Resources
Resources include websites, videos, articles/books, online learning options, tools/toolkits and forms that are associated with the professional learning topics covered in our workshops and webinars.
The resources are organized by these topics:
- Administration & Leadership
- Assessment
- Curriculum
- Diverse Learners
- Family & Community Engagement
- Language Arts/Literacy
- Professional Knowledge
- Social/Emotional Development
- STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics)
Symbols are used to identify the type of resource (refer to the key). Resources can be searched by selecting a topic or by using the keyword search function.
The resources that were previously on the Higher Education Resources Online website (HERO) have been saved for use by all early childhood educators.
Latest Resources
Key
- Websites
- Videos
- Article/Books
- Recorded Webinars
- Tools
- Forms
Teachers COVID-19 Stay-at-Home
- Supporting Young Children and Early Childhood Educators Returning to School (Remote, In Person, Blended Remote) During Challenging Times
- Supporting Multilingual Families of Preschoolers during Remote Learning
- Implementing the ISBE Remote Learning Recommendations as PFA and PFAE Educators
- Frequently Asked Questions for Special Education During Remote Learning
- Implementing the ISBE Remote Learning Recommendations as PFA and PFAE Educators
Administration & Leadership
- Leadership Competency - Build Professional Capacity Across the Learning Community
- Leadership Competency - Make Your School a Hub of Pre-K-3 Learning for Families and Communities
- Leadership Competency - Use Multiple Measures of Assessment to Guide Growth in Student Learning
- Leadership Competency - Embrace the Pre-K-3 Learning Continuum
- Leadership Competency - Provide Personalized Blended Learning Environments
Assessment
- Observation and Assessment (We know we are teaching…Are the students learning?)
- Focused Observations: Practical Suggestions for Observing and Documenting Children's Learning and Progress - Part 1
- Focused Observations: Practical Suggestions for Observing and Documenting Children's Learning and Progress - Part 2
- Maximizing Charlotte Danielson's Framework for Teaching for Evaluating Early Childhood Teachers and Accelerating Teaching Practice - Part 2
- Maximizing Charlotte Danielson's Framework for Teaching for Evaluating Early Childhood Teachers and Accelerating Teaching Practice - Part 1
Curriculum
- Red Light! Green Light! Supporting School Readiness Skills through Physical Activities
- Developmentally Appropriate Practice (Reaching and Teaching Students Where They Are)
- Anti-bias Literacy Approach
- Learning Standards (For Best Results...Follow Instructions
- Fostering Gross Motor Development in the Preschool Aged Child
Family & Community Engagement
- Establishing and Using a Successful Parent Advisory Council
- Family Engagement (Engaging and Empowering Families as Early Learning Stakeholders)
- Pre/K – K Planning Now for a Return to School: Strategies for Student Resilience within a Multi-tiered System of Supports (MTSS) Framework (Tiers 2 and 3)
- Pre/K – K Planning Now for a Return to School: Building Student Resilience to Trauma within a Multi-tiered System of Supports (MTSS) Framework (Tier 1 – Foundation)
- Early Childhood Care & Education Transition to Kindergarten
Professional Knowledge
- Responding to Curiosity in a Powerful Interaction®
- Expanding Mindful Practice: Personal and Classroom Applications
- Learning at Home with Rachel #3
- Tuning In to Build Language in Powerful Interactions®
- Supporting Young Children and Early Childhood Educators Returning to School (Remote, In Person, Blended Remote) During Challenging Times
Social/Emotional Development
- Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation
- Supporting Young ELs’ Social Emotional Development in Culturally Appropriate Ways
- Everybody Wins- Social Problem Solving in Preschool
- Children's Experiences of Loss and Grief During a Pandemic
- Ideas, Strategies, and Resources for Linking Literacy and Social Emotional Development
STEAM - Science/Engineering
- Welcome to Steam: Integrating Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics in Early Childhood Education
- Engineering and Physics - It's Child's Play!
- Building Mathematical Connections & Relationships with Literature and Science that Promote School Readiness
- Welcome to STEAM: Integrating Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics in Early Childhood Education
- Hug a Tree: And Other Things to Do Outdoors with Young Children
STEAM - Technology
View all STEAM - Technology resourcesSTEAM - Arts
- Welcome to Steam: Integrating Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics in Early Childhood Education
- Messes, Music, and Make-Believe: The Illinois Early Learning Development Standards through the Arts
- Welcome to STEAM: Integrating Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics in Early Childhood Education
- Messes, Music, and Make-Believe: The Illinois Early Learning Development Standards through the Arts
- Early Learning Standards in Action Young Children Exploring Motion
STEAM - Mathematics
- Understanding the Mathematics Found in Exploration, Investigation and Play
- Early Math Matters
- Building Mathematical Connections & Relationships with Literature and Science that Promote School Readiness
- Building Mathematical Connections & Relationships that Promote School Readiness
- Understanding the Mathematics Found in Exploration, Investigation and Play