What's Happenng
COMING SOON! Active Play and Physical Literacy CMAS Webinar: Helping Young Children Bounce Back from the Pandemic
Incorporating physical literacy into your daily programming can be easy and inexpensive – and it can bring such a range of benefits for children, ECEs, and families!
When young children engage in physical literacy and active play, they can better cope with stress, build resilience, and start on their path toward a healthy and active life.
In this exciting new webinar, participants will join special guest, Dawne Clark, PhD, Early Years Physical Literacy, to learn about and discuss:
- What physical literacy (PL) and active play look like in the early years
- The benefits of PL and active play for children, educators, and families
- “Infusing” PL into everyday activities
- How to get children moving again and active for life after the pandemic
- The Active for Life website, tools and resources
We’ll also be announcing some exciting new opportunities for you to participate in!
NOTE: This webinar is for IRCC-funded CNC programs. The webinar recording will be available to the public early next month.
COMING SOON! New CMAS Tutorial: Play Across Cultures
Children from different cultures engage in play differently. And this makes sense because there are differences in language, context, and social norms in different cultures – and these are all reflected in children’s play!
In the Play Across Cultures tutorial, participants will have the chance to reflect on how play is different across cultures, and how we can encourage and foster all kinds of play variations in our CNC programs.
Did you know that all our tutorials include a facilitator guide?
At the end of the tutorial, you’ll also find resources and a facilitator guide that includes an extensive list of questions to spark group discussion and personal reflection. Many of the themes that you’ll find in the Play Across Culture tutorial and facilitator guide are really important for us to understand and keep in mind when working in CNC. We encourage all programs to keep the important conversations going – and try facilitating your own team training!
Just in time to use for team training during TESOL conference for Ontario programs!
Team training based on the Play Across Cultures tutorial, Facilitator Guide, and Questions for Personal Reflection/Group Discussion will create an opportunity for your team to:
- collaborate and learn together
- discuss issues that are specific to your site
- share ideas, expertise and challenges
- build supportive team relationships, and
- Improve your programming for newcomer children.
CMAS Webinar: School Readiness with Newcomer Centre of Peel
School readiness means that children are ready for school, and families are ready to support their children's learning - and CNC programs play an important role in preparing newcomer children and families for this transition. In this webinar, participants joined Jacqueline MoonSammy, Aisha Ilyas, and their team from Newcomer Centre of Peel (NCP), to talk about how they noticed a need in their CNC community, and developed a program to support school readiness for the children in their program. They talked about some of the challenges they faced, as well as some helpful tips and strategies you can use in your program to help prepare children for kindergarten in the fall!
CMAS Tutorial: Creativity and the Educator
When you think about the word “creativity” what comes to mind for you? In this tutorial, we’ll talk about why creativity is so important in the early years. We’ll also try to get everyone thinking outside the box a little bit, by talking about creativity… and how it isn’t just about art! Then we’ll share some ideas and inspiration for encouraging and fostering creativity in our programs! Click here for more infoCMAS Tutorial: Responding to Children’s Fear
For many of us, when a child expresses fear, it can be hard to know how to respond in a way that makes them feel heard and supported. In this tutorial, we’ll talk about how to respond to children’s fear, common mistakes, and why they’re important to avoid, and some practical tips with examples to help us understand and remember. At the end of the tutorial, you’ll also find resources, references, a facilitator guide, and added group discussion questions so that you can easily facilitate your own team training. At the end of the tutorial, you’ll also find resources, references, a facilitator guide and added group discussion questions so that you can easily facilitate your own team training.
CMAS Webinar: Virtual Programming for Young Children
Over the last two years, many SPOs have responded to the needs of newcomer families during the pandemic by delivering online services - and the SDR from one such organization has developed a webinar to share what they’ve learned! In this webinar, join Zakia Labonee, the SDR from Polycultural Immigrant and Community Services to talk about three important things to consider in developing virtual programming for young children: child development, building relationships, and family support.
A new way to find and share CNC activity ideas…
Do you have a child who’s really interested in building with blocks? Or maybe you have a group of children who really love to dump and pour? Do you ever feel like you’ve run out of activity ideas to extend their play and learning? We gathered a team of experienced CNC staff to put their heads together and develop a collection of inspiring play extension activity ideas for CNC. Now, these programming ideas can be found at LET'S PLAY: CNC Activity Ideas
CMAS Webinar: Happiness @ Work
Did you know that 50% of our happiness is determined by our genes, 10% by our environment but that 40% is determined by our actions or attitude? The science of positive psychology or human flourishing suggests hundreds of simple interventions (e.g. like random acts of kindness; expressing gratitude) that we can apply daily to increase our happiness and well-being.
Researchers have been studying happiness in the workplace for more than 20 years and have learned that employees who have found a way to have meaning and purpose, use their strengths, are highly engaged and have good relationships with their colleagues are happiest.
In this CNC webinar, positive psychology practitioner, Patrice Palmer joins us to talk about different kinds of happiness, and concrete examples of simple things we can do each day to positively impact everyone around us!
Presenter: Patrice PalmerPatrice Palmer, M.Ed., M.A. has more than 20 years of experience as an ESL teacher and trainer in Canada and spent 7 amazing years in Hong Kong. She has certificates in Positive Psychology and Positive Education from Wilfrid Laurier University, and now teaches in those programs. Patrice is a Certified Mindfulness Facilitator and Registered Yoga Teacher. She is the author of The Teacher Self-Care Manual and is a fierce advocate for student, teacher and all school staff well-being.
Special FILM SCREENING for CNC
CMAS is proud to present this recording of a special CNC film screening and panel discussion of the award-winning film, Reflecting on Anti-bias Education in Action: The Early Years, with co-producers Debbie LeeKeenan and John Nimmo, as well as featured teacher Nadia Janobeta. The film shifts the focus away from the talking heads of experts and on to the voices of teachers committed to equity and diversity on a daily basis. By taking viewers into diverse early childhood classrooms, the film seeks to demonstrate the importance of teacher reflection on identity, context, and practice in anti-bias education and provides a much-needed resource for teacher education and professional development.
CMAS Tutorial: Activity Planning for Mixed-Age Groups
Some CNC programs choose to use mixed-age grouping to allow for flexibility or accommodate families when there is limited space and/or staffing. But it also means that staff need to plan with a wider age group in mind… so a child-centred approach can be especially important! In this tutorial, we’ll talk about the benefits, challenges, and important considerations to keep in mind when planning activities for children of different ages. Participants will go back to their programs feeling more confident, with new strategies and promising practice. At the end of the tutorial, you’ll also find resources, references, a facilitator guide and added group discussion questions so that you can easily facilitate your own team training.