1. Title: Fostering
Language Development for All Ages and Stages
Length: 3 clock hours
Provider Level: Beginning to Advanced
Core of Knowledge: Child Development
Summary: This course will prepare the child care
provider to utilize a variety of approaches to foster language development in
mixed age groups. By understanding what is developmentally appropriate for each
age, the provider will learn how to take one curriculum and diversify it for use
with all children within a group. The provider will learn that what may be early
sounds made by infants and toddlers will eventually be pre-reading for pre-schoolers.
2. Title: Effective
Early Childhood Observations
Length: 3 clock hours
Provider Level: Intermediate to Advanced
Core of Knowledge: Child Development
Summary: This course will teach providers how to
observe children in action to learn how they respond to the current environment,
how they respond to change, how they interact with each other, parents and the
provider. Understanding how children respond to stimulus, or a lack therefore,
can help a provider gauge what types of activities are acceptable for a
particular group of children. Not being able to read the signs only frustrates
both child and provider and even the best curriculum won’t be effective if the
children are not responding appropriately. Knowing how to observe for signs of
effectiveness will enable the provider to predict and guide successful outcomes.
3. Title: Encouraging Self-Control and
Promoting Pro-Social Behavior
Length: 3
clock hours
Provider Level: Beginning to Advanced
Core of Knowledge: Child Development
Summary: One of the largest issues that occupy a
providers day is dealing with hostile outburst (sometimes it may even be their
own). Understanding what it is like to be a toddler and not know what to do with
the mad that they feel, providers will learn methods to encourage self-control
that may prove to prevent angry outbursts. Providers will practice using
redirection techniques, and how to stand their ground without caving, or pushing
too hard while promoting pro-social behavior.
4. Title: Cultural Acceptance in
Child Development
Length:
3 clock hours
Provider
Level: Beginning to Advanced
Core
of Knowledge: Curriculum
Summary: Through use of anti-bias curriculum, this
course will help the provider create strategies for understanding and accepting
cultural differences. By preparing the provider to understand how each child
came to be at the developmental stage they are in, providers will be able to
guide them through new applications by building on what is typical to a child
with a different cultural background. This approach will also help the provider
foster cultural acceptance between the children in care and the parents they
interact with.
5. Title: Neutral Ground-Combating
Gender Bias
Length:
3 clock hours
Provider
Level: Beginning to Advanced
Core
of Knowledge: Curriculum
Summary: Providers often have a difficult time
enforcing anti-gender bias practices in their environments when children come
conditioned with external influences. While not wanting to take over the role of
the parent, providers will learn how to respond to such comments as “I can’t do
that, my Dad says that’s just for girls!” By eliminating gender influences in
the environment and reinforcing pro-social activities that allow for gender
“swapping,” children are encouraged to think beyond the boundaries of television
and perhaps even their home life. This approach will foster self-esteem in all
children, but will especially influence children who may not have male and
female roles in their home. They will understand that Mommy can fix the sink and
Daddy can iron the clothes or only parent can accomplish all of the above.
6. Title: Designing the Environment to Stimulate
Multi-age/Multi-Intelligence
Children
Length: 3 clock hours
Provider Level: Beginner
Core of Knowledge: Curriculum
Summary: Child care providers who must entertain and
educate a mixed group of children in one large room or cluster of smaller rooms
will learn how to use varying degrees of the same theme to apply to mixed age
interest. A pre-school room that only has Barney© pictures on the lower half of
the wall may please crawlers and toddlers, but a school-aged child will yawn at
the sight. Providers will be able to design mock environments and see pictures
and home videos of other successful environments that stimulate mixed age groups
using concepts that address multiple intelligences.
7. Title: Putting the “Pro” in
Provider
Length:
3 clock hours
Provider
Level: Beginning to Intermediate
Core
of Knowledge: Professionalism
Summary: Do you consider yourself a “professional”
child care provider? If you don’t, you should! This workshop is designed to
empower child care providers to project a professional image and earn the
respect they deserve! Practical and creative ideas will be shared to develop
professional marketing materials.
8. Title: Spread the Word! Quality Child
Care Does Exist
Length: 1.5 clock hour
Provider Level: Advanced
Core of Knowledge: Professionalism
Summary: Learn how you can use your experience to
teach others about providing quality child care, being a mentor, and educating
consumers on the importance of advocating worthy wages and reinforcing a
professional image for family child care providers.
9. Title: Making Good Child Care Great!
Strategies to Improve Your Business
Length: 3 clock hours
Provider Level: Intermediate
Core of Knowledge: Professionalism
Summary: How do you feel about the standards in
child care today? What would you like to see improved? What training and
technical assistance would you utilize if it were available? What is NAFCC
Accreditation? Is it for you? What are you doing to make family child care
better? Answers to these questions and strategies to improve the quality of
family child care will be provided.
10. Title: Establishing a Marketable Rate:
Paying Yourself What You Are Worth
Length: 3 clock hours
Provider Level: Beginning to Intermediate
Core of Knowledge: Professionalism
Summary: Can you account for every cent that your
fee covers? Are you charging enough to cover expenses and pay yourself a worthy
wage? This workshop is designed to teach you how to “do the math” and show you
where your money goes and how you can keep more of it in your pocket? (Note:
this session is strongly based on the Model Work Standards for Family Child Care
Providers developed by the Center for the Child Care Workforce and the Worthy
Wage Campaign.)
11: Marketing & Recruitment
Techniques That Gets Results!
Length: 3 clock hours
Provider Level: Beginning to Intermediate
Core of Knowledge: Professionalism
Summary: Learn how to create “business builder”
materials that are designed to establish (or re-establish) you as a professional
in both child care and business practices. These materials can be modified to
meet the specific needs of each individual provider and target audiences. Learn
about cluster marketing (you may be doing it already!) and how you can make it
work for you.
12. Title: Storytelling It Like It Is-Using Role Playing to
Improve Communication
Length: 3 clock hours
Provider Level: Intermediate
Core of Knowledge: Curriculum
Summary: This session is designed to teach providers
how the use of storytelling can dramatically improve communication skills with
both children and parents. Children will often reveal situations that they may
not be otherwise able to communicate by describing it through a story. A
provider needs to understand what it is a child is really saying, and use this
information to respond appropriately to the child. This technique is also
critical in communicating information to children and even sometimes parents.
Using stories to relay feelings and scenarios removes the confrontation and
allows the listener to focus on the meaning and not the delivery of the message.
