Early Childhood Education

Monday, October 27, 2025 Strength-Based Coaching for Directors & Administrators (VIRTUAL) 6:30 – 8 PM

Cost:  FREE

Core Content Subject Area: 7) Program management and evaluation

CDA Subject Area: 6) Maintaining a commitment to professionalism

Audience:  Directors & Administrators

Training Level:  2

Description: Through whole group and break-out room conversations, this virtual training provides an introduction to strength-based coaching. It is a collaborative process that focuses on strengths, builds on talents, fosters confidence and engagement, and leads to authentic and sustainable professional growth. Participants will discuss the process of identifying and leveraging strengths, fostering a supportive and collaborative environment, connecting strengths to goals and actions, and encouraging continuous growth and reflection.

Instructor: Charla Heersche

Location:  Virtual (Zoom)

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Thursday, November 13, 2025 Exploring Early Math Concepts Through Play and Everyday Experiences with Infants and Toddlers (VIRTUAL) 6:30 – 8 PM

KY All STARS Standards: Submitted for B1R/B2R Standards (Curriculum, Instructional Practices or Teaching and Learning)

Cost:  FREE

Core Content Subject Area: 4) Learning environment and curriculum;

CDA Subject Area: 2) – Advancing children’s physical and intellectual development; 

Audience:  Infants and Toddler Providers

Training Level:  2

Description:Infants and toddlers develop foundational cognitive skills by actively exploring their environment, engaging in play, and participating in daily routines. This professional development session will focus on how young children gain and recall information, recognize the characteristics of objects, and begin to understand early math concepts such as patterns, spatial awareness, sorting, and measurement. Participants will explore strategies to create engaging environments that support sensory exploration, problem-solving, and mathematical thinking. Emphasis will be placed on using routine and play-based experiences to naturally integrate early math concepts, promote curiosity, and support cognitive growth. Attendees will leave with practical strategies to foster exploration, learning, and mathematical awareness in developmentally appropriate ways.

Instructor: Elizabeth Singleton

Location:  Virtual (Zoom)

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Monday, November 17, 2025 Loose Parts and Risky Play for School Agers (VIRTUAL) 6:30 – 8 PM

KY All STARS Standards: Submitted for B1R/B2R Standards – Curriculum, Instruction, Teaching, Learning

Cost:  FREE

Core Content Subject Area: 4) Learning environment and curriculum

CDA Subject Area: 3) – Positive ways to support children’s social and emotional development

Audience: School Age

Training Level:  2

Description: This virtual training provides an introduction to loose parts and risky play, the benefits, and ideas for planning, facilitating, and communicating (through whole group discussions and break-out room conversations). Risky play is essential for physical, cognitive, and social-emotional development. Loose parts and risky play offer choice and agency in play, which increases engagement and interest while fostering a joyful and inclusive space for curiosity, creativity, and learning.

Instructor: Charla Heersche

Location:  Virtual (Zoom)

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Wednesday, December 10, 2025 The Psychology Behind Behavior (VIRTUAL) 6 – 9 PM

KY All STARS Standards: Approved for KY All STARS B1R/B2R Standards (Curriculum, Instructional Practices or Teaching and Learning)

Cost:  FREE

Core Content Subject Area: 1) Child growth and development

CDA Subject Area: 3) – Positive ways to support children’s social and emotional development

Audience:  All providers

Training Level:  2

Description: This training is a must-have for all teachers and parents of young children. This unique workshop blends the worlds of psychology and early childhood to help you understand why children (and adults) behave the way they do. We’ll take a deep dive into classroom behavior and look at how the brain develops and influences behavior and typical reasons why children misbehave. Teachers will walk away with a better understanding of why the children are doing what they are doing as well as insights into their own reactions. We’ll discuss concrete strategies for helping children through challenging behaviors so that teachers feel equipped to handle the children in their classrooms.

Instructor: Jenni Jacobs DiSanto

Location:  Virtual (Zoom)

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Cost: $50 (6-hours)

Core Content Subject Areas: 1 – Child growth and development, 4 – Learning environment and curriculum

CDA Subject Area: 3 – Positive ways to support children’s social and emotional development

Audience:  All

Description: This web-based, on-demand course is designed to introduce you to four easy-to-remember steps to transform the behaviors in your classroom. Connect the Dots is a joint collaboration between multiple early education and mental health specialists across Kentucky. The collaboration was built to address a common need: The need for a short yet powerful skills-based training teaching the basics of social and emotional best practices. Connect the Dots highlights 4 easy-to-remember steps, or dots, to address challenging behaviors. Connect the Dots will reduce frustrating and challenging behaviors but more importantly begin the development of strong social and emotional skills critical for success in school and in life!

Objectives:

• Describe the three brain states and apply the information to challenging behavior.
• Identify how a predictable schedule, organized routines and transitions, and age-appropriate physical environment improve a child’s behavior.
• Use proven skills to help the child link positive behaviors to positive experiences and feelings.
• Demonstrate at least two positive discipline techniques that teach children how to handle their feelings and needs in appropriate ways.
• Identify how unique temperaments and personality strengths have a critical impact on behavior and relationships.
• Reframe a child’s behavior using the 4 dots.

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All STARS Approved Training: Standard A1R: Developmental Screening

Cost: $30 (3-hours)

Core Content Subject Area:  5 – Child assessment; 6 – Family and community partnerships

CDA Subject Area: 4 – Strategies to establish productive relationships with families; 7 – Observing and recording children’s behavior

Audience:  All

Description:  This course is designed to help you understand and use the Ages and Stages Questionnaires to monitor children’s progress and to make sure that all children have the supports needed to succeed. Participants will learn the purpose of these screeners, when and how to use them, how to score and interpret, and best practice for communicating results with families.

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All STARS Approved Training: Standard A1R: Developmental Screening

Cost: $30 (3-hours)

Core Content Subject Areas: 5 – Child Assessment; 6 – Family and community partnerships

CDA Subject Areas: 2 – Steps to advance children’s physical and intellectual development; 7 – Observing and recording children’s behavior

Audience:  Preschool

Description:  This course is designed to help you understand and apply the screening tool to assist in the development of child-focused plans of action. We will go over the purpose of the tool, how to use the tool, how to apply the results to your classroom, and how to share the results with parents.

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Cost:  $45

Training Title: Meet me Where I Am: Promoting the Protective Factors

Description: Protective factors are characteristics that promote family wellness and ensure families are well-positioned to overcome challenges. This training reviews the Strengthening Protective Factors Families framework and provides practical strategies for implementing six protective factors in programs serving families with young children. This training supplements the Meet Me Where I Am workbook developed by the Resilient Children and Families Program (RCFP).

In this course, we will cover:

• Introduction to RCFP and CYRC
• Introduction to Protective Factors
• Protective Factors Framework:
  • Social and Emotional Competence of Children
  • Nurturing and Attachment
  • Knowledge of Parenting and Child Development
  • Social Connections
  • Parental Resilience
  • Concrete Support in Times of Need

Core Content Subject Area: 6 – Family community partnerships

CDA Subject Areas: 3 – Supporting children’s social and emotional development; & 4 – Building productive relationships with families

Audience:  All

Training Level:  2

Location:  Online (web-based, on-demand)

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Cost:  $25

Training Title: Meet me Where I Am: Nurturing Family Resilience and Wellness

Description: More and more families are experiencing adversity and stress, and early childhood professionals are well-positioned to help families overcome their challenges. This training explores values and perceptions related to parenting. It provides strategies for early childhood professionals to create effective partnerships with parents, respond to their needs, and promote their resilience. This training is designed to supplement the Meet Me Where I Am workbook developed by the Resilient Children and Families Program (RCFP).

In this course, we will cover:

• Introduction to RCFP and CYRC
• Principles of Effective Family Engagement
• The Ladder of Inference
• Building Effective Parent Partnerships
• Strategies for Building Effective Partnerships

Core Content Subject Area: 6 – Family community partnerships

CDA Subject Areas: 4 – Building productive relationships with families

Audience:  All

Training Level:  2

Location:  Online (web-based, on-demand)

Register Here

Cost:  $25

Training Title: Meet me Where I Am: Nurturing Social-Emotional Wellness

Description: Young children rely on caring adults and positive environments to develop positive relationships and understand their feelings and behaviors. This training provides strategies for helping families and children connect their behavior to their feelings and thoughts. Through empathy, co-regulation, and wondering with children, early childhood professionals learn effective ways to respond to children, avoid crises, and promote their social-emotional well-being. This training is designed to supplement the Meet Me Where I Am workbook developed by the Resilient Children and Families Program (RCFP).

In this course, we will cover:

• Introduction to RCFP and CYRC
• What is Social-Emotional Wellness?
• Creating a Supportive Environment
• Attuning to the Inner Child
• Helping Children Cope
• Partnering With Parents

Core Content Subject Area: 4 – Learning environment and curriculum

CDA Subject Areas: 3 – Supporting children’s social and emotional development

KY All STARS Standards: B1R/B2R – Curriculum, Instruction, Teaching, Learning

Audience:  All

Training Level:  2

Location:  Online (web-based, on-demand)

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Saturday, December 6, 2025 – First Aid and Pediatric CPR Certification & Epi-Pen and Blood Borne Pathogens Training (IN-PERSON) 9AM – Noon

Audience: All

Description: This face-to-face training session provided by Northern Kentucky EMS which utilized the American Safety & Health Institute standards is approved to meet licensing and certification requirements and includes training on the following:

• CPR (Adult, Child, and Infant)
• Relief of Foreign Body Airway Obstruction (Adult, Child, and Infant)
• Signs of Heart Attack, Cardiac Arrest and Stroke
• Use of the AED for Adults, Children, and Infants
• Preventing bloodborne pathogens spread and exposure incidents
• First Aid (Patient assessment, wound care, bleeding control, head/eye injuries, heat & cold emergencies, chest & abdominal injuries, shock, burn, fractures/sprains/strains, seizures)
• Epi-pen administration

Time:  9 am – Noon

Location: TBD

Instructor:  NKEMS

Register Here