The Preschool Podcast

This week on The Preschool Podcast, we are excited to welcome Tirusha Dave, Founder of Ellie's Academy. Otherwise known as the “Early Education Entrepreneur", Tirusha is a professional leader in early childhood education and has worked in the childcare industry for over ten years! We chat to her about navigating the role of a director prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This week on The Preschool Podcast, we are excited to be revisiting an episode with Holly-Elissa Bruno! Holly-Elissa Bruno is the author of the book Happiness is Running Through the Streets to Find You, which is all about supporting traumatized children. She shares practical tips on how to talk to children about the feelings that come with traumatic experiences and how to build trust in an authentic way.

This week on The Preschool Podcast we are honored to welcome back Andrew Roszak, Executive Director at the Institute for Childhood Preparedness. We discussed how to be prepared for emergencies at your childcare center in a cost-effective manner. 

This week on The Preschool Podcast, we are excited to welcome Mariana Carazo, educator and founder of Developing Minds! Mariana discusses 21st-century education and how to implement it in your classroom through play-based learning. 

This week on The Preschool Podcast, we revisit an episode with Tom Hobson (aka Teacher Tom). We discuss his thoughts on how early childhood educators can work together to face the challenges of reopening after COVID-19 while maintaining the engagement that they receive from learning through play.

The week on the 300th episode (!!) of The Preschool Podcast, we are honored to welcome Shawn D. Byrd, Founder and Executive Director of the SYMI Academy. Shawn is also our 2021 Early Childhood Educator of the Year and he joins us for our 300th podcast episode!! Shawn decided to champion the cause of community youth after witnessing years of violence and conflict and its’ direct effect on the lives of the community’s greatest hope and most vital resource; young people. We discuss how to teach STREAM in the classroom and he gives some amazing tips! 

The week on The Preschool Podcast, we are honored to welcome Paula Jackson, Director of Global Citizenship at Barefoot Books. Paula has lived in three continents and seen the effects that positive early childhood experiences have in establishing a solid foundation for life. Children are born with open hearts and creative and curious minds. This, unfortunately, shifts as they become older. We learn all about global citizenship and how it impacts early childhood educators! 

This week we are excited to welcome Nancy Kopman to The Preschool Podcast. Nancy Kopman is an Educational Children's Music Specialist, Recording Artist, and Performer. Nancy has been creating, testing, developing, recording, and performing her short, catchy, educational songs for children 0-10 for over 20 years. In this week’s podcast, we dive deep into how to use music as a learning tool to regulate, guide and assure children. Nancy provides many tangible tips for immediate use in a classroom or home! 

This week we are excited to welcome Kelly Wilk-Downs to The Preschool Podcast. Kelly is an Occupational Therapist and the owner of Junction of Function. She is certified in the Sensory Integration and Praxis Test and has specialized in working with Autism. Kelly is the developer of Shoe Tying Made Simple and Writing Made Simple products. She has spent most of her career working in the schools where she was responsible for staffing the schools with clinicians and she also owned her own clinic. We discuss occupational therapy and the educational value of toys and games. 

This week on The Preschool Podcast, we are honored to have revisited a previous episode with Dr. Elanna Yalow, Chief Academic Officer at KinderCare. We discuss how educators can support children as they learn through play. She highlights how play and academics are not separate from each other. Instead, play is the instinctive way that young children learn how to problem solve and develop skills. We discuss some strategies that educators can use to incorporate play into their practice.