Yeah Baby! Christchurch – Saturday 24th August 2013 Closing address by Toni Christie Workshop options Conference delegates will choose their workshops on the day. Timing and room information will be available at registration. Workshops *Listed alphabetically by speakers first name Auckland Point Kindergarten - A tale of infants, toddlers and literacy What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the word ‘literacy’? You wouldn’t be alone if it was either reading or writing. For many this might mean that on the face of it, infants and toddlers can’t be literate, as they can’t read and write as older tamariki and adults do. However, those who spend extended time with infants and toddlers understand the fantastic abilities and capabilities of these very young tamariki, and expect that infants, toddlers and literacy must go together. Jane Corrigan – Continuity of care: Creating a consistent and engaging environment for infants and toddlers In a consistent world our sense of trust and belonging are established. This workshop will disseminate and reflect upon the techniques and research that we have found helpful in creating a safe and secure environment at Childspace Ngaio Infants and Toddlers. This includes discussing settling and transitioning families into the centre, continuity of staff and care moments for children, rituals and routines and the use of an effective primary care-giving system. There will be opportunities to discuss situations in small groups and watch snippets of video footage, and talk about the commitment and passion required to implement a truly peaceful curriculum for infants and toddlers. Jonny X - Engaging fathers to contribute and belong Much research supports the importance and benefits of engaging parents in their children’s education. One of the more challenging relationships to foster is that of fathers and their children’s ECE settings. Come and join Jonny in a discussion surrounding initiatives and approaches for engaging dads ranging from day to day considerations to focus groups involving power tools! Memory Loader - Learning stories for infants and toddlers Memory will introduce you to a simple system designed to celebrate the daily discoveries of infants and toddlers as well documenting meaningful learning over time. This workshop will stimulate your thinking about children’s agendas, and inspire reflection on programme planning responsive to infants and toddlers and their growing relationships with people, their environment and the natural world around them. Memory Loader - Performance appraisals: a holistic approach This workshop will share practical ways leaders in ECE can best support and assess teaching performance in a way that empowers both the team and the individual. Using the framework of performance appraisal participants will have the opportunity to read quality examples of a holistic approach to celebrating learning. We will discuss ways in which collaboration can be enhanced by nurturing reflective practice and seeing the value in critiquing as an empowering process for all. Participants will be given many ideas for creating a culture that is fun, motivating and empowering for all. Memory Loader - Soul teaching This workshop will inspire you to think about your true intentions when playing and learning alongside big and little people. We will unpack the meaning of soul teaching and explore strategies for personal self-regulation, reflective practice and the power of our language. Lisa Ford - Finding ways to include under two’s at kindergarten At Naenae Kindergarten, Lower Hutt, we have found ways to have under two’s in our sessions. We have been developing how we can utilise our space to become a community hub, and how to encourage wider whanau participation within session time. Infants through to grandparents now come and go regularly each day, feeling welcome to pop in and play alongside the other children. By having an open door approach and inclusive whanau attitude, we feel we are becoming a service that truly reflects the needs of our community. Our strategies can be applied across all ECE services interested in increasing participation of their wider community. Natasha Kibble - Exploring the project approach with toddlers Find out how a fascination with family play became a tool for toddlers to communicate familiar and unfamiliar home-life rituals and experiences with each other. Be intrigued by the children’s questions and thinking and see how sharing stories with whānau can be the key to understanding their children’s learning. Nathan Li - Achieving quality parental engagement using Educa E-Portfolio Educa is the leading online and mobile portfolio provider in New Zealand. Used by over 1300 ECE teachers and over 5,000 families, Educa has been helping more than 100 ECE centres and services around the country achieve quality parental engagement. Recently, Educa has engaged Victoria University of Wellington embarking on a research project which investigates what constituted quality engagement by parents and teachers using the Educa E-Portfolio. This workshop provides opportunities for participants to discuss how parental engagement with their children’s learning and the programme offered by the ECE service can be enhanced through Educa’s E-Portfolio. The second part of the workshop will be a demonstration of Educa’s advanced web and mobile portfolio system. The Founder & CEO of Educa, Nathan Li will share some of the features and highlights which can be used to enhance the parental engagement at your centre. Rosalie Ardagh - Nurture self to nurture baby The impact of early year’s experiences - every minute, of every day lasts forever! EC Educators hold in their arms the strength of our Nation’s future. Come and unpack your beliefs and attitudes. Ponder baby’s feelings, baby’s need for a trusted carer , baby’s need to move freely, to connect with nature and baby’s need to be guided using the language of the heart. Be inspired with a reflection on Manaakitanga: Taking care of people with the virtues of Nurture, Care, Respect and Hospitality. Robin Christie – Environment design: Empowering spaces for infants and toddlers Join teacher and designer Robin Christie for a wide-ranging look at infant and toddler environments from Aotearoa and around the world. Basic design theory will be complemented by dozens of fullcolour slides and the chance to discuss issues as they relate to your own spaces. Sharon Holt - Gain confidence in using Te Reo Māori with children We all know that exposing children to a second language at an early age has many benefits. They pick up new languages easily and grow in empathy for other cultures. Importantly, learning new languages at an early age can prepare young brains for future educational opportunities. Most people agree with teaching te reo Māori in our mainstream early childhood centres and schools. However, many teachers and parents lack the confidence needed to enthusiastically share the Māori language with children. Even when we learn words and phrases, we may feel unsure about our pronunciation. We can even fear having a go because we are afraid of getting it wrong or causing offence. Many te reo resources teach isolated words. We can learn that kakariki is green, but there are very few resources that teach us how to use kakariki in a sentence. This workshop will provide you with many easy Māori language pronunciation strategies and skills. Participants will also learn some basic sentence structures, alongside new resources that make teaching and learning te reo Māori fun and easy for everyone.