Registration for workshops & videochats closes 2 hours before the event.

Loose Parts Workshop
with Wendy Gelsanliter
Thursday, January 8th, 4:00-5:30 PM (ET)

Come to the Materials Center in Manhattan and join our team for a Loose Parts Workshop. We will introduce educators to the history and thinking behind materials work with children and share actual footage of children playing, creating, and building. Afterwards, we’ll discuss concrete ideas for integrating this work into your program or curriculum. At the end of the session, participants can shop for materials to take back to their own classrooms.

"Child-Led Workshops" VIDEOCHAT
with Yeshnaya Dougherty
Wednesday, January 14th, 3:00-4:00 PM (ET)

Children are capable and creative constructs of their knowledge and process; it is with this core belief that co-teachers Shelly and Yeshnaya developed a practice to provide opportunities for children to lead, share interest and grow from one another's expertise. In this session, the philosophy and practice of Child Led Workshops will be shared along with the outcomes and how to integrate Child Led Workshops into your own classrooms.

BIO: Yeshnaya is an Early Childhood Educator and certified coach who is passionate about developing meaningful relationships with educators and leaders as they explore and grow their practice. Most recently, she was a coach with the Efshar Network supporting Jewish Early Childhood programs in the Denver and Boulder area. She began her journey as a coach with Teaching Beyond the Square in 2015, where she worked alongside early childhood educators across the Tri-state area. Passionate and inspired by the curious minds of young children, Yeshnaya's practice and philosophy are largely shaped by her work with the Reggio Emilia approach. She received her M.A. in Early Childhood Education from Lesley University and her B.A. in Environmental Studies from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia.

Loose Parts Workshop
with Wendy Gelsanliter
Wednesday, January 21st, 4:00-5:30 PM (ET)

Come to the Materials Center in Manhattan and join our team for a Loose Parts Workshop. We will introduce educators to the history and thinking behind materials work with children and share actual footage of children playing, creating, and building. Afterwards, we’ll discuss concrete ideas for integrating this work into your program or curriculum. At the end of the session, participants can shop for materials to take back to their own classrooms.

"Reggio Refresher" VIDEOCHAT
with Jennifer Carvajal
Monday, January 26th, 3:00-4:00 PM (ET)

Do you need a reminder or review of the main components of the Reggio-Emilia approach to teaching? Jennifer, TBS’s Senior Educational Director, will touch on the classroom environment, image of the child, roles of parents and teachers, emergent curriculum, and more, as she covers the many elements of this philosophy. This videochat would be useful for anyone new to the Reggio approach or educators looking to broaden the scope of the philosophy in their classrooms.

BIO: View HERE.

"Documentation" VIDEOCHAT
with Yeshnaya Dougherty
Thursday, February 12th, 3:00-4:00 PM (ET)

The process of documentation is developed over time with practice, peers and passion. This session is an introduction to the fundamentals of documentation, breaking down the process and philosophy behind observation, reflection and presentation. Documentation is a tool to expand your thinking and engage a wider audience in the ongoing research behind your practice. 

BIO: Yeshnaya is an Early Childhood Educator and certified coach who is passionate about developing meaningful relationships with educators and leaders as they explore and grow their practice. Most recently, she was a coach with the Efshar Network supporting Jewish Early Childhood programs in the Denver and Boulder area. She began her journey as a coach with Teaching Beyond the Square in 2015, where she worked alongside early childhood educators across the Tri-state area. Passionate and inspired by the curious minds of young children, Yeshnaya's practice and philosophy are largely shaped by her work with the Reggio Emilia approach. She received her M.A. in Early Childhood Education from Lesley University and her B.A. in Environmental Studies from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia.

Loose Parts Workshop
with Wendy Gelsanliter
Thursday, March 5th, 4:00-5:30 PM (ET)

Come to the Materials Center in Manhattan and join our team for a Loose Parts Workshop. We will introduce educators to the history and thinking behind materials work with children and share actual footage of children playing, creating, and building. Afterwards, we’ll discuss concrete ideas for integrating this work into your program or curriculum. At the end of the session, participants can shop for materials to take back to their own classrooms.

“High-Leverage Routines for Early Childhood: Patterns, Puzzles, and Being Present” IN-PERSON WORKSHOP
with Chelsea Coussens
Thursday, March 5th, 5:45-7:15 PM (ET)

This professional development workshop is designed for PreK and Kindergarten educators seeking to enrich their teaching practices while fostering meaningful connections and joy in the early childhood classroom.

Participants will explore high-leverage routines and activities designed to help children engage with each other; this includes developing their capacity to listen and communicate their ideas, stay present in learning, and to advocate for their needs as learners.

Focusing on early childhood math and social-emotional learning (SEL) concepts, this workshop highlights activities and routines that support children’s ability to reason and communicate their thinking across various content areas. These activities include opportunities for exploring ideas with unifix cubes, blocks, patterns, and puzzles.

BIO: Chelsea Coussens is an educator with more than 15 years of experience in New York City schools, both public and private. Through her experiences as a classroom teacher, teacher leader, and school-based math coach, Chelsea remains passionate that everyone — students and teachers alike — deserves the opportunity to engage with mathematics in ways that resonate personally and that this kind of engagement is a way to break down barriers and make learning accessible to all. She deeply believes that all teachers, and all students, can learn math and that the path to equity lies in involving learners in ways that are meaningful to them.

Chelsea’s experiences as an educator have convinced her that building a community of trust, whether for students in a classroom or educators in a school, is essential in the pursuit of these goals. She recognizes that collaboration is crucial for deep learning, and that risk-taking, not only in classrooms but also within the professional networks that support educators, is only possible when people believe they are safe to learn and make mistakes. Creating a respectful, vibrant culture of public learning has been one of her key goals both as a classroom teacher and as a math coach.

Another deep-rooted belief–and this comes from Chelsea’s many years teaching early childhood and from her experiences as a mother of 3–is that play is an essential component of learning. It is through play that children develop deep understanding and build meaningful connections between ideas. It is also through play that children learn to engage with others, to participate in the rough-and-tumble, give-and-take of communicating their ideas, advocating for their ideas but also being able to hear the voices of others.

"Documenting the Individual Through Learning Stories" VIDEOCHAT
with Yeshnaya Dougherty
Thursday, March 12th, 3:00-4:00 PM (ET)

Please join Yeshnaya Dougherty for a presentation on Learning Stories, which provide a detailed method for capturing each child’s journey in their moments of everyday learning. This meaningful structure for ongoing documentation and assessment is accessible for children, families and teachers to reflect upon. Learning stories originated from New Zealand and are a wonderful example of how documentation can facilitate a strong partnership between parents, teachers and children as they all play a role in piecing together the image of the child. 

BIO: Yeshnaya is an Early Childhood Educator and certified coach who is passionate about developing meaningful relationships with educators and leaders as they explore and grow their practice. Most recently, she was a coach with the Efshar Network supporting Jewish Early Childhood programs in the Denver and Boulder area. She began her journey as a coach with Teaching Beyond the Square in 2015, where she worked alongside early childhood educators across the Tri-state area. Passionate and inspired by the curious minds of young children, Yeshnaya's practice and philosophy are largely shaped by her work with the Reggio Emilia approach. She received her M.A. in Early Childhood Education from Lesley University and her B.A. in Environmental Studies from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia.

Loose Parts Workshop
with Wendy Gelsanliter
Wednesday, March 18th, 4:00-5:30 PM (ET)

Come to the Materials Center in Manhattan and join our team for a Loose Parts Workshop. We will introduce educators to the history and thinking behind materials work with children and share actual footage of children playing, creating, and building. Afterwards, we’ll discuss concrete ideas for integrating this work into your program or curriculum. At the end of the session, participants can shop for materials to take back to their own classrooms.

Loose Parts Workshop
with Wendy Gelsanliter
Thursday, April 2nd, 4:00-5:30 PM (ET)

Come to the Materials Center in Manhattan and join our team for a Loose Parts Workshop. We will introduce educators to the history and thinking behind materials work with children and share actual footage of children playing, creating, and building. Afterwards, we’ll discuss concrete ideas for integrating this work into your program or curriculum. At the end of the session, participants can shop for materials to take back to their own classrooms.

Loose Parts Workshop
with Wendy Gelsanliter
Thursday, May 7th, 4:00-5:30 PM (ET)

Come to the Materials Center in Manhattan and join our team for a Loose Parts Workshop. We will introduce educators to the history and thinking behind materials work with children and share actual footage of children playing, creating, and building. Afterwards, we’ll discuss concrete ideas for integrating this work into your program or curriculum. At the end of the session, participants can shop for materials to take back to their own classrooms.

Loose Parts Workshop
with Wendy Gelsanliter
Thursday, June 4th, 4:00-5:30 PM (ET)

Come to the Materials Center in Manhattan and join our team for a Loose Parts Workshop. We will introduce educators to the history and thinking behind materials work with children and share actual footage of children playing, creating, and building. Afterwards, we’ll discuss concrete ideas for integrating this work into your program or curriculum. At the end of the session, participants can shop for materials to take back to their own classrooms.

If you previously attended a videochat and need a certificate of participation,
you can request one here.