Wednesday, January 30, 2013


Hi Everyone,
   Thought I would take this snow day opportunity to share some fun resources that I have bumped into in my work during the month that you might find useful in the month ahead!

1.      This sight has lots of good info from Dr. Jean but I want to share the great “cheers” to use with children to build self-esteem, confidence, competence, empathy and positive self talk!  For February try the  “Kiss your Brain, Kiss your Heart”  and the “A-W-E-S-O-M-E” Cheer!  Teach them all the cheers and help them celebrate everyone’s accomplishments.  Don’t forget to set the example and cheer for yourself too!!





2.     If you want to teach children how to get their needs met and have positive relationships (with themselves and others) in life check out Dr. Becky Bailey’s Conscious Discipline.  For February the “I Love You” Rituals would be awesome.  I’m also excited about her “Baby Doll” circle time as a way to teach toddlers positive feelings, self-regulation and empathy.  I’d like to attend one of those workshops someday.




3.     I love children’s books and this week the 2013 Caldecott Winner was announced.  You can see the whole list of nominees at the link below.  I was able to be the first to check out “This is Not My Hat” by Jon Klassen from our library.  It has great illustrations and I can imagine a lot of great conversations taking place because of this book.  A great way to help children ask questions!




4.      When I first started working in child care I was introduced to great music makers for kinds like Hap Palmer and Ella Jenkins.  I don’t hear enough singing with kids anymore.   So go check out Ella Jenkins website: http://www.ellajenkins.com/index.html  She’s 88 years old and a national treasure!  And here is here new 2013 recording:
“more,more, wintery weather” is the repeating line of this song!  Great for today!  Or any day cold or hot!
5.      


Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Book Review





Young at Art by Susan Striker






"When babies are developmentally ready to stand and walk, they can pull themselves up on the nearest piece of furniture and go. But when babies are developmentally ready to begin the scribbling experiments that will lead the way to reading and writing later on, they need a sensitive adult to have a crayon and paper ready for them." This is the first sentence in Ms. Striker's book Young at Art : "Teaching Toddlers Self-Expression, Problem-Solving Skills and an Appreciation for Art". If you have heard of the "Anti-Coloring Book" that came out in the '80's then you are familiar with Susan Striker's work. I believe in her ideas/philosophy whole-heartedly but as with anything that requires a complete overhaul in our thinking and our expectations there is a lot of resistance and long years of habit to overcome.


When I taught preschool I followed the principles:


The same basic art materials were available every day:


Paper and crayons, markers, pencils


Easel Paper and Paint and brushes


Collage materials and glue


Clay




The first few months of school the kids are so shocked at being able to explore these materials unmolested every time them come to "school"that there is really not any need to add any auxiliary materials or suggestions.


Then you can start setting activities up to mix colors, make tints, explore shapes and textures etc.


We never made anything "cute" so that we would have a nice "display".


We hung the art prominently in the room.


We never wrote a child's name on their art without their permission and asking them where to write it.


We asked children to tell us about their art or what they were doing or feeling but we never asked "What is it?"


We never used coloring sheets or coloring books.


We had "real" art books and prints of "real" paintings hung in our room.




Here are Ms. Striker's 10 Cardinal Rules for Teaching Creative Art


1. Obliterate your own expectations of how an art project should be completed, and let the child’s imagination decide how the art materials will be used.
2. Never draw, paint or write on a child’s art work.
3. Never point out accidental similarities to realistic objects.
4. Never show a child “how” to draw or entertain a child by making realistic pictures.
5. Don’t ask “What is it?” or “What are you making?” “What” it is is not as important as “How” it is being made.
6. Never give a child coloring books, dot to dot, magic paint with water, molds, drawing machines, drawing computers or similar anti-art toys.
7. Never encourage children to participate in art contests or other forms of competition that pits child against child.
8. Encourage a child to come up with many different solutions to problems, rather than only one correct answer.
9. Don’t scold for drawing on unacceptable surfaces. Offer paper and say “Oh good, I see you feel like drawing.”
10. Do not rush a child to the next level of development.



Here's another quote from Ms. Striker: : "Many day care centers and nursery schools persisit in having one-to-four-year-olds make things like pumpkins for Halloween and Santas for Christmas, thereby squelching normal development, perpetuating our mundane stereotypical expressions and trivializing our feelings for meaningful holidays. they are also producing students who are insecure about the value of their own art. Often these children are destined for later reading and writing difficulties. In fact, children up to age of six are motivated to produce art be the size,shape,texture and possiblities of the materials. Adults are more likely to be motivated by subject matter, and therein may lie the great failure to communicate that separates children and adults, and ultimately serves to separate children from art. The sad fact is that although art eachers must take English, history, math and science courses to become certified, it is possible in many areas to become a certified eary childhood teacher without ever taking an art course. You may fid that your child is being taught art by a teacher who know absolutely nothing about it. If that happens, please speak up. After all, you would not tolerate a person who could not play a piano giving piano lessons to your child."


OH WOW!!! We early childhood professionals need to educate ourselves about providing early art experiences. Just like early language experiences, those first scribbles are the beginning of how the child will think and feel about learning and creating for their whole life. Our job is not to prepare them for school but to give them enough confidence and faith in their own abilities, thinking and problem-solving so that they will be able to withstand the relentless molding into conformity that takes place in 12 years of "schooling". We (early childhood professionals) can stand as a bulwark around the infants (0-4 yrs.) in our care, support their creative thinking and learning,and keep that creativity from being stifled or trampled for as long as possible.
Comments??










Monday, January 25, 2010

The Wisdom of Play

A wonderful new resource from www.communityplaythings.com is available for free and you can request it from the web-site. It's called "The Wisdom of Play: Why children at play are their own best teachers". You need to get a copy and share it with everyone who cares for and about young children. The introduction and history are written by David Elkind,one of my all time favorite child development experts. Also check out www.justaskbaby.com , Dr. Elkind's weekly blog. Other articles in "The Wisdom of Play" include "Imagination" , "Nature" and "Opened and Creative Play". For those who attended the SWIAEYC Winter Blahs workshop on Saturday this will be a great way to extend and share your learning! Log on an request your copy right now!
Then go find a kid and go PLAY!

Monday, January 4, 2010

Food Serendipity

I love it when this happens. After the last posting on feeding young children two great pieces
on the same subject appeared in my in-box. Here are links to them both.

http://insteadoftv.com/dinnervideo.html - the importance of eating dinner together. It's connected to a menu planning service called Dinner without Whine. I use one of these periodically to jazz up my menu planning and get new recipes and ideas for dinner when I get tired of the same old thing. The one I use is called "Saving Dinner". www.savingdinner.com

The other link if for an article by Docia Zavitkovsky, a Champion of Children, who passed away recently. https://secure.ccie.com/resources/view_article.php?article_id=5012196

You can see 102 articles by Docia at https://secure.ccie.com/catalog/search.php?max_rows=10&position=1&search=zavitkovsky You will be sure to find some inspiration to carry on with your important child care work among them. Enjoy!

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Healthy Eating for Infants and Toddlers







I think the way we present new foods to Infants & Toddlers is very important in the development of life long eating habits. Food should never be used as a reward for good behavior or as a way to soothe emotional or physical hurts. Withholding food as punishment also gives food on an emotional connotation that may lead to bad eating habits later in life. The older a child is before they know about the existence of fast foods and sweets the better chance they have of not being hooked on these high calorie but nutrient barren foods. Teaching kids that food is only needed for energy to grow and stay healthy would go a long way toward keeping food in the proper perspective in life. A young child's diet should be lots of fruits and vegetables. "Feed Me I'm Yours" by Vicky Lansky is a great book for parents and caregivers to learn about the proper feeding of young children. I highly recommend it. Some other observations:


1. Kids go through cycles where they eat very little and then eat everything in sight. Pay attention to these cycles and let the child's appetite rule the amount of food they eat. Don't force them to eat when they are not hungry and don't worry about it if they skip a meal or two. They'll eat when they're hungry.


2. Avoid fruit juice....it's highly processed, has concentrated sugar and usually the processor adds more and most of the nutrients and all of the fiber has been removed. Better to drink water.


3. Follow the child's lead for introducing meats. Most toddlers and many preschoolers don't want or need meat.


4. Offering young children a wide variety of fresh, healthy food is the best way to insure that they get the nutrition they need. Avoid everything that is highly processed.




If you want to improve your own health and your relationship with food, read "Eat to Live" by Dr. Joel Furhman.




A question to ponder: How can we decrease the emphasis on food for holidays, celebrations and other social occasions?

Instead of TV



Maybe one of your New Year's Resolutions is to cut down on the amount of TV you and your kids watch. Here are some ideas from "Instead of TV" for using all those extra boxes we have around from the Holidays. Enjoy!


Diana says that her kids enjoyed playing with cardboard boxes.Have you ever seen a kid pitch a new toy aside to play with the box?I know I have!
She says: "We played in the living room in large cardboard boxesfor hours -- making them into "houses", covering them with blanketsetc. and taking toys in there to play."
My friend Esme, author of How To Get Your Child To Love Reading,recommends using a large cardboard box to make a special TimeMachine to encourage reading.
Esme's book is a treasure chest of info for parents who want to raiselifelong readers. I loved reading it!
You can get her book here:http://www.insteadoftv.com/lovereading.html
Or, get just the instructions to the Time Machine:http://www.insteadoftv.com/flight.html
Oh and I foun a nifty cardboard firehouse that you can buy fromAmazon.com for only $20! Check out: www.insteadoftv.com/playhouse.html