PAEYC Mini Conference at Bing Nursery School

By Jennifer Winters, Assistant Director

In an effort to promote and share knowledge and experience amongst the community of early childhood educators, the Peninsula Association for the Education of Young Children held a mini conference in February. Through the coordination of Bing teacher, Andrea Rees, a board member of the organization, Bing Nursery School stepped up to host this event. With over 125 teachers attending, the conference was a huge success, and one we plan to repeat next year.

A peek at this year’s presentations:

Bing teachers Nancy Howe and Betsy Koning led a session on “Sand and Water: Materials for building an understanding on the world.” They showed teachers that basic and inexpensive open-ended materials like sand and water can provide for young children a rich learning environment and allow them to build an understanding of their world.

PAEYC member at large Chris Morrison presented on “Science in the Classroom: a hands on approach to early childhood science.” He explored strategies to help children discover air pressure and learn about magnets, among other topics.

Bing’s assistant director, Jennifer Winters, offered a session on “The Cognitive Benefits of Block Building.” This presentation highlighted the history and function of unit blocks and examples of cognitive, social, emotional and physical benefits that young children gain from block building. The presentation highlighted the importance of block building as a foundation for children’s cognitive learning.

Bing teachers Peckie Peters and Seyon Verdtzabella presented “The Value of Woodworking: Keys to effective set-ups and techniques for guiding young children in the empowering experience of woodworking.” Their presentation stressed the importance of exposing children to real tools as they begin the challenging and satisfying experience of working with wood.

Bing teachers Parul Chandra and Nandini Bhattacharjya discussed the value and potential of clay in the early childhood classroom in their presentation: “Make Room for Clay: an important medium for creative expression.” The session included ideas and suggestions about how to present and sustain interest in clay throughout the year.

And lastly, Jacque Sell, president of PAEYC, spoke about how teachers can promote the educational benefits of developmentally appropriate preschool. Her talk offered basic steps to sharing these benefits with parents.

In addition to the presentations, Bing teachers conducted school tours. Many of the visiting educators said they were impressed by the spacious yards and carefully planned indoor and outdoor environment. Their parting sentiments: They would like to come back and do it again next year!