This video set shares information about how the Early Childhood Center at Lehman College of the City University of New York has remained open to serve its children and families during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

GOING TO SCHOOL DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: School Policies and Practices to Stay Safe

This video features an interview with the center’s director, Jaci Mauer. She explains the decisions made and actions taken to keep the children, their families, and the educators safe at the child care center during the pandemic. 

GOING TO SCHOOL DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: Life in a Three’s Classroom

In this video, the teachers of the 3’s classroom at the Early Childhood Center at Lehman College explain and show the practices they have put in place to keep everyone safe and to stay connected to the children’s families while they support the social, emotional, cognitive and physical development of the children. 

MAKING THE CASE FOR HIGH QUALITY EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

In this video, the Dean of Early Childhood Initiatives at the City University of New York offers her thoughts on the need for local and national policies to support and sustain early childhood centers.

---

Looking at Teaching Through the Lens of Simple Interactions

The High Quality Early Learning Project has had the good fortune to connect and collaborate with the work of Simple Interactions, a practice-based, strengths-focused, and community-driven approach to support caregivers who serve children, youth, and families. The Simple Interactions Tool, created by Junlei Li, the Saul Zaentz Senior Lecturer of Early Childhood Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, provides a common, descriptive language to talk about interactions in practice. The tool is made up of four dimensions: Connection, Reciprocity, Inclusion, and Opportunity to Grow.  At the link below, some of the video clips on this page are analyzed by Dr. Li to illustrate the dimensions of the Simple Interactions Tool in action. We share them to demonstrate how even during great challenges and constraints, as were imposed by the pandemic, caring educators can interact with children in supportive and educative ways.

You can learn more about this work at www.simpleinteractions.org.

---