Breakout Sessions
Breakout sessions are an opportunity to delve deeply into a key component of Early Childhood Project Based Learning. Each session will include hands-on practices, rich discussions, practical insights, innovative strategies, and opportunities to reflect and connect with your others.
More sessions will be added soon!
Growing Literacy: Inquiry, Curiosity and Meaning Making in Early Childhood PBL
with Sara Lev
Session Description
In this session, we’ll challenge the idea that young children need to be fluent readers and writers before they can truly engage in Project Based Learning. Instead, we’ll take a step back and widen our lens on what literacy really is in early childhood—meaning making, curiosity, storytelling, drawing, oral language, playful exploration, and all the small moments where children communicate their thinking, ask questions, and begin to connect and synthesize ideas.
We’ll look closely at the literacy structures that support emergent and early readers and writers, and consider how those structures can live naturally inside project work. Through real classroom examples, we’ll notice where literacy is already showing up in powerful ways and where small, intentional choices can help it grow. Together, we’ll explore simple, developmentally grounded ways to weave literacy experiences, stand-alone lessons, and skill-building moments into projects so that young children feel seen, capable, and joyful as they grow as readers, writers, and critical thinkers.
Embedding Social and Emotional Learning and Anti-Bias Education Goals into Projects
with Sara Lev
Session Description
In this session, we will delve into the four core goals of anti-bias education—identity, diversity, justice, and action—along with essential social and emotional learning (SEL) competencies that promote collaboration, independence, and emotional well-being in young children.
Through the examination of thoughtfully designed early childhood projects, you will see how these learning goals can be effectively integrated into meaningful, learner-centered experiences. The session will emphasize practical strategies for embedding anti-bias and SEL objectives into both ongoing projects and future planning.
This session is designed to be inclusive and relevant for all educators, offering actionable insights to create supportive learning environments that celebrate the uniqueness of every child.
Sara is the co-founder of Early Childhood Project Based Learning (ECPBL) and co-author of Implementing Project Based Learning in Early Childhood: Overcoming Misconceptions and Reaching Success. For two decades, she has worked as a classroom teacher, teacher-leader, and instructional coach dedicated to creating joyful, independent, and inquiry-rich learning environments for young children. Sara earned her B.A. from the University of Rochester and an MSEd in Early Childhood Education from Bank Street College. A frequent contributor to Edutopia, she is also the writer and editor of a forthcoming book featuring international stories of Project Based Learning with young children.
STEM Project Based Learning in Head Start: Honoring Children’s Curiosity Through Inquiry and Exploration
with Suchira Channoi
Session Description
STEM Project Based Learning can enhance young children's problem-solving skills and foster a sense of belonging through curiosity and wonder. Participants will engage in hands-on, interactive STEM investigations that model how children develop these skills through early forms of the engineering design process. The session will highlight how meaningful project studies arise from conversations, simple materials, and children's questions, integrated with STEM concepts through reflective and collaborative practices in a Reggio-inspired Head Start program. Participants will also see documentation that illustrates how honoring children's theories enhances engagement, fosters collaboration, strengthens community connections, and supports expression through the “100 languages” of the Reggio Emilia Approach.
Suchira is the Curriculum and Instruction Specialist for Worcester Head Start. She supports early childhood educators in creating joyful, hands-on learning environments grounded in the Reggio Emilia Approach, integrating STEM Project Based Learning with reflective documentation practices. She is also a doctoral candidate in Leadership in Schooling with a focus on STEM education, and serves as a board member for the Boston Area Reggio Inspired Network (BARIN).
Playful Learning by Design: Guided Play as a Foundation for Project Based Learning
with Dr. Allison Wilson and Danielle Bailey
Session Description
In this interactive workshop, we will explore the authentic connection between guided play and Project Based Learning. The session will highlight the core 21st-century skills children develop through play, such as collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity. Participants will identify effective strategies to promote these skills through guided play experiences and have the opportunity to apply this knowledge to a current project or one provided.
Dr. Wilson is an Associate Professor and Director of the University of Montana Institute for Early Childhood Education. She earned her PhD in Special Education and Early Intervention from the University of Oregon and has over two decades of experience supporting young children and families. Her teaching and research focus on family engagement, curriculum design, and strengthening early childhood professionals’ preparation through equitable, community-based initiatives.
Danielle is an educator at the LAB School and an Adjunct Professor in the University of Montana Institute for Early Childhood Education. With over two decades of experience, she has focused on the early years as a kindergarten and preschool teacher. Her dual role bridges theory and practice, supporting Early Childhood P–3 teacher candidates in developing a strong understanding of child-centered, developmentally appropriate education. She has been with the LAB School since 2021.
Using Documentation to Support and Extend Child-Led Inquiry
with Lisa Goddard
Session Description
This session explores how Reggio-inspired pedagogical documentation can guide and sustain project-based learning in early childhood. Participants will examine how documentation—photos, notes, videos, and artifacts—can serve as a process of listening and reflection that keeps inquiry child-led. Through interactive examples, educators will learn to use documentation to uncover children’s questions, identify emerging themes, and plan next steps, making project development a collaborative, living process rooted in children’s curiosity and lived experiences. with fellow educators to share best practices for early childhood PBL.
Lisa is a PhD Fellow in Reggio Childhood Studies at the Reggio Children Foundation. She has worked in Italy and Boston as an early childhood educator, coach, and curriculum developer, and most recently served as Pedagogista at Radcliffe Child Care Center. She was the Founding Design Teacher at Croft Jamaica Plain, an associate teacher from 2020-2021, and then served as Lead Pre-K Teacher until 2023.
From Small Moments to Big Ideas: Interdisciplinary Investigations in Early Childhood PBL
with Vicky de la Garza
Step into the joyful world of emergent projects in The Advent School’s Lower School Atelier, where curiosity, play, and creativity guide learning. See how everyday moments, like yarn braids, a rainbow dragon, and fish explorations, grow into interdisciplinary investigations connecting art, science, and Spanish for all ages across early childhood. Through real examples and video clips, we’ll reflect on ways to nurture student-driven ideas that elevate children’s voices. Leave inspired by how careful listening and following children’s lead transforms learning.
Vicky is a bilingual educator in English and Spanish with over 25 years of experience and currently serves as the Atelierista for Prek–2 at The Advent School, a Reggio Emilia–inspired school in Boston. Passionate about emergent projects, she creates a play-based, interdisciplinary environment integrating Art, Science, and Spanish, where children’s curiosity drives investigations they co-construct and learn together. Beyond the atelier, Vicky supports educator growth and serves on the BARIN board.
Inquiry Through Making: Integrating Play, Art, and Loose Parts in PBL
with Nanvi Jhala
Session Description
How can teachers design Project Based Learning experiences that truly begin with children’s curiosity? In this hands-on session, participants will explore Kathy G. Short and Jerome C. Harste’s Inquiry Cycle as a framework for planning emergent curriculum in early childhood. Using emerging early childhood themes like buildings, light and shadow, community, and nature, we’ll dive into how loose parts, art, and storybooks can spark inquiry and conceptual change. Educators will engage in hands-on making, practice observation and documentation, and take away printable resources to adapt in their own classrooms.
Nanvi is an arts educator working on integrating loose parts, play, and inquiry-based approaches to spark creativity and curiosity in children. She holds an MEd in Learning Design, Innovation and Technology from Harvard. She is currently working with education non-profits in the space of arts and democratic education.
