Friday, April 4, 2025
8:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. – Opening and General Session
Conference Welcome, Announcements and Wolf Trap Warm Up
Cultivating the Brilliance of Young Children through Intentionality Across Developmental Domains
Presenter: Mister B, AVA Educational Consulting, LLC
Children are born with immense potential and a natural curiosity about the world around them. This keynote will underscore the role we have as early childhood professionals in cultivating the brilliance of young children through intentional approaches across all developmental domains.
9:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Exhibit Hall Open
Pre-purchased box lunch pick up from 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
9:45 – 11:15 a.m. – Concurrent Workshops
Empathy: It's The Missing Link
Presenter: Jessica Flowers
When children are in distress or experience frustration, how you respond will either nurture your connection or hurt your relationship with the child. The goal of an empathetic response is to help the child return to a state where they can learn and cooperate. Too often adults give information rather than offer empathy, which then hinders the self-regulation and problem-solving process. How do you respond to a child's upset - with empathy or information? Are you the missing link to success? Conscious Discipline's Power of Acceptance enables us to see situations differently and use the Skill of Empathy to help a children manage their distress so they can solve problems and cooperate with others.
LEADership Essentials
Presenter: Ainsleigh Gaskins
While it’s certainly important for preschool directors to be experts in the field of early childhood education, it is also vitally important for us to invest in our leadership development. Leadership expert Craig Groeschel says, “Everyone wins when a leader gets better.” Come learn some new strategies to help you grow in leading your staff well!
Promoting Language and Literacy Development through Effective Music and Movement Activities
Presenter: Mister B
This workshop will explore fundamental and innovative ways we can support the language and literacy development of your children through developmentally appropriate music and movement activities. This interactive workshop will support attendees in harnessing their creativity and positive relationships with children to generate impactful early literacy activities.
Safe Spaces: Understanding Gender Diversity
Presenter: Melody Passemante Powell
This session will explore ways to create a sense of safety and belonging in our programs, with a focus on gender diversity. Using "Anti-Bias Education for Young Children & Ourselves" by Lousie Derman-Sparks & Julie Olsen Edwards as our guide, we will begin by applying the anti-biased education goals to gender identity. As a group, will reflect on our current understanding of gender identity, consider how this impacts our teaching practices, and discuss how we can broaden our perspective to becoming more inclusive. Finally, we will review meaningful strategies, both big and small, that we can implement to create a sense of belonging for all the children and families we serve.
Innovative Nature Engagement for Every Classroom
Presenter: Carolyn Schuyler
Research points to the power of nature connection to promote healthy child development and deep learning, but finding practical ways to integrate nature into the curriculum is sometimes a challenge given a lack of access to green spaces, teacher uncertainty of how to incorporate nature, and concerns about the challenges of managing transitions in and out of the classroom. This sessions provides any easy to implement framework that may be be adopted by teacher teams to increase nature engagement throughout the year. Teachers will be inspired to infuse their classroom and outdoor playspaces with nature connection opportunities.
Promoting Open-Ended Experiences for Toddlers
Presenter: Lucia Gibson
Toddlers meet the world with curiosity and wonder. This session will focus on identifying what open-ended play experiences are, as well as explore strategies in creating an environment that will support our toddlers' natural curiosity.
Effective Practices for Challenging Behaviors Using a Trauma Informed Lens
Presenter: Patricia Koon
Participants will learn effective practices for Challenging behaviors which includes using a Trauma Informed lens approach. We will discuss factors that contribute to misbehavior that may involve current and past traumatic experiences such as chronic/toxic stress. Teachers will learn about controlling setting events (ex. : time of day, developmentally appropriate practices, teacher tone) within the classroom environment. Participants will be able to reflect on their responses to challenging behavior and learn social emotional approaches to help guide children towards de-escalation and self-regulation practices.
Breaking the Barriers: Embedding Specially Designed Instruction in Early Childhood Settings
Presenter: Nora Bryant
Co-Presenter: Adrienne Quarles-Smith
Conscious Discipline® is a longtime leader in the integration of classroom management with social-emotional learning, utilizing everyday events as the curriculum and addressing the adult's emotional intelligence as well as the children. Conscious Discipline empowers adults to consciously respond to daily conflict, transforming it into an opportunity to teach critical life skills to children. When it comes to discipline, if you ever thought, "There has GOT to be a better way?!" then join this interactive session to learn how to create safe, connected environments where problems can be solved with Conscious Discipline.
Blurred Lines
Presenter: Tarneshia Evans
Self-awareness, mindful self-care practices, creating and honoring boundaries are all key concepts to maintaining and managing life balance. Teachers, administrators, middle management to upper management, we've all experienced blurred lines in the workplace.
Noon – 1:15 p.m. – Literacy Lunch & Learn General Session
Everyone Needs Friends: Implementing the Pyramid Model to Support the Development of Peer Relationships
Presenter: Dr. Mary Louise Hemmeter
The primary goals of inclusive experiences for young children with and without disabilities include: a sense of belonging, positive peer relationships, and friendship formation. However, children with disabilities, social emotional delays or behavior that is challenging are likely to need increasing levels of support to learn critical social skills that lead to friendship formation and a sense of belonging. During this session, Dr. Hemmeter will discuss the importance of supporting positive peer relationships, strategies that can be used to support peer interactions, the critical need for individualizing these strategies, and how to collaborate with families to support children’s social emotional development.
1:15 – 2:15 p.m. – Concurrent Workshops
Fostering Self-Regulation in the PreK Classroom
Presenter: Sheryl Anderson
Co-Presenter: Rebecca Sigler
A short time ago, traditional thinking and old theories led us to believe that strong speech and language development could be achieved with one typical-hearing ear. Today’s research tells us otherwise. In this presentation, Robin Bliven (Director of Outreach Services for VSDB) and Valerie James Abbott (parent-advocate and award-winning author) will describe how today’s research contradicts prior understanding of how unilateral hearing loss can impact language and literacy and change neurological pathways within the brain. Participants will learn how to identify common signs and how to talk with families about their observations or concerns.
Coaching Through Challenging Behaviors: How Interactive Talk Supports Social-emotional Development
Presenter: Amy Marciniak
Compared to pre-pandemic years, educators, researchers, and practitioners have noticed a startling increase in children with emotional, behavioral, and social communication difficulties. How can Head Start best support these needs? Often children with challenging behaviors are not receiving equitable positive interactions. This training session equips directors and educators with evidence-based strategies to navigate and positively address challenging behaviors in young children through interactive talk in the classroom. In this session we will explore how increasing interactions helps to decrease challenging behaviors. Participants will learn new strategies and receive resources designed specifically to support social-emotional development.
Meeting the Mentoring Needs of New Early Childhood Teachers in Every Moment
Presenter: Jenna Reeder
Mentors make a difference, and high quality mentoring programs are shown to enhance teacher retention. But how can mentors individualize support for new educators so that they stay engaged and build skills to connect with our youngest learners? In this session, participants will learn about consistent mentoring practices that build early learning sites that foster collaboration, growth, and excellent teaching.
What Does “Pre-Service” and Health and Safety Provider Training Look Like Moving Forward?
Presenter: Victoria Dawson
Learn steps the VA Department of Education is taking to update the required Pre-Service “10 Hour” training for licensed child day center staff and subsidy providers; what training options are available to child care providers on health and safety.
Product vs. Process: It's Okay to Make a Mess
Presenter: Zamora Logan
This session dives into how to make art fun while allowing children to express themselves in the process of art vs the product of what they create.
Making Learning and Teaching Visible in Early Childhood Classrooms
Presenter: Angela Eckhoff
Drawing upon the rich traditions of Reggio Emilia and creative learning approaches, this session encourages educators to explore understandings of what it means to be a learner and a teacher in early childhood classrooms. This session empowers early childhood educators to be knowledgeable about the approaches to developing documentation of teaching and learning in partnership with young children that support the reflection and learning processes for both children and adults. This session also shares practical strategies for introducing, implementing, and evaluating documentation practices in diverse early learning environments. The session's takeaway message centers on global suggestions for introducing supportive documentation practices with the long-term goal of generating communication pathways that support greater teacher, child, and familial understandings of children’s interests, strengths, and targeted areas for growth.
Partnering with Families to Support Children's Positive Behavior
Presenter: Caitlin Ellis
Co-Presenters: Tara Powell, Kate Matthew, Marie LaMonica-Sarro
Join us for an interactive workshop designed for early childhood educators and leaders eager to partner with families to support all children. Participants will enhance their understanding and application of Regulate strategies available in the ECE Resource Hub. This session will provide participants with practical tools, collaborative activities, and insights into the broader benefits of the ECE Hub, a free and publicly available resource designed for ECE educators, leaders, and families.
Hop In! Driving Your Classroom’s Quality Improvement
Presenter: Lucy Mitzner
Co-Presenter: Cassandra Caffee Morelock
The Virginia Quality Birth to Five (VQB5) system supports educators and leaders to participate in a continuous quality improvement cycle. In this session, the VDOE team will engage educators in getting in the driver’s seat of their classroom's quality improvement efforts. VDOE will overview the parts of the continuous quality improvement cycle, support educators in looking at what they know about their classroom to help set goals and drive their own quality improvement, and learn about available resources to help achieve those set goals.
2:30 – 4:00 p.m. – Concurrent Workshops
An Introduction to Practice-Based Coaching
Presenter: Dr. Mary Louise Hemmeter
Practice-based coaching (PBC) is an evidence-based model for supporting educators to use effective teaching and interaction practices. PBC has three key components: (1) shared goals and action planning, (2) focused observation, and (3) reflection and feedback. These components occur in the context of a collaborative coaching partnership. This session will include a brief overview of PBC, video examples of PBC in action, and tips for using PBC to support educators to use a wide range of effective practices. The presenter will share resources that are available on-line to support the implementation of PBC.
Tuning in to the Power of Music for ALL Learners: Supporting Neurodivergent Thinkers and Children on
Presenter: Mary Anderson
In this session, we will understand the positive impact that high-quality, developmentally appropriate musical learning experiences have on young children, specifically those who have been identified as being on the autism spectrum or are neurodivergent. We will learn how to create these experiences in your classroom with developmentally appropriate songs, finger plays, steady beat and movement activities. We will also learn how to create measurable goals, assess learning outcomes, and create inclusive learning environments where all children can participate and thrive. Leave feeling empowered and confident with a toolbox full of musical activities and strategies to start using with all of your students right away.
Essential Financial Management for Family Child Care
Presenter: Lauren Small
Take control of your family child care business finances by learning essential financial management systems. Build strong financial practices to ensure your business is successful and profitable, perfect for family child care business owners who want to become confident and effective financial managers.
A Rose by Another Name
Presenter: Shauna Goldman
Co-Presenter: Kori Hamilton Biagas
Labels are extremely powerful! Therefore, when used especially with young children, we must apply it to the child’s behavior rather than the child. Positive language can make a significant difference in the way we see a child and think about what they can and cannot do. During this session, we will look at the labels we use towards children and how it ultimately impacts their behavior and our interactions with them.
Brain Architecture Game
Presenter: John Richardson-Lauve
In a game format, we will explore brain development through the first eight years of life and the impact of both trauma and protective factors. Participants will engage in a hands-on cooperative activity to build brains and see the impact of life events across the years.
Harnessing the Power of Play to Effect Change
Presenter: Ali Sullivan
Explore the five characteristics of play experiences and how they are intimately linked to learning through play and school readiness. Using the Lego Build the Change model, we will explore ways to engage children in a playful experience called Trash Travels that simultaneously builds social-emotional skills, helps children develop empathy and awareness of the natural world, and can also be a tool for family engagement. Participants will use recyclables and Lego bricks to actually go through the process while exploring the five characteristics of learning through play and building their solution to the trash problem.
Exploring Learning Potential: Loose Parts and Instructional Support
Presenter: Carla Helton
This session will explore ways to incorporate loose parts play, developed by Simon Nicholson and the CLASS tool. The need to create with no formal materials has benefits for children inside and outside the classroom. Adding loose parts play materials enhances Concept Development; by allowing children to solve problems through analysis and reasoning when choosing and using lose parts materials, as well as enhances creativity, while planning what materials to use, producing their vision, making it come to fruition. By encouraging children, asking open ended questions, mapping actions, scaffolding to help children with solving problems and how the materials they use and build with connect to their real lives; the Instructional Support domain of CLASS will expand learning and understanding all while increasing and help children persist in play.
Got Trust? Building Trusting Relationships for Teams Providing Services to Young Children
Presenter: Nora Bryant
Co-Presenter: Adrienne Quarles-Smith
How do two strangers with differing philosophies effectively work together to promote positive child outcomes? The foundation of effective teams is trusting relationships. This session will introduce teaming and collaboration strategies to determine communication styles, navigate biases and differing philosophies, and determine shared roles and responsibilities.
Caring for Children with Behavioral Concerns, Developmental Delays, and/or Disabilities
Presenter: Nikida Cromartie-James
This presentation is targeted for early childhood educators who want to promote inclusivity within the classroom. This presentation will show how inclusion impacts every child's development and provide practical strategies to address diverse needs effectively.
Staying Calm the Conscious Discipline Way: Navigating Big Emotions with Confidence
Presenter: Lynn Young
Join us for an insightful workshop designed to empower adults to better understand and navigate children's big emotions. This workshop will delve into the adult perceptions that influence reactions to children's expressions of rage and overwhelming feelings. Together, we'll foster a supportive environment where participants can share experiences and discover new strategies to connect with children during their most challenging emotional moments. Equip yourself with the skills to transform big emotions into opportunities for growth and understanding!
4:15 – 5:15 p.m. – Concurrent Workshops
Fairytales and Beyond; an Introduction to Using Storytelling in the Classroom
Presenter: Jessica Skiles
For all of human history, people have been telling stories. Communal storytelling builds community, passes down values, and helps to build literacy. Stories can also be brought into the classroom in ways that help build understanding of science, math, and social skills. Learn how to effectively tell stories and how to use them during transitions, carpet time, much more!
Promoting Life Skills: Infants and Toddlers
Presenter: Riley Fitzgerald
Young children experience the world and learn through relationships. Join us as we learn how to build these relationships, communicate with children, and help promote the life skills they need to reach their best outcomes.
The Power of Collaborating with Families in the Early Years: Elevating and Engaging Family Voices
Presenter: Kathleen Gibson
Fostering meaningful relationships in early education is essential to improving outcomes for children with and without disabilities. In this session, we learn about some barriers to family engagement, discover strategies to foster early collaboration, and understand the roles of parents and educators in building strong partnerships. By emphasizing strength-based attitudes and offering practical examples for elevating and engaging diverse family voices, we work together to help ensure the long-term success of all children.
Expanding Access and Choice in Virginia’s Early Childhood System
Presenter: Alexandra McPherson
Co-Presenter: Rebecca Ullrich
Virginia’s early childhood care and education (ECCE) system continues to evolve to meet the diverse needs of families, providers, and educators. This session, led by representatives from the Virginia Department of Education, will provide a comprehensive overview of trends and strategies expanding access and family choice within publicly funded ECCE programs, including innovations in funding and supply-building support. Participants will hear directly from VDOE staff on coordinated enrollment efforts and expanded provider supports. Join us to discuss ongoing efforts to build a more unified, accessible early childhood system in Virginia.
We ALL Need Safe Spaces! Social Emotional Regulation for Everyone
Presenter: Elyssa Brinn
Co-Presenter: Tori Santiago Troutman
Today more than ever, the ability to regulate our emotions and find safe spaces to do so is important not only for our children, but for us adults as well. This workshop will provide tools to foster this in our professional and our personal worlds.
6:00 – 8:00 p.m. – Friday Night Social Event
Join your friends, peers, and colleagues for an evening of food, drinks, networking, and fun at three different restaurants in Downtown Richmond! After a full day of attending conference sessions, relax at one restaurant or stop by all three to experience different food and drink. Attendees will receive a drink ticket at each restaurant and special gift commemorating the evening for visiting all three locations.
Participating restaurants include Capital Ale House, Wong Gonzalez, and Penny Lane Pub. ($25 per person.)