What is Your New Year's Resolution?

As a new year approaches, many of us begin to think about making positive habits to improve our lives. No, this isn't about the latest diet fad or the best way to work exercise into your busy day. Instead I have decided to provoke your thinking about screen time in hopes that this resolution will be added to your list.  Screen time; the amount of and the content included, has been a hot topic of debate for educators and parents alike.  There are many assumptions that research debunks. You will be both surprised and motivated by the information shared.

The first assumption by well intentioned parents is that content that is labeled educational is good for young children.  If you switch the channels of the television you will be inundated by children's programming claiming to be such. If the program teaches something  it must be fine; right?  Not necessarily.  The educational value of the program depends on two things:

1.  Is the information presented in a manner that is developmentally appropriate for your child?

2.  Does your child have the ability to comprehend the information in order to learn from it?

Children learn through repetition. They also make connections when the learning is in a meaningful context.  Watching a show about friendship and what it means to be a friend doesn't result in kind interactions between peers.  This result comes from repeated interactions along with the support from adults who can guide their play. Children learn the concept of friendship in the context of  interactions and they will connect positive behaviors and friendly words when they see and hear them repeatedly. You will know that they've learned when you observe them apply the  ideas of friendship in a new situation.

The next assumption is that the television is just background noise and that it doesn't affect children.  A study by the University of Massachusetts at Amherst looked at how children interacted with toys; both with and without the television playing in the room. The results were that the noise and the picture flashes of the T.V. acted as a distraction for children; causing them to lose focus and move from one toy to another.  The study also found that while the television is on, the amount of time that parents spent interacting with their children decreased 21%.  As a parent to adult children who grew up before the blink of my eye I can tell you to turn off the T. V.!

Finally, the last assumption  is that scary T. V. shows or movies just go above the children's heads.  Content made for adults won't be understood by young children and therefore there is  nothing to worry about...

Pediatrics reported  research that found exposure to violent television programming resulted in sleep problems for  young children.  At their stage of development, sleep is critical; impacting growth and cognitive development.  A program implemented to remove the viewing of violent content by young children positively correlated to a decrease in sleep problems.

This concern recently became real in a classroom filled with young viewers of The Walking Dead. As we observed the children acting out zombie scenes, we knew that this disturbing play was the result of children trying to make sense of the violent content that they were both too immature and too inexperienced to watch. Exposure to violent T. V.; beit The Walking Dead or a newscast reporting on violence, can affect the social-emotional growth and regulation of young children in addition to reducing their well needed sleep.

Less screen time is a win-win.   This results in more quality time together learning in meaningful contexts and learning from you. When you do decide to flip on the television, sit with your child and view together. Talk about what is happening, the way it makes you feel, what you have learned and relate the content to real-life experiences to help connections between what they are seeing and what they already know.  They grow up so fast; enjoy every minute...

By the way, my resolution  is to use less cliches.

Happy New Year!

Which Toy? Why?

Tis the season of gift giving! While it sounds like fun, giving gifts comes with a lot of stress; especially when thinking about just the right toy for a child.  When my boys were young, I would consider dozens of toys before deciding on the winner. While some of my choices were hits , I have to admit that I've spent my good money on many items that were quickly disregarded and then discarded.

As my boys have grown into men, gift cards are always a sure bet. They are useful but have lost the glitz and glamour of a large colorfully wrapped box.  While I do my best to decorate the pieces of plastic to look as special as their recipients,  in the end they are lackluster. Despite my children growing up, this time of year always brings toys to mind.

Go into any store at this time of year and you are inundated with toys; big toys, small toys, colorful toys and the like. As a parent who has a hard time making up her mind, this can be overwhelming!  Sensory overload is just a piece of the stress, many questions flood my mind as I agonize over choosing just the right toy to gift to a child:

 1.  Is the toy going to be safe?  Are the pieces too small to pose a choking hazard for a toddler?  Are there any sharp pieces? Strings that could cause strangulation concerns?  Lead paint?  Will the toy break easily?  Has the toy been recalled by the Consumer Product Safety Commission?

2.Will the toy provide any fun for the child?  Does it move, surprise or otherwise entertain?

3.  Is it age appropriate?  Will the skills needed to interact with the toy correlate to my child's skill set?

4.  Is the toy any good?  Is it well-designed, easy to manipulate, open-ended and appealing?

5.  Will this toy provide my child with opportunities to think, be creative and practice a skill?

6.  Does the toy perpetuate any stereotypes or biases?  Is it violent?  Are there any other negative traits associated with it?

7. Is the toy durable? Can it be thrown without shattering into pieces or at least be washed when needed?


While this list of questions isn't exhaustive it does give me reason to pause and scratch my head!  How did my children's toy room end up like it did with all of these questions that needed to be answered before  the purchase of a toy? 

Lucky for you I've found a solution. Dr. Toy!  She is one of the nation's leading experts on toys and she has been generous with her knowledge. To check out Dr. Auerbach's list of awards, please visit the link below:

                                             http://www.drtoy.com/

Happy gift giving season!

Learning is a Big Job!

Engaging your child during the hustle and bustle of the holidays is as easy as asking them to help you with a big job.  Many hands make light work;  asking your children to help you to complete a big job will help you to break a big job into smaller parts and will benefit your child in the following ways:

Learning to work with others: 
Breaking a big job into smaller pieces means that everyone collaborates to get the job done. Working alongside of other family members gives your child opportunities to observe ideas in action. Was it the same idea? Was it different ? Was the idea successful? What should've been done differently?

Working with others allows you to hear a variety of opinions, to learn the value of other's thoughts  and to compromise to reach a goal. Give and take; both in the discussion and in the delegation of duties, can be learned in the midst of a big job.

Problem solving:

Compromising is just one aspect of problem solving.   While working with materials, a variety of problems can arise.  How do I fit the cans in the cupboard when unpacking groceries? How do I fold a towel when helping with laundry? Finally, how do I stir the batter without spilling it?  All of these big jobs require thought as children figure out a successful strategy. While your child is acting on their ideas, the bonuses of patience and persistence are achieved.

Contributing to the team:

Every family is a household team and must collaborate to get the job done. Big jobs teach children responsibility and service towards others. Completion of a big job provides young children with the opportunity of feeling pride in a job well done. 


Big Jobs include:

Raking the leaves

Folding the laundry

Delivering the laundry to each family member

Cooking dinner

Caring for pets

Cleaning the house: emptying waste baskets, dusting, loading the dishwasher


Don't forget to set your child up for success. Provide child sized tools and show them how to use it safely. Another important tip is to HAVE FUN. Talk with your child about whatever they want while doing the job and keep it enjoyable; that is the secret to more help in the future.

Back To School

Back to school is the season we are all anxiously awaiting. As parents are getting prepared, I'd like to offer some suggestions to help ease the transition from home to school:

1. Establish a bedtime routine well in advance to help your child adjust to new bedtimes and a new "school wake-up" schedule.

2.  Arrange to attend Parent Orientation and Meet the Teacher opportunities. These will inform you on policies and procedures that support school success.

3.  Read books about going to school and about saying goodbye. An unhurried time to read and to discuss these ideas will give you common language to refer to when the moment arrives. Some of my favorites are:

• The Kissing Hand  by Audrey Penn
• First Day of School  by Anne Rockwell
• A Pocketful of Kisses  by Audrey Penn
• David Goes to School  by David Shannon

4.  Select a special lunchbox or backpack for school. This gives children a reason to be excited about the first day of school.

5.  Remember that separation is a process that takes time. You and your child will need time to feel comfortable with the new routines. Build some extra time in at drop off at the beginning of the school year. Feeling unhurried will help you to support your little one and to establish a goodbye routine that teaches your child what to expect next.

The teachers at the ECEC have had many experiences with the first day of school. They all have the patience and the strategies to help the transition to be a successful one. A quick nod from you and they will step in to support your child on separating from you and moving on to something fun and engaging.  Before you know it, your child will be running ahead of you to the classroom door and waving goodbye as they go exploring. 

Nature's Brain Boost

The benefits of nature are endless. The first thing that comes to my mind is relaxation. For most of us, planning a vacation evokes sunshine, sandy beaches and clear blue water. The sun warms our skin, provides us with well-needed Vitamin D and revitalizes our brain.

Research has found that enjoying time outdoors results in more than relaxation. The wonders found in nature capture our attention in unexpected ways.  This "involuntary attention" caused by spending time outdoors has shown benefits to our brains. "Involuntary attention" happens when our focus is shifted to something to which we don't purposefully pay attention. Close your eyes and imagine the gentle breeze off of the water, the smell of flowers in the spring or the feeling of wet sand on your feet. These are examples of nature's gift of "involuntary attention".

When our brains spend time in "involuntary attention", it is giving our voluntary attention a well deserved rest. Voluntary attention is needed to focus on activities such as thinking about a math problem or writing the letters of the alphabet; important  concepts that are practiced during school hours. This rest provided by outdoor play has proved beneficial to indoor learning too.

While this research isn't new, it's implications become more important as learning expectations continue to be pushed down into earlier grades. Developmentally inappropriate expectations result in less time spent on the "non-academic" or "non-essential" parts of the day. Keeping the research in mind, we have provided for daily routines which include:

• Outdoor periods of the routine consisting of at least 30 minutes that happen twice throughout a full day. Children are free to make choices how they spend time outdoors and often initiate their own play.
• Integrating the outdoors into our explorations. We consider the outdoors an extension of our classrooms and provide children with opportunities to learn in nature.
• Long-term projects that focus on nature. Following the interests of children often lead us outdoors to explore and experiment. We take advantage of their interests to embed curriculum and to venture into nature. 

The benefits of nature extend to brains of all ages. I'll meet  you outside!

Recycling Inspiration

The investigation by Room #7 has inspired me.  If you look underneath my desk, there is a brown bag stuffed full with paper, plastic and cardboard waiting to go home with me to be recycled. As I am  waiting the arrival of our recycling bins, I've begun to think about and research the other ways that I can recycle. What I've come up with is a list of ideas that can be implemented at school and at home; by adults and by children:

Turn off the water
     Turning of the faucet when brushing your teeth or washing your hands helps to preserve Earth's natural resource.

Reuse materials

Think about the feasibility of a material before you throw it away. Could it be used for another purpose? How about that old t-shirt? It could be repurposed as a car rag. 

     Use less paper

•      Use cloth napkins at the table 
•       Reuse paper by writing on both side before recycling.

The things that can be recycled are only limited by your imagination. Every day I enter the classrooms and see some sort of box, plastic or tape being used to communicate understanding as the children build and describe. Their imagination turns "junk" into a  bridge, a submarine or a car. If you are a parent, then you know that the box is always more fun than the toy inside of it.

 Recycling is one habit that we won't mind our children picking up on. If we all do one thing to protect our planet, collectively we will save the Earth. Recycle, Reduce and Reuse!

Springtime Learning

Finally! Spring is here. At least today. Take advantage of the warm weather and the extended daylight by taking the learning outdoors. Springtime opens up another world; just outside the door. There are lots of fun family activities to help celebrate the temperatures while sneaking a little learning in too.

A Scavenger Hunt is an activity in which the whole family can participate. Go on a walk outside and look for something colorful or for something that smells sweet. Listen for a loud dog barking or the soft sounds of a bird. Ask your child to look for something that feels soft, hard or scratchy. The ideas are limitless and tap into how children learn best; through their senses. There are lots of opportunities to introduce vocabulary while your on the hunt and the best part is that the children will hear new words in context.

Walks around the neighborhood also lend themselves to new vocabulary words. Whether holding hands or pushing the stroller, talk to your child about what you see. Use descriptive words as you talk and point; helping your child to make the connection. When you've arrived home, ask your child about the most interesting thing that they saw on the walk. I'll bet that after a few miles around the block, your child is using the descriptive language in their discussions with you.

We can do more than walk outdoors. We can skip, jump, roll and gallop. The room afforded by the outdoors gives us a safe place to test out our bodies to see what they can do! If you're feeling really  bold, take a trip to the playground. Climbing up the monkey bars, balancing on the logs, and sliding down the slide all give children experiences with moving their bodies. These experiences culminate into strong, capable bodies that can navigate the world around them.

Rain, flowers blooming, mud and bugs are all a part of the season of spring. Take advantage of the season and give your child a new experience to wonder about and to explore.

Learning Through Play

All they do is play. This is a statement that I’ve heard many times while working in the classroom. This is a big compliment, because the statement says that we are doing a good job at making learning fun. Play is a child’s work.  It is our job to integrate learning in the midst of their work. It takes content knowledge and intentionality to turn play into an opportunity for learning. According to the National Association for the Education of Young Children; valued content is learned through investigation, play, and focused, intentional teaching. Children learn by exploring, thinking about, and inquiring about all sorts of phenomena. These experiences help children investigate ‘big ideas,' those that are important at any age and are connected to later learning. (2003, 2) Project work allows us to extend this play into many content areas. For example, this year’s kindergarten class showed an interest in restaurants. The teachers took this observed interest and built many opportunities for the children to learn through play. Creating a menu allowed for social development as the children worked together to decide on food items for their restaurant, decided what jobs were necessary and who had which responsibilities.  Literacy concepts were added as the children wrote up the menus and then the customer orders. Deciding how much each item cost got the children thinking about math concepts, gave them meaningful opportunities to write number symbols, and introduced addition. Identifying money was also a focus as the customers paid for the food that they had ordered. All of this learning took place in the context of a democratic environment in which everyone worked together. Good Eats, the restaurant’s name, was a good opportunity to learn by playing.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

March is Reading Month! As I reflect on the past; both as a parent and an educator, I am filled with many warm thoughts of snuggling next to a child with the intention of sharing a book.  Unlike most of my guilty pleasures, reading aloud is a good thing—both for me and for those who hear the story.  Reading aloud allows an opportunity for connections. Adults and children are given time to build relationships and connect while reading together. Hearing the rich language written in a storybook also provides experiences that hardwire the brain; a connection that encourages later school success.

As if that wasn’t enough, there’s much more! According to research compiled by Read-Aloud Handbook author  Jim Trelease, reading aloud to your child also:

• Increases vocabulary
• Improves attention span
• Stimulates imagination and creativity
• Nurtures social-emotional development
• Improves critical thinking and problem solving skills
• Encourages self-esteem

Just imagine, every time you pick up a book and snuggle up with your child to share a story, you increase the probability of all of these skills! It almost sounds too good to be true—but it isn’t—so let me share a few of the secrets to success that I’ve learned over the years.

Make sure that you choose a book that lends itself to being read aloud and make sure that you like it. There is nothing worse than getting stuck reading a book that you don’t like over and over. Remember, you are in charge of the choices. Pick two that you enjoy and let your child pick from them.

Share the pictures while you read. Who holds the book is between both of you as long as your child can see the illustrations while you read the text. A book worth its merit has pictures that add details to the story that you wouldn’t get by just reading the words. “Reading” the pictures to tell the story is the first step in emergent reading, so let them look!

Add variety to reading time and change things up. Take turns “reading” the book; you can look at the words and your child can read the pictures. Ask them to predict what is going to happen next. Ask them questions that can be answered by reading the illustrations. Take turns holding the book, turning the pages, or running your fingers under the words as they are read. These choices serve to model book concepts as well as empowering your emergent reader.

Read with expression! The best part of reading aloud with children is the chance to be silly. Change your voice to match the character. Make a dramatic pause. You’ll be surprised how much of the story that they remember when it sounds interesting.

Finally, make reading a ritual; like brushing your teeth. Sit somewhere comfortable, prop yourselves up with pillows, dim the lights and turn on a cozy reading lamp. Make reading a special time so that you both look forward to it. Reading aloud is to the brain as eating a healthy dinner is to the body; so make it a part of your daily habit!

Food. It's colorful, it smells good, and it tastes great!  Food not only nourishes your body, but it provides lots of learning opportunities as well. This month, we have partnered with the National Kidney Foundation to present Regie Rainbow. The program's goals are to introduce young children and families to the importance of choosing a healthy lifestyle.  By relating the colors of fruits and vegetables to those on the rainbow, the books shared during the program helps to incorporate healthy habits in a fun and creative manner.

Regie Rainbow is a superhero broccoli character who introduces the colors and concepts. Regie gains his super powers by eating from all the colors of the rainbow, limiting screen time, and exercising every day. As the teachers move through the program, they read each of Regie's island adventures aloud. Next, the children move on to explore and prepare a fruit or vegetable that coordinates with the adventure. The children come together at the table and work as a team to use their senses to explore the whole fruit or vegetable before cutting it into bite sized portions. The sense of taste is the last sense that the children use to find out more. In some classrooms, they've even taken the next step and used their prepared vegetables to cook/bake the afternoon snack!

While visiting the Island of Orange, we introduced peppers and carrots. We heard words such as crunchy and sweet as the children used their sense of taste. The children worked together to turn the carrots into french fries to bake and added cinnamon and applesauce to create carrot cookies with the grated vegetable. Believe me, the smells were wonderful that afternoon!

During our visit to the Island of Red, our creative and skilled teachers worked with the children to prepare tomato candy. The cut up pieces of red tomato were placed inside a dehydrator. Once done, the children snacked on nature's candy. This experience surprised some of the children who used the word sweet to describe what they had created.

Research has shown that children are more apt to sample unknown fruits and vegetable when they have had an opportunity to participate in the preparation. Sitting next to a peer that is an adventurous eater often motivates them too. Regie Rainbow provides us with an opportunity to introduce fruits and vegetables to children in the context of play.

The islands that we visit represent all the colors of the rainbow; so we have a lot of traveling to do! I invite you to join us on our island adventures by volunteering in your child's classroom. We'd love to see you and have you try some healthy snacks with us. Ask you classroom teacher which island is next on our destination and get ready to taste!

Play dough

January is upon us and it certainly has brought lots of cold temperatures along with it!  As we stay inside to keep warm, I’d like to offer some suggestions to keep the fun and learning indoors until the warmer weather arrives.

Play dough. The material is easy to make, fun to manipulate, and playing with it addresses all of the critical domains of growth and development.  If you want to get fancy, you can engage your child in looking around the house to find some things to bring into your dough play.  Cookie cutters are a go-to, but unusual kitchen items such as bottle caps, forks, and rolling pins can also encourage imagination and problem solving. Follow your child’s lead and experiment with how the utensils change the shape, texture, or look of the dough.

Before I get ahead of myself, I want to give you a recipe to make the play dough. Like baking, making play dough with your child is a learning experience in and of itself! For making play dough, you will need:

Ingredients:

·         1 cup                     water

·         1 pkt.                     Kool-Aid

·         6 cups                   flour

·         1 cup                     vegetable oil

Gather:

·         Measuring cups

·         Mixing bowl

·         Wooden spoon

Directions:

1.       In a bowl, mix water and food coloring.

2.       Add flour.

3.       Add oil.

4.       Stir together.

5.       Knead until smooth in texture. 

Encourage language by talking through the steps with your child. First we will pour; second we will stir, mix, and knead. Your sneaking in ordinal words in context. Providing children with hands-on experiences along with the words will help those words to stick. Use words that describe the mixture as it changes; pointing out how the ingredients transform as others are added: mushy, wet, smooth, and dry. Making play dough together not only gives real-life opportunities to provide language, but also adds science concepts as the children observe the processes that take place.

Math concepts are introduced next—at the good part; manipulating the dough. As you play together, point out big and small sizes and shapes that are created. Challenge your child to sort the items you’ve made into categories. Compare the lengths of the snakes that you roll. Thinking about these ideas will prepare them for more complex math concepts in the future.

While you are exercising the fine motor muscles of the fingers by pinching and poking the play dough, you are also teaching the social skills of sharing, cooperation, and perhaps turn taking. All of these foundational skills will benefit your child as they go to school: fine motor skills encourage the strength needed to write and draw, turn taking sets your child up for social success with peers.

Make believe or pretend play is also encouraged by play dough. Anything from a pizza party to a fire breathing dragon is possible with imagination and creativity. Talk with your child while manipulating the dough and you might be surprised by what you learn as they express themselves through the material.  Play is the work of young children, so why not learn and have fun?