The Happiest Preschool: How to Foster Playful Learning and a Curious, Cooperative, and Joyful Classroom by Martha Heineman Pieper and Kelly Perez

Sponsored by Early Childhood Investigations Consultants Directory

What more could anyone want for children than a happy early childhood? The lively session will describe how preschool programs and classrooms can offer a joyful culture of caring, cooperation, creativity, learning, and social-emotional health.  Presented by psychotherapist and acclaimed author Martha Heineman Pieper and Director of The Natalie G. Heineman Smart Love Preschool Kelly Perez, this webinar will be based on the principles in their book, The Happiest Preschool: A Manual for Teachers.

Join Martha and Kelly for an inspiring overview of how playful learning, developmentally appropriate expectations, positive behavior management, preservation, and enhancement of children's curiosity and creativity can lay the foundation for a joyful, positive preschool classroom and healthy child development. You will also hear about the detrimental effects of some of the most commonly accepted ECE practices, such as formal testing, time-outs, worksheets, directed play, requirements for “inside voices” and orderly transitions, rewards, and formal group time. The presenters will show how TEACHERS will enjoy their work and how children will thrive when teachers adopt the S.M.A.R.T. acronym:

Stay positive; Model kindness; Accept and acknowledge all feelings; Loving Regulation of behavior and Time-with. Join this webinar as the presenters share examples of how learning is best done through active play based solely on each child's interests rather than trying to bring the entire class together through themes or units. You will learn how to partner with children in playful learning and generally benefit from working in a classroom of caring and cooperation.

In this presentation, you will learn

• how to manage children's behavior using loving Regulation, that is, positively and without any negativity.

• what is age-appropriate for preschool and kindergarten children, and how to adjust your expectations of them accordingly.

• why skills are best learned in active play based on each individual child's interests.

•  HOW TO connect children's fantasy play to underlying concerns and wishes.

• to help children be all of themselves by acknowledging and accepting all of their feelings.

Hear Martha on NPR’s WBUR Here and Now show