Start your conference experience with a BANG! Join three incredibly motivating presenters to discover the characteristics of a truly extraordinary kindergarten and how to bring it all to life in your classroom. Move and groove with Jack Hartmann. Join everyone in an interactive, hands-on activity with Sharron Krull. And, take part in a special Make & Take project with Donna Whyte! All the ingredients you need to add pizzazz and excitement to your kindergarten classroom!

Jack presents cool, original songs for helping you and your students through transitions. You'll hear calming music for settling in, upbeat interactive songs for starting the day, skill-building songs, simple getting-in-line songs, fun clean up songs, songs that strengthen bonding, exercise songs, and sweet songs that end the day.

Get your children truly jazzed about math and science! Sharron shows you how to bring their discoveries to life through visual, hands-on, and sensory art experiences—even if they're not Einsteins or Picassos. Learn how to teach math and science concepts everyday while students play and explore the world around them. [STEM]

Come learn a super-effective way to teach the Question-Answer-Relationship comprehension strategy in order to close the literacy achievement gap and increase comprehension for all. The secret? Pictures! After this session, you'll clearly understand QAR strategy and have lots of ways to teach it using pictures.

Children make better sense of math concepts when they are actively involved with them. Learn how to turn math concepts into center activities that offer opportunities for practice, exploration, and fun! Come ready to move, manipulate, and have a great time! [STEM]

Be proactive! Create a reporting system that is teacher-friendly, parent-friendly, and in line with the assessment parameters of the Common Core State Standards. Come learn how to align what you teach to what you assess. Plus, review examples of an "assessment box" and checklists that will de-stress report card time.

Teach your students the sequence of skills that lead to alphabet fluency. Vanessa introduces methods for teaching the alphabet all year long using meaningful activities kids love. See how naturally letter identification skills and alphabet fluency grow as students take part in these creative, hands-on, and low-prep activities.

You really do have time to do everything you want in your classroom! Kim shares how to make every day count with fun activities for Columbus Day, Dr. Seuss Day, St. Patrick's Day, and other special days. Leave with plenty of ways to engage students in "special day" activities for math, science, social, studies, language arts, and 21st century skills.

Explore numerous, effective methods you can use throughout the day to help all kindergartners develop richer vocabularies. You'll gain research-based strategies you can use easily and often to ensure all students—including those who have been exposed to far fewer words than others—have big vocabularies for speaking, listening, reading, and writing.

Can kids really read in kindergarten? Absolutely! Join Karin to identify the characteristics of emergent readers and how to support them with guided reading strategies. You'll leave with numerous ways to simplify literature and songs for emergent readers and even make your own simple books that kids will read over and over again.

Turn the task of implementing standards into geography fun! Connie shares how to integrate multiple standards into a geographical adventure starring the Gingerbread Man. Learn exciting ways to incorporate literacy, number sense, writing, science, technology, music, arts/crafts, and parent involvement using a fresh, thematic, and super-creative approach to geography.

Energize your kindergartners' bodies and brains! Count on Jack to present the coolest and hippest collection of curriculum-based music and movement to engage a wide diversity of children in learning math concepts. You'll hear all-new original songs with Jack's always-popular and upbeat rhythms. Come prepared to move and groove! [STEM]

Discover why play is such an essential element of learning. Sharron shares the latest thinking on how a child's brain development is influenced by movement and physical activity. You'll explore how the brain functions and how to create a brain-compatible environment. And, you'll learn all about the important connection between playing and learning!

Betty shares a wealth of practical whole-group strategies you can readily use to keep your students engaged and learning. You'll learn strategies for differentiating questions. And, you'll explore ways to flexibly group in a whole-group setting. Plus, discover strategies for effective ongoing assessment.

Challenge the gifted and talented kindergartners in your mixed-ability classroom with Catherine's differentiated instruction strategies. Her ideas are fresh, easy-to-implement, and plentiful! You'll never run out of new ways to enrich and motivate your advanced kindergartners throughout the school year.

Don't Wait! Young children who are at-risk often need individually tailored strategies to help them learn—and the sooner, the better. Donna offers easy to implement differentiated strategies—visual, auditory, and kinesthetic—that can be used with ALL levels of learners throughout the day.

Discover fresh new ways to use nursery rhymes in your kindergarten classroom to help your young students build reading skills. Vanessa shares a step-by-step plan for incorporating nursery rhymes into your daily instruction. You'll go back to school with fun, interactive, multi- sensory ways to get your kindergartners singing and dancing their way to emergent reading success!

Choose just the right mix of activities to enrich your literacy instruction! Kim offers a menu that includes puppets, games, activities, props, and songs. You'll be sure to "stir up" literacy success as your little learners have big fun learning letters, rhyming, word families, and much, much more!

Are your boys bored with reading? Could a diet of too much fiction be the problem? Wake them up with nonfiction texts! Join Rick to learn strategies for engaging boys through teaching informational reading strategies and texts. And, discover research-proven ways to attain standards in all curricular areas.

End reading struggles the "phun" way! Karin shares the rationale for teaching phonics to young readers and ways to guide your kindergartners in learning their beginning phonics skills. Come to this interactive session and create fun games and activities that you can use right away to make phonics "phun." [M&T]

Discover how to create and compile genuine, informative, and treasured keepsakes with your kindergartners. Join Tara to learn how calendars, portfolios, yearbooks, and more can not only provide children and parents with cherished memories, but can also act as a valuable indicator of each child's learning growth.

Discover how to use your SMART Board to integrate the essential components of literacy into your instruction. Join Cheryl to explore how to apply Common Core State Standards in literacy through activities that teach phonemic awareness, phonics, sight words, vocabulary, comprehension, and fluency. And leave with a collection of ready-to-use lessons! [STEM]

Learn fun and proven techniques for presenting musical experiences, movement, and creative activities during circle time. Come find out how to create a developmentally appropriate curriculum in music and movement for kindergartners. And, discover how to use circle time activities to identify what your children are learning.

Making a few simple changes can result in a lot less stress in your day! Join Betty as she shares strategies for creating positive classroom behavior. You'll learn how to change your questions, your thoughts, and your behavior in order to deal more effectively with difficult students and situations. Best of all, you'll see how this new approach can increase student achievement.

Which manipulatives are most effective and how can you use them to make sense of math at the concrete level? Find out here! This session is packed with innovative ideas for using new items and those you already have to teach measurement, geometry, number sense, and more. You'll leave with powerful strategies for reaching all your kindergartners, meeting core mathematical standards, and connecting mathematical concepts to content and instruction. [STEM]

Drive your instruction with timesaving, quick, and easy formative assessments! Donna shows you how to become a more reflective teacher using engaging activities that allow you to think on your feet. Leave with dozens of ideas to use in your classroom to achieve learning success—and the research to back them up.

Transform your classroom into an organized oasis! Vanessa shares simple steps for overcoming clutter and organizing your materials. You'll learn how to manage centers using a simple, streamlined system. And, you'll receive a blank floor-plan template and instructions for how to create a classroom space that facilitates teacher and student success.

Discover how to use interactive writing to teach your kindergartners about the concepts of print. In this fun and fast-paced session, Kim shares fresh and exciting writing ideas as well as samples for making lists, labels, and other print pieces. You'll return to school ready to get your kindergartners excited about writing.

Wondering what to do with the rest of the class while you're working in small groups? Rick shares how to plan, assess, organize, and manage work stations that enable you to support all learners, including special-needs students and English language learners. Take home great ideas for creating meaningful and independent practice and support for all.

Step back, take a break from your busy life, and get re-charged! Join Karin to learn the seven habits of highly successful teachers and how to incorporate them into your own life. Leave with a renewed sense of wonder and peace of mind that all teachers could use. And, you'll be ready to go back to your classroom and dig in.

Make school more fun and your kindergartners WILL learn! Cathy shares how to use developmentally appropriate techniques to ensure that everyone succeeds. Learn terrific teaching ideas for making learning happen through listening, acting, playing, reading, writing, and watching. You and your students will be much more excited about learning—when learning is fun!

Turn your interactive whiteboard into a center activity and your most effective management tool! Cheryl shares many activities your kindergartners can explore while you work in small groups. Learn how to tie these engaging activities to Common Core State Standards to get even more mileage out of your interactive whiteboard. [STEM]

Share the wonders of nature, sharpen children's cognitive abilities, and build their physical and social skills. Take your classroom outdoors! In this session, you'll learn how to plan and implement outdoor activities that stimulate creativity, self-discovery, and imaginatio—even with limited outdoor space and resources.

Are you still teaching the traditional way? Get out of your comfort zone and come learn seven, out-of-the-box ways to engage your students based on how the brain naturally and normally learns. Leave with easy, fun, and memorable techniques to ensure a classroom that is actively engaged in every lesson—from start to finish.

Counting is crucial to developing young mathematicians! Join Catherine to learn how to help your learners make the leap from reciting numbers to counting objects. You'll learn a variety of strategies and developmentally appropriate activities to help your students make connections with numerals and concrete objects. You'll leave prepared to build your pre-kindergartners' and kindergartners' number sense in a fun and meaningful way!

You can fit it all into one day&mdash: no matter how busy you are now! Donna shares proven ways to prioritize and integrate the vital components of learning into your schedule. Plus, get tips for scheduling, setting up easy centers, and finding opportunities for everyday practice.

Discover tried-and-tested ways to communicate with parents and get them involved—including parents of at-risk and ESL students—and turn them into partners. Vanessa introduces buddy bags, newsletters, parent nights, B.E.A.R. books, and many other ideas for getting parents to work with you—and for you!

As a self-proclaimed Dollar Store Diva, Kim shares ideas for using dollar store finds to create useful classroom materials—on the cheap! You'll learn ideas for organizing and managing your classroom and for teaching math and language arts standards without breaking the bank.

The environmental print found in a child's natural environment is a powerful literacy tool. Take advantage! Rick presents a research-based rationale for incorporating environmental print into purposeful instruction. Come learn how to implement this fresh and effective approach in your classroom to assess you students' print awareness and sight-word vocabulary.

With so much emphasis on literacy, your plate's full. How can you ever fit science in? Karin reveals the secret. Learn creative techniques for integrating science and literature in a way that will arouse the curiosity of your kindergartners, reinforce literacy skills, and encourage scientific thinking. Inquiring minds want to know—be prepared! [STEM]

Imagine a dynamic classroom environment that supports teaching, learning, purposeful play, and innovation. Judy shows you how to make it happen. Get updated on what new research says about the classroom environment. Plus, explore creative ideas for using room setup, interactive bulletin boards, team building, and other ways to enrich your classroom—starting immediately.