NHSA

2025 Summer Garden Storytime
2025-05-08 13:00 - 13:30 (America/New_York)
Program: 2025 Summer Garden Storytime
Description: Gardens bring joy and beauty into our lives allowing us to experience and express gratitude and love. Join us for a story about a young girl who plants a very special birthday present for her mom. We will sing, read, and learn about the wonders of nature and gifts from the garden as we celebrate summer – and birthdays! Just like we will celebrate Head Start’s 60th Birthday!

Story: Flower Garden by Eve Bunting
Sing Along: Summer Flowers

2025 Spring Garden Storytime Presenters:
Noel Nicholas (she/her) is the educational content manager for KidsGardening, where she co-develops original educational materials designed to help kids play, learn, and grow through gardening. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing from University of Southern California, where she developed a passion for informal education while teaching poetry at 32nd Street School/USC Magnet. Prior to joining KidsGardening, Noel worked as museum educator at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, developing and delivering educational programs for diverse, multi-generational audiences, and managing the museum’s Storytime Live program. In her spare time she teaches in the school garden at Third Street Elementary in Los Angeles.

Pinky Jackalope (she/her) is a Motivational Associate with NHSA. She loves to learn new things, and to share them with her Head Start and Early Head Start friends! Pinky’s favorite fruit is a banana, and her favorite vegetable is the snap pea. Pinky loves watching flowers and herbs grow in container gardens.

Sponsors:

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Foundation is deeply rooted in helping create healthier communities, empowering the next generation, and preserving our planet. Its support of the National Head Start Association includes providing GroMoreGood Garden grants, garden kits, educational curriculum, and garden training available to all Head Start programs with the goal of creating more edible gardens for young children and their families. The initiative also supports the creation of green space projects—land that is partly or completely covered with grass, trees, shrubs, or other vegetation—as an option for children and the community to learn.

Want even more? Check out our Gardening with Kids Basics course provided by The Academy.

Advocacy vs. Lobbying 101
2025-05-13 12:00 - 12:30 (America/New_York)
Program: Advocacy vs. Lobbying 101
Description: To help Head Start programs understand the difference between advocacy and lobbying, with a focus on what they are allowed to do.
Learning Objectives: TBA
Presenters: TBA

Celebrate 60 Years of Head Start at The National Zoo
2025-05-15 14:00 - 14:30 (America/New_York)
Let’s celebrate 60 years of Head Start with NHSA at the National Zoo!

This will be a delightful lesson designed to support Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework (ELOF) standards! NHSA and Zoo in the Classroom is a high-energy, interactive experience that include music and movement. It is designed to keep children active, engaged, and thriving.
Join the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute (SNZCBI) and NHSA for an EXTRA, live learning opportunities about Zoo animals, created specifically for Head Start and Early Head Start programs across the country! The Zoo Crew will help us celebrate Head Start’s birthday with some extra fun Zoo animals!!
NHSA and The National Zoo Presenters:

Emily Porter – Manager of Early Childhood and Family Learning Experience, SNZCBI
Bethany Wells – Get a Head Start with the Smithsonian Education and Program Coordinator, SNZCBI
Rachel Hutchison – Senior Associate, Instructional Practice Professional Programs, NHSA
Nick Young – Preschool Musician, PlayMotion Music
Smithsonian National Zoo Keepers
Guest presenters from other Smithsoninan institutions

Head Start 101: The Basics Behind Why We Do What We Do In The Program
2025-05-28 15:00 - 16:30 (America/New_York)
Program: Head Start 101: The Basics Behind Why We Do What We Do In The Program
Description: Curious about why you “have to” follow certain requirements in the program, we can talk. Interested in learning how the Head Start Act and Head Start Program Performance Standards impact your day-to-day work, we can help. Having challenges in the world of constant change, trying to do great work as you watch the headlines, those topics are on the table too. If you have a question about the why, what, or even want some suggested “how do we do X”, this is the session for you. This is a basic 101 to help teams know the why behind the what and to have a chance for open questions and answers as we have time. Wipfli has over five decades working in and with Head Start programs. Join us to hear what we are seeing as we offer regulations and leadership training/consulting across the country.
Learning Objectives: The participants will be able to:

Explore the basics of funding streams, regulations, and what makes EHS/HS programs unique.

Discuss the why behind the requirements.

Ask questions to help you learn more, and even where to find your own answers.

Price:

Regular Rate: $300
NHSA Member Rate: $250

Head Start 101 Presenter: Tammy Jelinek, Partner
Tammy Jelinek is a partner with over 25 years of experience working in and with federally funded nonprofit organizations and for-profit businesses. She engages with leadership teams to strategically align their goals to grow. Tammy is one of our nationally recognized trainers for issues involving Head Start/Early Head Start Community Services Block Grant and Uniform Guidance regulations. She answers questions and manages content for the My Wipfli Membership Service.

Sponsored By:

Kickoff: Film Screening
2025-09-24 14:00 - 15:00 UTC
Program: Cabinet of Wonder: A Private Film Screening with Natalie Merchant

Description: Join us for our official kick-off of the Cabinet of Wonder, a free online curriculum, resources and teaching guides for Head Start teachers and staff nationwide. This innovative program was created with singer, songwriter and performer Natalie Merchant, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the Chicago Children’s Theatre in partnership with The Academy at NHSA.
Cabinet of Wonder is a joyful reimagining of Mother Goose for children ages 3 to 6 and will spark creativity and wonder in early learning classrooms everywhere. Watch the Trailer!
This film screening will serve as an introduction to a series of virtual journeys to the Land of Make Believe (Cabinet of Wonder sessions).
Price: Free for Head Start teachers and staff
Presenter: Natalie Merchant
Over her 40-year career, Natalie Merchant has attained a place among America’s most respected recording artists. She has earned a reputation for being a songwriter of quality and a captivating stage performer. Merchant has committed her time and talent to a wide-variety of nonprofit organizations, performing countless benefit concerts and creating documentary films and large-scale community arts projects.
Merchant began her musical career as the lead vocalist and lyricist of the pop music band 10,000 Maniacs and released two platinum and four gold records with the group: The Wishing Chair (1985), In My Tribe (1987), Blind Man’s Zoo (1989), Hope Chest (1990) Our Time in Eden & 10,000 Maniacs MTV Unplugged (1993). Merchant left the group in 1994 and has subsequently released nine albums as a solo artist with combined sales of seven million copies: Tigerlily (1995), Ophelia (1998), Natalie Merchant Live (1999), Motherland (2001), The House Carpenter’s Daughter (2004), Leave Your Sleep (2010), Natalie Merchant (2014), Paradise is There (2015), Butterfly (2017). In April 2023, Nonesuch Records released her first album of original material in nine years, Keep Your Courage.
Merchant has collaborated, both on stage and in the studio, with an impressive array of artists including: Philip Glass, Wynton Marsalis, David Byrne, The Chieftains, Medeski, Martin & Wood, Mavis Staples, REM, Daniel Lanois, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Tracy Chapman, Kronos Quartet, Lokua Kanza, The Klezmatics, Lúnasa, Yungchen Lhamo, Chris Botti, Dan Zanes, Billy Bragg and Wilco.
In 2007, Merchant was appointed by Governor Elliot Spitzer to serve a five-year term on the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA). In 2013, she spearheaded an effort to stop the advance of hydraulic fracturing in New York State with a concert film, Dear Governor Cuomo. Again, in 2013, she used the same format of concert film to address domestic violence with Shelter. Most recently, she spent two years as Artist-in-Residence with the Head Start Program Troy, NY creating a multi-disciplinary arts curriculum for preschoolers called The Mother Goose Project (2017-2019). In November of 2022, NY Senator and majority leader Chuck Schumer appointed Natalie to a six-year-term on the board of trustees of The American Folklife Center at The Library of Congress.
Merchant’s awards for artistic excellence and philanthropic work include: The Library Lion Award from the New York Public Library (2011), The American Society of Authors Composers & Publishers (ASCAP) Champion Award and The John Lennon Real Love Award.

Head Start Works: Opportunities for States
2025-11-12 15:00 - 16:00 UTC
Program: Head Start Works: Opportunities for States
Description: Join Dr. Dan Wuori and Head Start leaders to explore how states can collaborate with Head Start to strengthen early childhood systems, expand access, and improve outcomes for children and families.The discussion will be based on the new report, Head Start and Early Childhood Systems: Opportunities for Policy Makers.
Purpose:

Expose Early Childhood Leaders to the report, “Head Start and Early Childhood Systems: Opportunities for Policy Makers.”
Use this webinar to amplify the convening of NHSA & state partners coming in early 2026
Begin the national dialogue with Early Childhood leaders about effective partnerships with Head Start.

REGISTER HERE!
Head Start Works Presenter:
Dr. Dan Wuori
With more than 30 years of early years leadership, Dr. Dan Wuori is the Founder and President of Early Childhood Policy Solutions, a bipartisan public policy consultancy focused on the needs of young children, their families, and the early years professionals who serve them. He serves concurrently as a Strategic Advisor on Early Childhood to the Saul Zaentz Charitable Foundation. In both roles – and in his prior position as the founding Director of Early Childhood at The Hunt Institute in Cary, North Carolina – Dr. Wuori works alongside governors and state legislators to improve early years policy across the United States.
But to parents the world over, Dan is known not for his policy work, but for his innovative use of social media to educate about infants and toddlers – with more than 300,000 followers tuning in to his daily video child development lessons across platforms. This work was recently profiled in The New York Times, which called his X (Twitter) account “a font of delight and edification…educational, but also – put simply – awwwww.”
His new book The Daycare Myth: What We Get Wrong About Early Care and Education (and What We Should Do About It) was released in September 2024. Upon its announcement, the book – which explores the costly disconnect between what we know and what we do when it comes to the needs of young children – spent more than a week at the top of Amazon’s education best sellers list. It is now in its seventh printing.
Dan is currently at work on a second book, Wonderment: Our First Three Years, which was recently acquired by Ballantine Books (a division of Penguin-Random House) for publication in early 2027.

Tackle Behaviors that Challenge: by teaching MINDFULNESS
2026-01-06 16:00 - 16:30 UTC
Webinar Series: Tackling Behaviors that Challenge Us
Program: Tackle Behaviors that Challenge: by teaching MINDFULNESS

Description:Every teacher wants to build a positive classroom culture of safety and trust, for children and for themselves. Turns out that is a lot easier said than done, especially when faced with behaviors that are really challenging. So, what is a well-meaning teacher to do?
In this webinar series, our experts will share innovative approaches to building a trust-based classroom environment, which is the key to mitigating behaviors that challenge us. Learn practical strategies that will not only help teachers understand challenging interactions, but also significantly increase delightful interactions!
Join our experts as they share how to develop strong trust with the children in your care. You will learn how to:

inspire the desire to behave well;
use music and movement for joy, fun, and increased focus;
turn transitions into meaningful parts of your day;
and so much more!

Tackle Behaviors that Challenge: by teaching MINDFULNESS
Managing a learning environment can be extremely stressful, especially when facing behaviors that we do not understand. We can control how we respond to those times of stress, in part, by paying attention to the way that we breathe. In this session, we will learn a simple tool that we can use to focus on and control the breath when stress is high, so we can return to calm and respond with wisdom, care, and focus.
Presenters:
Dr. Deborah Bergeron served as director of the Office of Head Start from 2018-21. From 2019-21 she broadened her leadership as director of the Office of Early Childhood Development in the Administration for Children and Families. Known as “Dr. B” to former students and teachers, she spent three decades in pre-K–12 public education as a classroom teacher and school administrator and currently serves as deputy director for Community Engagement and Innovation at NHSA.

Hayes Greenfield is the founder of Creative Sound Play and the Greenfield Method. He is a professional musician and artist who has taught with the PNC Bank Grow Up Great Initiative, consulted at Bank Street Head Start and led professional development workshops and programs for the New York City Dept of Ed.

Tackle Behaviors that Challenge: by offering CHOICES
2026-03-03 16:00 - 16:30 UTC
Webinar Series: Tackling Behaviors that Challenge Us
Program: Tackle Behaviors that Challenge: by offering CHOICES

Description: Every teacher wants to build a positive classroom culture of safety and trust, for children and for themselves. Turns out that is a lot easier said than done, especially when faced with behaviors that are really challenging. So, what is a well-meaning teacher to do?
In this webinar series, our experts will share innovative approaches to building a trust-based classroom environment, which is the key to mitigating behaviors that challenge us. Learn practical strategies that will not only help teachers understand challenging interactions, but also significantly increase delightful interactions!
Join our experts as they share how to develop strong trust with the children in your care. You will learn how to:

inspire the desire to behave well;
use music and movement for joy, fun, and increased focus;
turn transitions into meaningful parts of your day;
and so much more!

Tackle Behaviors that Challenge: by offering CHOICES
When children want to learn, we can tell, because they all use the same simple tool: they start asking questions! But how often do we ask questions of them? In this session, we will explore the power of questions as a teaching tool, and share practical ways that teachers can develop a more positive and engaged learning environment by teaching less, and asking more.
Presenters:
Dr. Deborah Bergeron served as director of the Office of Head Start from 2018-21. From 2019-21 she broadened her leadership as director of the Office of Early Childhood Development in the Administration for Children and Families. Known as “Dr. B” to former students and teachers, she spent three decades in pre-K–12 public education as a classroom teacher and school administrator and currently serves as deputy director for Community Engagement and Innovation at NHSA.

Ron Shuali, M.Ed. has been called the “Messiah of the Mind”, the “Behavior Master” and the “Bad Boy of Early Childhood.” His laughter filled keynotes, workshops and assemblies are always full of eye-opening experiences as audiences have multiple “Ah-HA!” moments. He is the creator of the internationally acclaimed Yogarate and Behavior Mastery systems. Ron holds a Master’s of Education specializing in Early Childhood, is a best-selling author, motivational speaker, and most importantly…He is funny. His background of martial arts, yoga, reiki, professional wrestling and improv creates hilarious and educational experiences focusing on mindfulness and connecting with fellow humans and their inner-child.
