Rev. Korth, Tracie Payne, IDE Early Childhood Teacher of the Year,
from Trinity School in Cedar Rapids, and Peggy Seeber.
If you want it to snow in Iowa just schedule an early childhood conference! Several people did not make the 2009 conference because of the snow in the morning. So for 2010 we scheduled the conference almost exactly a month later. And what happened? A messy snowstorm that prevented some of you from making it to Fairfield. Nevertheless, 27 brave souls gathered on March 20 for an exciting and stimulating conference. A big thank you to the staff of Mother’s Day Out Preschool, Pastor Brase and the members of Immanuel for all the effort they put into the conference. Here is a brief recount of the day’s events.
Sue Kienta, AEA Instructional Technology Coach, discussed digital dossiers. How are you contributing to your student’s digital dossier or shouldn’t this be your concern? Our keynote speaker, Dr. Sue Starks from Concordia University, St. Paul, presented “Keeping Play Alive for Young Children!” She began by presenting the origins of Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) and how the principles of DAP relate to play. She involved the audience in the presentation through hands on experiences. Dr. Starks noted that today children have less time to use their creativity and imagination.Therefore, early childhood teachers need to be advocates for play. You do this in the classroom and also by encouraging families to do it at home.
Our third presenter was Paula Renard, AEA Occupational Therapist. She presented “Handwriting Without Tears.” The differences between informal and formal handwriting instruction were examined. The schedule was tight, but the participants still were able to walk around and browse through merchandise on display from the 5 venders present. Judging by the evaluations this conference was a success for those who were able to get through the snow.
