Published On: May 8th, 2015By Leticia Fehling

Kujawa EC/PK Center Teacher Presents at Bill Martin Jr. Symposium at Texas A&M University-Commerce

Kujawa-EC-PK-Teacher-Maggie-Abrego-Presents-at-Bill-Martin-Junior-Symposium-1

Abrego at symposium.

Aldine ISD’s early childhood program has a lot to be proud of. The program recently won [icons icon_name=”icon-external-link” icon_size=”14px”]H-E-B’s 2015 Excellence in Education Award. [icons icon_name=”icon-external-link” icon_size=”14px”]AISD was among five finalists.During the finalist stage, a panel of judges visited campuses to determine the winner. Maggie Abrego at Kujawa EC/PreK Center left quite an so impression with one of the judges. This led to her presenting at the Bill Martin Jr. Symposium held May 1 at [icons icon_name=”icon-external-link” icon_size=”14px”]Texas A&M University-Commerce.

The annual memorial symposium serves to honor author Bill Martin Jr. He wrote many children’s books. Some may sound familiar like “Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom,” and “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” The university’s [icons icon_name=”icon-external-link” icon_size=”14px”]Department of Curriculum and Instruction hosts the event.

The department encourages teaching students to take part. The symposium provides best practices and content knowledge. Dr. Josh Thompson finds the symposium to be a great venue for professional development. He serves as an associate professor in early childhood education.

The judge on the panel was from Texas A&M-Commerce. She asked Abrego to discuss her content delivery methods. The judge noticed how students were completely engaged in learning.

Abrego uses the Reggio Emilia approach with her students at the [icons icon_name=”icon-external-link” icon_size=”14px”]International Baccalaureate World School. Kujawa EC/PreK offers the IB Primary Years Program. According to Abrego, the method she uses is aligned with IBO’s philosophy to learning.

Barbara G. Hammack enjoyed Abrego’s presentation. She serves as coordinator of the early childhood education program at the university.

“I so enjoyed your wonderful Reggio presentation at this year’s BMJ conference,” Hammack said. “I encourage you to submit a presentation next year. I believe you will present more than once here in the future. I would love to have more participants see all the fabulous work you do with four year olds.”