoring Childrens’ Identities
Integrity, Persistence, Acceptance, and More: Transforming Classroom Culture
Into the Garden: Love, Joy, and Nature in the Kindergarten Classroom and Beyond
No Risk, No Reward: The Benefits of Risky Play Lunch
“You Took My Lego!” A Community Problem-Solving Approach
Beyond Pretend Play! Integrating Drama into Your Classroom
Children Have So Much to Say: Encouraging Classroom Conversations
Confronting Racial Bias in Your Classroom Kindergarten Roots: Revisiting Froebel
Playful Explorers: Exploring Passion Projects in Kindergarten
Story Seeds: Using picture books to support identity discussions
Taking Block Play to the Next Level