Summer Institute

Schedule for August 23, 2007

8:00-8:30 Registration and Coffee/Hospitality

8:30-4:30 First Aid/CPR with lunch provided and

breaks included. No CPR renewal offered.

Rochester City School District

August 2007

Department of Early Childhood Phone: 585 262-8140 131 W. Broad St. Fax: 585 262-8273 Rochester, NY 14614 www.rcsdk12.org/PreK

Schedule for August 21 & 22, 2007

8:00-8:30 Registration and Coffee/Hospitality 8:30-3:30 Creative Curriculum® or Workshop Choices. All participants will have an opportunity for one day of Creative Curricu-lum® and one day of workshops. There will be a one-hour lunch break, with a box lunch provided.

12 Hours Total RCSD Approved

Professional Development

Once again we begin the school year with time for teaching teams to extend their learning and add some new techniques to refresh their classrooms. More importantly, this time permits us to examine and reflect on some of our daily practices. Working with our colleagues and team members, we will enhance our observation skills and use those observations to plan our inten-tional teaching of cognitive skills. The Creative Curriculum® for Pre-school will serve as the foundation for this time together and we ask all teaching teams to bring along their classroom copy of the book. If you do not have a class-room copy of The Creative Curriculum® for Preschool, please contact the Early Childhood office at 262-8140. We will spend one day working with consultants from Teaching Strategies® , Inc. and collaborating with our colleagues as we plan to meet student’s needs and interests. Institute participants will also have one

day to choose workshops. There will be three workshop sessions with about five choices offered in each session. You will make these choices when you arrive at the August Institute. As you sign in on August 21, you will sign up for either the Creative Curriculum session or the three workshops. Those doing Creative Curriculum on 8/21 will choose their workshops for 8/22 and those doing workshops on the 21st will have the Creative Curriculum on the 22nd. You will notice the workshops are listed inside on pages 2 and 3. Most workshops are offered on both days. You will need to register for workshops during the morning registration period. We are pleased this year to be adding First Aid to our CPR training. Please note that this is a full day program, with the CPR woven into the entire day of training. You will not have the option to take only CPR renewal and must attend the entire session to receive your certificate.

2007—08 School Year off to a Smart Start

The Around the W.O.R.L.D. (Working to-gether, Opening our minds, Respecting our-selves & others, Learning about feelings, Deal-ing with problems) Pro-social Skills Program is an engaging and interactive pro-social skills curriculum that has been well received in sev-eral Rochester elementary and preschool class-rooms. It will be offered to approximately ten UPK classrooms during the 2007-2008 aca-demic year. The program consists of ten ses-sions, each lasting twenty to thirty minutes, to be presented weekly to the children. The ses-sions explore such topics as identification and expression of feelings, problem solving skills, respecting self and others, friendship skills, and conflict resolution skills. There are also parent newsletters to inspire participation in the home, with possible parenting sessions to be offered concurrently with the program. Re-usable mate-rials (such as posters and games) that can be referred to throughout the year (and in upcom-

ing years) are provided with participation in the program. As the program is in the development process, there are a few requirements for teach-ers in their first year of the program. We ask that teachers be available by phone or e-mail for coordination of observation, as well as any on-going feedback that the teachers might have. It is important that the manual is followed as closely as possible in this first year. Approxi-mately 2 extra TCRS forms/student will be re-quired, as well as several simple post-session feedback forms. Please contact Cara Daniel (carajane@umich.edu; 241-9745) or Jeanne Herrick with any questions that you might have prior to committing. Training will be offered as a workshop choice on August 22 for five teachers (and again in November for another five teach-ers). The manual, materials, and evaluation forms will be reviewed step-by-step and ques-tions answered with the goals of familiarizing participating teachers with the program.

See workshop choices inside on pages 2 & 3. All participants may

choose 3 workshops on one day only. These choices will be made during registration.

See map on back of brochure for location.

Page 2 Summer Institute

Workshops for Tuesday, August 21

Session I: 8:45—10:30

Building a Caring Community, Barbara Decker, RPPP, teacher. Teaching children social skills is more than just giving children words to use with each other. It starts with the physical environment the teacher creates in her classroom and moves to how she interacts with the children, families and staff. This workshop will focus on laying the foundation for creating a kind and caring classroom.

Computer—Beginner Microsoft Windows Course, Mitchel Hansinger, RCSD. Students will gain an understanding of basic computer concepts and the Microsoft Windows operating system.

Handwriting Secrets, Andrea Gerhardt, Occupational Thera-pist, RCSD. Participants will gain an understanding of the foun-dation skills required for handwriting success. Both gross and fine motor components will be addressed as well as grasp pat-terns and prewriting skills.

Music, Movement and Literature, M’Lou Speranza, RCSD Music Building Blocks Teacher. Participants will have hands-on experiences with classroom instruments, learning when and how to introduce them to students. They will learn musical ac-tivities that incorporate large motor movements, that can help in COR assessments. Workshop will also include musical strate-gies to help children recall knowledge of stories and books.

Play, the Heart of Being Human, Jim Coffey, Associate Pro-fessor of Communication, MCC. This presentation connects the dots between and among play, infant brain development, self esteem, relationship building skills and the arts. Play is the glue weaving these areas into one context to be considered when developing curricula for very young children.

Ready to Learn: Promote Literacy with the Learning Trian-gle: View-Do & Read, Marion French, Assistant VP, Education & Interactive Services, WXXI PBS. Ready to Learn is a pro-gram developed by PBS with the ongoing support of the U.S. Dept. of Education. It promotes literacy through the appropriate integrated use of media, reading, and extension activities with children. It also strengthens a home-school connection through the use of family literacy kits.

Session II: 10:45—12:30

Computer—Beginner World Wide Web Course, Mitchel Hansinger, RCSD. Students learn how to obtain reliable infor-mation from the web while avoiding its pitfalls.

Documentation: Observation, Recording, Remembering, Revisiting and Communicating the Process of Learning via Reggio Emilia, Kathy Burton, Director of Preschool, Seton Catholic School and Betty Bordner, Early Childhood Educator, Strong National Museum of Play. Participants will understand documentation to be a process that promotes teachers observa-tions and sustains communication with parents through the use of many tools. We will discuss and show why we do document and the value that it has in making learning visible.

Effective Communication with Children, Linda Sullivan, In-clusion Associate, Regional Early Childhood Direction Center. Presentation will discuss effective ways to communicate with children using age appropriate language, visual cues, reflective listening skills, and other techniques to enhance understanding and reduce behavioral issues.

Strengthening the Black Family - A Cultural Perspective on Parenting, Jackie Campbell, Director, Bureau of Youth Ser-vices, City of Rochester and Sicily Mitchell, Manager of Family Development and Education Programs, Family Resource Cen-ters of Crestwood Children’s Center. The workshop will facili-tate workshop participants' consideration of parenting practices from a cultural perspective. Drawing from the evidenced-based "Effective Black Parenting Program" curriculum, particular atten-tion will be paid to the history of culture within the values and context of the African-American community. Participants will discuss the appropriateness of using this perspective in teach-ing parenting skills and will have an opportunity to reflect on their own experience of discipline and parenting practices in their families.

The Bear’s Program for Personal Safety, Esther Hammer, Consultant. The delightful little bear teaches safe ways of touching and how to say “no!” with concrete and positive learn-ing experiences that are sensitive to child and parent. All mate-rials provided, including bear puppet, anatomical dolls, notebook with parent communication and lessons. Parent materials are English/Spanish.

Using Sign Language in Your Early Childhood Classroom, Jeanne Loysen, retired teacher. Sign language is beneficial for hearing children as well as those with hearing losses. These benefits will be discussed. Participants will also learn signs to use in their classrooms on a daily basis including the manual alphabet, numbers, colors, days of the week, and several well known songs and stories.

Session III: 1:45—3:30

Boys: Behavior & Brains, Nancy Stanton Multer, Early Child-hood Specialist. This interactive workshop explores how we look at the behavior and needs of boys. Drawing from the work of Michael Gurian (author of The Wonder of Boys, Boys & Girls Learn Differently, and Nurture the Nature), we’ll consider recent findings on brain development and implications for how and why boys and girls behave and learn differently. Our goal will be to re-think how we approach and respond to active boys.

Children Affected by Parental Incarceration, Connie Rodri-guez, Senior Project Coordinator, Children’s Institute. There are approximately 2.7 million children with an incarcerated parent in the U.S. The purpose of this workshop is to focus on issues affecting this population of children, and provide some sugges-tions on ways we can support children and families.

Computer—Beginner PowerPoint Course, Mitchel Han-singer, RCSD. Students learn how to create a PowerPoint presentation.

Playing Around With Math, Barbara Decker, teacher and Pat Dangler, Supervising Director, RPPP. This hands-on workshop will look at setting up a classroom to enhance children’s math skills. Included will be some strategies for intentional math in-struction through every day experiences and tying this work to the NYS Math Strands (same and different, patterning and nu-meracy).

Sitting and Speaking Mindfully: Experience our Interdependence through Dialogue Sup-ported by Meditation, Judith Lardner, Communication Facilita-tor and Padme Nina Livingstone, Meditation Teacher. This presentation comes in the form of an experiential practice, in which you can deepen and improve your listening skills with students, co-workers, and parents. And, in the moment, you can enjoy the benefits of being fully heard.

Page 3 Rochester Prekindergarten

Workshops for Wednesday, August 22

Session I: 8:45—10:30

DAP for ABC’s, Paula Boughton, Education / Disabilities Coor-dinator and Elizabeth Rosa, Education / Disabilities Resource Specialist, Action for a Better Community Head Start. Partici-pants will experience a variety of developmentally appropriate activities that teach letter knowledge, letter and name recogni-tion and beginning writing skills in a fun and hands on way.

Music, Movement and Literature, M’Lou Speranza, RCSD Music Building Blocks Teacher. Participants will have hands-on experiences with classroom instruments, learning when and how to introduce them to students. They will learn musical activi-ties that incorporate large motor movements that can help in COR assessments. This workshop will also include musical strategies to help children recall knowledge of stories and books.

Ready to Learn: Promote Literacy with the Learning Trian-gle: View-Do & Read, Marion French, Assistant VP, Education & Interactive Services, WXXI PBS. Ready to Learn is a pro-gram developed by PBS with the ongoing support of the U.S. Dept. of Education. It promotes literacy through the appropriate integrated use of media, reading, and extension activities with children. It also strengthens a home-school connection through the use of family literacy kits.

Reflections on Setting up a Preschool Classroom Margaret Spencer, RCSD/RPPP Teacher. In this workshop we will discuss teaching vision, the needs of students, staff and parents and how classroom setup can support each of these areas.

Sitting and Speaking Mindfully: Experience our Interde-pendence through Dialogue Supported by Meditation, Judith Lardner, Communication Facilitator and Padme Nina Living-stone, Meditation Teacher. This presentation comes in the form of an experiential practice, in which you can deepen and im-prove your listening skills with students, co-workers, and par-ents. And, in the moment, you can enjoy the benefits of being fully heard.

Session II: 10:45—12:30

Documentation: Observation, Recording, Remembering, Revisiting and Communicating the Process of Learning via Reggio Emilia, Kathy Burton, Director of Preschool, Seton Catholic School and Betty Bordner, Early Childhood Educator, Strong National Museum of Play. Participants will understand documentation to be a process that promotes teachers observa-tions and sustains communication with parents through the use of many tools. We will discuss and show why we do document and the value that it has in making learning visible.

Effective Communication with Children, Linda Sullivan, In-clusion Associate, Regional Early Childhood Direction Center. Presentation will discuss effective ways to communicate with children using age appropriate language, visual cues, reflective listening skills, and other techniques to enhance understanding and reduce behavioral issues.

The Bear’s Program for Personal Safety, Esther Hammer, Consultant. The delightful little bear teaches safe ways of touching and how to say “no!” with concrete and positive learn-ing experiences that are sensitive to child and parent. All mate-rials provided, including bear puppet, anatomical dolls, notebook with parent communication and lessons. Parent materials are English/Spanish.

Using Sign Language in Your Early Childhood Classroom, Jeanne Loysen, retired teacher. Sign language is beneficial for hearing children as well as those with hearing losses. These benefits will be discussed. Participants will also learn signs to use in their classrooms on a daily basis including the manual alphabet, numbers, colors, days of the week, and several well known songs and stories. Wonderful Messy Process Art, Anne Clements, Direc-tor/Owner, Annie’s Ark, Inc. Explore the reasons that children need to do wonderful messy art! Looking at messy art in a new way will help you give the children what they want and what they need. Come prepared to get “down and dirty” with hands-on process art messes!

Session III: 1:45—3:30 Around the W.O.R.L.D. Social Skills Program, Dr. Cara Daniel, URMC. The session is an orientation to the program. Workshop attendees will commit to participate in the first 10 week session of this program. Assistant teachers may attend with their classroom teacher. A second group will receive train-ing in November. Limited to 5 classrooms each time. Contact Cara Daniels or Jeanne Herrick for more information. See page 1 for further details. Boys: Behavior & Brains, Nancy Stanton Multer, Early Child-hood Specialist. This interactive workshop explores how we look at the behavior and needs of boys. Drawing from the work of Michael Gurian (author of The Wonder of Boys, Boys & Girls Learn Differently, and Nurture the Nature), we’ll consider recent findings on brain development and implications for how and why boys and girls behave and learn differently. Our goal will be to re-think how we approach and respond to active boys. Bullying: Taking it by the Horns. Mary Louise Musler, 292-BABY, Director, Monroe Community College This interactive session brings new understandings to bullying: what it is, the damage it can do, the adult's role in stopping this hurtful behavior, and resources available to help both teachers and parents.

Children Affected by Parental Incarceration, Connie Rodri-guez, Senior Project Coordinator, Children’s Institute. There are approximately 2.7 million children with an incarcerated parent in the U.S. The purpose of this workshop is to focus on issues affecting this population of children, and provide some sugges-tions on ways we can support children and families.

Computer—Beginner PowerPoint Course, Mitchel Han-singer, RCSD. Students learn how to create a PowerPoint presentation.

Strengthening the Black Family - A Cultural Perspective on Parenting, Jackie Campbell, Director, Bureau of Youth Ser-vices, City of Rochester and Sicily Mitchell, Manager of Family Development and Education Programs, Family Resource Cen-ters of Crestwood Children’s Center. The workshop will facili-tate workshop participants' consideration of parenting practices from a cultural perspective. Drawing from the evidenced-based "Effective Black Parenting Program" curriculum, particular atten-tion will be paid to the history of culture within the values and context of the African-American community. Participants will discuss the appropriateness of using this perspective in teach-ing parenting skills and will have an opportunity to reflect on their own experience of discipline and parenting practices in their families.

Department of Early Childhood 131 W. Broad St. Rochester, NY 14614

Phone: 585-262-8140 Fax: 585-262-8273 www.rcsdk12.org/

Rochester City School District

Call 262-8140 with any changes or questions.

Rochester Prekindergarten A Smart Way to Start!

The Early Childhood Summer Institute is offered at the RCSD Wilson Foundation Academy, located in the Madison School of Excellence at 200 Genesee Street. Enter main parking area from Frost Avenue. As always, please carpool, if possible.

You are registered for:

August 21: ______ August 22: ______ August 23: ______

Remember to bring your Creative Curriculum book!