You want to provide the best early childhood experience for children and their parents. But you don’t have easy access to high-quality training. We provide you with relevant, research-based, and Biblically-sound training and on-demand courses so that you and your staff can confidently care for and teach young children.
The 5-Minute Practice That Changes Classrooms
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Hey Reader! In the busyness of our classrooms, sometimes it’s hard to pause long enough to reflect on what’s actually happening. There are diapers to change, lessons to prepare, parents to update, and children who need our constant care and attention. Taking a few moments to reflect each day may be one of the most important habits/practices that a teacher can do. Reflection (pausing to intentionally consider) helps you move beyond simply “doing activities” (aka, babysitting) to intentionally supporting children’s growth, learning and relationships (aka…facilitating learning). Pause, ask God to open your heart and then ask yourself:
Taking a few minutes (less than 5) at the end of a day to answer these questions can lead to impactful, meaningful growth for you and for your students! This is a great for a classroom staff team to do together! You’ll begin to be more responsive to children’s needs because you start looking beyond behaviors and considering what children may be communicating. Reflection also helps you recognize patterns (ohhhh….he always bites when we’re doing diapers), adjust routines (moving snack time 10 minutes earlier solves a lot of behavior issues sometimes, lol), strengthen classroom relationships, and create more effective learning experiences - those that children actually connect with. In many ways, reflection transforms everyday moments into opportunities for growth—not only for children, but for teachers too. You begin noticing the children who fly under the radar or those who Reflection supports emotional wellness for teachers and caregivers. Early childhood education is joyful work, but it can also be exhausting. Taking time to process challenges, celebrate small victories, and reconnect with your purpose can help reduce burnout and renew your passion for teaching. In our faith-based classrooms, reflection can go even deeper when you ask questions like:
You do not need hours of quiet time to become a reflective teacher. Sometimes growth begins with just five intentional minutes at the end of the day. Today, give yourself permission to pause, think, pray, and grow. Reflection is not about perfection—it is about becoming more intentional in the important work God has called you to do. P.S. Need a little extra help? HERE’s a great download with daily and weekly reflection questions that you might find helpful and they’re on a pretty printable worksheet! This is a resource from Early Learning Foundations, not ECCN (we don’t endorse everything ELF publishes, but did find this resource helpful). You will have to enter your email address to get it…sorry about that. You can unsubscribe easily if her content is not for you. She also talks about reflection in a short (10 minute) podcast episode HERE that piqued my interest enough to write this newsletter about it! Cheering you on this week! -Your ECCN team P.S. If you don't want to receive these weekly emails anymore, no hard feelings. Click HERE to be removed from this list. (You'll still receive other emails from us based on past preferences.)
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Early Childhood Christian Network
You want to provide the best early childhood experience for children and their parents. But you don’t have easy access to high-quality training. We provide you with relevant, research-based, and Biblically-sound training and on-demand courses so that you and your staff can confidently care for and teach young children.
Hey Reader! Have you ever had one of those days when you've been patient...kind...smiling...and showing incredible self-control—and then one little thing happens, and you just want to slam a cabinet door or stomp your feet? We've all been there. After hours of solving problems, answering questions, and caring for others, sometimes we just need a quiet moment to reset. What if that's exactly how some of the children in our classrooms feel? The difference is that young children don't yet have...
Hey Reader! Have you ever found yourself in the middle of an argument with a two year old and you realize you’re not even sure how you got here? Afterall, she’s TWO! And you’re….well, older than two! Most of us have been there – in the middle of a power struggle with a toddler. So what now? There are two really important things to remember before we jump to strategies… Adults must first recognize that it takes two people to be in a struggle, and since a toddler has an immature brain, the...
Hey Reader! This is the last week of our summer book series! Did you love it as much as I did? My kids are 22, 25, and 28 and i STILL have a full bookshelf of preschool picture books. I love them! We can teach children so many skills using fun read alouds. I wonder if you’ve ever struggled with getting children to nap? Often, children are almost naturally wired to resist words like “take a nap” or “go to bed”! Have you noticed that too? Brain science tells us that these resistant neural...