Author name: Vanessa Levin

I remember the very first time I saw a light table in a classroom, I was mesmerized by the soft glow and the reflecting colors.  There was just something about it that was super soothing and comforting to me. And who doesn’t like soothing and comforting? I mean, those words sound like a cozy night […]

Hello everyone, and welcome back to a brand new episode of Elevating Early Childhood. Guess what? This week’s episode is another amazing interview, with the one and only Dan St. Romain! Dan is a brilliant author and consultant with 30 years of experience in the education field. He has served as an educational diagnostician AND

Here is a question I get all the time from my listeners: “Help, my kids’ behavior is out of control! What can I do?” Now this is something every early childhood teacher has had to deal with in their career.  It’s no secret that young children are not all angels. It’s normal, they’re kids, and

Hi everyone, I’m so excited to have you here back again! Today, I pick up right where I left last week in my riveting discussion with Melissa. If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, let me refresh your memory a bit! Melissa and I discussed literacy, the importance of understanding the children you’re teaching,

How can you make small group time work for you? I answer this question in today’s episode of Elevating Early Childhood. When it comes to small group time, many preschool professionals find themselves scratching their heads. What is it? How does it work? And is it really that important? Well, let me tell you one

Troubleshooting tips for circle time in your preschool, pre-k, or kindergarten classroom. Do your kids refuse to come to circle or wander?

In this week’s episode of Elevating Early Childhood, I discuss something suuuper important: Circle time! As you know, circle time is pretty crucial in pre-k, and having a successful and effective one can be difficult. Why? Simply because most children have short attention spans! This means keeping them focused on circle time can be quite

In this week’s episode of Elevating Early Childhood, I discuss something super important: How to write lesson plans! This is a question I often get from teachers new to working at the preschool level. So, if you find yourself wondering where to start, or what kind of lesson plan works best for pre-k, don’t freak

Why do toddlers do what they do? Have you ever asked yourself that? I know I have! After all, little children sometimes do some astonishing things, and I would love nothing more than to understand why! And this is exactly why I’ve invited this week’s guest to come to the podcast and talk to us

In last week’s episode, I discussed how you can help your students develop their fine motor skills before working on their scissor skills. If you haven’t listened to that episode yet, I invite you to do so, because the tips I gave in that one are going to build the foundation the children will need

Every preschool professional will have to, one day, introduce scissors to their students. And sometimes, that can go wrong. A lot of children can be scissor-happy. I mean, who would say no to cutting their own hair as a child? However, if you do it the right way, teaching scissor skills to young children can

In this week’s episode of Elevating Early Childhood, I discuss a pretty exciting subject: How to start your own preschool. Yes friends, because you can! Plus, what’s even more fun is that I talk about this with the fantastic Joy Anderson! If you don’t know her, then let me give you a quick introduction: Joy

Do your kids love visiting your preschool library center? For many pre-k teachers, getting children interested in books and reading can be very difficult. And there are various reasons why that is so… The kids aren’t interested… They’re mistreating the books… And very often, we’re not given the adequate resources to create a proper classroom