October 7th, 2009 by El Ed Mom
Falling for Leaves
When one thinks of autumn, the first thing that often comes to mind is leaves. “We like to go on a fall walk and find really big, colorful leaves,” says Melissa Durante, a mother of three from Bartlett, Ill. “My daughter likes to keep one of each color she finds.”
Rachel Del Rio, an early-childhood educator in Elgin, Ill., says that toddlers and preschoolers may like to take the treasures from their nature walk and glue them to construction paper, perhaps making a person by using an acorn for a head and leaves for the body. Here’s another fun idea: Collect some freshly fallen leaves. Place them on a board. Place a thin cloth (like a piece of sheet) over the leaves and have the child hammer the leaves. The leaf color and shape will imprint on the cloth.
Of course all those beautiful leaves need to end up somewhere – and many will undoubtedly be in your yard. While you toil to pick them up, let your child “work” alongside with a plastic rake or scamper around the yard with a dump truck (the bigger the better) to collect leaves to be deposited onto a main pile. Don’t be surprised, though, if a pile or two ends up a mess. Jumping and rolling in leaves is tempting fun for many toddlers (and some parents, too)!
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October 1st, 2009 by El Ed Mom
Children need to play. This observation might seem obvious, but lately, it is my rallying cry. It has to be. There is so much discussion among parents and educators about the relative benefits of academic versus developmentally appropriate preschools, and as testing rules the day, proponents of the academic model seem to be gaining ground.
But I am a parent, and I have been a preschool teacher for more than twenty years, and my experience and training tell me one thing loud and clear.
Children need to play.
They need to build with blocks, role-play with dolls and cooking tools, assemble tracks for trains, dabble in paint, jump up and down, ride tricycles, smush playdough, dig in sand, splash in water. They need to negotiate with ladders, slides, and each other. Take turns. Dress up. Cook.
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September 11th, 2009 by El Ed Mom
What is School Readiness?
You should allow your child to have the kinds of experiences that will help them do well in school at an early age. “School readiness” means making sure your child has the academic, social, independence, and communication skills require to successful start school. Reading, talking, and playing with others will help your child prepare for their school career.
Academic Readiness
Before starting kindergarten, children need to know about themselves, their families, and the world. Children can come to school with many skills that teachers can build upon, if they have already had good learning experiences at home and with their Parents.
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September 8th, 2009 by El Ed Mom
The next several blogs are dedicated to answering the question, “How do I attain goals in an early childhood classroom?” To begin, let’s all agree what goals we are referring to. I will include socio-emotional, cognitive, physical and language as the highlighted objectives for the children. As for the parent’s goals, I will include maintaining open communication and making certain that parents are cognizant of what is age appropriate for their particular children.
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August 17th, 2009 by El Ed Mom
Music Makers for young children
- Sing a lullaby to calm your child.
- Let your child bang a spoon on pots, pans, or plastic bowls; shake a large rattle or plastic container filled with beans, buttons, or other noisy items; and blow through empty toilet paper or paper towel rolls.
- Have your children take part in nursery rhymes. They can copy your hand movements, clap, or hum along.
- Encourage your child to sway and dance to music.
- Encourage your child to sing. Pick a simple melody such as “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”
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August 11th, 2009 by El Ed Mom
Every parent I met and had the pleasure speaking with during a Baby Expo even seemed truly interested in raising their new baby to be bilingual. I want to share with you the top five ways to raise a bilingual baby. They are fun, easy and affordable.
Thank goodness the English only mentality is disappearing, slowly but surely, from the heart of the United States of America. For years we have proudly called ourselves a melting pot, one that welcomes immigrants, cultures and languages from around the world. Yet all of us realize the hypocrisy with which our system has executed the embracing of the melting pot.
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August 6th, 2009 by El Ed Mom
As an author and publisher, I am shocked by the number of books that say they are for “early reading” and yet are not using the appropriate “early reading” vocabulary or any of the Dolch site words by age group. I love Dr. Seuss books!! They are fun and engaging and full of repetition and rhyming patterns, but they are hard to use as an early reading book. WHY? Because word association doesn’t work with Dr. Seuss; he uses silly off-the-wall rhymes that don’t add up in a child’s head. They would not automatically put together green eggs and ham, unless they already knew the book and the rhyme.
Top tips for helping kids learn to read:
- Empower kids into the process with simple “early reading” books that use word picture association and stress word/picture connections.
- Practice getting kids to draw one page word picture association, such as draw: Tom has apples.
- Getting them to make the connection and guess what the next word is – Tom has…they can see the apples so they can say, apples.
- Play games to get children to guess word association: if I say peanut butter, you say: __________.
- Practice, practice, practice with the early learning books that specialize in word picture association and seeing words in the early learning vocabulary.
- Make it fun with lots of picture books about repetition and rhyming patterns that are geared to “early reading”.
Smiles – Stacey
Stacey Kannenberg
“Ready To Learn Mom”
June 29th, 2009 by El Ed Mom
This checklist is a brief guide to the development of children from birth through three years. It will assists providers and parents as they try to determine if a child is functioning at the appropriate developmental level. It should only be used with other sources of child development information and never to diagnose a child’s problems or developmental delays.
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June 24th, 2009 by El Ed Mom
Children learn to love the sound of language before they ever notice the existence of printed words on a page. They coo or babble when you talk or sing to them, and as they grow, rapidly pick up the concepts and words they hear used. Reading aloud with children is an essential component to language development and is one of the most important activities for preparing them to succeed as readers.
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