News

What makes a good early learning environment?

The first step in creating an appropriate environment for infants, toddlers, and preschool children is to examine how young children learn and develop. Each stage of development has unique characteristics that influence how a child will experience his or her environment. Here are some things to consider when designing your CNC space.

CNC Program Brings Holiday Spirit to SickKids Hospital

Each year, many children spend the holidays at SickKids Hospital. The children in the Afghan Women’s Organization (AWO) CNC program wanted to send these patients some cheer and hope for the New Year. With the help of their caregivers, they handcrafted 500 cards. One card will go to each child spending the holidays in a hospital bed. Thank you to the staff and families at AWO for making the season brighter. Click here to see photos of some of the completed cards.

Voices Of Children Documentary

In this small film with a big heart, we meet young children from communities around the globe, bringing us a glimpse of their extraordinary diversity. Children from five diverse countries draw us into their worlds through their many voices. Behind their experiences lie messages, both universal and informed by place, time, and culture. The children share their ideas, hopes, challenges, and capacity as they talk, sing, work, dance, and play!

Children take longer to learn two languages at once compared to just one — don’t fret

Some bilingual children from immigrant families develop each language at a slower pace because their learning is spread across two languages. This research shows strong evidence that the rate of language growth is influenced by the number of languages a child is learning - which challenges the belief that children are linguistic sponges who quickly absorb the language or languages they hear and become proficient speakers of both languages!

Do you have plants in your program?

About Kids Health has put together an overview of plant safety and and a helpful list of poisonous plants to avoid.

Learn how to better engage diverse families in your program!

All parents want the best for their children, and there are plenty of creative ways to support parent involvement in early childhood programs. The McCormick Center has a collection of resources, training and ideas to help you engage diverse families in your program!

Refrigerate Right – Tips for Storing Food Safely

Did you know that it’s important to cover and place the food in a way that helps to keep it from getting cross-contaminated with drippings or juices from other foods when you store food in a refrigerator? Here's how...

What to look for in a child-centred CNC program: Helping you Manage CNC Webinar

In this webinar, presented by Ryerson/George Brown professor, Rachel Brophy, CNC Administrators have the opportunity to learn about child-centred care, and what to look for in their CNC program to ensure that newcomer children and parents are receiving the quality care and support they need. There’s also a helpful checklist for CNC administrators! Watch the webinar recording or download the ppt here now!

Addressing Challenging Behaviours

Whether a child hits others, uses inappropriate language, or throws a tantrum, all educators have to address challenging behaviours in the classroom. Learn more about how focusing on prevention, social-emotional learning and self-regulation tools can help.

New Online Tutorial: How Your Early Learning Environment Impacts Behaviour

Did you know that having a well-thought out space can be like having an extra adult there to help guide children's behaviour and 'show them the way'? The How Your Early Learning Environment Impacts Behaviour tutorial explores how the early learning environments that we provide for newcomer children can either work for, or against us! Find out more about how the elements of time, space and energy can be used to provide indirect guidance and generally improve the flow of your CNC program. To facilitate your own team training, the tutorial includes a facilitator guide and group discussion questions.