Child-Centered, Child-Driven: What Works Best in Early Childhood Education

Grades PreK –2 with Kateri Thunder, Ph.D.

Target Audience: PreK-Grade 2 Educators, Specialists and Administrators

October 28, 2025 Let’s Talk! The Pivotal Role of Language in the Early Childhood Classroom

To effectively teach oral language and listening comprehension, we need high talk and high-quality talk. During this workshop, we’ll examine how much talk we need to maximize children’s oral language and listening comprehension development in early childhood education. In other words, we’ll examine how much talk is high talk. Then, we’ll unpack the four Ts that define the characteristics of high-quality talk.

Throughout we’ll experience evidence-based instructional strategies to implement high talk and high-quality talk.

Learning Goals:

We are learning about the critical role of talk in early education so that we can maximize the learning and development of every child.

We’ll know we’ve learned this when we can:

· Explain the critical role of talk for teaching and learning in early childhood.

· List and describe the attributes of high-talk and high-quality talk.

· Intentionally plan for high-talk and high-quality talk during indoor and outdoor play, early math, and early literacy

October 29, 2025 Big Concepts with Our Littlest Learners: Multisensory Play

Big ideas and complex concepts in math, literacy, and social emotional learning are accessible to our youngest learners. To make sense of big concepts, we begin with familiar, concrete objects, next we translate these into images, and then we connect these with language. Throughout we engage in multisensory play that is empowering, meaningful, and joyful.

Come explore manipulatives that bring to life big math, literacy, and social emotional concepts. We'll experience ways to engage in a sensory diet as we move from concrete to pictorial to abstract with big ideas, including phonological awareness, letter knowledge, number sense, representation, listening comprehension, writing, & self-regulation.

Learning Goals:

We are learning ways to move from concrete to pictorial to abstract through multisensory play so that our youngest learners have the opportunity and access to make sense of big concepts.

We’ll know we’ve learned this when we can:

· Describe how and why moving from familiar, concrete objects to images to language is an effective strategy for scaffolding all learners, including EL and learners with special needs.

· Experience multisensory play and the concrete-pictorial-abstract method to help young learners make sense of and develop skills in early math, literacy, and social emotional learning.

· Envision implementing multisensory play and the concrete-pictorial-abstract method in our early childhood classrooms.

May 6, 2026 Authentic Assessment in Early Childhood Education

Early childhood is a unique space where too often we ask young learners to perform for an assessment rather than crafting the assessment to fit the developmental characteristics of young children. In this culminating session, we’ll examine ways we can effectively and responsively engage in the feedback loop of teaching and learning with our youngest learners. Through a variety of data and a balance of quick and deep formative assessments that truly inform our teaching, we’ll examine qualitative assessments from across content areas in order to see our learners clearly. We will analyze assessments that authentically capture the growth over time of our youngest learners and capture their three-dimensional understandings and skills rather than flattening them through rigid ‘readiness’ assessments.

Learning Goals:

We are learning about high-quality, authentic assessments so that we can capture the achievement and growth of our youngest learners with accuracy and developmentally appropriate assessment practices.

We’ll know we’ve learned this when we can:

· Explain the importance of high-quality, authentic assessments that capture three-dimensional understandings and skills.

· Describe a variety of high-quality, formative assessments, including oral language records, work sample videos, transcriptions, narrations, and sketches.

· Examine the value of interpreting patterns of learning from a focal student, a focal range of students, and the whole class.

· Practice analyzing assessments that document growth over time and making instructional decisions based on those assessments.

Virtual Cohort Modules 2-2:45pm

November 13 The Cadence of the Classroom

From routines and procedures to structures and schedules, the cadence of the classroom creates a sense of safety, engagement, and empowerment for us and our young learners. In our first virtual session, we will use cognitive science to inform instructional schedules, structures for circle time, and routines and procedures for engaging as a classroom community in a shared space with shared learning.

We’ll examine our school days with learners from beginning to end and analyze structures and routines to maximize children’s learning and development each step of the way.

Learning Goals:

We are learning about effective classroom structures and routines so that we can create safe, engaging, and empowering school days.

We’ll know we’ve learned this when we can:

· Explain the importance of four Cs (Credibility, Community, Cohesion, and Cognitive science) for establishing safety, engagement, and empowerment in our classrooms.

· Describe and plan for effective Circle Time structures and math and literacy routines.

December 11 The Learning Environment as the Third Teacher

Setting up a learning space can be both exciting and overwhelming. It’s also a vital part of intentional teaching in early childhood education. In fact, the learning environment has been called the third teacher, combined with the adults in the classroom and the children themselves. We will examine the ways the learning environment can scaffold each part of the brain’s learning process from focusing attention, to rehearsing new information, to self-monitoring and practice retrieval. We will analyze ways the learning space should shift and adjust across the year to provide the just right level of support to our constantly growing young learners

Learning Goals:

We are learning about the learning environment as the third teacher so that we can intentionally set up learning spaces that maximize young children’s learning and development.

We’ll know we’ve learned this when we can:

· List practical guidelines for creating learning spaces that reduce conflict and maximize engagement.

· Describe ways to leverage the learning environment to scaffold the brain’s learning process.

· Envision ways the learning environment changes across a school year to provide the just right level of support to young and growing learners.

January 22 Noticing Nonverbal Knowledge & Reframing Behavior

Every child knows important and valuable math and literacy concepts but we don't always see, hear, or notice their brilliance. Whether young children are English Learners, nonverbal, or any age child who simply doesn't know academic words yet, we can tap into their nonverbal knowledge and mathematize, reframe, and link it to language. We will unpack the latest brain research on young children’s nonverbal knowledge. We will examine protocols to develop and support our professional noticing of nonverbal, informal, and even unexpected behaviors as evidence of math and literacy understandings. We will analyze language-rich teaching strategies and developmentally appropriate rich tasks to mathematize, reframe and link to language nonverbal knowledge so that every learner sees themselves as capable of learning from the very start.

Learning Goals:

We are learning ways to notice, reframe, value, and leverage nonverbal, informal understandings significant to math and literacy so that we can create equitable, inclusive early childhood spaces

We’ll know we’ve learned this when we can:

· Identify nonverbal, informal mathematical and literacy knowledge and skills of children from brain research.

· Apply protocols to notice and document nonverbal, informal understandings.

· Analyze teaching strategies and tasks to mathematize, reframe, and link language to nonverbal knowledge.

February 19 When Learners Lead: Empowering Young Learners and Families through Goal Setting

From preschool to primary grades, every learner experiences moments when they excitedly say, “I’ve got it!” How do we capitalize on those moments so that even young children can be metacognitive learners who lead their learning? We’ll examine ways to engage our learners in self-monitoring and self-regulation while also creating meaningful partnerships with families.

Together, we’ll discover ways to help students purposefully practice executive functioning and metacognition skills while engaging in developmentally appropriate literacy and math tasks.

Learning Goals:

We are learning to engage young children in goal setting so that we can partner with and empower learners to lead their learning.

We’ll know we’ve learned this when we can:

· Describe the process of partnering with children and families to set and monitor their progress toward meeting learning goals.

· Explore strategies to facilitate learners’ goal setting, self-monitoring, and self-regulation.

· Scaffold learners’ habit of metacognitive thinking and advocacy that empowers them to own their learning journeys from the very start.

March 26 Differentiation in ECE

How do we select the right task at the right moment to meet a specific student’s needs? Tasks in math, literacy, and beyond can be differentiated based on readiness or interest. There are also three parts of a task that can be differentiated: content, process, and product. Each of these differentiation decisions promotes Universal Design for Learning (UDL). In this session, we will unpack the foundational ideas for differentiation and then examine strategies for differentiating the three parts of tasks based on readiness and interest. We will also analyze instructional strategies for differentiation, such as tiered tasks, open questions, centers, and choice boards.

Learning Goals:

We are learning about differentiation so that we can efficiently and effectively meet each learner with the just right level of challenge.

We’ll know we’ve learned this when we can:

· Define readiness and interest as well as the three parts of a task that can be differentiated.

· Make connections between differentiation strategies and Universal Design for Learning.

· Explain and practice instructional strategies for differentiation.

April 16 At the Intersection of Literacy and STEM: Effective Read Alouds and Rich Math Tasks

Read alouds are a staple of early childhood education and often a space of confidence and ease for both early childhood educators and their young learners. When we intentionally reread books, we develop children’s reading comprehension, including their verbal reasoning, literacy knowledge, language structure, and phonological awareness. Rereading also creates a familiar context for young learners to notice and wonder about mathematical ideas. Read alouds can harness children’s mathematical curiosities and serve as a springboard into rich math and STEM tasks. In this session, we’ll examine this intersection, share texts that inspire rich math and STEM tasks, and examine children’s thinking within these tasks.

Learning Goals:

We are learning about the role of rereading to develop reading and math comprehension so that we can leverage read alouds for deep mathematical problem solving with our youngest learners.

We’ll know we’ve learned this when we can:

· Explain the goals of multiple reads and the importance of rereading for reading comprehension.

· Identify possibilities for rich math and STEM tasks within children’s literature.

· Leverage learners’ interests and curiosities that spark rich discussion and comprehension of read alouds as well as cultivate rich mathematical problem solving.

Institutes October 28, 2025, October 29, 2025, May 6, 2026

Hours: 9 -3:30 pm (includes breakfast and lunch plus her book: The Early Childhood Education Playbook)

Location: Hampton Conference Center Colchester, VT

Cohorts Monthly Zooms following modules (recorded)

Nov. 13 2 – 2:45

Dec. 11 2 – 2:45

Jan. 22 2 – 2:45

Feb.19 2 – 2:45

Mar. 26 2 – 2:45

Apr. 16 2 – 2:45

Cost: CVEDC Members: Institute – 3 days: $800 Institute & Cohort: $1550

Non-Members: Institute – 3 days: $950 Institute & Cohort: $1750

Kateri Thunder, Ph.D. is an educator, researcher, author, and coach who collaborates with learners and educators from school divisions around the world to translate research into practice. Kateri has served as an inclusive, early childhood educator, an Upward Bound educator, a mathematics specialist, an assistant professor of mathematics education at James Madison University, and Site Director for the Central Virginia Writing Project. Kateri researches, writes, and presents on equity and access in education and the intersection of literacy and mathematics for teaching and learning. She has partnered with thousands of educators to catalyze change in their classrooms and schools. Kateri is a best-selling author, along with John Hattie, John Almarode, Doug Fisher, and Nancy Frey, for Corwin’s Teaching Mathematics in the Visible Learning Classroom Series, The Success Criteria Playbook, and The Mathematics Playbook.