I’ve always admired the third world’s natural approach to childcare. It always seemed to me that they were closer to the essence of caring for children because they were not influenced by the modern world. But in Ghana, they seem to be copying the West with the exception of childcare beginning at conception.
Here’s an article from Ghana.
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Childcare and Pay
For as long as I can remember – over twenty years- childcare providers have been paid very little, and as a result, the turnover of providers is the national disgrace. The equation is often based on childcare payments and childcare overhead.
Consider that the overhead expense is probably half of the income of most childcares. If the cost of childcare is $100.00 per child per week, that means $50.00 of a parents’ fee goes to maintaining the building, food, toys, cleaning, etc. That leaves $50.00 per child to spend on teachers, and that can’t include insurance, and substitutes and any other expense because it’s simply not enough.
If the ratio is raised to 6-1, and that’s illegal for children under three, it could mean a teacher could receive as much as $300.00 per week for a forty hour week.
Now double the ratio to 12-1 and the costs rise in equipment and work and substitute increases, but you can add insurance and some other benefits, so make that a take home of about $400.00. But the same time, the amount of stress rises and no matter what the pay, the job becomes exhausting and unmanageable, and that’s how it works.
Doubling the cost of childcare makes childcare prohibitive for most parents, so what’s the point of having it?
Government grants provide help to single parents and families under the poverty level, but should our tax dollars be spent on childcare when there are two parents and one is at home?
Childcare is a job for someone who has a husband’s support.
Here’s an article about it.
Consider that the overhead expense is probably half of the income of most childcares. If the cost of childcare is $100.00 per child per week, that means $50.00 of a parents’ fee goes to maintaining the building, food, toys, cleaning, etc. That leaves $50.00 per child to spend on teachers, and that can’t include insurance, and substitutes and any other expense because it’s simply not enough.
If the ratio is raised to 6-1, and that’s illegal for children under three, it could mean a teacher could receive as much as $300.00 per week for a forty hour week.
Now double the ratio to 12-1 and the costs rise in equipment and work and substitute increases, but you can add insurance and some other benefits, so make that a take home of about $400.00. But the same time, the amount of stress rises and no matter what the pay, the job becomes exhausting and unmanageable, and that’s how it works.
Doubling the cost of childcare makes childcare prohibitive for most parents, so what’s the point of having it?
Government grants provide help to single parents and families under the poverty level, but should our tax dollars be spent on childcare when there are two parents and one is at home?
Childcare is a job for someone who has a husband’s support.
Here’s an article about it.
Only in the Twenty-First Century
Here’s an interesting article about parenthood you might be interested in because like so many issues, it’s totally twenty-first century. It’s a subject only the young will have to face. God bless all those who make such decisions.
Monday, May 30, 2005
More State Stuff
Here’s an article (free registration required) from California that makes living in Indiana “the place to be.”
It suggests that childcare inspections be posted with letter grades. That’s not a bad idea, but their inspections only come ever five years. Ours are every year or more.
In truth, parents should do their own inspections. Every parent should make him or herself at home in childcare. Go to the kitchen and grab a cup of coffee. Use the bathroom. Stick around and talk. What do you see?
Childcare can be a dirty place. If you have one child or two who are home four hours in the evening before they go to bed, consider 30 to 40 children playing inside and out. Now YOU have to clean that up. Feed 30-40 at once and consider the mess.
Inspectors rarely provide childcare at all. What they are looking for are once again state standards: Are the temps in the freezers and fridges on target, and is the place relatively clean? On a morning that is a paper mache morning, it’s kind of hard to tell.
Tables are a big deal in childcare. The treatment of tables is tantamount to incensing an altar. If the inspector arrived while the kids were all sitting on the tables taking a safari with their feet up because a giant anaconda was about to suck someone in, would the inspector truly understand?
Jeff writes:
A bit of advice I could offer would be if you hear the toilet flushing multiple times, check it out very quickly. When our son was a couple years old this happened. When I finally went to see what was going on, I discovered he had plugged the toilet with a whole roll of toilet paper and water was flowing over the sides of the bowl and leaking into the basement.
If you don’t think this is a daily occurrence in childcare, you need to visit more often.
The state is eager to rate, score, test, and admonish childcare all over the nation, but the criteria are always askew. Childcare is like a home. Sometimes it's neat and clean and sometimes it's not. It depends on what is going on.
Getting to know your childcare is the best source of inspections there is.
It suggests that childcare inspections be posted with letter grades. That’s not a bad idea, but their inspections only come ever five years. Ours are every year or more.
In truth, parents should do their own inspections. Every parent should make him or herself at home in childcare. Go to the kitchen and grab a cup of coffee. Use the bathroom. Stick around and talk. What do you see?
Childcare can be a dirty place. If you have one child or two who are home four hours in the evening before they go to bed, consider 30 to 40 children playing inside and out. Now YOU have to clean that up. Feed 30-40 at once and consider the mess.
Inspectors rarely provide childcare at all. What they are looking for are once again state standards: Are the temps in the freezers and fridges on target, and is the place relatively clean? On a morning that is a paper mache morning, it’s kind of hard to tell.
Tables are a big deal in childcare. The treatment of tables is tantamount to incensing an altar. If the inspector arrived while the kids were all sitting on the tables taking a safari with their feet up because a giant anaconda was about to suck someone in, would the inspector truly understand?
Jeff writes:
A bit of advice I could offer would be if you hear the toilet flushing multiple times, check it out very quickly. When our son was a couple years old this happened. When I finally went to see what was going on, I discovered he had plugged the toilet with a whole roll of toilet paper and water was flowing over the sides of the bowl and leaking into the basement.
If you don’t think this is a daily occurrence in childcare, you need to visit more often.
The state is eager to rate, score, test, and admonish childcare all over the nation, but the criteria are always askew. Childcare is like a home. Sometimes it's neat and clean and sometimes it's not. It depends on what is going on.
Getting to know your childcare is the best source of inspections there is.
The State
Ten childcare centers in New Hampshire have been singled out and recognized as exemplary care centers. The article did not mention exactly what made these centers great places for children with the exception of mentioning that they were deeply involved in a parenting plan to help first time parents work with kids.
It’s always interesting to me how government congratulates its own agenda.
Judy
It’s always interesting to me how government congratulates its own agenda.
Judy
Sunday, May 29, 2005
Parenthood At Its Best
Here’s parenthood at its best:
Eddie Arnold died this week at age 99. As some of you remember from the re-runs, he was Oliver on Green Acres. He was actually a fairly good actor in his time, and was nominated for two Academy Awards. Ordinarily, I would have heard, said a prayer for him and his family, and then proceeded to other things. I’m not a Hollywood person. I don’t follow stars because I’m not interested in gossip nor bizarre behavior. I never watched Green Acres because I don’t like TV.
But my husband, Terry, brought a very endearing story to my attention, and I can’t let it go without sharing.
Apparently, Eddie Albert had Alzheimer’s Disease, and his son Edward Albert Jr. gave up his career to spend his father’s last eight years caring for him. The story goes on to say that Eddie Albert spent one tenth of his life acting and the rest of it doing good works.
Once in a garden, the young Albert reports: "I said to him 'You're my hero.' I saw him struggling to put together the words, and he looked at me and said: 'You're your hero's hero.' I'll take that to my ... grave."
This is the kind of exchange all parents would like. You can find the whole story here
Eddie Arnold died this week at age 99. As some of you remember from the re-runs, he was Oliver on Green Acres. He was actually a fairly good actor in his time, and was nominated for two Academy Awards. Ordinarily, I would have heard, said a prayer for him and his family, and then proceeded to other things. I’m not a Hollywood person. I don’t follow stars because I’m not interested in gossip nor bizarre behavior. I never watched Green Acres because I don’t like TV.
But my husband, Terry, brought a very endearing story to my attention, and I can’t let it go without sharing.
Apparently, Eddie Albert had Alzheimer’s Disease, and his son Edward Albert Jr. gave up his career to spend his father’s last eight years caring for him. The story goes on to say that Eddie Albert spent one tenth of his life acting and the rest of it doing good works.
Once in a garden, the young Albert reports: "I said to him 'You're my hero.' I saw him struggling to put together the words, and he looked at me and said: 'You're your hero's hero.' I'll take that to my ... grave."
This is the kind of exchange all parents would like. You can find the whole story here
Friday, May 27, 2005
Spring to Summer Launch
It’s summer bridge time – that time between long hours at school and summer time fun. Or is it? Is summer really summer for day care kids or is summer just a hot extension of winter with mostly indoor play and that long siesta in the afternoon?
Today at the Garden School we’re having awards day. Children will take home a folder with their winter work, their achievements printed on paper, their report cards and a bunch of kisses and congratulations on one side, and on the other, they will take home an introduction to summertime.
Then we’ll have a whole school barbeque to hail in the summer adventure. Parents and teachers will make themselves at home in the environment that their children spend up to 40 hours a week playing. We’ll play games, cook, share, and enjoy that pie eating contest Miss Rachel cooked up.
Then on Wednesday, we’ll start another presentation of school that is different from fall, different from winter and different from spring. It’s summer. Here are some highlights:
Today at the Garden School we’re having awards day. Children will take home a folder with their winter work, their achievements printed on paper, their report cards and a bunch of kisses and congratulations on one side, and on the other, they will take home an introduction to summertime.
Then we’ll have a whole school barbeque to hail in the summer adventure. Parents and teachers will make themselves at home in the environment that their children spend up to 40 hours a week playing. We’ll play games, cook, share, and enjoy that pie eating contest Miss Rachel cooked up.
Then on Wednesday, we’ll start another presentation of school that is different from fall, different from winter and different from spring. It’s summer. Here are some highlights:
Field Trips
Field trips are fun. They teach children about the world. They should not send parents, teachers or providers into orbit. The wonderful world of field trips is easy with some planning and should model the home where children go places and do things weekly or at least monthly.
Creating a field trip program is a snap when providers know they have a cohesive group. Behavioral expectations should be high. If solid, dependable discipline is a part of the childcare program, everyone gets a lot from the special event of field trips.
Field trips should always be earned. Children constantly causing disruptive chaos in childcare should stay home. Because of the nature of being out in the world can be dangerous. It makes sense that field trips belong to the always well behaved.
Field trips are not all equal. Some field trips offer mind awakening and thought provoking adventure: national parks, museums, local events, city parks, zoos, orchards, farms, pet stores, horse races, historic sites, libraries, churches and other places of interest.
Just for fun field trips include: swimming, jungle gym equipped parks, indoor tumbling arenas, movies, outdoor activities like miniature golf.
Field trips are expensive no matter what is arranged. Hiring a bus costs between fifty and four hundred dollars a day depending on the destination. Then there are admission fees, supplies and lunch. How can these expenses be met fairly and with affection?
A field trip fee should be an up front expense. It should declare to parents that this childcare station is a busy exciting place.
By allowing parents to pay off the field trip fee, it becomes user friendly and accommodating to parents who struggle with payments and special events, and it becomes doable.
Lunch should be a part of the field trip fun. Providing a balanced, nutritious lunch on a field trip is a breeze when providers put children first and cater to young tastes.
Sandwiches are fun if they are cut into halves or quarters. Little people like little bites. Nix the paper plates and have children hold small sandwich halves till they are eaten.
Some sandwiches children won’t want to put down are: bologna and cheese, ham and cheese, just cheese, tuna, egg salad, peanut butter, chicken salad, cream cheese and jelly or all of the above. The ability to choose makes lunch a treat.
Cookies, chips, pealed carrots, pickles, and fresh fruit add to lunches and make them fun.
The uniform for field trips should never vary. Smart places will put children in like bright t-shirts or sweatshirts with school or program names. This makes them identifiable at a glance. It allows children more freedom to move around on field trips, and most t-shirts don’t cost as much as regular play clothes.
Tie shoes and socks, shorts or pants only are always in keeping with good sense. Complicated clothes and dresses only hinder the ratio of teachers to children when it’s potty time.
Making field trips available and fun is in the heart of those who love the children.
Creating a field trip program is a snap when providers know they have a cohesive group. Behavioral expectations should be high. If solid, dependable discipline is a part of the childcare program, everyone gets a lot from the special event of field trips.
Field trips should always be earned. Children constantly causing disruptive chaos in childcare should stay home. Because of the nature of being out in the world can be dangerous. It makes sense that field trips belong to the always well behaved.
Field trips are not all equal. Some field trips offer mind awakening and thought provoking adventure: national parks, museums, local events, city parks, zoos, orchards, farms, pet stores, horse races, historic sites, libraries, churches and other places of interest.
Just for fun field trips include: swimming, jungle gym equipped parks, indoor tumbling arenas, movies, outdoor activities like miniature golf.
Field trips are expensive no matter what is arranged. Hiring a bus costs between fifty and four hundred dollars a day depending on the destination. Then there are admission fees, supplies and lunch. How can these expenses be met fairly and with affection?
A field trip fee should be an up front expense. It should declare to parents that this childcare station is a busy exciting place.
By allowing parents to pay off the field trip fee, it becomes user friendly and accommodating to parents who struggle with payments and special events, and it becomes doable.
Lunch should be a part of the field trip fun. Providing a balanced, nutritious lunch on a field trip is a breeze when providers put children first and cater to young tastes.
Sandwiches are fun if they are cut into halves or quarters. Little people like little bites. Nix the paper plates and have children hold small sandwich halves till they are eaten.
Some sandwiches children won’t want to put down are: bologna and cheese, ham and cheese, just cheese, tuna, egg salad, peanut butter, chicken salad, cream cheese and jelly or all of the above. The ability to choose makes lunch a treat.
Cookies, chips, pealed carrots, pickles, and fresh fruit add to lunches and make them fun.
The uniform for field trips should never vary. Smart places will put children in like bright t-shirts or sweatshirts with school or program names. This makes them identifiable at a glance. It allows children more freedom to move around on field trips, and most t-shirts don’t cost as much as regular play clothes.
Tie shoes and socks, shorts or pants only are always in keeping with good sense. Complicated clothes and dresses only hinder the ratio of teachers to children when it’s potty time.
Making field trips available and fun is in the heart of those who love the children.
Summer Dos and Don'ts
Summer programs in childcare should be fun for kids, doable for parents and fun for the adults who provide them. Getting through a hot summer of hours outside, gallons of sunscreen, extraordinary exercise, picnic foods, water on the go, field trips on noisy busses, etc, can really take its toll on everyone, so cooperation is the name of the summer game.
Designing a summer program for very young children should by the very nature of good childcare consist of lots of extras and lots of new things, but rest, hydration and nutrition should always be in the forefront of every good sense program.
Care is the first priority. But childcare is a two way street. With cooperation between parent and teacher, children will thrive, and without it, they will suffer and learn to hate summer, and that’s a shame.
Parents should help by making sure children who are ill and children who are tired get as much rest at home as possible if their summer school program is “on the go.” Most parents are really wonderful about this and early bedtimes help children get through a busy summer.
When parents don’t help, it’s a nightmare and amounts to poor parenting and neglect.
One child’s behavior was absolutely out of character during a very long field trip. On a trip to Spring Mill Park, two hours away, to see the restored village, the child was nearly out of his mind and slept most of the bus ride. Mom admitted that he had gotten to bed very late the night before and had to be dragged out of bed to get to school early enough to catch the bus.
One summer, a child was sent to school with a 102 fever. She went with us on one of our out of state field trips, and by the time we discovered she will really ill, we were a long way from home.
Parents should read everything connected to their children. Often parents lay important papers aside. And it’s no wonder. We live in a very demanding and busy place, and childcare is no different. But notes, parent boards, announcements placed on the doors, paperwork that is sent home, papers that are placed on individual cubbies are all aimed at distributing what parents need to know by when, so read everything.
Reading everything can have some unexpected rewards. I sent home a note, recently, about our trip to Mammoth Cave. I included three parts: Schedule for the trip with leave and return hours, sign up for a special cave tour, and an “if you read this, sign it and return it for a chance at $10.00 price off tuition.” One of five parents returned it.
Reading everything means looking at children’s work as well. One of the things teachers notice is the neglect of some parents toward children’s work. I remember one child who was thrilled he finally was able to draw a person. Mom casually looked through his papers and artwork and without a word, deposited them in the trash on the way out the door.
A trick to zeroing in on the demands of childcare is to remember the expression, “Stop, Look, and Listen” every afternoon when entering the childcare gate. Stop what you are doing, look at what is posted and intended for busy parents, and finally, listen to both the child and the teacher.
Stop, Look and Listen only takes five minutes, and it just might be the best five minutes spent during the day.
Designing a summer program for very young children should by the very nature of good childcare consist of lots of extras and lots of new things, but rest, hydration and nutrition should always be in the forefront of every good sense program.
Care is the first priority. But childcare is a two way street. With cooperation between parent and teacher, children will thrive, and without it, they will suffer and learn to hate summer, and that’s a shame.
Parents should help by making sure children who are ill and children who are tired get as much rest at home as possible if their summer school program is “on the go.” Most parents are really wonderful about this and early bedtimes help children get through a busy summer.
When parents don’t help, it’s a nightmare and amounts to poor parenting and neglect.
One child’s behavior was absolutely out of character during a very long field trip. On a trip to Spring Mill Park, two hours away, to see the restored village, the child was nearly out of his mind and slept most of the bus ride. Mom admitted that he had gotten to bed very late the night before and had to be dragged out of bed to get to school early enough to catch the bus.
One summer, a child was sent to school with a 102 fever. She went with us on one of our out of state field trips, and by the time we discovered she will really ill, we were a long way from home.
Parents should read everything connected to their children. Often parents lay important papers aside. And it’s no wonder. We live in a very demanding and busy place, and childcare is no different. But notes, parent boards, announcements placed on the doors, paperwork that is sent home, papers that are placed on individual cubbies are all aimed at distributing what parents need to know by when, so read everything.
Reading everything can have some unexpected rewards. I sent home a note, recently, about our trip to Mammoth Cave. I included three parts: Schedule for the trip with leave and return hours, sign up for a special cave tour, and an “if you read this, sign it and return it for a chance at $10.00 price off tuition.” One of five parents returned it.
Reading everything means looking at children’s work as well. One of the things teachers notice is the neglect of some parents toward children’s work. I remember one child who was thrilled he finally was able to draw a person. Mom casually looked through his papers and artwork and without a word, deposited them in the trash on the way out the door.
A trick to zeroing in on the demands of childcare is to remember the expression, “Stop, Look, and Listen” every afternoon when entering the childcare gate. Stop what you are doing, look at what is posted and intended for busy parents, and finally, listen to both the child and the teacher.
Stop, Look and Listen only takes five minutes, and it just might be the best five minutes spent during the day.
Swimming
Swimming is part of the rite of summer. Swimming helps kids achieve an independence that is an important part of growing up. Children should learn to swim early. As a part of a childcare curriculum, it’s a top to do in the summer. Teaching children to swim or enjoy the water as early as two or three is simply a good idea.
Comically enough, the most difficult part of the swimming ordeal is changing. Boys make the chore ten times worse. It is always interesting to me that the youngest female can change from shorts and shirt to a swimsuit engineered by a moron that needs a genius to put on in about thirty seconds. But the boys who only have to exchange shorts and underwear for trunks would take an hour and come out with most of it on their heads.
Safety? Did someone say safety? Safety is always a primary concern, so taking the kids to a well designed pool is important. My favorite is the plus sign design with the beach incline where the water starts on the slanted cement and gains depth in inches. This gentle incline encourages children to explore the water.
Swimmers and non swimmers should not be confused by attending adults. If a child is afraid of the water and unwilling to explore, or is not mature enough to stay where he is safe and where nothing will seem dangerous or frightening, he needs a shallow pool in a fenced area to play in and get acquainted with the whole idea of water.
Real swimming, after all, does not mean dog paddling for five seconds and dropping a toe to the bottom. Swimming means a child can easily put his head under the water and either freestyle or swim under the water anywhere in the pool he wants to go without having to touch the bottom.
How do you get there? By doing it. When does this happen? It happens somewhere in the fours or early fives depending on the natural strength of the child.
Most kids aren’t going to be able to swim on the first swimming day. But that doesn’t mean they will never be sea worthy. Because they haven’t used those muscles for a long time, they need practice and that’s the key – practice. If they don’t swim regularly, they will never get the practice they need to be strong swimmers.
Teachers who watch children at the pool will notice that some children take naturally to the water. They are not afraid to put their heads under the water and start to push off from the side of the pool. Watchful and interested teachers see serious children begin to develop strokes that count, that propel them in the water with assurance and agility.
It’s a wonderful thing to see kids move from non swimmer status to swimmer. Swimming is an “I can do this all by myself” kind of play. It’s a mastery that remains with a child the rest of his life. The outstanding element of swimming is independence. Only the child can decide to do it.
Swimming is as important as it is fun. Childcares should take children swimming during the summer because it is a genuine opportunity for the child to explore and the teacher to teach. And if they do, parents should help. Parents should sunscreen their own children and buy a one piece suits that fit, and encourage children to wear swim shoes.
Then, ask questions about a child’s swimming development; take an interest. And finally, parents should remember that little people tire easily. If there is a particular swimming day, parents need to make sure that their child is in bed early.
Comically enough, the most difficult part of the swimming ordeal is changing. Boys make the chore ten times worse. It is always interesting to me that the youngest female can change from shorts and shirt to a swimsuit engineered by a moron that needs a genius to put on in about thirty seconds. But the boys who only have to exchange shorts and underwear for trunks would take an hour and come out with most of it on their heads.
Safety? Did someone say safety? Safety is always a primary concern, so taking the kids to a well designed pool is important. My favorite is the plus sign design with the beach incline where the water starts on the slanted cement and gains depth in inches. This gentle incline encourages children to explore the water.
Swimmers and non swimmers should not be confused by attending adults. If a child is afraid of the water and unwilling to explore, or is not mature enough to stay where he is safe and where nothing will seem dangerous or frightening, he needs a shallow pool in a fenced area to play in and get acquainted with the whole idea of water.
Real swimming, after all, does not mean dog paddling for five seconds and dropping a toe to the bottom. Swimming means a child can easily put his head under the water and either freestyle or swim under the water anywhere in the pool he wants to go without having to touch the bottom.
How do you get there? By doing it. When does this happen? It happens somewhere in the fours or early fives depending on the natural strength of the child.
Most kids aren’t going to be able to swim on the first swimming day. But that doesn’t mean they will never be sea worthy. Because they haven’t used those muscles for a long time, they need practice and that’s the key – practice. If they don’t swim regularly, they will never get the practice they need to be strong swimmers.
Teachers who watch children at the pool will notice that some children take naturally to the water. They are not afraid to put their heads under the water and start to push off from the side of the pool. Watchful and interested teachers see serious children begin to develop strokes that count, that propel them in the water with assurance and agility.
It’s a wonderful thing to see kids move from non swimmer status to swimmer. Swimming is an “I can do this all by myself” kind of play. It’s a mastery that remains with a child the rest of his life. The outstanding element of swimming is independence. Only the child can decide to do it.
Swimming is as important as it is fun. Childcares should take children swimming during the summer because it is a genuine opportunity for the child to explore and the teacher to teach. And if they do, parents should help. Parents should sunscreen their own children and buy a one piece suits that fit, and encourage children to wear swim shoes.
Then, ask questions about a child’s swimming development; take an interest. And finally, parents should remember that little people tire easily. If there is a particular swimming day, parents need to make sure that their child is in bed early.
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
What Do You Think?
Beginning the second week of June, I will be writing for WFIE’s webpage. It’s a column on children like the one I wrote for the paper. I love writing about children and issues about children and I can write on nearly any topic.
At the paper I was restricted to a very narrow field that excluded any discussion of poor childcare no matter how dangerous it was to children. I could not endorse even the best care, provider or product. As an example, I have a speech pathologist friend in New Jersey who just published an outstanding book on teaching children with speech problems how to overcome difficulties. I could not write a column on her book. Now I can. Do you want to hear about these things?
I am neither a gossiper nor am I interested in child abuse stories, but I am interested in the things that go on locally that horrify parents and everyone should be aware of. Poor childcare is a detriment to the community. Childcare outside the home is evolving and parents should be aware of what trends are in vogue and which ones work and why.
I am asking those of you who read this blog about what you think I should write about for the people of Evansville and beyond. The readership of the WFIE web page is about two million readers – that’s a lot bigger than the paper.
I want to present what you want to hear or do you just want to be surprised. Write me in the comments.
By the way, there are two more links listed. One has a lot of my work on it, and the other is Dorothy Daugherty's Book on Speech which I endorsed.
Thanks,
Judy
At the paper I was restricted to a very narrow field that excluded any discussion of poor childcare no matter how dangerous it was to children. I could not endorse even the best care, provider or product. As an example, I have a speech pathologist friend in New Jersey who just published an outstanding book on teaching children with speech problems how to overcome difficulties. I could not write a column on her book. Now I can. Do you want to hear about these things?
I am neither a gossiper nor am I interested in child abuse stories, but I am interested in the things that go on locally that horrify parents and everyone should be aware of. Poor childcare is a detriment to the community. Childcare outside the home is evolving and parents should be aware of what trends are in vogue and which ones work and why.
I am asking those of you who read this blog about what you think I should write about for the people of Evansville and beyond. The readership of the WFIE web page is about two million readers – that’s a lot bigger than the paper.
I want to present what you want to hear or do you just want to be surprised. Write me in the comments.
By the way, there are two more links listed. One has a lot of my work on it, and the other is Dorothy Daugherty's Book on Speech which I endorsed.
Thanks,
Judy
Sunday, May 22, 2005
Links
There are two really useful links to use at home that I've posted under links. The University of Hawaii has put out a website that's got a lot of really wonderful teacher resources.
The Teaching Treasures link is from a company called Teaching Treasures Publications. It's wondeful too.
I hope you enjoy these sites and look for more in the future.
judy
The Teaching Treasures link is from a company called Teaching Treasures Publications. It's wondeful too.
I hope you enjoy these sites and look for more in the future.
judy
Early Childhood Learning
Time Magazine's article "How a Child's Brain Develops" a few years ago offered a wonderful and informative insight into the growing child. Yet at the same time the article produced a shocking reality check for early childhood educators.
The article focused on genetics as well as "experiences" as the major contributors to human intellect. It said the "windows of opportunity" or special times when children learn things are open in early childhood, birth to age 6, and then close. This is when emotions and memory, language and motor skills are stabilized. Some of these "windows" like the language window are believed to close by age five or six. That means the opportunity to learn easily slows dramatically.
In the classroom, it means things like foreign languages should be begun in preschool. Drama too, and music and poetry and literature should all begin in preschool -- in earnest with a focus on rhythm, mood, tone, syntax, grammar, and vocabulary. Getting children to really use language means providing "experiences" that accommodate this learning. That multi-dimentional "set of experiences" separates good programs from lesser ones.
When most adults think preschool should be a matter of socialization, the intellectual part of child care is neglected. The reality is, kids socialize just fine and without much prompting. Put two children together for five minutes, it's as if they've known each other ten years. Socialization is an adult's problem, not a child's.
The truth is, the role of a good preschool for ages 3 - 5, is combining the "windows of opportunity," and "experiences" and offering a smorgasbord of learning. All preschool activities should be play -- all day -- every day, because play is the avenue by which the young human learns. But not unfocused play, or undirected play. Play, by its very nature, is constructive, productive, and rewarding because play is fun -- and destructive, mindless, chaotic activities are not fun.
Play, in the hands of knowing adults, extends beyond play centers. Play is moved steadily into the intellectual world: through the arts, across the sciences, settling into language skills -- making a permanent home in the liberal arts a little like squatter's rights.
Once the child has squatted, and feels the territory is his, these "experiences" in the land of liberal arts are his to play with. These are the building blocks of the human intellect, of education, of understanding and wisdom, and it starts, or it should, at age three -- no excuses.
"Experiences" parents should expect in preschool are exposure to the liberal arts as integrated parts. The sciences add animal study, plant and earth science, phenomena with chemistry to illustrate the stories and biographies of history. History gives literature, drama, and the singing part of music a new dimension as do Bible stories.
Geography is a spectacular use for art because children love to make murals -- a collective project of discovering the way the earth looks: deserts, mountains, seas, rivers, plains. How does weather influence an area? The study of geography for very young children can include the placement of animals in their natural habitats, human life, and its development, and colorful comparisons between regions.
As the child's mind begins to make connections among these "experiences," his language skills increase, his desire to know and understand increases, and more importantly, his experiences broaden his mind and reduce prejudice and narrow mindedness.
Is this what you're buying? You should be. These are the most important years in your child's life. Don't wait for tomorrow to open the windows. They may be closed forever.
$et
The article focused on genetics as well as "experiences" as the major contributors to human intellect. It said the "windows of opportunity" or special times when children learn things are open in early childhood, birth to age 6, and then close. This is when emotions and memory, language and motor skills are stabilized. Some of these "windows" like the language window are believed to close by age five or six. That means the opportunity to learn easily slows dramatically.
In the classroom, it means things like foreign languages should be begun in preschool. Drama too, and music and poetry and literature should all begin in preschool -- in earnest with a focus on rhythm, mood, tone, syntax, grammar, and vocabulary. Getting children to really use language means providing "experiences" that accommodate this learning. That multi-dimentional "set of experiences" separates good programs from lesser ones.
When most adults think preschool should be a matter of socialization, the intellectual part of child care is neglected. The reality is, kids socialize just fine and without much prompting. Put two children together for five minutes, it's as if they've known each other ten years. Socialization is an adult's problem, not a child's.
The truth is, the role of a good preschool for ages 3 - 5, is combining the "windows of opportunity," and "experiences" and offering a smorgasbord of learning. All preschool activities should be play -- all day -- every day, because play is the avenue by which the young human learns. But not unfocused play, or undirected play. Play, by its very nature, is constructive, productive, and rewarding because play is fun -- and destructive, mindless, chaotic activities are not fun.
Play, in the hands of knowing adults, extends beyond play centers. Play is moved steadily into the intellectual world: through the arts, across the sciences, settling into language skills -- making a permanent home in the liberal arts a little like squatter's rights.
Once the child has squatted, and feels the territory is his, these "experiences" in the land of liberal arts are his to play with. These are the building blocks of the human intellect, of education, of understanding and wisdom, and it starts, or it should, at age three -- no excuses.
"Experiences" parents should expect in preschool are exposure to the liberal arts as integrated parts. The sciences add animal study, plant and earth science, phenomena with chemistry to illustrate the stories and biographies of history. History gives literature, drama, and the singing part of music a new dimension as do Bible stories.
Geography is a spectacular use for art because children love to make murals -- a collective project of discovering the way the earth looks: deserts, mountains, seas, rivers, plains. How does weather influence an area? The study of geography for very young children can include the placement of animals in their natural habitats, human life, and its development, and colorful comparisons between regions.
As the child's mind begins to make connections among these "experiences," his language skills increase, his desire to know and understand increases, and more importantly, his experiences broaden his mind and reduce prejudice and narrow mindedness.
Is this what you're buying? You should be. These are the most important years in your child's life. Don't wait for tomorrow to open the windows. They may be closed forever.
$et
Thursday, May 19, 2005
Teachers and Teaching
What really fuels the success or failure of an early childhood teacher or provider? The answer is one word: understanding. How you do acquire it? Maybe through experience, maybe you can't acquire it.
Understanding very young children can't be taught. It's a natural thing. It's the talent or ability to realize and relate to the human state of non-reason. It's a little like the ability to put a million piece puzzle together with no prototype.
People who can work effectively with very young children don't fit into any one mold, life-style, or type. They probably won't have a degree in Early Childhood Education. But you probably can say is they are independent and strong willed. They have to be to work with very young children. Pushovers just don't make it.
An experienced provider has the innate ability to understand and interpret more than what is heard and seen by other people. They also literally see and hear more than other people. It's another whole plane of awareness and often substitutes for running to someone else, a book or a theory, or a preconceived notion.
Knowledge of theories will always separate the educated from the under educated. But a knowledge of theories doesn't mean someone has a talent to care for very young children. Knowledge and talent aren't the same thing. Knowledge expands talent, it doesn't create it. And no amount of knowledge can produce talent. It's never surprising that an under educated grandmother has more child care aware than her daughter with the doctorate.
How does the talent evolve? Motherhood. It's the natural order which actually puts about 750,000 of those puzzle pieces together in a whipstitch. That's not to say non-mothers or very young women can't do the work and well.
Very young women do very nicely working with older, established providers. This is how many young women learn. It's how they get the experience needed to really make a success of a childcare career.
Experience, or years of working with very young children adds a lot of puzzle pieces. The natural child care years usually weed out the no-talents anyway. The experience of having children with all the intensity and work involved usually dashes any romantic notions about working with small children as a career.
Yet today, the older woman with her understanding and her talent as a package is being over looked. She and her old hat are passe, even though her old hat might be a golden magician's hat filled to the brim with the kind of talent and magic kids really relate to and trust.
Trends are moving toward hiring degrees with young women with no experience in
tow. Putting young women with young children is an idea administrators really like. The young with the young seems fresh, clean and new. A sparkling example of a fresh start. But does fresh translate into understanding?
Peer teachers with young parents seems to make sense. It's an avenue of mutual identities working together to discover all the properties of childhood together. But who's answering the questions? When the teacher knows less about child care than the parent, does it boil down to the guessing leading the guessing? Where is grandma's old hat when you need it?
Whether your child's teacher is older, middle aged, or just past her teens, parents who are looking for child care or examining the one they are using should ask themselves if the teacher in charge has the experience to really understand the needs of children. Does her experience show or is she spending your child's infancy, toddler years and preschool years guessing?
Understanding very young children can't be taught. It's a natural thing. It's the talent or ability to realize and relate to the human state of non-reason. It's a little like the ability to put a million piece puzzle together with no prototype.
People who can work effectively with very young children don't fit into any one mold, life-style, or type. They probably won't have a degree in Early Childhood Education. But you probably can say is they are independent and strong willed. They have to be to work with very young children. Pushovers just don't make it.
An experienced provider has the innate ability to understand and interpret more than what is heard and seen by other people. They also literally see and hear more than other people. It's another whole plane of awareness and often substitutes for running to someone else, a book or a theory, or a preconceived notion.
Knowledge of theories will always separate the educated from the under educated. But a knowledge of theories doesn't mean someone has a talent to care for very young children. Knowledge and talent aren't the same thing. Knowledge expands talent, it doesn't create it. And no amount of knowledge can produce talent. It's never surprising that an under educated grandmother has more child care aware than her daughter with the doctorate.
How does the talent evolve? Motherhood. It's the natural order which actually puts about 750,000 of those puzzle pieces together in a whipstitch. That's not to say non-mothers or very young women can't do the work and well.
Very young women do very nicely working with older, established providers. This is how many young women learn. It's how they get the experience needed to really make a success of a childcare career.
Experience, or years of working with very young children adds a lot of puzzle pieces. The natural child care years usually weed out the no-talents anyway. The experience of having children with all the intensity and work involved usually dashes any romantic notions about working with small children as a career.
Yet today, the older woman with her understanding and her talent as a package is being over looked. She and her old hat are passe, even though her old hat might be a golden magician's hat filled to the brim with the kind of talent and magic kids really relate to and trust.
Trends are moving toward hiring degrees with young women with no experience in
tow. Putting young women with young children is an idea administrators really like. The young with the young seems fresh, clean and new. A sparkling example of a fresh start. But does fresh translate into understanding?
Peer teachers with young parents seems to make sense. It's an avenue of mutual identities working together to discover all the properties of childhood together. But who's answering the questions? When the teacher knows less about child care than the parent, does it boil down to the guessing leading the guessing? Where is grandma's old hat when you need it?
Whether your child's teacher is older, middle aged, or just past her teens, parents who are looking for child care or examining the one they are using should ask themselves if the teacher in charge has the experience to really understand the needs of children. Does her experience show or is she spending your child's infancy, toddler years and preschool years guessing?
The Developing Child
A child will realize many teachers in his life. Teachers are simply one component in his journey. There are many components. The importance of good teachers early will encourage a child to learn second only to his parents:
A child's development as a whole is dependent on a lot of things: home life, childcare life, friends, stability, parent and provider expectation, intelligence, experience, personality type, his sense of self, and even his personal agenda and the material goods provided by his circumstance.
These things either foster good development with good influences on children, or hinder growth and cause developmental delays. Through the most formative years, good child care and good teachers at the primary level are an important element in a child's formation.
When a knowledgeable provider or teacher watches a room of children, it's her job to recognize each different temperaments in the sea of personalities interacting for better or for worse. Good providers keep a critical eye on every child's development. It's possible to "map" the physical and social growth of the children in care. Emotions are harder, but a caring provider will understand what a child means more than what he does.
The knowledge of what very young children should be doing at about what age is not a big secret. Although theories of child development vary, and experts may argue about the "windows of opportunity," experience dictates what behaviors and skills are in the average ranges for what ages. Whether it's from a text book or from a provider's experience, the bottom line is: kids can and will do just about anything anytime with or without a reason.
Understanding the individual child takes a consistent interest. That's important in helping each child master skills as well as guide each one past the Kiddie pitfalls. And pitfalls are plentiful in very young development; they are called delays. Delays can be mild to serious and involve social, physical, emotional and even spiritual components of the child.
Sometimes delays occur because children have not been exposed to certain necessary parts of life: positive and building discipline, the right kind of productive attention, solid, sensible routines, order of time and talent, and the genuine loving consistency from the adult world.
At the same time, accelerations occur when careful adults have taught and re-taught an interested child, or a precocious child has taught himself.
The three most important things to look for in matching good homes with good care are not of a material nature. Good care does require proper tools, but more importantly good care requires the proper heartscapes that foster the kind of solid development that rears solid adults.
Look for spiritual satisfaction: A child is content with who he is becoming. He is sure he is understood and loved. Signal? A child enjoys going to day care and tells his parents at least something good about what he accomplished.
Look for intellectual stimulation: He is learning consistently. The days are filled with exploration and experimentation. Signal? He is more and more aware of the world around him and verbalizes it with excitement.
Look for emotional peace: A child makes friends and enjoys good constructive pay. Signal? Children play productively.
A child's development as a whole is dependent on a lot of things: home life, childcare life, friends, stability, parent and provider expectation, intelligence, experience, personality type, his sense of self, and even his personal agenda and the material goods provided by his circumstance.
These things either foster good development with good influences on children, or hinder growth and cause developmental delays. Through the most formative years, good child care and good teachers at the primary level are an important element in a child's formation.
When a knowledgeable provider or teacher watches a room of children, it's her job to recognize each different temperaments in the sea of personalities interacting for better or for worse. Good providers keep a critical eye on every child's development. It's possible to "map" the physical and social growth of the children in care. Emotions are harder, but a caring provider will understand what a child means more than what he does.
The knowledge of what very young children should be doing at about what age is not a big secret. Although theories of child development vary, and experts may argue about the "windows of opportunity," experience dictates what behaviors and skills are in the average ranges for what ages. Whether it's from a text book or from a provider's experience, the bottom line is: kids can and will do just about anything anytime with or without a reason.
Understanding the individual child takes a consistent interest. That's important in helping each child master skills as well as guide each one past the Kiddie pitfalls. And pitfalls are plentiful in very young development; they are called delays. Delays can be mild to serious and involve social, physical, emotional and even spiritual components of the child.
Sometimes delays occur because children have not been exposed to certain necessary parts of life: positive and building discipline, the right kind of productive attention, solid, sensible routines, order of time and talent, and the genuine loving consistency from the adult world.
At the same time, accelerations occur when careful adults have taught and re-taught an interested child, or a precocious child has taught himself.
The three most important things to look for in matching good homes with good care are not of a material nature. Good care does require proper tools, but more importantly good care requires the proper heartscapes that foster the kind of solid development that rears solid adults.
Look for spiritual satisfaction: A child is content with who he is becoming. He is sure he is understood and loved. Signal? A child enjoys going to day care and tells his parents at least something good about what he accomplished.
Look for intellectual stimulation: He is learning consistently. The days are filled with exploration and experimentation. Signal? He is more and more aware of the world around him and verbalizes it with excitement.
Look for emotional peace: A child makes friends and enjoys good constructive pay. Signal? Children play productively.
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Early Childhood Teaching
There are a lot of college graduates looking for early childhood teaching jobs right now. We get a lot of calls this time of year mostly from young women looking for a place like The Garden School to try their teaching wings because we’re small, private, and we really teach. Young teachers like the safety of the teaching and the camaraderie of the staff.
But while they are looking, we’re looking too. What do older experienced teachers notice about younger models? What do we look for in a teacher? The categories are very demanding and might surprise you.
Physical Fitness: In early childhood, being physically fit is a big consideration because the job is really hard and the hours are long. Even at our little school everyone is interested in condition. Our principal, a splendid example of teaching longevity - over forty years - is a body builder. We all lift weights, do yoga, run, walk, work out and take good care of ourselves. That’s how we can keep up with little kids all day without a break.
Healthy Lives: Eating a healthy diet should be a priority in the life of an early childhood educator. Teaching nutrition is essential in early formation. Watch the teachers. For breakfast, it’s not unusual to see Miss Rachel eat a bowl of spinach and some feta cheese covered in olive oil while Miss Judy munches half a real peanut butter sandwich on pumpernickel bread with walnuts and cinnamon and a cup of coffee heavily laced with ginger and cinnamon.
Intellectual Curiosity: It’s a top priority. If a teacher says she needs a book on Mesopotamia, she won’t expect someone to hand her a cookbook, a gardening book, or a US atlas or even say, “Huh? Where’s that at?” We all know it’s behind the at.
A Desire to Learn: If someone wants to do a class on Impressionism, Paleontology, Entomology, or even spelunking, incoming teachers should be interested to know what these things are. If they don't know, they should politely ask.
Here's A Brief Test For Incoming Teachers that we use at the Garden School:
Can you show me where Iceland, Israel, and Ireland are on the map, and can you tell me why the Ivory Coast is not a soap product?
Which was longer the Renaissance or the Middle Ages? Bonus questions: Which came first? What preceded the first and what follows the last?
Can you read Jabberwocky to the kids?
Water is finite, so how come we haven’t used it all?
Even a rough knowledge of history, geography, science and literature mean someone is interested in the world. Without an interest in the world, a teacher fails to be interesting because she ultimately doesn’t know anything, and therefore how can she hope to delight and instruct children? In the early years, teachers don’t use texts. We have to know material we gather from life, and life does not begin and end with self.
Experience: Teaching experience is not necessary. But the ability to teach should be bursting from the very seams of a person. First question an incoming teacher should ask is: What do the children know? It is presumption for an incoming teacher to think the kids know nothing. What have other teachers been busy doing? Wanting to know what they know means an adult understands that both the individual child and the group have a starting point.
Understanding Teaching: Our job is to take a child from wherever he is as far as he can go. In order to do that, a teacher has to be able to evaluate where a child is, what he knows, and how he learns. That’s not easy. After a while, experience will allow a teacher to see commonalities. But in the first years of teaching, the ability to listen to children and to other adults counts.
Understanding Learning: Understanding how a child learns takes a long time. Every child learns differently, is interested in different things, is distracted by one thing today, and something else tomorrow. Knowing how to attract a child’s interest and keep it takes a lot of work. Insisting that children be interested simply because it’s on the agenda is never going to happen. Making something interesting, when it’s dull as watching cement dry, takes skill.
Patience: Patience is learned. Little children are not always perfect. And teaching is not for the moment but for the long road. What a teacher repeats today, tomorrow and all next week may actually be understood a month later when the lights go on. A teacher has to know that and has to realize that learning comes someplace between take off and landing. Teachers with experience understand that not all children will benefit from a lesson, and often it's the not the lesson at all but a byproduct of a lesson that finally sinks in.
Child Development: Development is fascinating in the early years, and parents can see the development happen through art. That’s why art is so important. That's why art should be a daily activity. A purple tree today, a green one tomorrow, and then the stick figure becomes a snow person and finally becomes human-like, because he’s finally making connections. He’s thinking it through. He’s thinking about the end product. His actions are curbed into production. He’s quiet while he thinks.
The Actors Trunk: A teacher’s repertoire is like an actor’s trunk. It’s packed full of surprises, and it’s all there waiting to be pulled out and used to help a child grow up. But the trunk is not the center stage, nor is the teacher. The child is the most important part of the action, and teachers just starting off need to remember that without the student, there is no one to teach, and without the tools, there is no way to teach. Manipulating the tools so the stage comes alive and the child’s mind is delighted by what he sees and hears is the goal of teaching. "You're on stage, honey, now do something wild and wonderful."
But while they are looking, we’re looking too. What do older experienced teachers notice about younger models? What do we look for in a teacher? The categories are very demanding and might surprise you.
Physical Fitness: In early childhood, being physically fit is a big consideration because the job is really hard and the hours are long. Even at our little school everyone is interested in condition. Our principal, a splendid example of teaching longevity - over forty years - is a body builder. We all lift weights, do yoga, run, walk, work out and take good care of ourselves. That’s how we can keep up with little kids all day without a break.
Healthy Lives: Eating a healthy diet should be a priority in the life of an early childhood educator. Teaching nutrition is essential in early formation. Watch the teachers. For breakfast, it’s not unusual to see Miss Rachel eat a bowl of spinach and some feta cheese covered in olive oil while Miss Judy munches half a real peanut butter sandwich on pumpernickel bread with walnuts and cinnamon and a cup of coffee heavily laced with ginger and cinnamon.
Intellectual Curiosity: It’s a top priority. If a teacher says she needs a book on Mesopotamia, she won’t expect someone to hand her a cookbook, a gardening book, or a US atlas or even say, “Huh? Where’s that at?” We all know it’s behind the at.
A Desire to Learn: If someone wants to do a class on Impressionism, Paleontology, Entomology, or even spelunking, incoming teachers should be interested to know what these things are. If they don't know, they should politely ask.
Here's A Brief Test For Incoming Teachers that we use at the Garden School:
Can you show me where Iceland, Israel, and Ireland are on the map, and can you tell me why the Ivory Coast is not a soap product?
Which was longer the Renaissance or the Middle Ages? Bonus questions: Which came first? What preceded the first and what follows the last?
Can you read Jabberwocky to the kids?
Water is finite, so how come we haven’t used it all?
Even a rough knowledge of history, geography, science and literature mean someone is interested in the world. Without an interest in the world, a teacher fails to be interesting because she ultimately doesn’t know anything, and therefore how can she hope to delight and instruct children? In the early years, teachers don’t use texts. We have to know material we gather from life, and life does not begin and end with self.
Experience: Teaching experience is not necessary. But the ability to teach should be bursting from the very seams of a person. First question an incoming teacher should ask is: What do the children know? It is presumption for an incoming teacher to think the kids know nothing. What have other teachers been busy doing? Wanting to know what they know means an adult understands that both the individual child and the group have a starting point.
Understanding Teaching: Our job is to take a child from wherever he is as far as he can go. In order to do that, a teacher has to be able to evaluate where a child is, what he knows, and how he learns. That’s not easy. After a while, experience will allow a teacher to see commonalities. But in the first years of teaching, the ability to listen to children and to other adults counts.
Understanding Learning: Understanding how a child learns takes a long time. Every child learns differently, is interested in different things, is distracted by one thing today, and something else tomorrow. Knowing how to attract a child’s interest and keep it takes a lot of work. Insisting that children be interested simply because it’s on the agenda is never going to happen. Making something interesting, when it’s dull as watching cement dry, takes skill.
Patience: Patience is learned. Little children are not always perfect. And teaching is not for the moment but for the long road. What a teacher repeats today, tomorrow and all next week may actually be understood a month later when the lights go on. A teacher has to know that and has to realize that learning comes someplace between take off and landing. Teachers with experience understand that not all children will benefit from a lesson, and often it's the not the lesson at all but a byproduct of a lesson that finally sinks in.
Child Development: Development is fascinating in the early years, and parents can see the development happen through art. That’s why art is so important. That's why art should be a daily activity. A purple tree today, a green one tomorrow, and then the stick figure becomes a snow person and finally becomes human-like, because he’s finally making connections. He’s thinking it through. He’s thinking about the end product. His actions are curbed into production. He’s quiet while he thinks.
The Actors Trunk: A teacher’s repertoire is like an actor’s trunk. It’s packed full of surprises, and it’s all there waiting to be pulled out and used to help a child grow up. But the trunk is not the center stage, nor is the teacher. The child is the most important part of the action, and teachers just starting off need to remember that without the student, there is no one to teach, and without the tools, there is no way to teach. Manipulating the tools so the stage comes alive and the child’s mind is delighted by what he sees and hears is the goal of teaching. "You're on stage, honey, now do something wild and wonderful."
Sunday, May 15, 2005
Around the World in Childcare
Checking in with Childcare around the world is interesting to Americans because it seems that across the globe parents are having all the same issues. Here are a few around the world childcare stories from selected sites I hope you will enjoy. As they become available, I will forward them to you on this blog.
Understanding childcare from a world perspective is more and more important in today’s childcare world. We realize first hand at the Garden School, way down here on the muddy banks of the Ohio River, that we are no longer a farm community. We are a community of the world with children coming into our little school speaking many languages who have parents traveling between continents on a daily basis. It's important to understand.
We welcome the exciting international approach to childcare and know the human cry for affordable, quality, available childcare can be heard from every corner of the world.
You may have to register to view some of these sites, and you may have to download Adobe Acrobat.
Canada: May is Childcare Month. British Columbia Government and Service Union published a message to all BCGEU members about affordable available child care
Canada: According to an article in the Winnipeg Sun, written by Tom Brodbeck, most of the government money going to childcare in Canada is missing eighty percent of children because of political policies.
Australia: According to Melbourne paper, The Age, the face of childcare in Australia. (You will need to register.)
Japan: In the Japan Times, Koji Takenaka writes about a new mother friendly use of childcare that not only revived a shopping mall, it gave a whole new social face to this area of Japan.
Viet Nam: According to the VNA published in Hanoi, Viet Nam is examining their childcare from the ground up.
Tasmania: In Tasmania, Stars and Stripes, European edition, Jessica Ingigo reports Germans reward childare providers with flowers and gifts. European Edition, Jessica Inigo reports Germans reward childcare providers with flowers and gifts.
Judy
Understanding childcare from a world perspective is more and more important in today’s childcare world. We realize first hand at the Garden School, way down here on the muddy banks of the Ohio River, that we are no longer a farm community. We are a community of the world with children coming into our little school speaking many languages who have parents traveling between continents on a daily basis. It's important to understand.
We welcome the exciting international approach to childcare and know the human cry for affordable, quality, available childcare can be heard from every corner of the world.
You may have to register to view some of these sites, and you may have to download Adobe Acrobat.
Canada: May is Childcare Month. British Columbia Government and Service Union published a message to all BCGEU members about affordable available child care
Canada: According to an article in the Winnipeg Sun, written by Tom Brodbeck, most of the government money going to childcare in Canada is missing eighty percent of children because of political policies.
Australia: According to Melbourne paper, The Age, the face of childcare in Australia. (You will need to register.)
Japan: In the Japan Times, Koji Takenaka writes about a new mother friendly use of childcare that not only revived a shopping mall, it gave a whole new social face to this area of Japan.
Viet Nam: According to the VNA published in Hanoi, Viet Nam is examining their childcare from the ground up.
Tasmania: In Tasmania, Stars and Stripes, European edition, Jessica Ingigo reports Germans reward childare providers with flowers and gifts. European Edition, Jessica Inigo reports Germans reward childcare providers with flowers and gifts.
Judy
Friday, May 13, 2005
Making Music With Children
Making music with children is great fun. One day a father came in to pick up his child amid our enormous noise. He was stunned by the din. Suddenly, a huge smile draped across his face. “I think this is marvelous,” he said and clapped his hands.
Not all adults understand children’s music. Parents want children to sing sweetly, but bashing and smashing instruments somehow gets lost in the translation. Even the mildest child won’t approach music passively or gently. Somehow, the ability to make sound creates a universal desire to do it with gusto.
So we establish s few rules: first rule – music manners. We play only when someone is not talking, and in quiet times we hold our instrument in our lap.
Making music starts small. Only two children are given shakers and it becomes an envy thing. “He has one; I want one too.”
For a child it is not budding vice; it’s just desire. “I want to do it too.” There is no right or wrong to it, the desire to participate is a human condition any teacher should encourage.
By passing all the shakers out at once to a group of very young children, the response will often be chaos. Handing out instruments one or two at a time encourages interest, connection to the group and patience. Not every music maker in the orchestra makes music all the time, you explain to the children. Sometimes we have to wait our turn.
When their turn comes, it’s priceless. A child will eagerly shake, rattle, pound, smash whatever he has quickly learning the balance and the weight of his instrument with curiosity and delight.
Singing or listening to music - to play by - teaches children beat. Sticks do that best because they are direct sound. One two three, one two three, one two three helps children listen and do.
Alternating the beat with sticks and shakers helps children learn how to take turns and about different possibilities of sound.
Answering is another fun process. The little musicians on one side of circle time hit their sticks together twice, and the children on the other side of the carpet answer them. This can go on in splendid games with one side hitting three or four times and the other side answering them correctly.
Old rhymes can be fun to musical instruments:
“This is the house,” whap whap “That Jack built,” whap whap.
“This is the malt” whap whap “That lay in the house” whap whap “That Jack built,” whap whap.
“This the rat,” whap what, “That ate the malt,” whap whap, “That lay in the house,” whap whap, “That Jack built,” whap whap.
And so on. It teaches placement and order. It teaches patterns which is important in math.
Games and songs and just alternating sounds can go on for a long time, but a long time tires children. Choosing two or three activities with very young children is enough for a class. Whenever a teacher stretches out a play session more than 20 minutes, children seem to become restless. Knowing when to stop also encourages interest the next time.
Keeping all but a few instruments up and out of reach of children is not a bad idea. Making music in a group is a teacher led activity.
Not all adults understand children’s music. Parents want children to sing sweetly, but bashing and smashing instruments somehow gets lost in the translation. Even the mildest child won’t approach music passively or gently. Somehow, the ability to make sound creates a universal desire to do it with gusto.
So we establish s few rules: first rule – music manners. We play only when someone is not talking, and in quiet times we hold our instrument in our lap.
Making music starts small. Only two children are given shakers and it becomes an envy thing. “He has one; I want one too.”
For a child it is not budding vice; it’s just desire. “I want to do it too.” There is no right or wrong to it, the desire to participate is a human condition any teacher should encourage.
By passing all the shakers out at once to a group of very young children, the response will often be chaos. Handing out instruments one or two at a time encourages interest, connection to the group and patience. Not every music maker in the orchestra makes music all the time, you explain to the children. Sometimes we have to wait our turn.
When their turn comes, it’s priceless. A child will eagerly shake, rattle, pound, smash whatever he has quickly learning the balance and the weight of his instrument with curiosity and delight.
Singing or listening to music - to play by - teaches children beat. Sticks do that best because they are direct sound. One two three, one two three, one two three helps children listen and do.
Alternating the beat with sticks and shakers helps children learn how to take turns and about different possibilities of sound.
Answering is another fun process. The little musicians on one side of circle time hit their sticks together twice, and the children on the other side of the carpet answer them. This can go on in splendid games with one side hitting three or four times and the other side answering them correctly.
Old rhymes can be fun to musical instruments:
“This is the house,” whap whap “That Jack built,” whap whap.
“This is the malt” whap whap “That lay in the house” whap whap “That Jack built,” whap whap.
“This the rat,” whap what, “That ate the malt,” whap whap, “That lay in the house,” whap whap, “That Jack built,” whap whap.
And so on. It teaches placement and order. It teaches patterns which is important in math.
Games and songs and just alternating sounds can go on for a long time, but a long time tires children. Choosing two or three activities with very young children is enough for a class. Whenever a teacher stretches out a play session more than 20 minutes, children seem to become restless. Knowing when to stop also encourages interest the next time.
Keeping all but a few instruments up and out of reach of children is not a bad idea. Making music in a group is a teacher led activity.
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
Tackling Musical Instruments in the Classroom
Kids will bang on anything. Sometimes it’s a good idea for teachers to begin music using body parts. “Slap your knees, clap your hands, can you snap your fingers?” Simple things, you say, but these sounds are discovery things in the mind of a child.
Children like to make music. It doesn’t have to sound like anything; it just has to be louder than the next child and fill the room with energy and noise. Kids are funny about noise; they like theirs a lot. They especially like whistling.
Collecting instruments for a music class should be a combination of store bought and make me at home. Store bought instruments are expensive. Music stores, distributors and toy catalogues carry all kinds of things that kids will love, but they cost. Old fashioned children’s instruments everyone remembers from first grade include sticks, sand blocks, bells, shakers and triangles. It will cost nearly $100.00 for enough of these instruments for thirty children.
There is a website for an excellent catalogue called Music for Little People, http://store.musicforlittlepeople.com/ we have used and like very much. They also have an excellent variety of quality children’s stories and learning videos about musicians and music history.
Sometimes it’s better to make a few of these things so that the $100.00 can go for things we can’t make like a good drum and a tambourine.
Sticks can be made with large dowels. Cut to about 12 inches and sand. Try different woods.
Sand blocks can be made with sand paper glued to blocks of wood. You can make fancy sand blocks with brush handles. Bushes also make great instruments.
Jingle bells can be purchased at the fabric and craft stores in different sizes. String bells together for different sounds. Use a big craft clothespin for a handle. It fits a child’s hand.
Shakers are simple with plastic Easter eggs and rice glued shut with hot glue. Use sand, popcorn, spices, and pebbles for different sounds.
Triangles are bits of metal dangling from a string that are hit with a short metal rod. Making triangles can be fun with different plumbing parts, collars, and things with holes.
We were lucky. One of my own children turned in a trumpet to the local music store – she tried playing piano, trumpet, tuba, Cello and anything you can blow into and decided on the tuba. When she turned in the trumpet, I got a $200.00 rebate, and I was able to buy the school a starter collection of things including some African stuff and some brass finger cymbals.
But enough stuff for everyone took a lot of donations and some creating.
A good drum is hard to find. I was given a Native American drum made from a tree trunk. I got a set of bongos from someone moving, and an electric keyboard was donated by our principal. We bought a giant wooden xylophone the kids bang away on all day.
Being on the look out for wooden flutes, different sized whistles, bells, and things kids can strike with other things is fun.
Make sure you group instruments together and keep in plastic tubs. They get horribly dusty out, and you want to keep most of them from little fingers until group use.
Once the orchestra is set, it’s time to play.
Children like to make music. It doesn’t have to sound like anything; it just has to be louder than the next child and fill the room with energy and noise. Kids are funny about noise; they like theirs a lot. They especially like whistling.
Collecting instruments for a music class should be a combination of store bought and make me at home. Store bought instruments are expensive. Music stores, distributors and toy catalogues carry all kinds of things that kids will love, but they cost. Old fashioned children’s instruments everyone remembers from first grade include sticks, sand blocks, bells, shakers and triangles. It will cost nearly $100.00 for enough of these instruments for thirty children.
There is a website for an excellent catalogue called Music for Little People, http://store.musicforlittlepeople.com/ we have used and like very much. They also have an excellent variety of quality children’s stories and learning videos about musicians and music history.
Sometimes it’s better to make a few of these things so that the $100.00 can go for things we can’t make like a good drum and a tambourine.
Sticks can be made with large dowels. Cut to about 12 inches and sand. Try different woods.
Sand blocks can be made with sand paper glued to blocks of wood. You can make fancy sand blocks with brush handles. Bushes also make great instruments.
Jingle bells can be purchased at the fabric and craft stores in different sizes. String bells together for different sounds. Use a big craft clothespin for a handle. It fits a child’s hand.
Shakers are simple with plastic Easter eggs and rice glued shut with hot glue. Use sand, popcorn, spices, and pebbles for different sounds.
Triangles are bits of metal dangling from a string that are hit with a short metal rod. Making triangles can be fun with different plumbing parts, collars, and things with holes.
We were lucky. One of my own children turned in a trumpet to the local music store – she tried playing piano, trumpet, tuba, Cello and anything you can blow into and decided on the tuba. When she turned in the trumpet, I got a $200.00 rebate, and I was able to buy the school a starter collection of things including some African stuff and some brass finger cymbals.
But enough stuff for everyone took a lot of donations and some creating.
A good drum is hard to find. I was given a Native American drum made from a tree trunk. I got a set of bongos from someone moving, and an electric keyboard was donated by our principal. We bought a giant wooden xylophone the kids bang away on all day.
Being on the look out for wooden flutes, different sized whistles, bells, and things kids can strike with other things is fun.
Make sure you group instruments together and keep in plastic tubs. They get horribly dusty out, and you want to keep most of them from little fingers until group use.
Once the orchestra is set, it’s time to play.
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
Music - A Craft Becoming An Art
Music is often a difficult thing to teach young children. Music is a whole “other” discipline that means a child has to be verbal, memorize and participate all at the same time. It’s difficult for a lot of kids who just want to sit and take in the world. But teaching music successfully is a joy.
Adults need to remember that music is a craft that actually encourages reading, speaking – fluency – communication, a love of poetry which is a window on the heart, and mathematics.
Singing is a contribution to community. Making musical sounds WITH other people becomes a YOU centered activity over a child’s usual ME centered activity. It’s tough on some kids to give over center stage to be just one of the crowd.
Listening and sharing is also difficult at first because what you feel from the sounds of music is a very personal thing. Sharing those feelings is also a craft.
A few weeks ago, I got the following delightful email. It’s what every author wants to receive and it made me think how important music is to the education of children. Nancy’s letter made me think again about music and why music is important.
Dear Judy Lyden,
I write as Administrative Director of The Main Street Singers, a community of children’s voices in grades five through eight. MSS provides the opportunity for children with diverse backgrounds in greater New Britain, CT, to participate in a nonsectarian treble-voice choir that strives to achieve artistic excellence while fostering a life-long love of music and singing.
Your article titled “Encourage children to sing and you open their world” has been part of the new member package for our singers since the first auditions were held in the fall of 2003. I have tried to find it on the internet in order to put a date on the article, to no avail. I was pleased to find many other pieces by you about children and have referred your work to both of my adult daughters, as they specialize in working with young children.
Can you please tell me when “Encourage children to sing” was published and whether you have written any other pieces about the importance of music in children’s lives?
Thank you so very much.
Best wishes,
Nancy Eaton
Nancy Hemstreet Eaton
Administrative Director
The Main Street Singers
90 Main Street
New Britain, CT 06051
860-223-3691, ext. 123
The article follows.
Adults need to remember that music is a craft that actually encourages reading, speaking – fluency – communication, a love of poetry which is a window on the heart, and mathematics.
Singing is a contribution to community. Making musical sounds WITH other people becomes a YOU centered activity over a child’s usual ME centered activity. It’s tough on some kids to give over center stage to be just one of the crowd.
Listening and sharing is also difficult at first because what you feel from the sounds of music is a very personal thing. Sharing those feelings is also a craft.
A few weeks ago, I got the following delightful email. It’s what every author wants to receive and it made me think how important music is to the education of children. Nancy’s letter made me think again about music and why music is important.
Dear Judy Lyden,
I write as Administrative Director of The Main Street Singers, a community of children’s voices in grades five through eight. MSS provides the opportunity for children with diverse backgrounds in greater New Britain, CT, to participate in a nonsectarian treble-voice choir that strives to achieve artistic excellence while fostering a life-long love of music and singing.
Your article titled “Encourage children to sing and you open their world” has been part of the new member package for our singers since the first auditions were held in the fall of 2003. I have tried to find it on the internet in order to put a date on the article, to no avail. I was pleased to find many other pieces by you about children and have referred your work to both of my adult daughters, as they specialize in working with young children.
Can you please tell me when “Encourage children to sing” was published and whether you have written any other pieces about the importance of music in children’s lives?
Thank you so very much.
Best wishes,
Nancy Eaton
Nancy Hemstreet Eaton
Administrative Director
The Main Street Singers
90 Main Street
New Britain, CT 06051
860-223-3691, ext. 123
The article follows.
Encouraging Children to Sing
I’m beginning to believe that teaching music – even singing - to very young children is as illusive today as many of the other fine arts. No matter the life or depth of good intentions, music is multidimensional, and the somehow the great dimensions of music are just too great a leap for most.
“I don’t sing,” lament 98 percent of incoming teachers. Sure you do, you just don’t sing like a professional opera star, so your shortcomings remain a private matter between you and your shower or car radio.
A beloved professor once said, “Somewhere along the way, someone told you that you can’t sing, so you don’t. It’s a shame.” Of course not everyone has a quality voice, but most people can carry a tune some of the time, and that’s all that counts with kids, but singing remains tantamount to standing naked in a classroom.
Teaching music can be more than singing, but because very young children are auditory learners, singing easily becomes the focal point, and that terrifies most adults.
Music should be listening too. Playing the Great Masters in the classroom helps children to understand that music is broad and more than pop or country western on the radio. An astute music teacher will teach children how to “read” a story into classical works, so they will be aware that something is happening within the music.
Telling a story to The Appalachian Suite is probably the easiest. Anyone can hear the animals in the woods and the wagon moving through the depth of the trees.
The New World Symphony is another great travel adventure story if you use a train moving through city, country, towns, and villages.
It doesn’t matter what, so long as children begin to feel the music as they listen.
Music should also be playing. Musical instruments should awaken the musician in every child. Sticks, sand blocks, triangles, mariachis, tambourines, drums, noisemakers, homemade instruments and body parts should enhance the music lessons. Instruments are cheap and easy to obtain and begin with two hands.
Children learn songs quickly. It’s not difficult to teach three to five new songs a week.
Children can learn to sing everything from Gregorian chant to what we call exchange songs. When we sing Shenandoah, one group holds the last note while the other group comes in and sings the next line. Kids love the challenge.
Music should never drag. The music activities should come one after another and for the most part be teacher led. Songs should be sung in a medium range and children should understand that we keep up with the music.
Energizing music is easy because kids like to perform. When all seems to be said and done for the day, one child singing a solo will energize a whole group. A child thrives on finishing a whole song for a whole audience. And never tell a child he can’t sing.
I know virtually nothing about music or its history. My hearing is impaired. I miss most music nuances because I can’t hear them. I sing in a key that musicians regard as laughable. I sing with a low alto voice – middle C is as high as I can get. But still, I sing with the kids, because I regard music as an important childhood activity that can’t be missed. No matter your particular difficulty, do it anyway.
“I don’t sing,” lament 98 percent of incoming teachers. Sure you do, you just don’t sing like a professional opera star, so your shortcomings remain a private matter between you and your shower or car radio.
A beloved professor once said, “Somewhere along the way, someone told you that you can’t sing, so you don’t. It’s a shame.” Of course not everyone has a quality voice, but most people can carry a tune some of the time, and that’s all that counts with kids, but singing remains tantamount to standing naked in a classroom.
Teaching music can be more than singing, but because very young children are auditory learners, singing easily becomes the focal point, and that terrifies most adults.
Music should be listening too. Playing the Great Masters in the classroom helps children to understand that music is broad and more than pop or country western on the radio. An astute music teacher will teach children how to “read” a story into classical works, so they will be aware that something is happening within the music.
Telling a story to The Appalachian Suite is probably the easiest. Anyone can hear the animals in the woods and the wagon moving through the depth of the trees.
The New World Symphony is another great travel adventure story if you use a train moving through city, country, towns, and villages.
It doesn’t matter what, so long as children begin to feel the music as they listen.
Music should also be playing. Musical instruments should awaken the musician in every child. Sticks, sand blocks, triangles, mariachis, tambourines, drums, noisemakers, homemade instruments and body parts should enhance the music lessons. Instruments are cheap and easy to obtain and begin with two hands.
Children learn songs quickly. It’s not difficult to teach three to five new songs a week.
Children can learn to sing everything from Gregorian chant to what we call exchange songs. When we sing Shenandoah, one group holds the last note while the other group comes in and sings the next line. Kids love the challenge.
Music should never drag. The music activities should come one after another and for the most part be teacher led. Songs should be sung in a medium range and children should understand that we keep up with the music.
Energizing music is easy because kids like to perform. When all seems to be said and done for the day, one child singing a solo will energize a whole group. A child thrives on finishing a whole song for a whole audience. And never tell a child he can’t sing.
I know virtually nothing about music or its history. My hearing is impaired. I miss most music nuances because I can’t hear them. I sing in a key that musicians regard as laughable. I sing with a low alto voice – middle C is as high as I can get. But still, I sing with the kids, because I regard music as an important childhood activity that can’t be missed. No matter your particular difficulty, do it anyway.
Put On Some Music - What Do You See?
Here’s a column I wrote a long time ago that might help someone struggling with kids and music:
Put on some music. What do you see? Music can be a visible art. When you teach children how to play in the minds eye, musically moving their imagination or enhancing a story through music, it can be a real part of seeing life a bit more clearly.
It begins by letting children become familiar with a piece of music. Letting them listen often allows them make the music their own. Little children who are exposed to what is commonly known as classical music love it right away.
Not so surprising, very young children can listen a few times, and with what seems an unbelievable stretch, can hum some fairly complicated works fairly quickly. When young children recognize a piece of Bach or Handel, they come running. “I know that music, it goes . . .” and if a parent or teacher has taught them, they can tell you a little story.
Teaching children the art of listening might include pictures. Here’s an example:
Playing and listening to Bach’s “Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring” while looking at pictures of the world’s great Gothic cathedrals is an enlightening experience for young children. “Wow,” says the child who’s never seen such a structure. Add Bach’s “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” to the Romanesque counter part and you have a real art and music lesson.
But pictures aren’t always necessary. Some music is better by story. Arron Copeland’s Appalachian Spring is such a piece. It’s a story of frontier life that can be introduced to children by first setting the stage of the panorama which can be heard in the beginning. The sun is rising. The day beginning in the wide open spaces of any man’s country.
The animals wake. Dear move gently in the woods, fish swim to the morning sun on the water. Later, the smaller animals appear from behind trees, from burrows, from under the fronds. There is enough repetition, “there’s the squirrel again,” and “can you hear the raccoon still balancing on that rock” to go back and forth between animals while the children listen. When we hear the bear coming in from the depths of the woods, crashing into the joy with urgency, suspense and mystery, children really see it.
The bear brings the whole world into question. Then we see the animals again, playful and active tumbling through the woods in a playful frolic demonstrating the endless repetitions of the seasons changing in the woods and the unreported picture of nature.
Then comes man. What is his mood? Is he in a wagon? Can you hear the wheels turn? Is he on horseback? Does he have his family with him? Can you see the children? As the music opens up again to a whole different feeling, our children can really feel the presence of the whole family -- Man, woman and children -- a boy and a girl.
As they come carefully through the woods, an ever quickening music with side angles depict the addition of each family member to the story of woodland life. You can see the building of a log cabin in that mind’s eye. You can smell the smoke of the fire.
Teaching music to children isn’t hard. It takes a little time and some imagination. Like seeing a wonderful train ride through cities, country side and villages in Dvorak’s New World Symphony. but then music takes us all on a ride through vast reaches of a child’s imagination.
Put on some music. What do you see?
Put on some music. What do you see? Music can be a visible art. When you teach children how to play in the minds eye, musically moving their imagination or enhancing a story through music, it can be a real part of seeing life a bit more clearly.
It begins by letting children become familiar with a piece of music. Letting them listen often allows them make the music their own. Little children who are exposed to what is commonly known as classical music love it right away.
Not so surprising, very young children can listen a few times, and with what seems an unbelievable stretch, can hum some fairly complicated works fairly quickly. When young children recognize a piece of Bach or Handel, they come running. “I know that music, it goes . . .” and if a parent or teacher has taught them, they can tell you a little story.
Teaching children the art of listening might include pictures. Here’s an example:
Playing and listening to Bach’s “Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring” while looking at pictures of the world’s great Gothic cathedrals is an enlightening experience for young children. “Wow,” says the child who’s never seen such a structure. Add Bach’s “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” to the Romanesque counter part and you have a real art and music lesson.
But pictures aren’t always necessary. Some music is better by story. Arron Copeland’s Appalachian Spring is such a piece. It’s a story of frontier life that can be introduced to children by first setting the stage of the panorama which can be heard in the beginning. The sun is rising. The day beginning in the wide open spaces of any man’s country.
The animals wake. Dear move gently in the woods, fish swim to the morning sun on the water. Later, the smaller animals appear from behind trees, from burrows, from under the fronds. There is enough repetition, “there’s the squirrel again,” and “can you hear the raccoon still balancing on that rock” to go back and forth between animals while the children listen. When we hear the bear coming in from the depths of the woods, crashing into the joy with urgency, suspense and mystery, children really see it.
The bear brings the whole world into question. Then we see the animals again, playful and active tumbling through the woods in a playful frolic demonstrating the endless repetitions of the seasons changing in the woods and the unreported picture of nature.
Then comes man. What is his mood? Is he in a wagon? Can you hear the wheels turn? Is he on horseback? Does he have his family with him? Can you see the children? As the music opens up again to a whole different feeling, our children can really feel the presence of the whole family -- Man, woman and children -- a boy and a girl.
As they come carefully through the woods, an ever quickening music with side angles depict the addition of each family member to the story of woodland life. You can see the building of a log cabin in that mind’s eye. You can smell the smoke of the fire.
Teaching music to children isn’t hard. It takes a little time and some imagination. Like seeing a wonderful train ride through cities, country side and villages in Dvorak’s New World Symphony. but then music takes us all on a ride through vast reaches of a child’s imagination.
Put on some music. What do you see?
Getting Started Again
I’ve not put anything new on this blog since last week. I’ve been searching the web for childcare sites and possible links. One of the things I’ve been plagued with over the years is a plea from parents who want more readily available, user friendly articles written for parents by childcare people about children’s issues without having to dig. There are few.
There are dozens of childcare books in the book stores and most of them say the same things: do this, don’t do that. They never really get to the heart of childcare because most of them are written by people out of the field who think they know, and think they can tell parents, but who miss most of the fine points of working with children.
I’ve read several of these books, and have been disappointed. What is it about childcare that people miss? I think it’s the daily, year in and year out working with kids that can’t be duplicated. It's the same with the Internet. There are few sites I have found that offer any perspective on rearing children that's not business first, child second.
When I started writing the column 15 years ago, there was a bet at the newspaper that I wouldn’t last three months. What could someone actually say about kids that didn't relate to a product. But the editor was adamant, “She’s in the field and can put a sentence together.” I’ve written about children every week for fifteen years, and the well never runs dry because the well is constantly being refilled by the hearts and little deeds of children at school. Perhaps the vision is unique; I don't know, but there is a real need for parents to know, and it's not being expressed.
People want to know where I get my information and what my sources are. I always tell them that what I write about I’ve learned from first hand experience. It’s not something I can learn in a classroom because the knowledge I need is not in the classroom, the experience is not there; it’s second hand, it’s theory. Every year I guest lecture at the two Universities here in town, and the hands on experience is always appreciated by the students. Theory will never take the place of doing, because we are not working with something finite; we are working with infinite possibilities - people.
Childcare is about bringing the world to children. It’s not about repressing children into some dressed up doll “look what he or she can do” ideal. Childcare is about teaching real people how to enter the world with a fully developed sense of what’s out there and how they can use it well. That’s why we teach the liberal arts at school. People laugh at our curriculum, but the children love it and when they go off to school, they know what the Norman Conquest is, they have an historical perspective, a knowledge of science, Scripture, and why virtue is better than vice.
I’ve been in the childcare profession for thirty-five years and the early childhood education world for twenty-five years. Edith, my partner, was teaching seventh grade when I was in seventh grade about four states away.
Most people who are as serious as I am about childcare leave the trenches and become early childhood educators, lobbyists, inspectors, childcare directors, and speakers. I’ve stayed in the trenches because I like being around children.
My own children took 27 years to get from one end of the public schools to the other, so I had kids at home a long time. Now I’ve got teen grandkids and one still under two. Was it all smooth sailing? Nope. Problems and crises were handled along with the joys and merits. Nobody’s kids are perfect.
People ask me if I’ve published books. I have two in the hopper – one on the high energy child and one on what parents should look for when searching for childcare. The response is interesting. I’m an essayist, so my work is parent friendly to read, and egregious to publish. Publishers want brief, to the point bullet ideas that sell, sell, sell. I want to explain, to share, to allow the reader to be satisfied and finish reading with a smile.
Back to the blog: My intention with this blog is to make it a first rate childcare resource for parents wanting to know about how childcare works. It's going to take time.
I want to offer music as a first project, so if you are reading and have a web site you like, a resource you enjoy, please send it to me.
Letters and comments are welcome.
Judy
There are dozens of childcare books in the book stores and most of them say the same things: do this, don’t do that. They never really get to the heart of childcare because most of them are written by people out of the field who think they know, and think they can tell parents, but who miss most of the fine points of working with children.
I’ve read several of these books, and have been disappointed. What is it about childcare that people miss? I think it’s the daily, year in and year out working with kids that can’t be duplicated. It's the same with the Internet. There are few sites I have found that offer any perspective on rearing children that's not business first, child second.
When I started writing the column 15 years ago, there was a bet at the newspaper that I wouldn’t last three months. What could someone actually say about kids that didn't relate to a product. But the editor was adamant, “She’s in the field and can put a sentence together.” I’ve written about children every week for fifteen years, and the well never runs dry because the well is constantly being refilled by the hearts and little deeds of children at school. Perhaps the vision is unique; I don't know, but there is a real need for parents to know, and it's not being expressed.
People want to know where I get my information and what my sources are. I always tell them that what I write about I’ve learned from first hand experience. It’s not something I can learn in a classroom because the knowledge I need is not in the classroom, the experience is not there; it’s second hand, it’s theory. Every year I guest lecture at the two Universities here in town, and the hands on experience is always appreciated by the students. Theory will never take the place of doing, because we are not working with something finite; we are working with infinite possibilities - people.
Childcare is about bringing the world to children. It’s not about repressing children into some dressed up doll “look what he or she can do” ideal. Childcare is about teaching real people how to enter the world with a fully developed sense of what’s out there and how they can use it well. That’s why we teach the liberal arts at school. People laugh at our curriculum, but the children love it and when they go off to school, they know what the Norman Conquest is, they have an historical perspective, a knowledge of science, Scripture, and why virtue is better than vice.
I’ve been in the childcare profession for thirty-five years and the early childhood education world for twenty-five years. Edith, my partner, was teaching seventh grade when I was in seventh grade about four states away.
Most people who are as serious as I am about childcare leave the trenches and become early childhood educators, lobbyists, inspectors, childcare directors, and speakers. I’ve stayed in the trenches because I like being around children.
My own children took 27 years to get from one end of the public schools to the other, so I had kids at home a long time. Now I’ve got teen grandkids and one still under two. Was it all smooth sailing? Nope. Problems and crises were handled along with the joys and merits. Nobody’s kids are perfect.
People ask me if I’ve published books. I have two in the hopper – one on the high energy child and one on what parents should look for when searching for childcare. The response is interesting. I’m an essayist, so my work is parent friendly to read, and egregious to publish. Publishers want brief, to the point bullet ideas that sell, sell, sell. I want to explain, to share, to allow the reader to be satisfied and finish reading with a smile.
Back to the blog: My intention with this blog is to make it a first rate childcare resource for parents wanting to know about how childcare works. It's going to take time.
I want to offer music as a first project, so if you are reading and have a web site you like, a resource you enjoy, please send it to me.
Letters and comments are welcome.
Judy
Thursday, May 05, 2005
Field Trips
It’s nearly time for summer and summer in childcare means taking the children out into the world, and those worldly jaunts are called field trips. Summer is a great time to travel because the weather is good, and the busses are free of school year schedules, and the kids are tired of indoor activities and craving adventure.
Finding a driver you can rely on is one of the most important parts of field tripping. We have had the same driver for as long as we’ve been in business. Miss Sandy is a regular school bus driver with her own bus. She wears our school shirt and sweater and of course she is included in all that we do. We truly regard her as one of our school team.
Establishing a policy for field trips is not a single decision. It has to be a united front because pulling off field trips with forty children is not easy if the staff is slack. Deciding on what to do and where to go should be a whole group decision. It’s something we talk about non stop.
The questions from new staff are always the same. Can trips be short and purely recreational like other places? Why are ours longer and adventurous and is an educational bend necessary?
Personally, I think all activities should teach. Kids have fun learning, so combining play and learning is always a winning combination. When you ask a new teacher if she would rather play Putt Putt with forty children or go to Mammoth Cave, the response is usually the same: Wow, I’ve never been to the cave.
The staff agrees, so we combine adventure, play and learning.
This year we have decided to go to:
Mammoth Cave in Southwestern Kentucky
The St. Louis Zoo in Missouri
Garden of the Gods in Southwestern Illinois
Lincoln’s Boyhood Home in Indiana
The restored village at Spring Mill Park in central Indiana or the Science Museum in Tennessee
Ellis Park in Kentucky
The Blue Angel’s practice and a tour and lunch out in Evansville
TBA
Behavior is a real consideration of travel. A non cohesive, poorly structured group is not only dangerous to themselves, it’s just too much to handle. Taking a disruptive, disobedient child on a six hour bus ride two states away who will not obey or stay with the group is more than can be expected of any staff. Consequently, these children will not go. Field trips are earned.
When a group is cohesive, well trained, obedient in every respect, they will have the time of their lives traveling and picnicking and seeing neat stuff all summer.
Why are field trips so important? Travel is a major learning experience. The travel alone teaches children about distances, and differences and community. It teaches trust and independence. There’s a lot of growing up in travel. The cave tour we take our kids on is a 2.5 hour deep cave climb with over 300 steps down. Mammoth Cave is the largest cave in the whole world. When we ask the kids how many have seen it, few have. Our three to seven year olds love the experience of spelunking from the start. Just talking about it has every child’s attention.
We will be seeing the seal show at the St. Louis Zoo in addition to the zoo. Few children have the opportunity to see a Sea World show, and this will give them the chance. We will picnic under the arch that day.
How much does all this cost? About $3000.00, and it’s worth every penny. In addition to the long and shorter trips, our school takes children swimming at least twice a week to a lovely community pool one town over with a Fortress of Fun right next to it.
Where does the money come from? Our school asks parents for a $100.00 field trip fee once a year to off set the cost of travel. Each bus excursion is at least $65.00. The longer ones cost closer to $600.00. With the cost of tickets, gas, lunch, driver, etc, it can be very expensive, but the cost never out weighs the experience.
Preparing and taking food is always tricky. We’ve tried everything imaginable, and what we’ve found is that children will eat hamburger bun sandwiches better than anything else. We make peanut butter and honey, cheese, ham and cheese, egg salad, tuna salad, and sometimes bologna. We’ve tried cream cheese and jelly and ham salad, but the kids were reluctant to eat it. For teachers and parents who come, we always make a chicken salad to die for. Edith and I bring our coffee carafe, and we take water to drink.
We take a watermelon, apples, chips, homemade cookies, pickles, carrots and dip. If we leave early, we have to take breakfast. If we come back late, we stop for ice cream if the kids are not too tired.
Why, people ask us, would you do all this work when other places just let the kids play? When you know your school children well enough to love them as much as we do, it’s just plain fun.
So what’s next?
MMMM, I’m still thinking about that goat, maybe a pony, maybe an elephant!
Finding a driver you can rely on is one of the most important parts of field tripping. We have had the same driver for as long as we’ve been in business. Miss Sandy is a regular school bus driver with her own bus. She wears our school shirt and sweater and of course she is included in all that we do. We truly regard her as one of our school team.
Establishing a policy for field trips is not a single decision. It has to be a united front because pulling off field trips with forty children is not easy if the staff is slack. Deciding on what to do and where to go should be a whole group decision. It’s something we talk about non stop.
The questions from new staff are always the same. Can trips be short and purely recreational like other places? Why are ours longer and adventurous and is an educational bend necessary?
Personally, I think all activities should teach. Kids have fun learning, so combining play and learning is always a winning combination. When you ask a new teacher if she would rather play Putt Putt with forty children or go to Mammoth Cave, the response is usually the same: Wow, I’ve never been to the cave.
The staff agrees, so we combine adventure, play and learning.
This year we have decided to go to:
Mammoth Cave in Southwestern Kentucky
The St. Louis Zoo in Missouri
Garden of the Gods in Southwestern Illinois
Lincoln’s Boyhood Home in Indiana
The restored village at Spring Mill Park in central Indiana or the Science Museum in Tennessee
Ellis Park in Kentucky
The Blue Angel’s practice and a tour and lunch out in Evansville
TBA
Behavior is a real consideration of travel. A non cohesive, poorly structured group is not only dangerous to themselves, it’s just too much to handle. Taking a disruptive, disobedient child on a six hour bus ride two states away who will not obey or stay with the group is more than can be expected of any staff. Consequently, these children will not go. Field trips are earned.
When a group is cohesive, well trained, obedient in every respect, they will have the time of their lives traveling and picnicking and seeing neat stuff all summer.
Why are field trips so important? Travel is a major learning experience. The travel alone teaches children about distances, and differences and community. It teaches trust and independence. There’s a lot of growing up in travel. The cave tour we take our kids on is a 2.5 hour deep cave climb with over 300 steps down. Mammoth Cave is the largest cave in the whole world. When we ask the kids how many have seen it, few have. Our three to seven year olds love the experience of spelunking from the start. Just talking about it has every child’s attention.
We will be seeing the seal show at the St. Louis Zoo in addition to the zoo. Few children have the opportunity to see a Sea World show, and this will give them the chance. We will picnic under the arch that day.
How much does all this cost? About $3000.00, and it’s worth every penny. In addition to the long and shorter trips, our school takes children swimming at least twice a week to a lovely community pool one town over with a Fortress of Fun right next to it.
Where does the money come from? Our school asks parents for a $100.00 field trip fee once a year to off set the cost of travel. Each bus excursion is at least $65.00. The longer ones cost closer to $600.00. With the cost of tickets, gas, lunch, driver, etc, it can be very expensive, but the cost never out weighs the experience.
Preparing and taking food is always tricky. We’ve tried everything imaginable, and what we’ve found is that children will eat hamburger bun sandwiches better than anything else. We make peanut butter and honey, cheese, ham and cheese, egg salad, tuna salad, and sometimes bologna. We’ve tried cream cheese and jelly and ham salad, but the kids were reluctant to eat it. For teachers and parents who come, we always make a chicken salad to die for. Edith and I bring our coffee carafe, and we take water to drink.
We take a watermelon, apples, chips, homemade cookies, pickles, carrots and dip. If we leave early, we have to take breakfast. If we come back late, we stop for ice cream if the kids are not too tired.
Why, people ask us, would you do all this work when other places just let the kids play? When you know your school children well enough to love them as much as we do, it’s just plain fun.
So what’s next?
MMMM, I’m still thinking about that goat, maybe a pony, maybe an elephant!
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
Childcare and Literacy
One of the most lamentable gaps in early childhood education is the education gap between the toddler age and first grade.
Nearly everyone knows how to care for an infant. When the child becomes a toddler, he kind of forces the growing up issue as he climbs out of his parents’ arms and runs off. By three, he’s ready to stop running and listen to learn.
At six or seven, a child goes to school. What happens between the time a child has that desire to listen to learn and going to school? It’s about three or four years. Is that wasted time?
Study after study report that childcare nation wide is atrocious, and children have learned little in this three to four year period, and they are not ready to go to school at all much less are they ready to sit in a desk for seven hours and learn what should have been taught three years earlier.
In an outline of a presentation entitled Preschool and No Child Left Behind, Opportunities and Challenges by Dorothy S. Strickland of Rutgers, State University of New Jersey, Strickland mentions four things often lacking in the curriculum of early childhood programs which make grammar school that much harder for the child:
Language and literacy rich environment
Early language and literacy activities and instructional materials
Early language and literacy screening assessments
Professional development and opportunities
Providing a language and literacy rich environment means a kind of emotional and intellectual work most people will probably never understand. It means a special kind of love for the language that goes beyond cheap novels and best sellers and calling magazines books.
Literacy means knowing the difference between a badly written fairy tale that bores a child to tears, and one that is written that offers a wonderful and exciting tale, a whole other world to children. An understanding of language and literacy means knowing how to read poetry and short fiction with enough “voice” that children are riveted on what happens next. It means not being afraid to show some heart and make the children laugh.
How is this learned? By doing, by listening to others and by thinking about the story and what it means. Meaning is a key word in literacy and language. What we say often misses what we mean. Do we know that? Can we appreciate our own shortcomings and our lack of vocabulary? Are we willing to find the right words and use them the next time? Do we care?
The significance of a story is often lost with a poor reading, and a poor reading comes from misunderstanding what the words really mean, what the nuances are saying and what the story is about. When was the last time the question “What does that mean?” surfaced in ordinary conversation?
Primarily, studies show that early childhood educators are not educated. Most do not have more than a high school education. But education is more than a piece of paper earned. It’s an attitude toward life and a willingness to enter the world and continue learning. Anyone with a college degree knows that college teaches a person how to think and how to learn. A person with no formal education who reads for real and thinks is often better educated than someone who never picks up a book after graduation.
In the classroom, the early childhood library is one of the most important parts of a playroom. Books need to be readily available to children to touch, to hold, to look at. Story books, science books, picture and art books should be out where children can look at them and become familiar with them. Books will be a child’s companion for the rest of his life. If not at home, the early childhood classroom should teach a child about the importance of reading and language which is really human expression and art. It's as good as it gets.
Children are ready and eager to learn to listen, learn to identify letters, make sounds and begin the enormous task of reading at three. It is always child led. There is an independence about reading that children identify early. Knowing where a child is in his reading development is an important part of early childhood education.
And finally, teaching teachers is a never ending process. Teachers are tired after a long day in a noisy childcare environment. Most teachers leave a building shell shocked. It takes a few minutes of quiet to return to a non child environment. The last thing most teachers want after a long day in school is more busyness and more noise. Racing out to a classroom for three hours is about as endearing as cleaning the grease trap.
Teaching is often a matter of sharing expertise. That’s why older teachers mix so beautifully with younger models. Youth offers enthusiasm while years offers short cuts. Learning is a process for both the child and the adult. Learning to learn is the child’s part, continuing to learn is the adult’s.
Sunday, May 01, 2005
Childcare and Clothes
“I went to Ireland ten years ago and because my clothes were so worn out, I looked like I had shopped at the thrift store,” I lamented to Edith St. Louis, the principal of our school.
She gave me her usual disenchanted look that said, “And it hasn’t gotten any better since, but it’s OK, we love you anyway.”
“I’m trying,” I insisted.
“You’re very trying,” it was a sweet sister whisper.
Style is not my bailiwick. If I could buy seven pairs of jeans all the same and seven shirts all the same, I’d go for it and be as happy as a clam. I once thought that cassocks for everyone would be just wonderful. It was not a readily accepted idea. Miss Rachel, our unusually beautiful first grade teacher sighed. “Yours can be sleeveless, very short and made of gauzy bright colored material.”
“Sounds like an idea,” she laughed.
I’m glad the fashion show quirk has never taken hold at the Garden School, because life at school is dirty for everyone. There’s not a morning that goes by that all of our teachers are not up to our elbows in some kind of messy thing. I think I spend half my day shoveling something. Lately it’s been the garden. It’s always the pet room, moving gravel on the playground, burying one of our animals that died. Sometimes it’s time to repot plant or move a tray of paints or clay or make paper mache. Mostly my mess involves cooking.
This is where personality comes in and you can see it in children. Some children can go out to play in the pea gravel and come in like they just got dressed; they are clean from head to foot including their faces.
Some children can’t breathe deeply without looking like Miss Judy. I relate to these kids and they find a special place in my heart. That’s why washing is so important. I am always pleased when a dirty child informs me that the soap box in the bathroom is empty.
We have a schedule for washing – every time you come in the building, before you eat, after you use the bathroom or scratch some unmentionable part. Washing hands to the elbows helps stave off all kinds of nasty childhood viruses.
But what about their clothes? We really think the best scenario for a parent of a child who gets really dirty is to buy school clothes at the thrift store. Five outfits can’t cost more than $15.00. Keep nice things for home, especially shoes. Pea gravel does a real job on shoes. Then, if a parent needs a child to look nice after school, he should send an outfit in a plastic bag with note. It’s a compromise.
A child’s clothes should be comfortable, big enough to move freely in, but not so big a child can’t climb a slide. We have a dress code that says boys’ shorts must come to or above the knee. What we are forbidding are those “do nothing – loafer” pants where the crotch hangs down to the knees so the child can literally “do nothing.” When the child walks, it’s as if he’s wearing a dirty diaper. These clothes are a detriment to play. No child is safe wearing these pants to a playground. He can’t climb. In fact, he can’t get up the bus steps to go to the playground without pulling half a ton of fabric off the ground. These pants wear the child, and the child is a prisoner of his clothes for the sake of fashion.
Children’s clothing needs to compliment the activities. One of Miss Rachel’s all time favorite morning exercises is to take her class over to the big pond. The kids come back needing to be hosed down, but they’ve learned so much, seen so much, and have had a brilliant morning, dirt on good clothes simply can’t be a deterrent to learning.
Learning is rarely clean when you’re a pre-reader. Learning is a try on experience. Making and doing will teach more than someone telling you about something. Kids need to touch especially. You can read a story about rabbits, but until a giant rabbit like Carl hops through circle time, and you can reach out and pet him, the rabbit translation is lacking.
Look at a single day in a really busy childcare: Chocolate chip muffins for breakfast followed by a session of finger painting followed by digging in the pea gravel to find crinoids and other fossils. Spaghetti for lunch, popsicles on the playground for treats, clay or glue as an afternoon project that compliments a history discovery, and an ice cream cup. In the summer add water to play.
But dirt mostly washes out of clothes. There is a wonderful laundry product called De solv it. It takes most dirt, grease and paint stains out. It’s a pre wash treatment that goes with bleach.
Then there is balance of dirt; there’s Mrs. St. Louis. She has never had a spot on any piece of clothing that someone else didn’t spill on her - like me. She can cook for an hour and she’s spotless, but you should see the kitchen! It takes three weeks to clean up Mrs. St. Louis’s paper mache.
It’s a matter of personality. Know your child and make allowances for him as he is.
She gave me her usual disenchanted look that said, “And it hasn’t gotten any better since, but it’s OK, we love you anyway.”
“I’m trying,” I insisted.
“You’re very trying,” it was a sweet sister whisper.
Style is not my bailiwick. If I could buy seven pairs of jeans all the same and seven shirts all the same, I’d go for it and be as happy as a clam. I once thought that cassocks for everyone would be just wonderful. It was not a readily accepted idea. Miss Rachel, our unusually beautiful first grade teacher sighed. “Yours can be sleeveless, very short and made of gauzy bright colored material.”
“Sounds like an idea,” she laughed.
I’m glad the fashion show quirk has never taken hold at the Garden School, because life at school is dirty for everyone. There’s not a morning that goes by that all of our teachers are not up to our elbows in some kind of messy thing. I think I spend half my day shoveling something. Lately it’s been the garden. It’s always the pet room, moving gravel on the playground, burying one of our animals that died. Sometimes it’s time to repot plant or move a tray of paints or clay or make paper mache. Mostly my mess involves cooking.
This is where personality comes in and you can see it in children. Some children can go out to play in the pea gravel and come in like they just got dressed; they are clean from head to foot including their faces.
Some children can’t breathe deeply without looking like Miss Judy. I relate to these kids and they find a special place in my heart. That’s why washing is so important. I am always pleased when a dirty child informs me that the soap box in the bathroom is empty.
We have a schedule for washing – every time you come in the building, before you eat, after you use the bathroom or scratch some unmentionable part. Washing hands to the elbows helps stave off all kinds of nasty childhood viruses.
But what about their clothes? We really think the best scenario for a parent of a child who gets really dirty is to buy school clothes at the thrift store. Five outfits can’t cost more than $15.00. Keep nice things for home, especially shoes. Pea gravel does a real job on shoes. Then, if a parent needs a child to look nice after school, he should send an outfit in a plastic bag with note. It’s a compromise.
A child’s clothes should be comfortable, big enough to move freely in, but not so big a child can’t climb a slide. We have a dress code that says boys’ shorts must come to or above the knee. What we are forbidding are those “do nothing – loafer” pants where the crotch hangs down to the knees so the child can literally “do nothing.” When the child walks, it’s as if he’s wearing a dirty diaper. These clothes are a detriment to play. No child is safe wearing these pants to a playground. He can’t climb. In fact, he can’t get up the bus steps to go to the playground without pulling half a ton of fabric off the ground. These pants wear the child, and the child is a prisoner of his clothes for the sake of fashion.
Children’s clothing needs to compliment the activities. One of Miss Rachel’s all time favorite morning exercises is to take her class over to the big pond. The kids come back needing to be hosed down, but they’ve learned so much, seen so much, and have had a brilliant morning, dirt on good clothes simply can’t be a deterrent to learning.
Learning is rarely clean when you’re a pre-reader. Learning is a try on experience. Making and doing will teach more than someone telling you about something. Kids need to touch especially. You can read a story about rabbits, but until a giant rabbit like Carl hops through circle time, and you can reach out and pet him, the rabbit translation is lacking.
Look at a single day in a really busy childcare: Chocolate chip muffins for breakfast followed by a session of finger painting followed by digging in the pea gravel to find crinoids and other fossils. Spaghetti for lunch, popsicles on the playground for treats, clay or glue as an afternoon project that compliments a history discovery, and an ice cream cup. In the summer add water to play.
But dirt mostly washes out of clothes. There is a wonderful laundry product called De solv it. It takes most dirt, grease and paint stains out. It’s a pre wash treatment that goes with bleach.
Then there is balance of dirt; there’s Mrs. St. Louis. She has never had a spot on any piece of clothing that someone else didn’t spill on her - like me. She can cook for an hour and she’s spotless, but you should see the kitchen! It takes three weeks to clean up Mrs. St. Louis’s paper mache.
It’s a matter of personality. Know your child and make allowances for him as he is.
Randy White
One of our Garden School children from a year or so ago lost his father this past week. Randy White battled a pernicious form of cancer and lost. There is a much needed collection to bury him. Information about where to send a few dollars is in the Evansville Courier and Press newspaper. A few dollars would be a real act of charity for this struggling family.
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