By Laura Delgado, M.Ed.

By Dr. Beth Mills In today's world, early ch  ildhood education faces numerous challenges, often termed “the childcare crisis.” Amidst rising costs, the demand for high-quality care grows, pushing stakeholders to seek sustainable solutions. A promising response to these issues is Learning Beyond Paper (LBP). Why LBP? Affordability & Current Curriculum: One major hurdle in childcare is the expense of quality curriculum. LBP offers an affordable, continuously updated curriculum, ridding educators of outdated materials. This digital-native approach not only cuts costs but also provides current, research-backed education to every child. Time-Saving Tools: Many educators often face the daunting task of planning, documenting, and completing paperwork beyond school hours. LBP presents 52 weeks of structured activities, ensuring that educators spend more quality time with students rather than on administrative tasks. Staff Retention: The early childhood sector faces significant staff shortages. LBP equips educators and caregivers with essential tools, ensuring they're prepared, knowledgeable, and confident. When educators and caregivers feel supported and equipped, they're more likely to stay. Ongoing Professional Development: LBP provides continuous training and professional development opportunities, ensuring educators stay updated with effective strategies and best practices in the field. Equity and Inclusion: LBP champions an inclusive approach, encouraging educators and caregivers to celebrate individuality and differences. With access to @Home Connections, parents are also kept in the loop, fostering stronger home-school partnerships. Intentional Teacher-Child Interactions: Secure relationships are essential for young children. LBP curriculum ensures educators engage in sensitive, meaningful interactions that promote understanding and language skills. Holistic Learning Approach: LBP ensures children experience a well-rounded learning journey, incorporating STEAM, Language, Literacy, and Physical Development activities. The curriculum is geared towards fostering creativity, critical thinking, and collaborative skills, essential for the 21st-century world. In essence, Learning Beyond Paper is not just a curriculum platform; it's a comprehensive solution addressing the diverse challenges of the early childhood sector. With its innovative approach, LBP is poised to reshape the future of early childhood education.

Building quality relationships with children is embedded throughout LBP. Teachers are encouraged to create safe and nurturing learning environments for Emotional Support. Joy in learning and being aware of children’s needs are central to the curriculum. Learning Beyond Paper emphasizes the interests of the children, allowing them to take the lead and guide their learning. Many opportunities for choice and student responsibility are included throughout the activities. Teacher talk provides examples of eliciting ideas and perspectives from children. Under the Classroom Organization Domain, teachers are provided lists of materials and guidance on implementing developmentally appropriate, play-based activities. Each activity has a clear objective and can accommodate a variety of learning styles—teachers model behaviors of respect, caring, self-control, and fair decision-making. Expectations and rules are communicated clearly within the activities. The Teacher's Guide assists with setting up the classroom environment, including planning the schedule, routines, and transitions. For Instructional Support, opportunities to stretch children's thinking are consistently offered. Children are encouraged to problem-solve, make predictions, experiment, and evaluate their learning. Teachers scaffold each child's learning path with hints, suggestions, and modeling. Teacher talk examples include extended feedback loops and opportunities for children to explain their thinking. Encouragement and affirmation inspire persistence and continued involvement. Teachers are encouraged to talk with children and have extended conversations to support language development.

The classroom’s physical environment, both indoor and outdoor, set the stage for learning. The physical environment sends strong messages to children and adults about what is valued, who is valued, and what learning can occur within the spaces designed. As the teacher, your mindset is visible in the environment. The type of activities and learning that go on are reflective of your mindset. The emotional environment created by the teacher is also important. You should look to see that the values between the physical and emotional environment show consistency. The majority of a child’s day is spent in the physical environment you design. Design your space in a way that offers children the opportunity to feel comfortable owning the space. It’s their space as much as yours. No matter how your space currently looks, you must continuously reflect on the space and use of space to make updates and changes that provide improvement. When you are in the mindset of a reflective practitioner, nothing is ever indeed “done” or complete. While things should run smoothly, there are always opportunities to improve and enhance your program, thoughts, and experiences for children for this year’s particular group of children. The terms “environment” and “space” mean all indoor AND outdoor spaces children use. Sometimes, people consider only indoor space; however, outdoor spaces often have more space and opportunities to create than what may be available indoors. In most parts of the country, outdoor spaces can host a full range of activities, not just gross motor play, throughout the school year. Here are some key takeaways about intentional environments that can help your teachers and children thrive: Intentional setting up the environment will help children learn, grow, and develop different skills. The environment can be the other teacher in the classroom. Meaning, if a learning area or classroom environment is set up with intentionality, learning goals in mind and with age-appropriate materials, children will learn from this setting. The classroom library shouldn’t be the only area that has books. Add books to every learning center as well as the outside environment to promote literacy and celebrate books. Add an area where children and families are represented in the classroom environment. Adding pictures of children and their families will create strong connections and bonds between the family, teacher, and child. Allow children to add to wall space with their creations, art, and projects. Adding decorations takes away space from children and can make the environment seem cluttered and overwhelming. The outside area is an extension of the classroom. Outside is a learning environment full of learning potential for every child. Bring blocks, toys, art supplies, dramatic play, and books outside. We hope you have fun setting the stage for learning, a process that is constantly changing based on your observations and lessons! Enjoy!

Making your child care center a great place to work with a positive work culture for all employees is key to educators’ well-being and success, as well as to the happiness and success of the children your center educates! Happy workplaces make happy teachers! By building a positive culture where individuals feel valued, respected and heard, a sense of teamwork, friendship and camaraderie is created. Also, who wants to leave a job you actually look forward to going to each day–even if it might be slightly less pay than another job? Let’s find out how to build a positive work environment! Here are some great ways to boost morale and create a feeling of connection among colleagues on a personal level: Celebrate accomplishments, special events and birthdays for the staff Greet every person on the team by name every day Have chocolate or sweets on your desk and encourage everyone to stop by and say hello Always have a smile on your face. Model the behavior and body language you want to see in your staff. Get to know each member of your team Learn their communication style– Are they a hugger or straight to the point person? Have each member fill out a quick “get to know you” questionnaire and make it accessible to everyone. Include: Birthdays Favorite color Favorite food, candy, and store Schedule a 15-minute meeting with team members and: Ask about their family Career goals Like/dislikes How do they like to receive praise Where do they see themselves in 5 years…and it’s ok if it’s not with your organization! No shop talk! There are also ways to create a positive working environment during the work day and woven through daily activities. Here are a few: Be a servant leader. Offer to help your teacher with anything at any time Ask teachers to lead parts of the staff meeting Go into the classroom and just play with kids, offer a 5-minute break or make a positive comment about a display or bulletin board Delegate. This shows trust and professional development Provide ongoing professional development and education, and attend Professional Development courses with your team so you can support them By prioritizing a positive work culture, you can change the entire dynamic of your child care center into one that leads to the well-being and success of all. With just a few, simple, positive changes that show teamwork, support, admiration, appreciation and respect, your child care center can be a place teachers look forward to coming to each day! So don’t wait! Try a few – or all – of these tips in your center and watch the morale improve.