Posts Tagged ‘early childhood education’


Seventy Seminole Tribe of Florida early childhood teachers attended a full-day hands-on science inquiry-based teacher training professional staff development workshop to learn how to teach science through children’s literature conducted by Dr. Diana Wehrell-Grabowski. Teachers were actively engaged in exploring early childhood science concepts through hands-on explorations. Additionally, teachers were introduced to early childhood children’s literature that can be used to teach early childhood science concepts in the classroom and at home. Teachers conducted hands-on explorations to investigate:  the nature of matter, floating and sinking, plant and animal kingdom concepts, how rocks break down into smaller pieces, mathematical concepts including patterns, shapes, and sorting. The teacher training workshop was a great success. Participants left the workshop with increased content knowledge, motivated, confident, and ready to implement what they had learned in the teacher training workshop within their own classrooms. All of the children’s literature used during the teacher training workshop can be viewed and ordered from Amazon via this site at no extra charge (see book page).

Teaching Science Through Children's Literature Teacher Training Workshop

Teaching Science Through Children's Literature Teacher Training Workshop

Teaching Science Through Children's Literature Teacher Training Workshop

Teaching Science Through Children's Literature Teacher Training Workshop

Teaching Science Through Children's Literature Teacher Training Workshop

Teaching Science Through Children's Literature Teacher Training Workshop

Teaching Science Through Children's Literature Teacher Training Workshop

     I wonder how many educators can say they have attended a teacher training workshop on a Friday evening? Well on Friday, January 22nd forty early childhood educators and after-care teachers from Marion County, Florida participated in a two hour hands-on-minds-on science teacher training workshop. Participants made ramps out of race car tracks and blocks to study force, motion, and energy concepts. Then it was onto exploring the natural world by observing and analyzing a wide-assortment of objects from nature. Participants were given plenty of opportunities to explore and discover on their own and in small groups, much like what should take place within all classrooms. The workshop came to a close, and as I looked around the room I knew that these teachers would go back to their classrooms eager to explore science with their students.

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