Join us as we travel to spectacular destinations that support you in your first years of early childhood. We will explore setting up your environment, instructional best practices, supporting language development, and assess learning. In each of the five sessions, you will have the opportunity to practice and receive feedback. Classes are spaced out, so you will have time to practice your learning between sessions. Each session will also feature input from various specialists at the ESC to support you in your travels with English learners and students with an IEP as well as students struggling with behavior or learning. Your itinerary includes coursework (five face-to-face classes at ESC Region 11 for a total of 30 hours) and coaching (an online orientation, practice and feedback between sessions and three in-classroom visits=10 hours).

Dates: 

Explore the fundamental principles of Tier 1 instruction and understand its pivotal role in creating a solid literacy foundation for all students. Educators will dive into Tier 1 instruction, specifically focusing on unlocking literacy skills for struggling readers, particularly those with dyslexia. Educators will leave with a toolkit of strategies, resources, and renewed confidence to implement Tier 1 excellence in their classrooms, ensuring that literacy becomes an attainable goal for every student. Join us in this transformative professional development experience and embark on the journey to unlock literacy for struggling readers in your classroom.

Registration Link

This session will be led by ELAR specialists from ESC Region 11. Participants will need their grade-level band "Patterns of Power" book as we learn how to leverage this instructional tool to effectively teach grammar. Participants will dig into each different piece of the process as well as have time to reflect and begin planning for implementation.

Registration Link

This session is designed to equip you with the knowledge and skills needed to effectively navigate and utilize the ELAR TEKS in your teaching practice. Our goal is to empower you in deconstructing the ELAR TEKS and comprehending their interconnected nature. Throughout the course, you'll gain insights into the significance of vertical alignment by examining student expectations across different grade levels and how they change year to year. To enhance your instructional planning, we provide guidance on unpacking the ELAR standards and creating Know-Show charts. Please make sure to bring a technology device. Resources and artifacts for the session will be digital.

Registration Link

In the early years of a child's life, play is the vehicle through which they explore, learn, and develop essential skills. Learning centers are central to this process, offering diverse hands-on experiences that promote cognitive, social, emotional, and physical growth. Join us on an adventure exploring learning possibilities in centers with our Little Steps, Big Adventures series. This session focuses on the Library and Listening Center. During this session, we will explore an idea for a management system, feature literacy and language, emphasize inclusion, and plan for ideas to improve our featured center.

Registration Link

This session is designed for both early-career and new-to-writing teachers, focusing on best practices in writing instruction across various levels. Participants will learn how the perception of writing impacts instruction, explore how using mentor texts drives writing instruction, analyze the purpose and success of rubrics and checklists, and learn how to effectively plan targeted writing instruction. During this session we will unpack the writing process TEKS for Elementary ELAR and explore the various genre characteristics and authors' craft moves, allowing participants to experience the writing process firsthand. This hands-on approach aims to deepen their understanding of the effective implementation of writing instruction.

Registration Link

Building a classroom community directly affects how students feel about coming to school and learning each day. Connected students are ready to learn and interact with each other in ways that benefit the class as a whole. Join us to learn more about conducting community circles with students in the early grades (Pre-K-Grade 2).

Registration Link

Join us as we explore the building blocks of phonics and spelling instruction that will impact your students' reading and writing skills. In this session, we will explore the relationship between phonological awareness, phonics, and spelling, research-based phonics and spelling routines to enhance classroom instruction, and the power of decodable books to reinforce phonics skills and decoding habits for early readers. This session will be delivered in English and Spanish. This workshop is appropriate for K-3 bilingual teachers and instructional leaders.

Registration Link

Loose parts provide rich opportunities for learning, as they not only support all the developmental domains (cognitive, social, physical, and emotional) but also support the curriculum in an integrated fashion. The open-ended nature of loose parts provokes possibilities, allowing children to engage in creative and imaginative play that supports their learning and development. In this session, participants will have the opportunity to explore and experiment with loose parts and learn how to support student's academic and emotional development in a fun and engaging way.

Registration Link

Writing is much more than putting letters on a page. It is a complex process where young writers must draw on multiple skills including transcription, storytelling, and background knowledge, among many others. Leveraging play through oral language and multimodal expressions elevates the writing process and improves children's attitudes toward writing and motivation to practice. In addition, providing students the choice of composing using different modalities makes writing instruction increasingly effective for students from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. In Playful Writing, we will explore how to use play, along with various resources and materials, and we will look at different modes of expression, such as speaking, drawing, building, or performing, to develop and improve children's writing ability in a playful, non-threatening context.

Registration Link

Are your classroom teaching practices aligned with the science of reading? Join us to unlock the science of teaching reading in the ELAR Classroom. You will leave the workshop with practical, efficient, strategies and evidence-based routines to use in the K-2 ELAR classroom.

Registration Link

In the early years of a child's life, play is the vehicle through which they explore, learn, and develop essential skills. Learning centers are central to this process, offering diverse hands-on experiences that promote cognitive, social, emotional, and physical growth. Join us on an adventure exploring learning possibilities in centers with our Little Steps, Big Adventures series. This session focuses on the Construction Center. During this session, we will explore an idea for a management system, feature literacy and language, emphasize inclusion, and plan for ideas to improve our featured center.

Registration Link

Come join fellow local ELAR curriculum supervisors and leaders across the DFW area to learn and share instructional strategies as well as practices to plan for district educator support.

Registration Link

In the early years of a child's life, play is the vehicle through which they explore, learn, and develop essential skills. Learning centers are central to this process, offering diverse hands-on experiences that promote cognitive, social, emotional, and physical growth. Join us on an adventure exploring learning possibilities in centers with our Little Steps, Big Adventures series. This session focuses on the ABC / Word Work Center. During this session, we will explore an idea for a management system, feature literacy and language, emphasize inclusion, and plan for ideas to improve our featured center.

Registration Link

Are your classroom practices aligned with the Science of Writing? Join us for this workshop to unlock the Science and Art of Writing in the biliteracy classroom. You will leave the workshop with practical, efficient strategies, evidence-based practices, and routines to use in the Spanish literacy block, including the connection between literacy and writing, writing in the content areas, and explicit instruction. This workshop is appropriate for K-3 bilingual teachers and instructional leaders.

Registration Link

In the early years of a child's life, play is the vehicle through which they explore, learn, and develop essential skills. Learning centers are central to this process, offering diverse hands-on experiences that promote cognitive, social, emotional, and physical growth. Join us on an adventure exploring learning possibilities in centers with our Little Steps, Big Adventures series. This session focuses on the STEM Center. During this session, we will explore an idea for a management system, feature literacy and language, emphasize inclusion, and plan for ideas to improve our featured center.

Registration Link

In the early years of a child's life, play is the vehicle through which they explore, learn, and develop essential skills. Learning centers are central to this process, offering diverse hands-on experiences that promote cognitive, social, emotional, and physical growth. Join us on an adventure exploring learning possibilities in centers with our Little Steps, Big Adventures series. This session focuses on the Art and Creativity Center. During this session, we will explore an idea for a management system, feature literacy and language, emphasize inclusion, and plan for ideas to improve our featured center.

Registration Link

In the early years of a child's life, play is the vehicle through which they explore, learn, and develop essential skills. Learning centers are central to this process, offering diverse hands-on experiences that promote cognitive, social, emotional, and physical growth. Join us on an adventure exploring learning possibilities in centers with our Little Steps, Big Adventures series. This session focuses on the Toys and Games Center. During this session, we will explore an idea for a management system, feature literacy and language, emphasize inclusion, and plan for ideas to improve our featured center.

Registration Link