Name: What's on the Menu? Interactions
Start: 2026-07-14T13:00:00-0500
End: 2026-07-14T14:00:00-0500

Tuesday July 14, 2026 1:00pm - 2:00pm CDT

Arkansas is currently in a CLASS pilot year. As Local Leads, part of our job is to visit all publicly funded classrooms, administer a CLASS assessment, and support programs in building positive, meaningful interactions. The four presenters for this season have collectively completed more than 150 CLASS observations in the last year and a half across infant, toddler, and pre-K settings.
We started noticing the same pattern over and over: teachers are working hard during large group, centers, and small group time to build relationships, model language, and support problem-solving. But mealtimes and snack times — which easily take 30 to 45 minutes of a child’s day — are often treated as “get through it” moments instead of intentional interaction time. That is a huge missed opportunity for building connections, positive interactions, concept development, scaffolding, and language modeling. “What’s on the Menu? Interactions!” is designed to change that.

Speakers

Wendy Green

Local Lead, Crowley's Ridge Educational Service Cooperative

Chrissy Sain

Local Leads, Northeast Arkansas Education Cooperative

Jodi Whitman

Senior Director, Partnerships, LENA

Jodi Whiteman, M.Ed., CEIM, IMH-E® is the Senior Director of Partnerships at LENA. In this position she supports early childhood programs, organizations and states to transform children’s future through early talk technology and data-driven programs. She has over 25 years of experience in the early childhood field... Read More →