On Saturday, December 3, 2022, 17 child care providers from Saipan attended the Managing Challenging Behaviors with Preschoolers and School Age Children training at Evergreen Learning Training Center in Chalan Kanoa, facilitated by Erlaine Evangelista, Evergreen Learning Coach.
Challenging behaviors are defined as behaviors that interfere with learning and engagement in prosocial interaction. Through this training, attendees learned ways to set up their child care environment to minimize conflict between children, discovered the importance of schedules and routines so children know what to expect. Participants also learned how to structure transitions and visual cue systems to help support children to self-regulate. They explored simple and short rules for expectations in their classrooms, and learned how to praise children’s efforts.
Child care providers also engaged in a “Brain Break” activity by participating in a movement dance demo half way through the training. This activity served both as a demonstration to teachers of what can be done during long group activities in their child care centers and to prompt self-reflection on their own experience. The activity helped providers see how the brain break re-energized them to focus better for the next half of the training.
This training was made possible through funding from the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Child Care, CNMI CCDF Program, under the Department of Community and Cultural Affairs.
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