Southern Ontario's largest conference for early childhood education practitioners, administrators and future professionals takes place at the Doon campus of Conestoga College in Kitchener on March 26-27.
Titled Early Childhood . . . Where It All Begins, the event is sponsored by kidsLINK Preschool Support Services, the Region of Waterloo Children's Services Division and the Early Childhood Education program of Conestoga College.
This is the 16th annual professional development conference for early childhood educators. All registration spaces are already filled and more than 500 participants will attend.
The Friday evening session includes opening remarks, the presentation of awards to three exceptional local early childhood educators and a keynote address. This year's speaker is the legendary Carl Hiebert. Confined to a wheelchair following a flying accident in 1981, he has achieved great things - opening his own flight school, becoming the first paraplegic flight instructor in Canada and authoring two best-selling coffee-table books: Gift of Wings, about his flight across Canada in an ultralight craft, and Us Little People, a look at Old Order Mennonite children. Carl Hiebert addresses the conference at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday consists of 31 workshops, presentations and seminars, from which participants choose. The day begins at 8 a.m. and concludes at 3:30 p.m. Topics are varied, reflecting current issues, techniques and approaches relevant both to the practice of early childhood education and to the personal and professional development of practitioners in the field. Examples of this year's agenda include childhood obesity, the effects on children of television and the Internet, ways to aid positive emotional development in boys, dealing with grief and loss in children, ways to turn childhood stress into positive and creative energy, and the value of play activities, arts and crafts and creative drama in the lives of young children.
A feature of the Saturday program is an information fair, scheduled for
11:15 a.m.-1:15 p.m. On hand will be representatives of more than 35 manufacturers/suppliers
of early childhood education books, toys and products, and of community
agencies associated with early childhood education.
CONTACT: Judi Neufeld, 519-741-1122, jneufeld@ndsa.on.ca