Why Curriculum Matters in Early Childhood Learning

06/01/22 • 44 min

Laura Delgado is the vice president of curriculum and professional development at Learning Beyond Paper, a leader in providing 100% digital curriculum. Laura is a former early learning teacher, center director and owner. She has a master’s degree in leadership in education and more than 25 years of experience in early childhood learning.

In this podcast, she discusses why curriculum is so important for young learners, particularly babies through pre-kindergarten. She also describes why a curriculum that is easy to use is essential for teachers, many who do their lesson planning on Sunday nights on unpaid time as they ready for the week ahead because they don't have time during their work days.
Laura also describes the challenges of relying on a paper curriculum. She says she's seen child care centers buy curriculum that is on an "approved list," often just to check a box as part of obtaining funding.
"And when I would go into the classrooms, sometimes they couldn't find the curriculum," she says. "Sometimes it would be in a closet, on a shelf gathering dust."
Learning Beyond Paper and Procare Solutions have partnered to offer the Procare Early Learning Powered by Learning Beyond Paper all-digital curriculum offering. The 52-week curriculum is embedded into Procare for easy use with 4,000 lesson plans for infants through pre-kindergarteners. To learn more, visit www.procaresoftware.com/curriculum!

Previous Episode

Season 2, Episode 6: Shared Leadership: Letting Go and Working Toward the Same Goals, with Lisa Polk

We are live from the 2022 National Shared Services Technical Conference presented by Opportunities Exchange in Austin, Texas!
In this podcast, we talk with Lisa Polk about leadership. She has 20 years’ experience as an early education teacher, director and owner. She works with Georgia Alliance for Quality Child Care and is an instructor for CDA credential and director training in addition to being an adjunct professor at Chattahoochee Technical College. She has a masters’ degree in early childhood education and is working toward her doctorate in education with an emphasis on teacher leadership.
In this podcast, Lisa discusses:

the need for consistent systems
why you must make sure relationships with parents stay professional
the importance of communication
how to build a team and work toward the same goal
and more!

Reach Lisa at [email protected], and learn more about her nonprofit Poly-Anna's Place on Facebook and on Instagram!

Next Episode

Season 2, Episode 8: Setting Expectations for — and Connecting with — Your Child Care Staff, with Chanie Wilschanski

Chanie Wilschanski is known as the "school culture doctor" because she can diagnose the root cause of the struggle in a child care center in less that 10 minutes.
She's an early childhood leadership coach and the CEO of Schools of Excellence, and in this podcast she discusses what she sees in those 10 minutes and much more.

" You need to understand where you're spending your time," Chanie says. "And then you can hit your goals."
She talks about making sure you're setting appropriate expectations for your staff while maintaining high standards and staying true to your values.
Chanie also describes how to connect with your teachers, which is so vital as early childhood education leaders struggle to find and retain staff, as well as the importance of taking care of yourself.
Her goals are:

Not to teach you what to think, but how to think
Not to show you what you’re lacking, but remind you that everything you need is inside you
Instead of showing you 50 steps, the next one step that gives you a win

Learn more about Chanie's work at her Schools of Excellence website and you can find her own podcast series here!

The Child Care Business Podcast - Why Curriculum Matters in Early Childhood Learning

Transcript

Speaker 100:00:08.640

Welcome to the childcare business podcast brought to you by ProCare solutions.

Speaker 100:00:14.359

This podcast is all about giving childcare , preschool daycare after school and other early education professionals, a fun and upbeat way to learn about strategies and inspiration you can use to thrive. You'll hear from a variety of childcare thought leaders, including educators, owners, and industry experts on ways