April 18, 2022
#9: You seek practical ideas
April 18, 2022
School-Age Youth Programs: Commit to Quality and Lifelong Learning
March 15, 2022
Early math skills are foundational for school success and have been shown to relate to a whole host of later academic outcomes.
March 14, 2022
#8 You crave diverse content
February 16, 2022
Social-emotional learning (SEL) skills contribute to the process of creating, welcoming, and sustaining a diverse policy team that values and seeks the knowledge of each team member.
February 15, 2022
#7: You value customer support
February 15, 2022
While these aren’t the conventional snow people that Terri VanHoudt and her homecare preschoolers usually make in their wintry Minnesota neighborhood, they were a lot of fun to create during some indoor play time.
January 19, 2022
#6: You enjoy videos from real classroom experts.
January 18, 2022
Social-emotional learning (SEL) is the cornerstone for growing and enhancing kind, caring, inclusive, and equitable relationships and practices with children and families within early care and education (ECE) communities. These equitable and caring communities support, value, and respect children and families.
January 18, 2022
"When my intent is to share knowledge, I become the expert, and everyone else becomes objects or faces with numbers associated with them. When I walk in with the intent to create an experience in which people realize what is possible for themselves, then magic begins" (Wise & Littlefield, 2017, p. 6).
December 14, 2021
#5: Your voice needs to be heard. Your feedback is not only welcome but is critical to the On Demand professional development experience and engaged learning process.
November 22, 2021
4: Technology shouldn’t stand in your way of learning.
November 17, 2021
Social-emotional Learning and Equity: Program Policy
November 16, 2021
We want children to grow up to be happy, well-rounded, caring people and a large part of this is influenced by their early experiences and interactions with those around them. It is extremely important that children grow up learning to respect, accept, and celebrate people from different backgrounds and that have different experiences than themselves.
September 17, 2021
School-Age Youth Programs: Learning Plans that Work; Supporting Youth with Type 1 Diabetes in Transitioning to Self-Management
September 16, 2021
2: You are essential. One thing Better Kid Care has learned over 10 years of On Demand professional development work is that every ECE/OST professional is essential. You are essential to the children in your care, to their families, and to the communities where you work.
August 18, 2021
Antiracism (Part 2): Program Policy and Family Engagement
August 18, 2021
A dozen STEM-rich summertime experiences. During this COVID season, summer camps will not be the same for school-agers or the staff who supervise them. Here are some safe, socially-distanced activities that tap in to the joy of friendships and connecting in the good ‘ole summertime. The last in a series of five.
July 19, 2021
During this COVID season, summer camps will not be the same for school-agers or the staff who supervise them. Here are some safe, socially-distanced activities that tap in to the joy of friendships and connecting in the good ‘ole summertime. (Third in a series)
July 19, 2021
During this COVID season, summer camps will not be the same for school-agers or the staff who supervise them. Here are some safe, socially-distanced activities that tap in to the joy of friendships and connecting in the good ‘ole summertime. (Fourth in a series)
July 2, 2021
Better Kid Care is celebrating ten years of On Demand professional development courses and we couldn’t have done it without you! Thank you for being a part of our growth and success—we can’t wait to see what the next ten years bring.
June 17, 2021
A dozen language-rich summertime experiences. During this COVID season, summer camps will not be the same for school-agers or the staff who supervise them. Here are some safe, socially-distanced activities that tap in to the joy of friendships and connecting in the good ‘ole summertime. The second of five articles.
June 15, 2021
School-Age Youth Programs: Learning Spaces that Work; EAT Family Style Module 7: Family Engagement; Experiencias Adversas de la Infancia: Construyendo la Resiliencia (Adverse Childhood Experiences: Building Resilience); Antiracism (Part 1): Self-awareness and Communication
May 18, 2021
A dozen physically active summertime experiences for school-age youth honoring COVID-respectful restrictions. The first of five articles.
May 18, 2021
EAT Family Style Module 4: Self-Regulation in Eating; EAT Family Style Module 5: Children Serve Themselves; EAT Family Style Module 6: Praise and Rewards
May 17, 2021
Climate walks offer an informal way for individuals and groups to intentionally walk through a program or school and notice the physical signs and perceived indicators of the program’s values, policies, climate, and culture. Climate walks help us to think about what is seen and experienced in a program from our individual perspective as well as from other’s perspectives. We can then use that information to celebrate strengths and plan ways to improve positive program climate.
April 16, 2021
Coaching + Mindfulness = Mindful Coaching; School-Age Youth Programs: Learning Spaces that Work
April 16, 2021
The first three years of life carry immense implications for later health and development. Infancy/toddlerhood is a period of rapid growth and development and sets the stage for executive functioning, school readiness, and ultimately long-term academic success and well-being. Given that this is seen as such a critical period for later development, along with the fact that infant-toddler care is the most sought-after form of child care in the U.S., makes the job of infant-toddler educators so important.
February 25, 2021
For the last year, we’ve been getting used to masks. In the natural world, there’s an animal who is born with a mask on—the raccoon. Besides willingly masking up, there are a few other lessons humans can learn from this animal neighbor.
February 23, 2021
CAT and gratitude? Let me explain. As professionals, we are “noticers.” We notice and observe by listening, questioning, and being a witness to the efforts and strengths of children, families, and our peers in our early learning programs. As noticers, we support what early childhood coach and author Cathy Toll (2019) calls CAT: Connectedness, Acceptance, Trustworthiness.
