The Preschool Podcast

This week on The Preschool Podcast, we are honored to welcome back Prerna Richards to talk about strategies for hiring and retaining quality educators. Prerna is the CEO and Founder of Together We Grow. Prerna has a calling for early childhood education and is honored to support educators, caregivers, and children.  As most of us know, this moment in time has been dubbed the great resignation. Prerna is encouraging us all to reframe that to the great opportunity. A chance to do things differently! There is a difference between hiring and recruiting. Hiring is when you put a job ad out and hire for that specific position while recruiting is when you see someone show up in the world and you approach them with an opportunity. Start looking at the people around you in a new light. If you recruit for attitude, you can teach skill after the fact.  Click below to listen to the full episode for FREE! 

This week on The Preschool Podcast, we are honored to have revisited a previous episode with Rae Pica. Rea joins us to talk about how to avoid challenging behaviors in children before they begin. Rae is an early childhood consultant dedicated to the development and education of the whole child.  Are kids really ‘misbehaving’ or are we simply setting unrealistic expectations for them? In this episode, Rae Pica returns to the podcast to discuss her book, “Acting Out!: Avoid Behavior Challenges with Active Learning Games and Activities,” and provides actionable techniques for you to use to harness children’s natural behavior into activities that will make everyone happy.

This week on The Preschool Podcast, we are honored to have Senate Alexander join us to talk about how quality early childhood education can close wealth, wellness, and class gaps. Senate is the Executive Director for Catherine Hershey Schools for Early Learning. Growing up in poverty, he understands the struggles children and their families face. He has dedicated his career to being part of the solution to our poverty crisis. High-quality early learning is an incredibly important path to better things for our future generations. 

This week on The Preschool Podcast, we are honored to have Tiffany Semmons join us to talk all about sleep deprivation and how it affects children, educators, and caregivers. Tiffany is an Early Childhood Executive Director, a Children's Book Author, and the creator of So Much Semmons. Sleep deprivation exists in both quantity and/or quality and happens in children and adults. Educators can impact families by spreading more awareness around sleep deprivation, especially with parents as many are not aware of the trickle effects sleep deprivation can have. The entire family needs to be well-rested to create a safe space for a child physically and emotionally. Sleep impacts your choices, temper, and mood constantly.  Click below to listen to the full episode for FREE! 

This week on The Preschool Podcast, we are honored to have Ron Grady, the Founder of Childlogy.co and a teacher at NOLA Nature School join us to talk about reflective practices and how they stoke curiously and deepen relationships. At the end of each week, Ron goes to a coffee shop with his computer, gives himself a time frame, and writes reflections on each of his children. Once you can step outside of the physical space of your classroom, you can take a few minutes for yourself and it can become a spot for you to stay energized in your own practice. It has helped him be more patient, understanding, and curious with children. Listen to the full episode to dive deeper into these tips!

This week on The Preschool Podcast, we are honored to have Jeron Bailey, Principal ECE Consultant and Trainer join us to talk about the importance of culturally responsive recruitment and retention. She has seen too many educators leave the field because they do not feel valued, and this sparked her passion for finding ways to retain high-quality educators.

In this episode of The Preschool Podcast, we connect with Marcelle Waldman. Marcelle is a teacher, parent, and founder of FeelLinks. She is passionate about teaching social-emotional skills to our youngest learners so that they can grow up with skills in self-awareness, social awareness, self-management, and relationship skills.  We learn the basics of why it is important for children to recognize and understand their feelings, as well as talk about what our emotions are called - otherwise known as emotional vocabulary. We learn the importance of children sharing how they are feeling, and how to teach children to recognize, label, and understand words and physical feelings for their emotions. We also touch on how journaling can help with this learning.

In this episode of The Preschool Podcast, we connect with Diane Kashin. Diane helps us to understand what is meant by a Reggio-inspired approach and how early childhood educators can use pedagogical documentation to enhance their own learning and development while improving learning outcomes for children.

In this episode of The Preschool Podcast, we connect with Evelyn Knight, CEO of Childcare Business Professionals, an organization that helps owners and directors through mentorship and providing resources. Evelyn discusses her passion for ensuring the centers are set up for success at their center even if they're not physically there. In this episode, Evelyn discusses how directors, owners and, admins can ensure that their center can run efficiently even while you're not physically present in the center.

Roxanne Thompson, National Presenter and Content Specialist from Learning Without Tears. Roxanne discusses the power and benefits that crayons have to teach young children fine motor development. Roxanne provides our listeners with several tips and ideas on how to encourage fine motor skills and how both educators and parents can make using crayons accessible and easy.