New Child Care Program Coaching Resource for CCR&Rs

By Marie Treichel, Provider Services Manager

Child Care Aware^® of Eastern Kansas has been providing referral services to families for over forty years, and in 1992 began providing direct coaching services to early educators.

Being an early educator coach helps one appreciate the planning and energy that an early childhood educator puts into engaging and supporting young learners. Coaches routinely witness teachers trying to implement well-planned activities amidst the daily, spirited commotion that children bring to the classroom. Our job is to help early childhood educators hone their instructional skills, including by sharing ways to help them manage that balance between the lesson plan and the immediate interests and needs of the children.

Skilled teachers have a collection of fingerplays, songs and games that they can “pull out of their hats” during transitions, when joining children in play or when leading group activities. One important piece of technical assistance that coaches can offer teachers who are new to the field, or those interested in new ideas, is a collection of on-the-spot and easy- to-do activities. Coaches should have a repertoire of activities to pull and model from, as well as resources that can be handed out and shared.

The Vroom^® app – available for free on the App Store and Google Play – offers many tips that work in an early learning classroom. However, not all teachers can access the Vroom^® app from their classrooms. Others may not automatically think of Vroom as a go-to resource for their lesson planning. Coaches can help teachers understand how to use the Vroom^® app for planning and access the app’s brain-building tips for spontaneous learning. Coaches can also print out the Brain Building Tips for Early Childhood Environments resource booklet, and put it directly in the hands of teachers. The booklet’s brain building tips can be used in common classroom activities: outdoor play, group time, transitions and dramatic play.

As child care programs begin reopening and possibly hiring new teachers and enrolling new families, this resource could be a helpful tool to share with new families, and with new teachers to use in their lesson planning and transition activities. If the brain building tips are used both in the classroom and at home, they can become a common language or shared experience that children will find familiar and comforting. We’re excited we had the opportunity to partner with Child Care Aware^® of America on developing this new resource and see it get into the hands of early childhood educators in our communities!

Here are seven tips for how coaches can share the “Brain Building Tips for Early Childhood Environments” resource with child care programs (in-person or virtually):

1. Select a specific area(s) of an early childhood environment from the booklet to discuss during a coaching visit (or virtual session) with an early childhood educator(s).
2. Insert talking points about using brain building tips from Vroom and other resources into discussions on lesson planning with early childhood educators.
3. Highlight and expand on brain building tips in CCR&R agency newsletters for early childhood programs.
4. Model brain building tips included in the resource booklet.
5. Integrate concepts and brain building tips into relevant professional development and training for early childhood educators.
6. Encourage early childhood educators to identify one action step for integrating brain building tips into their classroom.
7. Follow up with early childhood educators on their reflections on integrating brain building tips into their classrooms.

For more information on sharing brain building resources with child care programs, email us at vroom@usa.childcareaware.org

Marie Treichel, Provider Services Manager

Child Care Aware^® of Eastern Kansas has been providing referral services to families for over forty years, and in 1992 began providing direct coaching services to early educators.