Throughout the year Jayne offers professional development workshops on various themes. Jayne’s goal is to provide valuable resources for educators, administrators, and early childhood professionals.
Workshops can be customized to accommodate small or large groups and can offer lesson support in person or online. With an understanding of state childcare licensing requirements for staff development hours and a respect for each program’s individual philosophy, model of learning, and specific goals, Jayne encourages and welcomes staff input to drive her customized workshops.
“What is it that you struggle with? What do you want to know more about? What is working now that you would like to keep? What resources are already available to you? How do you currently incorporate literature into your lessons, or do you? How do you incorporate a nature connection for optimal learning? What is your plan for communicating with parents?…”
Jayne will work with YOU and value your input and knowledge as you work together to create and enhance the curriculum of your preschool program. Just as collaboration and team work is valuable to the youngest learners, so is it for the adults who want to learn more.
.
Workshops focus on creating strong learning connections through…
Nature – Creating natural spaces on the property. Activities in nature. Respecting nature. Bringing the natural world inside. Risk taking, loose parts, exploration, and play in the fresh air spaces.
Children’s literature – Selection of books. Stories used as a focal point for individual lessons or themes. Incorporating preschool skills with follow-up activities. Bringing “old stories” to life with new ideas and connections.
Movement – Gross and fine motor movements incorporated through small and large group participation. Movements connected to outside experiences, new vocabulary introduced through story, and helping the brain to make valuable connections to the world around us. Keeping in mind that it is the vestibular sense in us that craves swinging, twirling, and rolling down a hill.
“Fly like an eagle! Slither like the snake! Make your way to the vernal pool to lay your eggs! …”
Games – Jayne will help staff members remember what it is like to play Duck, Duck, Goose and the important preschool skills that are involved in playing it! Then there is the opportunity to re-create the “old”, familiar, childhood games we used to play and turn them into a new game with new connections and keeping the fun in the learning! Perhaps “Duck, Duck, Goose” becomes “Fox, Fox, Hen” when children are learning about predators and prey!
Music– You don’t need to be able have a voice that will get you on American Idol, but you will learn the value found in songs: rhyme, rhythm, math, story connections, patterns, letter recognition, concepts, sequencing of events and fun! Learn to write songs and poems to support your curriculum! Embrace the value of a random tune being hummed as you skip through the garden.
Art- Art is embraced and respected in all forms. Visual arts are a product of an experience, an observation, a feeling, an emotion, or inspiration. Everyone can create. Everyone’s creations are different and should be embraced. As adults we need to accept our own creations and visual interpretations just as we enjoy and encourage those pieces of art the youngest learners create while in our care. When in nature, art isn’t necessarily experienced with a paint brush or glue. It is often an experience of the moment and carries deep meaning and pride. Experience art inside and out and with or without paint or crayons! See art in a different way.
Pre-Reading and Writing Skills- They might look different than many of you are thinking. …. singing, walking through the woods, dodging branches, making a mud pie, squishing clay between your fingers, finding branches and sticks that look like letters, blowing the seeds of a dandelion, wiping the mud off the picnic table, drawing a rainbow overhead….. remembering the reason you do what you do with the youngest learners as it relates to child development and be confident in the value of it. Be able to defend why navigating a narrow, uneven path in the woods is strengthening a child’s depth perception and visual acuity.
See “BASIC PACKAGE PLANS” here.
*** Jayne is located in Canterbury, N.H. – Service beyond a 30 mile radius will have a mileage fee.
I had the pleasure of working with Jayne at Fledglings Nature -Based Preschool. She is an amazing and inspiring woman, so creative and engaging with her lessons and curriculum. The children learned through hands on exploration and problem solving activities. They were relevant lessons that the children could connect with in nature and their surrounding world. She is a true entertainer, mentor and educator. I learned a lot from my four years working with Jayne and the songs will forever be in my head. - N. Mills Early Childhood Educator