July 23, 2025 online What Do Young Children Think About: The development of inquiry and invention by Susan Engel, Ph.D.
Join us to:
• Understand the developmental origins of inquiry and invention
• Learn about the environmental influences that shape the growth of both curiosity and invention
• Acquire a new way of thinking about the role of ideas in the classroom
July 24, 2025 online How to Optimize Your Program’s Website to Boost Enrollment and Grow Your Client Base by Chelsea Denny
In this webinar, you will be able to:
• Outline the process required to design a standard five-page website.
• Discuss common terminology related to web design.
• Identify five components of a website and how they can be used as part of a marketing and communication plan for your business.
• Identify commercially available website development software and how it can be used to organize and support early childhood program operations management.
August 1, 2025 – August 31, 2025 Asynchronous online Sound Walls: How and Why Teachers Use Them in Phonemic Awareness, Phonics and Reading Instruction
Outcomes:
• Explore teacher rationale and purposes for incorporating a sound-wall into literacy instruction.
• Experience high impact teaching routines through model lessons, which connect to current research on how the brain learns to read.
August 6, 2025 online Creating Classroom Harmony by Finding the Right PITCH: Set up the Physical environment for regulation by Dr. Tamar Andrews
In this Webinar, you will learn how to:
• Set up a classroom to reflect challenging and high-quality learning
• Through observation, understand which types of changes to the physical environment can help promote greater regulation
• Recognize that the classroom’s physical environment is actually the First teacher in the room
• Understand the difference between what manufacturers suggest and what is best for young children
• Learn about the components required for a high-quality environment
August 7, 2025 online The Power of Pretend Play: How you can support young children’s power, identity and agency through play by Mike Huber
In this webinar, you will be able to:
• Describe the executive function skills children learn through pretend play, including impulse control, focus, mental flexibility and working memory
• Identify ways that pretend play fosters regulation skills
• Explore ways of encouraging rich pretend play with materials, time and intentional interactions
August 13, 2025 online Shared Services 2.0: Integrating Business Supports for Sustainable Child Care Programs by Lauren Small
Training Outcomes: By the end of this webinar, you will be able to:
• Understand the distinct roles of shared services, business training, and coaching—and how they work together to support ECE program sustainability.
• Identify existing shared services in their state and evaluate which business functions can be shared to maximize efficiency.
• Leverage child care management software and other technologies to automate and streamline time- consuming administrative tasks.
• Apply practical strategies to improve business practices, including forming collaborative partnerships, tracking key business metrics, and using data to drive decision-making.
August 20, 2025 online Building a Strong Nonprofit Board of Directors: Foundations for Success by Allyson D. Andrews and Sara Gibson
Join this interactive webinar, where you will:
• Understand the core functions of an ECE nonprofit board and how they contribute to organizational success.
• Learn practical strategies for building strong relationships with your board members.
• Discover ways to increase board engagement and participation.
• Gain tools and templates to support governance and board development.
August 21, 2025 online Designing Engaging Early Childhood Environments Using Principals of ECE Program Pedagogical Approaches by Lisa Grant, Ed.D., Mikayla Martinez, Ed.D. and Tess Wood, MA In this Webinar, you will earn to:
• Use your understanding of pedagogy to make informed decisions about environmental design and materials to support young children’s learning.
• Leverage your understanding of children’s racial, ethnic, linguistic, and cultural backgrounds to create an environment that fosters a sense of belonging.
• Use your understanding of developmentally appropriate practice and the unique needs of children in your care to implement principles of universal design for learning in the physical environment.
September 1, 2025 – August 30, 2026 online Responding to Children’s Interests – Asynchronous
Learning Outcomes:
• Build understanding about emergent curriculum for young children.
• Explore the environment as the third teacher.
• Strengthen educators’ capacity to observe, listen, document and reflect in order to support and scaffold learning.
• Respond to children’s interests and develop a project experience with children, which may be shared on www.stf.sk.ca.
September 1, 2025 – August 30, 2026 online Sound Walls – Evidence Based Practices in Early Literacy
Learning Outcomes:
• Explore teacher rationale and purposes for incorporating a sound-wall into literacy instruction.
• Experience high impact teaching routines through model lessons, which connect to current research on how the brain learns to read.
September 1, 2025 – August 30, 2026 online Word Recognition: Phonics and Decoding – Evidence Based Practices in Early Literacy
Learning Outcomes:
• Discover the important components in decoding for improved fluency and understanding.
• Explore new research in phonemic awareness, phonics instruction and word level reading skills
• Examine multiple methods and types of assessment to enhance planning for responsive instruction.
September 10, 2025 online Accountability in Your Program: How to Inspire a Culture That Builds Capacity by Beth Cannon
You will learn to:
• Understand the difference between above-the-line and below-the-line thinking—and how it impacts accountability and culture
• Expand your capacity to lead through hard conversations with grace, confidence, and consistency
• Identify ways to model accountability as a leader by sharing personal experiences that create connection and credibility
• Create a culture of ownership where everyone takes initiative and responsibility
September 10, 17, 24, 2025 online Start Strong: Fuel Your Year with Purpose, Presence and Positivity
What You’ll Walk Away With:
• Tools for your personal well-being toolkit
• Practices in mindfulness, stress management, and emotional intelligence
• A deeper understanding of your values, mindset, and triggers
• Strategies for resilience, boundaries, and optimism
• Reflective activities and meditations you can use anytime
September 16, 2025 online Build Caring Community with Moments of Meaning During Challenging Times in Your Program by Ruth Anne Hammond. M.A.
In this session, Ruth Anne will guide you to:
• Identify “moments of meeting” between ourselves and co-workers, parents, and children that build a strong sense of community – and also resilient children;
• Increase useful, practical strategies for inner “centering” to maintain mindful awareness throughout the day;
• Gain perspective as an advocate for children on how to maintain hope and a sense of agency in uncertain times.
September 18, 2025 online “Good Job” Isn’t Good Enough: Real Tools to Replace Praise, Rewards, and Punishment by Dr. Kristie Pretti-Frontczak and Dr. Julie Causton
Walk away with concrete tools you can use the very next day to help children (and yourself) feel seen, safe, and supported:
- Recognize the impact of praise, rewards, and punishment on children’s emotional regulation and inclusion.
-Apply brain-based strategies like Positive Descriptive Acknowledgment (PDA) and co-regulation techniques to real-life classroom scenarios.
-Compare and contrast control-based vs. connection-based approaches to behavior support.
-Reflect on personal beliefs about behavior, discipline, and support—and how these beliefs influence day-to-day interactions with children.
-Develop a personal plan to replace outdated tools with responsive strategies, co-regulation practices, and language shifts.
Sept 25, 2025 online Play Schemas for Inquiry-Based Learning Heather Jackson and Lisa Agogliati
You will learn to:
• Name common play schemas: transporting, enclosing/enveloping, transforming, trajectory, order/positioning, rotation/circularity, connecting, orientation/perspective.
• Identify examples of movement characteristics of play schemas.
• Explore ways of applying play schemas to launch and re-launch project work or investigations
• Explore ways to incorporate Loose Parts and children's books into play schema invitations
October 3, 2025 in person Supporting EAL Students: Foundational Understandings and Practical Approaches
Learning Outcomes:
• Develop a foundational understanding of how students progress in learning English.
• Explore how cognitive demand and context can impact the progress of language learners.
• Investigate potential uses of the Common Framework of Reference (CFR) and the CFR Overview to support and guide work with EAL students.
• Explore differentiation strategies to support English language learners.
October 8, 2025 online Lights On, Joy Up: Reframing Challenging Behaviors and Reigniting Your Purpose by Dr. Nefertiti Poyner
By the end of this session, you will be able to:
• Reframe behaviors of concern as communication and opportunities for connection.
• Implement trauma-informed, regulation-supportive strategies to respond to challenging behaviors with empathy and clarity.
Design a personal action plan to infuse joy, intentionality, and relationship-centered practices into daily routines and interactions
October 15, 2025 online Beyond the Fence: Navigating Risk and Safety in Nature-Based Early Learning by Dr. Rachel Larimore
In this session, we’ll discuss:
• Differences between hazards, risks, and fears
• Hazard considerations related to plants, animals, weather, topography, and humans
• How to write a detailed safety protocol for medium- to high-risk activities
• Language we can use with children to support safe outdoor adventures.
October 16, 2025 online The compassionate Coach: Building Bridges to Support Educators with Challenging Behaviors by Prerna Richards, MBA
We’ll unpack tried-and-tested strategies for:
• Shaping a coaching mindset grounded in curiosity, growth, and empathy
• Using simple but powerful language to unlock trust and invite dialogue
• Building authentic relationships — beyond checklists and role modelling
• Navigating common challenges like resistance, role confusion, and emotional fatigue
• Reframing your approach with seasoned or hesitant teachers without compromising your boundaries
October 22, 2025 online Educators as Sheriffs or Allies? Rethinking our relationships with preschool- aged children by Noah Hichenberg, Ed.D
In this thought-provoking presentation you will:
• Identify moments of adult control
• Learn how to become an ally to children
• Explore why children are hyper-surveilled today
• Plan to make changes to your practices
October 23, 2025 online How compliance impacts your program’s value – and it does! By Lynn Wenger and Jessica Hobbs
In this Webinar, you will learn to:
• Strengthen Your Foundation: Learn how standard operating practices (SOPs), checklists, and audits create a structured system that enhances operational consistency and accountability.
• Protect Your Business Value: Understand how strong compliance practices reduce risk, safeguard reputation, and increase financial stability.
• Take Action: Leave with a Safety Pledge Template and a Cost of Non-Compliance Overview Worksheet to apply these strategies immediately.
October 23-24, 2025 in person Beginning Your Journey to Becoming an Anti-Racist Educator (2 day intensive)
Learning Outcomes:
• Expand knowledge and understandings about forms of racism and how they operate within society and the education system.
• Provide language to name inequitable school practices and the assumptions that guide them.
• Deepen understanding of an anti-racist stance in education.
• Consider your role and responsibility to engage in racial equity work within your classroom and school.
October 24, 2025 in person Supporting Inclusion, Equity and Diversity through Children’s Literacies
Learning Outcomes:
• Examine your personal bias and ‘compelling why’ around social justice instruction.
• Develop critical literacy skills.
• Analyze classroom resources through a social justice lens.
• Practice problem-solve strategies for important conversations.
• Engage in professional conversations around social justice topics.
October 29, 2025 online Strong Bodies, Ready Hands: The Playground Path to Handwriting
After this session, you will be able to: · Identify the importance of physical development in the lifespan and academic growth.
• Discover the developmental stages of physical development, including gross and fine motor, brain development, crossing the midlines, and the internal senses.
• Understand the intricacies of physical development and how it supports future handwriting
• Create a learning environment centered around child-led play to promote physical development.
• Evaluate practices moving forward that support physical development, including sharing information with stakeholders and advocating for child-led play.
November 5, 2025 online Narratives That Nurture: Storytelling as a Tool for Connection and Change in Preschool Classrooms by Kate Shelley
By the end of this session, you will be able to:
1. Describe how storytelling supports communication, language, and social-emotional development in young children.
2. Identify ways to use storytelling as a tool for inclusion, especially for children with SEND or those facing disadvantage.
3. Explain how Tales Toolkit has promoted resilience and supported children’s developing confidence and independence.
4. Reflect on how storytelling can contribute to long-term outcomes and life chances for all children.
5. Feel inspired to create story-rich environments that bring joy, connection, and hope to your daily practice.
November 6, 2025 online The Science of Play: A framework for deep, joyful, and developmentally essential learning by Amanda Morgan, MS
By the end of this session, you will be able to:
1. Identify common misconceptions about play and learn how to reframe them to more effectively address challenges.
2. Confidently explain why play is critical to whole-child development.
3. Apply the Recognize–Emphasize–Maximize framework to reflect on and improve current classroom or program practices.
4. Advocate for play in ways that reflect current research and resonate with colleagues, families, and stakeholders.
5. Maximize the impact of play by designing experiences and environments that support agency, joy, and deep learning.
November 12, 2025 online Be Your Program’s Thermostat: Your Role in Creating a Positive Environment by Kristen Darling, BS.Ed, M.P.P.
At the end of the webinar, you will:
• Have a deeper understanding of your personal influence in your classroom/program
• Bring more empathy to the experiences of the children and colleagues you work with
• Understand different options for adjusting your management approach in a given moment
• Have a list of conversation starters to share with peers as you support each other on a continuous improvement journey as high-quality classroom or program managers
November 13, 2025 online The New Supervisor Survival Guide for Success and Beyond by Anisha Angella
Learning objectives:
• Discover key skills and mindsets that support new supervisors in early learning settings.
• Build strategies for leading strong relationships with staff, children, and families.
• Strengthen communication approaches to foster trust and team collaboration.
• Identify early signs of burnout and explore tools for prevention and well-being.
• Clarify your leadership identity and next steps for continued growth.
November 24-25, 2025 in person Becoming 2SLGBTQ+ Inclusive Educators
Learning Outcomes:
• Increase understanding of 2SLGBTQ+ language and identities.
• Develop awareness of lived experiences and diversity of the 2SLGBTQ+ community.
• Adopt practices and approaches to advancing 2SLGBTQ+ inclusive education.
• Make K-12 curriculum connections to 2SLGBTQ+ inclusive education and explore resources to support 2SLGBTQ+ inclusion.
• Engage in critical anti-oppressive self-reflection and identify next steps for growth.
• Gain skills in navigating difficult conversations and managing resistance.
December 1, 2025 in person Differentiating Instruction and Assessment to Support Elementary EAL Students
Learning Outcomes:
• Address misconceptions about English language learners (ELLs).
• Develop understanding about why students struggle academically when they appear to speak fluently.
• Learn about the Common Framework of Reference (CFR) and how it can be used to guide ELLs’ language learning.
• Learn about the CFR Overview and how to use it to identify instructional targets for students and next steps for support.
• Learn how to write language objectives and why they are important for ELLs.
• Understand the importance of explicit instruction of academic vocabulary for ELLs and learn how to choose and teach academic vocabulary.
• Explore ways in which AI can be used as a support for teachers of ELLs.
December 3, 2025 online How Teachers Can Teach Without Taking Over: Scaffolding Learning in Preschool Classrooms by Amy Chiu, MSEd
Join this session to learn to:
1. Define scaffolding and explain its importance in early learning and development.
2. Identify the difference between teaching and taking over.
3. Apply scaffolding strategies that support independence, confidence, and problem-solving.
4. Reflect on their own adult role in moments of struggle or learning discomfort.
5. Use observation and timing to decide when to step in - and when to step back.
December 5, 2025 in person Early Learning with Block Play: Numeracy, Science, Literacy and So Much More!
Participants will:
Explore current research on block play in different domains.
Explore documentation, data collection and purposeful planning for curricular outcomes as they are embedded in block play.
Create invitations with block play to encourage conceptual understandings. Share with others and create networks of support in your field.
January 16, 2026 in person Holistic Planning for Instruction and Assessment
Learning Outcomes:
• Make connections between the intent of core curricula and needed skills and learning experiences.
• Utilize a holistic process to plan for student learning and assessment that centres the thinking skills and types of knowledge within outcomes and indicators and makes connections between fundamental principles for teaching and learning within curricula.
February 9, 2026 in person Supporting Student Comprehension Across Subject Areas
Learning Outcomes:
• Develop understanding of a curricular framework for supporting student understanding and meaning making.
• Explore meaning-making strategies that can be used for different purposes across curricula.
• Connect meaning-making strategies to Cross-Curricular Competencies as a way to explore their application across curricula.
