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.
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.
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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.