Elevating Early Childhood

Why do toddlers do what they do? Have you ever asked yourself that? I know I have! After all, little children sometimes do some astonishing things, and I would love nothing more than to understand why! And this is exactly why I've invited this week's guest to come to the podcast and talk to us about it. My good friend (and this week's guest) Devon Kuntzman is a coach, a former orphanage director,...

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Every preschool professional will have to, one day, introduce scissors to their students. And sometimes, that can go wrong.  A lot of children can be scissor-happy. I mean, who would say no to cutting their own hair as a child? However, if you do it the right way, teaching scissor skills to young kids can be, if not easy, quite fun. And it all comes down to helping your students hone their fine-mo...

Do you ever feel pressured to put the most aesthetically-pleasing bulletin boards in your classroom?  We've all been there!  Creating eye-catching bulletin boards can become a chore that takes up way too much time! And this is exactly what I discuss in this week's episode of Elevating Early Childhood, with my amazing guest, the brilliant Matt Halpern. Matt has taught early elementary school for al...

In this week's episode of Elevating Early Childhood, I discuss a pretty exciting subject: How to start your own preschool. Yes friends, because you can! Plus, what's even more fun is that I talk about this with the fantastic Joy Anderson! If you don't know her, then let me give you a quick introduction: Joy is a mom, a badass professional educator, and, DRUMROLL PLEASE, the founder and CEO of Pres...

Picking up from last week's episode, we continue on today with my discussion with fellow preschool educator, Allison McDonald, about the Science of Reading. In the last episode of Elevating Early Childhood, Allison and I discussed the science of reading, the importance of oral language development, and how you can help your students create a foundation for literacy. Today, we pick up again and dis...

What is the Science of Reading? And what should preschool teachers know about it? In this week's episode of Elevating Early Childhood, I answer these two questions and more.  But I won't be doing this alone!  Yes friends, this is an interview episode! And in it, I will be discussing this hot topic with the lovely Allison McDonald. Allison is the creator and founder of the early childhood website N...

What does it take to teach preschool children how to draw? I get asked this question a lot, so I thought why not share my answer with all my listeners? Yes guys, you've guessed it, it's another "Calm Down Corner Special" episode! If you've ever wondered "Is directed drawing right for my class?", then this episode is the right one for you. A few years ago, directed drawing became a trend on the int...

Do your kids love visiting your preschool library center? For many pre-k teachers, getting children interested in books and reading can be very difficult. And there are various reasons why that is so... The kids aren’t interested… They’re mistreating the books... And very often, we’re not given the adequate resources to create a proper classroom library! So in this week’s episode, I’m going to pro...

Every single year, I get questions about the first days of school. And so, I thought, why not have an episode about it? After all, that first day of school is a pretty big deal, not just for the students, but also for professional educators like you. That is why I’ve created a free printable lesson plan to go along with the episode! I’ll also explain how to use it, so make sure you listen all the...

In today's episode of Elevating Early Childhood, I will be discussing something every professional educator needs to use in their classroom: Emotions and feelings activities for preschoolers. As we all know, social skills are not innate. They're learned and honed through life, and of course, the earlier you start, the more social intelligence and emotional literacy you acquire. This is why emotion...

Hello everyone, and welcome back to another “Calm Down Corner” special.  In this week’s episode, I’ll be answering a couple of burning questions from some of my listeners, and also offering some tips on how to use your calm down cozy corner in the most effective way. You see, many professional educators set up calm down corners (or Zen zones or calming areas) and find out —sometimes the hard way—...

Are focus walls REALLY an effective teaching tool for preschool and pre-k? Find out on our first ever “Calm Down Corner” episode of our podcast! As early childhood professionals, we’re frequently exposed to misinformation about educating young children. Inappropriate, unfounded practices are being shared on the internet left and right.  Shiny, buzzwordy—and completely opposite to how kids learn! N...

Have you ever entered your email address to download a freebie...and then been disappointed by what you got? I know I have plenty of times!  When you’re trying to find new ideas for your classroom, freebies can be very helpful. But it can also go in another direction—one where you catch yourself thinking... “Huh? That’s it? I could’ve Googled that!” So when I create freebies and bundles, I’m parti...

Time young children spend in learning centers is precious for their development. And yet, it’s one of those strictly school-related activities, which is why we must do our very best to set them up for success. Creating a successful learning center requires lots of strategic planning and effort. There are many questions you need to answer first, including… How many centers should you create?  How l...

Have you ever encountered an educational program so boring you knew right away it wasn't going to work? One that is so dry and anti-fun the only thing it could do effectively was put children to sleep? Throughout my career, I've had plenty of less-than-fortunate encounters with these types of programs. Some were so awful they literally drove teachers to quit their jobs!  Luckily, if proven, resear...

Early childhood teachers have it pretty rough. We face all sorts of indignities daily without even getting a hint of the respect we deserve as professional educators. We’re constantly looked down upon, whether it’s coming from the parents of our students, administrators, or even our own peers! With all that going on, it’s easy to drift into negative thinking, which can lead you down a destructive...

One of the biggest challenges teachers face with teaching the alphabet is getting the letters to stick. You spend weeks teaching, following your curriculum, doing everything by the book. Everything seems to be going great - the kiddos are getting it! And then... Poof! They forget all of it! As if you’ve never even mentioned it before! Has this ever happened to you? Because it’s happened to me plen...

Welcome to our first-ever episode of Elevating Early Childhood! I’m Vanessa Levin, and I help pre-k, preschool, and kindergarten teachers teach better, save time, and live more!  Have you ever encountered a problem in your classroom you weren’t sure how to solve? Maybe you’ve felt alone, isolated from your colleagues, not knowing who to turn to for help? These were the biggest challenges I’ve face...

Teaching Trailblazers Teach Smarter: Literacy Strategies for Early Childhood Teachers