Is "No" a must never say?

Today Jana and I discussed the differences in childcare facilities in our area. She was so comfortable today because our kids are so well behaved! I was thrilled with the positive input. She was amazed that they played well together and that the noise level was so low. She said repeatedly that other places are so chaotic because providers aren’t allowed to correct poorly behaved children. I was shocked to learn that telling a child “no” is a “must never say”.

It is against the law in the state of Indiana to put a child in time-out. Others focus on a method of “redirection”. I agree with this method, but how are you supposed to redirect a child who continually hurts other children? How is he/she supposed to understand that his/her actions were cruel and unkind if there are no consequences? This leaves the provider with no alternatives that effectively work. How is the provider expected to handle his/her job?

Our goal is to teach our children to become adults. Their best example comes from their parents and care providers. We teach them how to become civilized through discipline and structure.

Our children have a discipline chart designed by Miss Kelly. Each child begins with a star and a crown in his/her name pocket. If the child makes another child cry, is disobedient, or destructive he/she will get a blue face in their pocket. If the child has another offense he/she will receive a green face. The green face is strike 3. If bad behavior continues we call the parents. When our form of discipline fails we have no other options.

The chart has worked wonders and the children really have something to work for. We feel that it is more important to support well-behaved children who want to learn, than focus our attention on punishing children who don’t. The day is less stressful on teachers, and encouraging good behavior is a must in this line of work.

We are blessed to have a great group of kids and an extremely supportive group of parents! We get an A+ from Miss Jana!!

The Garden School Tattler

Today was a wonderful day! While the cat's away, the mice will definitely play! Our group was small and played together rather quietly. Miss Kelly’s little boy Jaylen is still battling strep throat, so we hired one of the best subs we have ever had. Miss Jana is a stay-at-home mother of two. Her children Caleb and Josie came to play with us today. She has experience with large groups of children and was employeed at a local daycare. She is great with the kids and
they just love her!

We began our day with Pop tarts, pineapple and, and milk. The children ate quietly and went to circle time. Mrs. St.Louis gave the children a drawing lesson. Today was “Bunnies in the Springtime”. The pictures were absolutely darling! They will all go in a book for Miss Judy because we already miss her so much!

The weather was a bit dreary today. We braved the wind and clouds for an hour. I think we are all ready for some real sunshine! After outside time was over, we dragged out the inside toys for building. The boys built a castle for their rescue heroes. The girls played in dress up. Our new little boy, Alex, is fascinated by Buckaroo, a tabletop game that the kids really enjoy.

Mrs. St.Louis made spaghetti, and they gobbled it down. Miss Jana’s little girl Josie has quite an appetite for life! After finishing a plate of spaghetti she decided to cleanse her pallet with an Altoid mint. She’s not even 2 yet!
The day went off without a hitch! We have such a great group of children. We really enjoy them. They are so entertaining.

A Rest

I'll be in Washington for a few days. Miss Molly is going to tattle while I'm away. This is my first get away in four years, so I'm really looking forward to it. The trip is a present from my daughter Katy. Since Anne has agreed to feed the cats, and Edith has agreed to care for all our school animals, it's a go. Blessings, Judy

A Letter from Miss Molly

I am writing this in response to the person who responds negatively to the blog on a regular basis.

Taking children on extended field trips was a decision we made with our parents' approval. Parents who feel that their children are too young or not ready for long trips have graciously found care elsewhere for the day or have chosen to come along for the ride. These extended trips mean children have the bonus of seeing what the world has to offer outside Evansville.

Some of our parents don't have an option with their heavy workloads to take their children places during the summer and have found it to be a real treat for us to take them someplace they haven't been before. Considering a change to our curriculum and shortening long field trips primarily involves a lack of hours in a day, fuel costs, and field trip expense. We simply can't do all of the things we would love to do with our children!

Our program is full of all kinds of things that are age appropriate and educational. I know. I am not only an employee but a mother with 2 children that attend our school. I get a majority of my feedback and input from my 6 year old! They have brilliant ideas!

Yet no matter what we do or suggest, we have a reader who routinely writes negative comments about very positive pieces written by Miss Judy. Most of the comments have absolutely nothing to do with the subject matter written and don't make sense. "You must like the boys more than the girls" Miss Judy has 3 grandsons and 2 on the way. I assure you, she loves both groups equally. What does this comment have to do with praising our little girls for doing something adorable?

This blogsite is a tool for parents that have questions about childcare. Our parents get an inside look into the highlights of our day and view pictures of their little ones. The blog is a resource we are thrilled to provide. There are over 150 links to sites well worth using, and major blogs pick up our news and Tattlers.

We are asking parents not to respond to the insults of someone that has a dislike for our program and hatred for our writers. Negativity breeds negativity and we just won't tolerate it. We hope that you like what you read and we hope to get your productive input.

Thank you, Molly Snyder

Indiana

South Bend Tribune

Child Care Site Rules to be Rewritten

Providers, parents invited to meet legislators, learn of process.

JOSEPH DITS Tribune Staff Writer

This spring state officials will begin rewriting the rules that govern licensed child care homes in Indiana.This pleases many who run those homes since they feel -- at last -- their input will help to shape the rules.In fact, a group of them invites fellow child care home providers, advocates and parents to an informal meeting Monday to learn about what this will mean.

The guests will include Republican state representatives Tim Neese, of Elkhart, and Jackie Walorski, of Lakeville.Walorski said she has advocated on behalf of the providers to "keep the state's heavy-handed regulations off of them."

Walorski doesn't plan to introduce any child care bills in next year's session. She said she'd only do so if she feels that Indiana's Family and Social Services Administration is becoming "overly heavy-handed" with the new rules.

In Indiana, home-based care must be licensed if it looks after six or more children.Early last year, a set of 56 new rules awaited the signature of the state's new governor, Mitch Daniels, but he refused after hearing complaints from the Indiana Childcare Association that the rules were unworkable. New FSSA Secretary Mitch Roob agreed and scrapped the new rules altogether.

"I don't think the providers had a voice," Melanie Brizzi said of the process that created those rules. She's a state-contracted liaison on child care issues between providers, legislators and the state. "We'll make sure we do it right this time."

On five days spread over May, June and July, she said, providers will be involved in "work groups" to discuss what's good and bad and what needs to change in the current regulations. These groups will include fire marshals, health departments, FSSA officials and others who have a stake in the rules. Based on that feedback, Brizzi said, a set of proposed rules will be drafted by the National Association for Regulatory Administration, a group that works in licensing for child care, substance abuse programs and other human services.

NARA adds objectivity to the process, said Michelle Thomas, the FSSA's child care administrator. "They've done this in other states," she said.NARA also will try to write the rules so they are easier to understand, she said -- so that you don't have to flip to different pages to know what to do in one area.

The proposed rules that were rejected last year came about because the FSSA wanted to ensure safety after 16 children died in licensed child care homes in Indiana from 1999 to 2003.

The rule writers had said that most of those deaths happened because of a lack of supervision.

Among the new rules was one that required that children remain within sight and sound of an adult caretaker at all times. Providers argued that they were bound to break the rule when they turned around for a couple of minutes or let a child go to the bathroom.

Thomas said safety remains the "bottom line" of the rules."Our goal isn't to dumb down the rules," Thomas said. "It's to use some common sense in what we regulate."After the new rules are drafted in October, the general public will have chances to offer their input at public meetings.

"We are optimistic that we will come up with attainable, healthy regulations that we can all abide by," said Indiana Childcare Association's president, Monica Boyer, of Warsaw. Depending on how it goes, Thomas said, the FSSA will look into revisions in the rules for licensed child care centers.

The Garden School Tattler

Sara Writes: that's what parents are asking for the DECISION...I don't want daycare but I don't want it stopped either.. what I would like to see is the government supporting stay at home parents just as much..

It's an interesting idea, but complicated. To accommodate parents who want to stay home means a government grant would go to private homes. So what, you say, working mothers get grants and so do students, why not stay at home mothers?

Most working parents would probably say because a working person is a contributor to the work force and the economy and a student is liable to eventually find a job that contributes a taxable income. It's an investment. Studies say it works. Stay at home parents would use grant money without a return on the investment. And who would pay for it? Would working class parents have to pay for stay at home parents to stay home? Seems unfair.

It seems that the decision to stay at home, and I did it for fifteen years, is a pioneer position. You're on your own. If you give up the second income, that's your choice, and you have to live with it.

At the same time, if the government did pay parents to stay home, how much of a say about that home would the government be entitled to? Could they tell you what you could and could not eat, what if any religion you could practice, how many children you can have, when and where, and what things you could and could not do in your government subsidized life?

Personally, I think a home is a sacred place and not for government interference. We've fought long and hard in this country for freedom, and to invite government funding into our homes is just asking to turn back the clocks. Boston Tea Party revisited.

Anti Day Care - A Web Site

A letter came from a reader about a February 26 post. She recommended that I read the anti day care web site. I've seen it before. My first impression was to laugh and my second was a snide grammatical comment, and I looked carefully at the website because I really believe everyone has a point of view, and we too often brush off points of view not like our own.

After considering this point of view and taking the time to read some of the articles on the site, I concluded that she's right: institutions don't love or care because they are inanimate; people do. To say that all people working in childcare facilities don't love "your" child is idiotic and closed minded and not worth paying attention to. To say that the people working in childcare don't love "your" child as much as "you" do is a respectable statement. Of course they don't, and if they did, what's wrong with "you?"

The truth is, some childcare providers just like some teachers will really bond with a child. There will be a friendship you can count on. I know about this because 25 years ago I started making a lot of friends who I really cared about -- little people - who now have little people of their own. When I meet them in the street or at a party or wedding, we remember, and the love and respect all comes back.

At the same time there isn't a child at my school I wouldn't take home as my own if the opportunity presented itself. Every child, every person has worth and value and is lovable. Love is an easy response to a child. To be able, like the parent, to tell the child he or she is lovable, and well worth fighting for is a glorious gift, a royal opportunity, a joy beyond any possible reward.

To say Childcare is a barrier to love is dumb. It's about as dumb as saying nobody really needs childcare. Besides, who is to moderate who loves whom and why? But someone wrote in, and it's worth looking at. So here's the intro to the anti childcare website and you decide:



Everyone knows it’s true… but almost everyone’s afraid to say it: Daycare institutions don’t care about or love your child like you do.

For years, many experts have been warning us about the detrimental consequences for children placed in day care.

This website contains an extensive index of publications about daycare from well-known child development authorities, psychologists, psychiatrists, pediatricians, public policy analysts, sociologists, daycare providers, and others.

This collection of day care information seeks to counterbalance the relentless pressure placed upon parents to abandon their children to these impersonal institutions.

These findings show that no amount of legislation, government funding, money, early childhood training, regulations, or inspections can make a day-care love your child.

Illinois

This is so real. The truth is, in family child care that's run well, whose provider is on the ball, and whose house is large enough, the number that makes it work is ten or more because that gives enough children to play with while it makes the place hum with activity. Too few kids is boring and too many is hard to manage. Providers know their maximums.

Child-care Providers Pack Hearing
Health, safety issues: City licenses, limiting numbers
By Ryan Pagelow
Staff writer

WAUKEGAN — Stressing health and safety issues, city officials during a public hearing Wednesday night made the case for a proposed home-based child-care ordinance that would require providers to have a city license to operate.

More than 175 child-care providers attended the meeting, a majority of them in opposition to proposed limits on the number of children permitted in their home-based day cares. They also said the Department of Children and Family Services already inspects their homes for safety and health regulations.

Under current city ordinances, home-based day-care operations are limited to four children regardless of how many providers are on site, said Noelle Kischer of the Waukegan Department of Planning and Zoning, although it's not enforced.

The new ordinance proposes limiting the number of children in a home day care to eight, including the owners' children under 12 years of age.

Many providers are licensed through the DCFS to care for up to 12 or 16 children.

"If this ordinance is not passed we will be forced to enforce (current city ordinances)," Kischer said. "Eight is generous. Four is the current number."

The process of developing the new proposed ordinance started in 2001 with committee meetings and community forums.

"There were many complaints about noise, especially car doors slamming in the mornings and excessive garbage," Kischer said.

The committee researched ordinances in other communities and found that Libertyville limits home day cares to eight children and Zion limits to six children. About two dozen states also limit to eight children.

Another concern Kischer raised is that the local DCFS office currently has only four staff members to monitor Waukegan's 223 licensed home-based day cares, three group homes and 21 day-care centers.

If home child-care providers are required to be licensed by the city of Waukegan in addition to DCFS, their neighbors will be notified of the intent to operate a day- care home and emergency responders would also be aware that children are in the home when responding to a call.

Some providers in the meeting were concerned about sexual predators in Waukegan knowing about the location of home day cares in the neighborhood, but any known sexual predator within 500 feet of a day care would be told to move by law.

Cynthia Mendez, a Waukegan parent, said if the number of children is limited, about 30 to 50 percent of kids currently in home-based day care would be affected.

"Who is going to care for them? They don't have the money for day care," Mendez said. "If I don't have child care, I don't have a job."

The majority of the low-income home child care is paid through a subsidy from the Department of Human Services. Kischer said many day-care centers would accept the subsidies and that there are vacancies of 31 percent in local child-care homes.

Cheryle Johnson, a day-care provider with three assistants in her home, said she was concerned that school-aged children will be left out of day cares. She also said home day cares have longer hours than centers for parents who work odd hours.

"We open homes at 5 a.m. We have wonderful people around the clock," Johnson said.
Other providers mentioned that new limits could lead to underground child care and that current levels of income earned by caring for more than eight children is vital for providers to sustain their homes.

Margaret Buffin, a child-care provider for 20 years, said she's in favor of regulation, but that DCFS already does that for providers.

"DCFS checks twice a year. I change my fire extinguishers every year," Buffin said. "I'm a mother bear from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. and I care for these children. I also run a curriculum at home. I have children that do their homework on my kitchen table."

She said it's up to DCFS and providers to set their limits.

"If you can only care for seven kids, then only care for seven kids," Buffin said.

Delia de la Cruz, the owner of two day-care centers, said she used to have one in her home with 12 children, but received many complaints from neighbors and decided to open her day-care centers in a commercial zone.

"I hope that they will not only think of themselves. We're looking for quality care," De la Cruz said.

The City Council's Judiciary Committee will consider the proposed ordinance in April. The city will help find suitable locations for providers to open day-care centers in commercial zones for those interested in caring for more children than the new ordinance would allow.

"I know the compassion that these people have. But from listening here tonight the main issues I hear are quantity. But I'm most concerned about quality," said 9th Ward Ald. Rafael Rivera at the end of the hearing. "This ordinance is not intended to go after people like you. This is intended for people not following the rules."

West Virginia

I wonder what they don't want the kids to know.

Preschool Report Card
WTAP News
Amber Davison

Pre-kindgergarteners in the Mountain State get an "A", this according to a study released Thursday.

The study ranks West Virginia fifth in the nation in terms of the percentage of 4-year-olds enrolled in pre-kindergarten.

The state also met six of the the national institute for early education's ten quality benchmarks.
These include comprehensive learning standards and specialized training.

Thirty five percent of eligible 4 year olds were enrolled last school year.

Sandy Leasure at Precious Angels Child Care Center in Parkersburg says her day care facility works closely with Wood County kindergarten teachers.

She says there are certain things teachers do and do not want the kids to know before they get to grade school.

Texas

Not sure I quite understand this, but here it is:

Drop-in Child-care Centers Prosper
By ANDREA JARES
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER

With two small children, Kelli and Abel Hilario of Keller have had little chance to get out.

But their social calendar has opened up a bit since they discovered a child-care provider that is open nights — even until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.

Their children, ages 2 and 5, are having more fun, too, when they go to Adventure Kids Playcare in Southlake, where they’ve partied at sock hops and luaus while their parents are at the movies.

“We do it for date night because we never know in time to get a sitter,” Kelli Hilario said. “It’s really convenient.”

Drop-in child care has taken off in Tarrant County from centers set up at grocery stores, mother’s-day-out programs at churches and the sitter who stays a few hours on Saturday nights.

Businesses such as Adventure Kids and Kidztime Hourly Playcare are opening centers with late hours and activities for children from 6 months to 12 years old.

The idea has resonated with parents. Droves have dropped off their children since the businesses opened, the owners said.

Dana Oliver, founder of Adventure Kids, said that in the first month 250 parents joined and she turned a $6,000 profit. Now, 7,500 children are registered at her centers and she often has a waiting list for the Friday and Saturday night parties there, she said.

Parents may drop off their children for various reasons, but they all want their children to have something do while they’re away, too.

“They definitely want them to be entertained,” Oliver said.

Kidztime has centers in Southlake, Euless and Dallas, with plans to add seven more in the Metroplex and others across the state, said Danielle Ferri, an owner. Adventure Kids has locations in Flower Mound and Southlake, with plans to open a Plano franchise in May and expand in the future, said Oliver, who left a corporate job in finance to open her center two years ago.

Oliver and the founders of Kidztime decided to open the child-care centers after they became parents.

Oliver had no problem finding child care for her daughter — as long as it was between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.

But child care became much more complex for the single mom if an event came up in the evenings.

“I couldn’t be the only parent that has that situation,” Oliver said.

The impromptu scheduling these centers allow appeals to parents who need someone watch a child for a few hours while they make a doctor’s appointment, shop, run errands or go out for a quiet dinner.

The operating hours allow flexibility. Adventure Kids Playcare opens at 8 a.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. Saturdays. The center is open until 10 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and midnight Fridays and Saturdays. Sundays are reserved for birthday parties.

Kidztime is similar: open from 8:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays at Southlake Town Square and from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays at Heritage Towne Crossing in Euless.

Both are open from 8:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Sundays are reserved for scheduled birthday parties.

The cost ranges from $7 to $9 an hour, depending on the child’s age. There is also a $40 one-time registration fee. The hourly cost is more expensive than traditional day care, in which parents usually pay a set price per week.

But Ferri, who quit her corporate job and opened the first Kidztime three years ago with Carrie Menchaca, a high school friend and former teacher, said she set her prices lower than a sitter would normally charge, without the scheduling.

“We wanted to make it a no-brainer,” Ferri said.

Both Kidztime and Adventure Kids have areas set aside for children to play video games, watch movies or play with other children or toys.

Some children ask their parents to take them to the day care, even when their parents don’t have some place to be, Oliver said.

Adventure Kids has hosted parties where children dressed up like princesses or pirates, made foam snowballs or read Dr. Seuss books and ate green eggs and ham.

Kidztime’s Tarrant County locations are open as late as 11 Friday and Saturday nights, but on New Year’s, they stayed open until 3 a.m., Ferri said.

The unexpected nature of drop-in day care, where a parent can show up unscheduled with five children, makes them more challenging to manage. The centers are subject to the same staffing regulations as traditional day cares, where the number of children attending the center is consistent, said Neta Pierce, regional director for the state’s child-care licensing.

At a drop-in center, the ratio of employees to children must meet the guidelines no matter how many children stay at the center at any given time.

Parents who might have used part-time day care in the past may be opting for the pay-as-you-go method Kidztime offers, Ferri said.

“We provide that flexibility,” she said. “They can use us whenever they want.”

The Hilarios probably won’t be looking for a baby sitter any more. Kelli Hilario said she likes the convenience of Adventure Kids.

She said she used to have a nagging worry when she and her husband went out and left their children with a teenage sitter.

It was also hard to find a sitter because they didn’t know many responsible teenage girls who were available.

Now she doesn’t worry too much, because the staff at Adventure Kids is trained to work with children and they are not just watching television and eating chips.

“I felt really good about it,” she said. “They’re with other kids. We’re going out to have fun, and they have fun, too.”

Tasmania

I'm not sure about compulsory education for children as young as four. I'm not sure what this would do for the family. Interesting idea, however. It's also interesting to hear from the other side of the world.

Reaction To School Plan Is Positive
By LUCIE VAN DEN BERG
Saturday, 25 March 2006

A Federal Government proposal to force all four-year-olds to attend school has been greeted with optimism and caution in Tasmania.

An early childhood education expert from the University of Tasmania said the proposal may not make waves in the State as most parents already choose to send their four-year-old children to kindergarten. In Tasmania kindergarten is open to four-year-olds and school is only compulsory for children in the year they turn five.

University of Tasmania Early Childhood senior lecturer Margot Boardman said it was a positive step towards ensuring quality education for children.

Dr Boardman said studies had clearly shown that sending children to school from a young age impacted positively on their long- term education. "We rarely get a child who hasn't been exposed to kindergarten," Dr Boardman said. "The earlier you can get them into education the more chance they will have a good education and social outcome." Getting along with others, learning to communicate and the blueprint for literacy skills could be gained through early childhood education, Dr Boardman said.

She said preschool education could go some way to remedy learning problems that spring from low socio-economic backgrounds and social isolation. However she said it was not clear whether full-time education for children at this age would be appropriate.

Federal Education Minister Julie Bishop has said the uniform compulsory education programme would make sure childcare is taught by a qualified early childhood teacher. Dr Boardman said there was a significant difference between caring for a child and educating one. She also said pay and organisational arrangements would have to be examined carefully.

State Education Minister Paula Wriedt said high quality childcare and early schooling laid a strong foundation for a student's education. She said the Essential Learning curriculum supported a child's learning from birth and helped children make a smooth transition from early childhood into full-time education.

The Garden School Tattler

The question asked was: Do we not like what the parents have said about field trips?

There hasn't been enough of a response to really say whether it's been valuable or not. I think we have six responses. The responses have more or less canceled themselves.

In the past ten years, our faculty has been happy do provide this very active part of our school curriculum, but it's good to review what you are doing, and our parents are caring and interested enough to be the best guide. We want to know what you really think, and if it means a change in curriculum, that's not a bad thing. If it means compromise, that's even better. If it means nixing all travel and staying home; I think I'd balk a lot. But there are things I think parents don't know, so I'm posting this for parents to understand what we are doing and why.

Let's get serious: because of the price of gas and the fact that we live in Southwestern Indiana and one has to really drive to get to most things out side EVV, there is an immediate cost factor. So we thought we'd ask our parents if they still think the extensive "on the go" field trips should continue to be part of our summer. It's a fair question and really worth being considered every year.

In the past, this has been our thinking:

Summer is a block of time to either be filled or wasted. We have so often heard, the response, "Nothing," to a question about a child's summer as he enrolled in the Garden School in August. It broke our hearts because although a school might be absolutely grand, summer is a special time in America, and traditionally, it's a time when children have gotten that extra "get away" lesson that reminds them that home and hearth are not the only places in the world. Even in the Middle Ages, 50% of the people went on pilgrimage. When we noticed that a percentage of our kids never got a vacation, never got to travel, or to see more than the four walls of day care and the inside of mom's car, we decided a long time ago to do something about that.

We have thought from the beginning that we could offer a summer program that either added or was that old traditional American plan - have a ball during the summer and remember it for a lifetime. It started with some hour trips to places like St. Meinrad, Lincoln, Audubon, etc. These trips were fun, but what if we went just a little farther, so we went 1.5 hours. How about 2 hours? What about 3? Could we make the caves in Kentucky? Would the kids still enjoy the trip?

The Garden School is not a big school. We fit onto one school bus. And we have had the same school bus driver for ten years. Miss Sandy is a part of our school family, so we have NO fears about safety or surprises.

In the past two years, we've traipsed all over the place. Sometimes it's been great, and other times - it's just OK. That's why we put out the questionnaire. We can stay in town and make shorter field trips. We could take the 3.5 mile hike through Audubon Park. We could ride the trolley in EVV and go for ice cream and walk by the river to Kids Kingdom. But KK is miserable in the heat because there's no shade and the kids always ask to go home. We want to stay outside rather than inside at least most of the time.

This summer, I wanted to buy some kind of zoo pass because taking the kids to the zoo is probably the most expensive thing we do. I know that a zoo pass is reciprocal which means a family can use the pass nearly anywhere in the country for free. I thought it would be a little extra for the money and encourage families to take the zoo outing on weekends and vacations during the year. It was to be included in the field trip fee. A pass would also mean that we could take the kids to the zoo more than once a year. Experiencing the seasons at the zoo would be such fun, but without some kind of pass, that's impossible.

At the same time, I wanted to go to at least two other zoos and call it Safari Summer. Louisville is a marvelous zoo but the cost for admission two years ago was $6.00 each. St. Louis is free, but not the events inside the zoo. The pass would make the events a nominal cost.

I've learned since I've been digging, that we can get a preschool pass to accommodate our needs, but it won't include families. The EVV zoo is looking into whether this preschool pass might be reciprocal.

The Pool:

We take the kids to the Newburgh Pool during the summer because it's not crowded, they accept our patronage and it's close to the school. I've been taking children to that pool for over thirty years. It's a safe pool to swim in, it's got boards, slides, and best, it's got the best playground in the tri-state area. We can make a real swim day as often as we can get the bus. Sometimes the icy trolley comes by and we get the kids those ice treats.

What parents don't know is that the kids get bored with swimming by the middle of July. That's why the field trips are so important. When 75% of the kids are not in the pool, are milling around looking for things to do out of the pool, you hesitate to include more swim days. Except with Pounds Hollow.

Pounds Hollow is a natural lake in Illinois. But the kids have to have some kind of water knowledge before they go near a natural lake. They need to be able to go under and come up. The lake is safe and roped off, but still; it's a lake. So with a month of swimming, we venture out to the lake and the kids see what real swimming is like and they love it and they learn and can practice what they've learned.

We'd love to take a trip to a dairy farm, and we have twice in the past. Two years ago, a law went into effect that mandated milk cows in the State of Indiana be kept under roof? That means that cows are chained under a canopy. It's just not fun anymore. Generally, there is no playground and there's a one seater.

Here are the criteria for field trips: The place has to be within range; it has to be interesting to a child age 3-7 for more than ten minutes; it has to have a public facility (bathroom for more than one person at a time); it has to have a playground; it has to have a place to eat.

We took the kids all the way to New Albany to the dinosaur dig at the museum there and it was a bust. The water was too high to go down on the rocks, and the museum people were nasty and asked us to leave. The playground was small and the eating facility was small as well.

We took the kids on the train ride at French Lick. It was the worst trip we ever took. It took 2.5 hours to get there, the train was as dull as it comes, and then there were no bathrooms and no place to play or eat. It rained and we ended up eating on the bus and cutting the trip short.

One thing I'd really like to do is get some kind of school punch pass to the local theatres to see some new release movies. To be able to take the kids once a quarter to the theatre to see something brand new would be a neat adventure, but it's prohibitive. Does anyone know anyone who could talk to someone about this? Edith and I saw Eight Below, and we whispered all during the movie about which kids would like which scenes, but the whole thing would cost as much as going to Pounds Hollow.

We've tried factories, plants and other local possibles, but for the most part, they don't want three year olds on their properties. Anyone up for a trip to the sewage plant?

We spent a day at Vincennes and it was about like doing penance. The kids just don't get rotundas.

We also went up to to the Spring Mill Park near Jasper. It's a LONG drive and there is a restored village there that's fun for some of the kids. There is just not enough there for young children.

We thought about horseback riding, canoeing, other caves, but for the most part, these dangerous activities are for "parents and me."

Favorite trip? Mine is Lincoln because the children can run, play, they can see the farm, touch the animals, smell the smells of cooking, they can see at a close glance the difference between the different farm animals. There's a woods, so it's not as hot as an open field. There are park rangers who we see every year who play with the kids. There are on going projects and there is a nice little place to eat. Sometimes the train comes through and it's right up close. And it's an hour away. Full cost? $150.00.

We hope this added information helps parents give us some more good ideas and some rebuttal. What have we missed, what don't we see, what could we do that we have not done before?

Garden School Tattler

For the past week I've been working on some private thoughts about the senses. I had to do a talk for MOPs and enjoyed it very much. It was on child development. I thought a lot about how children develop, and I mixed the natural world and the spiritual world to come up with a talk that was nicely received. (I later expanded the talk into the first of a series of columns for WFIE that readers can find by zapping the link WFIE.)

But the senses are far too interesting to let lie undisturbed, and as I was constantly fishing around for connections, probably boring everyone to tears, I got a nice email from one of the moms who was concerned that her child didn't like spelling. "It's a matter of how you approach it," I round about said. "She's an auditory learner, so she needs to come at it from hearing rather than a visual media." When I actually had time to think about what I had said, I realized that most of us come to a learning formula from one or more of our senses. In other words, there is a lead sense, and the others follow along. I'm an auditory learner with a tactile sense.

I immediately made Edith the guinea pig, which she is very tolerant of doing, and then I was reminded of my husbands habits, and then when the water stayed clean, I jumped on the kids.

Yesterday, we made sight boxes, touch boxes, taste tests, and a short what do you remember about hearing. We did the smell thing, but it's unrefined and the kids backed off.

I was sure my grandson Jack who considers food an alien necessity, an evil forced upon him by unloving hands, would balk at the taste test. Right along beside him would come Madison, Miss Kelly's daughter who regards food in the same manner. On the other hand, I thought Damon who would eat anything, everything on and off the plate would sail through the taste test without a mummer. I thought this because Jack and Madison are picky and Damon is not.

In the final analysis, Jack and Madison sat down and primly tried every taste, sour (lemon), salty (salt), sweet (sugar), bitter (cocoa) and nothing (flour) for a contrast, and mastered both the directions and the tastes with nary a pause. They were able to identify the taste with the food without hesitation. Their tests were over in 45 seconds.

Damon, on the other hand, couldn't identify two. He would have eaten the test, but he couldn't tell me what the tastes were. It was remarkably interesting. I supposed they all tasted the same. Would it be true that eaters don't care what food tastes like, and non eaters are keenly aware of tastes? It's an interesting idea and changes what a lot of us think about non eaters.

The sight winner was Yuta. He identified three more objects by sight than any other child. Most of the children identified six objects out of twelve.

The touch test was interesting in that some of the children just couldn't put their hands into the box at all. There was nothing icky in the box, but they wouldn't touch what they couldn't see.

The children who rarely play with a toy, rarely pick up a crayon, a block, or find a puzzle interesting were the children who had most difficulties with the test.

So the question remains: how do you approach the world and why do you use those senses? Is it a matter of circumstance or preference that has formed you? I'm slightly hard of hearing and have a minor uncorrectable vision problem, does that influence me or is preference more influential? Edith is a natural artist, does that influence her?

Then of course there is the more sophisticated question, "How do you use the sense to approach the world?" Are you passive or aggressive, etc. etc.

We've saved the information if parents are interested in what their children did on the tests.

So many questions, so many drums, so many monkeys drumming on drums, dum-diddy-dum-diddy-dum-dum-dum.

Anyway, that was yesterday's activity.

Today it's Medieval dress up, pancake breakfast, and a special fine arts project.

We've gotten some interesting responses from the field trip questionnaire, but we need more.

If you have any comments about field trips, please let us know. You can even comment on this blog. We are open to suggestions. Two key things to remember: Summer is important to children and because the bus is costly no matter what you do, and we only have it on Mondays and Fridays and share it on Wednesdays, we need to carefully consider where we go and why.

jl

Judy's Tips on Good Mornings

Charles came to school nearly naked today. That’s OK; we’re learning what time schedules are, and Charles, by way of bad habits, missed his “window of dressing” and was removed from the house with one sock dangling from his left foot. It was the most he could (would) accomplish in an hour.

He’s hungry too; too bad. Mom will have to pay extra for his breakfast at school this morning which she will take out of his allowance next week. He left his picture on the table unfinished -- well he wasn’t wearing any pockets, so what’s the point?

The point is, Chucky won’t do that again. He’ll be dressed and ready for school with few complaints for a long time -- maybe forever. Too harsh? Too severe? Well that depends on whether you think a routine morning battle is good for everyone in the family.

Morning has always been the make or break of the day. Parents who care will tell you that. In past times I barely remember, it was light when we got up. Breakfast was a cooked meal. People spoke in the morning, and could walk, in a reasonable time, to nearly anywhere they had to go.

Times have changed, we all know that, and not for the better, but that doesn’t mean we have to give up all the amenities and all the benefit of a good morning routine. Anyone can create a good morning; it takes a little engineering.

The first rule of a good morning is a good night’s rest. Go to bed. Establish a good sleep routine. Then, rise at least an hour before your child. It makes all the difference in the world. That morning hour will provide a kind of emotional balance to any adult’s life.

Imagine being able to wake your beloved child with a kiss and a gentle stroking and even a prayer -- a little morning offering -- together that will give reason for the day. Compare that to harshly turning on a light in what must seem to a child as the middle of the night and yelling, “Michael, get up quick, we only have five minutes till we have to leave.”

In the hour before your child is up, gathering your thoughts, planing for the day, making any last minute family adjustments, writing any notes, packing lunches, and ironing the edging on your child’s little blouse collar makes the details of motherhood a memorable experience for the rest of the day.

Breakfast doesn’t have to be Eggs Benedict; but it shouldn’t be cold pot roast and potatoes, yesterday’s pizza or last week’s chocolate cake simply because a child’s stomach is not a trash can. When children vomit coke, mashed potatoes, and chocolate cake at 7:45, we really need to evaluate our living habits. And breakfast doesn’t have to be eaten on the fly.

Nor does dressing have to be a battle. Think about how many outfits a child can really wear in a two week stretch. Should there be summer and winter clothes in one closet? Should Benji’s baby socks still be in his drawer when he’s four? Should that hideous black leather spider outfit your cousin sent really be an option? Clean out everything your child can’t, won’t, shouldn’t and wouldn’t wear. Fewer choices mean fewer arguments.
Start at night for the next day: straighten rooms, take baths, choose clothes, set up tomorrow’s homework or show and tell. Make these after dinner things to do right before family hour.

And just like mom or dad, a child needs a good night sleep. It’s a good thing to put children to bed early. The children who are day care age who go to bed before eight o’clock have many fewer physical, emotional, behavioral and intellectual problems.

Tips on Parenting

ContraCostaTimes.com

TOM MCMAHON: KID TIPS

Before Picking Day Care, Co Your Homework

EXHAUSTIVE STUDIES are shedding some light on the great debate about child day care. The findings not only suggest that day care is unlikely to harm a child's development, but that it can actually increase a young child's cognitive and social skills. That's good news, but there is a catch: These positive outcomes pertain only to "high quality" programs, which are extremely hard to find and often expensive.

So, what's a parent to do? First, give this issue your utmost attention, recognizing that the choice of day care facility can have potential long-term consequences for your child, either positive or negative. Shop around for a high-quality program, then get on its waiting list. Look for: a low ratio of children to caregivers, no greater than 3-to-1 for infants and 5-to-1 for toddlers; a clean and safe facility; a stimulating social and educational environment; and staff who are licensed or certified, as well as loving and nurturing.

After finding a child care provider, take the advice of the parent below who offers our first kid tip.

Preparing for day care: To eliminate, or at least reduce, fear for my 3-year-old son and heighten anticipation of his first experience at day care (I had gotten a job and had to work full time), I took him on a short visit to the center on a Friday, before he was to attend the following Monday. Very briefly, I showed him all the neat stuff he could do and all the wonderful things he could play with there. Just as he would get into one new adventure, I'd drag him on to the next.
Then I said we had to go. He almost cried. But I assured him that he could come back on Monday and spend the whole day playing with everything. When I dropped him off Monday, he almost jumped from the car, and the only person left crying because of the separation was me. -- L.H., Phoenix

Keeping mud out of cars: When picking up muddy children from their various sporting events, turn the car floor mats over so the rubber side is up. This makes cleanup much easier. Also, keep some large garbage bags in your car or van for when your children and their friends are muddy from head to toe. Either slip the bags over your car seats -- one over the top and one around or on each seat cushion (be sure not to block the seat belts) -- or ask the kids to step into the bags so their muddy bottoms and shoes are covered. -- L.C., Orinda

Adjusting to a new rule: Whenever we make a significant change in our household rules, my husband and I give our children plenty of time to adjust to the idea before implementing it. After deciding there would be no TV watching on school nights, we mentioned it several times during the summer months to get them used to the idea. When the time arrived, the transition went smoothly. -- M.A.L., Springfield, Mass.

Use your child's name: To encourage your child to listen while you read a storybook, substitute your own child's name for the character's name written in the book. -- Diane W., Alameda
'Do as I say, not as I do': Don't expect standards of behavior from your teens that you don't practice yourself: obeying the speed limit; giving priority to family time; using drugs, tobacco or alcohol; cheating or lying. For example, if you cheat on expense reports, your teens might think that it's no problem to cheat on tests. And your attitude about alcohol will probably decide theirs. -- L.S., Garland, Texas

Every parent has a favorite parenting tip. Tom. Tom McMahon is a syndicated columnist, college professor and author of the books "Kid Tips" and "Teen Tips." Visit his Web.

The Garden School Tattler

Picture the day: ten little boys have thirty bean bags and three empty planters and are taking aim at what seems a real target. They line up taking a shot. The hilarity raises the mood of the room. Five other boys take 100 box blocks and build a round tower. The girls dress up in long skirts, high heels, crowns and totter around the building making girl comments about the boys' aim, their round towers, and the general mess. The bell rings. The children clean up the playroom and go to circle time when one child asks about the guillotine. With truthful answers that cause wide eyes, the children eagerly listen to all the neat stuff about "what they used to do." It's all very impressive.

After a grand pull bread, apples and milk breakfast, we all gather for another meeting of the minds. "Embroidery or shields," I say, "Your choice." As I predicted all the girls eagerly approached the art table and eight girls begin a morning of embroidery. It's very successful. It's so successful, and they like it so much, I show them how to do french knots. Hadley understands and actually makes one. They also learn how to bead a garment. "Would you like an embroidery corner so that you can make stuff all the time?" They squeal with delight. When they have learned not to round the hoop, I show them some famous embroideries. Out comes the Bayeux Tapestry and the Unicorn Tapestry in pictures. "I can see the stitches," says Faith.

Meanwhile out in boy land, the boys have colored some nasty looking dragons and the teachers have carefully cut them out. The boys have gone through some wonderful donations of damask and silk swatches, and have chosen one that amuses them. We mount the dragons on the silk, and the silk on cardboard and cover the whole thing with contact paper and we have a reasonable shield.

It's close to lunch. For lunch we had the spirited piggie pie, noodles, apples and grapes, oranges, turnips, carrots, radishes, celery and dip, begets and butter. Then it's outside to fight a dragon. Now picture the children excited about the impending piggie pie. "Get your embroidery off my raw meat," I said out loud. "Only at the Garden School," commented one of the teachers.

After lunch we celebrated Aidan's fifth birthday. He's a marvelous child. He brought the most wonderful gummy worm chocolate cupcakes - the mixing of worm and chocolate was endearing. The children just loved the party.

It was a very creative day. It was a block day. That means we have discovered yet another thing children like to do - embroider.

Teaching children about real stuff like tapestries, food, guillotines and dragons is important.

PS - We have a bad case of pink eye. According to one doctor's office, there have been 65 cases of pink eye in his office today. Please be aware for some children it is extremely contageous and it can cause blindness. Please treat a child right away and don't bring him to school until after he has been treated. If your child wakes up with crusted eye - he's contageous and needs drops. It's not hard to do, but he or she should not be around other children.

For adults who get pink eye, you need to discard your present contact lenses and treat the infection without contacts or it will continue to infect your eyes. It's not only unpleasant, it could be dangerous. Please see that your infected child is treated until the redness is gone and the eye is normal. Remember to wash your hands after treating your child.

Letter from the Post

I think what Mr. Sullivan misses about the preschool years is the kind of learning involved. Preschool children don't learn like other children. The preschool years are auditory not visual, and therefore the amount taken in is three times what third to twelfth graders are capable of taking in. The preschool child is emotionally freer to absorb.

The mistake most people make about preschool involves curriculum. When the day is spent with two color sheets, three two year old songs, fifteen minutes with a plastic kitchen, a puzzle made for a two year old, then it's a waste of time altogether.

Preschool should involve a presentation of the world in all its disciplines. It's a time for pre-reading, pre writing, and early arithmetic, art, art appreciation, earth science, story history, Bible stories, music and intro to foreign language, it's not preschool; it's babysitting.

Washington Post

Preschool Isn't The Only Answer

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

According to E.J. Dionne Jr., the proposal to guarantee preschool for every 4-year-old in California would be a cost-effective investment [op-ed, March 3]. He cited economist James J. Heckman's argument that remediation for missed early childhood investments is costly.

However, extensive empirical evidence summarized by Darcy Olsen in the article "Early Childhood Education: A Caveat" shows that preschoolers' edge in achievement over that of children who did not attend preschool disappears by the third or fourth grade. The same held true when using national data to compare full-time and part-time kindergartens.

Mr. Heckman's work also omitted discussion of the Tennessee teacher-student database. Analysis of its 6 million records shows that a good teacher (measured by improvements in student achievement) is the most effective resource, regardless of student background or socioeconomic characteristics. Nor did Mr. Heckman acknowledge the many schools that have significantly improved the achievements of at-risk students without major increases in funding.

Mr. Heckman stressed the importance of noncognitive skills that can be taught to young children, including patience, discipline and motivation, and that these skills pay off in the long term by leading to reduced dropout rates. However, these skills can be taught in kindergarten.

Further, American fourth-graders test higher in math and reading than fourth-graders in many developed countries. By eighth grade, scores fall to average. By 12th grade, they are near the bottom. This strongly suggests that educators should focus on third- to 12th-grade students rather than diverting scarce resources to preschool.

JOHN A. SULLIVAN
Arlington

The Garden School Tattler

It's been a peaceful week. We've been talking about the Middle Ages. The boys love the life of a knight. They all want to be squires but none want to start out as pages. The pages did all the work, and the squires learned how to fight and ride and got great clothes like swords and shields. We're going to make shields today for the boys and the girls are going to learn some embroidery. Will we let the girls make shields and the boys do embroidery? Sure, but I would bet not a single boy wants to pick up a needle in favor of a shield, and not a single girl thinks a shield is more fun than what she could do with a needle and thread. We will see however. It's always their choice.

We've been eating our rendition of Medieval food - yesterday it was bean soup, eggs, cheese chunks, bread, apples, and grapes. They ate every single thing. Monday we had roasted chicken, noodles a la Marco Polo and today it's piggie pie. When you make it fun, their interest fires up.

Yesterday we read a story about St. George and the dragon. The kids loved it. The description of the dragon was really elegant and the kids all listened.

Today in class the kindergarten will attempt to read the "little books." I'm very excited. Yesterday we played some new games and a lot of kids took prizes away with them. They like the number game - identifying a number like 43 and telling everyone what the next number is. They also like the letter game - identifying an air sound from a mouth sound. Aidan and Faith and Abby won those prizes.

Justin and Taylor won the math prize and Justin won two bingos.

Games in class really help to encourage participation and interest.

Bangladesh

One of our very first students at the Garden School was a boy named Anad who was the son of a Bangladesh couple who came to the US to train as medical techs. They returned to a remote part of Bangladesh to work in field hospitals as the only medical personnel for hundreds of miles. They were the nicest people. We enjoyed their son very much. I often wonder what happened to them.

Japanese Assistance for Mother, Childcare Training Institute
3/21/2006

Japan will provide a grant of Tk 6.35 million to a local NGO, Eskander Welfare Foundation, for construction of the Mother and Child Care Training Institute in Pirojpur district, reports UNB.

Japanese Ambassador in Dhaka Matsushiro Horiguchi and foundation chairman MA Salam Talukder signed a grant contract to this effect in the city Monday.The objectives of the project are to provide improved training facilities including well-equipped classrooms and quality health and family planning services especially mother and child health.

About 50 doctors, 500 paramedics, nurses, health visitors and beneficiaries will be trained for safe motherhood and child survival under the programme.In Bangladesh, a total of 119 projects covering 99 NGOs have already received the grant amounting US dollar 7.8 million (about Tk 550 million) under Japan's scheme, which have been significantly contributing to the efforts of the NGOs to promote social development at the grassroots level in Bangladesh.

Two Women

Early Childhood teachers are rarely celebrated simply because it's a job that means a lot to a child and to families who need us, but because we don't bring in the big bucks, nor do we make big bank deals, sell a lot of cars, houses or material goods, there is no place to put us on the roster for "important." I like this story because these women gave their lives to children, and to me that's the most important thing you can do. A child is God's blessing on the world and that's more important than anything I can think of. We make a lot of things in this world, but God made the child. Working with children is a privilege.

Sun Weekend
Antiqua
Celebrating Two Outstanding Teachers
Saturday March 18 2006

The staff at the Early Childhood Educational Training Centre would be celebrating its 10th anniversary of the training programme during the month of March. We would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank all those people who have contributed to the success of the programme over the years.

Individuals who have made an impact on the programme would include former supervisors of the Early Childhood Educational Training Centre, field officers, lectures and the students themselves who have sacrificed their time during the last ten years. At this time, we will also recognise two black women who have made significant contribution to early childhood education in Antigua and Barbuda throughout the years.

These women are Ethlyn V. Williams, retired proprietor of the Ethlyn V. Williams Child Development Centre located in Gambles, and Pearle Gordon, supervisor, Pilgrim Holiness Preschool located in Gray’s Farm.

Ethlyn V. Williams
Ethlyn V. Williams was born in Liberta Village, Antigua, to Mr. and Mrs. Novelle Athill. Her formative education took place at the Grace Hill Moravian School, and after leaving school, she worked at Millers’ Insurance Company at High Street, St. John’s, for approximately 20 years. She subsequently migrated to the United States of America where she was employed at a nursery school and a preschool for approximately five years at Beverly Heights, New Jersey.

After returning home, she made the decision to become self-employed. That decision came about because of her love for, and contact with, the young ones she cared for while in the United States. Parents in Williams’ immediate community, who were going back to work after the birth of their babies, approached her about taking care of their babies and toddlers while they returned to work. She graciously consented, and in 1979, she extended her services to include a pre-school for children two plus to four plus years of age. Thus was born the Gambles Community Preschool.

In order to effectively perform her role as preschool teacher, as well as head of her business, Williams enrolled and became certified in the practices of early childhood education. She attended classes and workshops held by the University Centre School of Continuing Studies, and the Early Childhood Education Training Centre at Gunthorpes.

As a believer in her creator, she echoes these words – “In everything you do, put God first and pray continuously, and He will see you through.” The calibre of citizens whom Williams has produced throughout the years is testimony to her attributes of loving, caring, reliability, commitment, and dedication.

Williams gives credit for her achievements to Dr. Edris Bird and Winnifred Peter-Roberts, who were very instrumental in assisting her with the overall management of the services which she offered.

Her students often consist of third and fourth generation of families whom she taught previously, and she is convinced that her steady flow of students is due to the impact she made on her former students.

In conclusion, Williams would like to quote from R.C. Savage – “Most people are willing to pay more to be amused than to be educated.”

Pearle Gordon
Pearl Gordon received her formal schooling at the All Saints Government School. She was placed in charge of the former Pilgrim Primary School on 10 March 1973 and has been running the school ever since.

In the early years of the establishment, the children who attended the school ranged between ages three years and 12 years, and at one time, there were more than 150 students enrolled at the school. She later dropped the age of the older children attending the school to age eight years. Currently, Gordon caters to children between two and a half and five years of age. Her present enrollment at the now Pilgrim Preschool is 30 students. She prides herself in the fact that many of her past students are holding prominent positions in Antigua & Barbuda.

Her advice to those who are interested in early childhood education is to “love and understand children, and learn to cope with them.”

The staff at the Early Childhood Educational Training Centre salutes these two women for the sterling contribution they made to the nation of Antigua and Barbuda throughout the years. We wish them God’s continued blessings as they journey on in life.

Preschool in Spanish

This is fabulous:
New Preschool to Teach Only in Spanish

By MELISSA SÁNCHEZ
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER

Five years ago, Plano teacher Vicki Kelly wasn’t bilingual, but she wished her children were. And she wasn’t alone.

Kelly and two other mothers, one from Peru and one from Mexico, decided to teach preschool to five children — in Spanish.

“The Hispanic population is growing every year, and families who speak only English have no way to give their kids the Spanish language,” Kelly said.

Through word-of-mouth, the news spread to other mothers and by the end of the year, the tiny class that started in Kelly’s living room grew to 80 children, she said.

The class moved to a church classroom and later filled four. Two years later, the trio of mothers started the Spanish Schoolhouse in Frisco. In August, the program will expand to Grapevine and North Dallas.

The preschool offers cultural programs designed to teach and develop preschool skills speaking only Spanish.

The school is part of a trend toward a bilingual population, spokeswoman Tami Shinedling said.
Children enter the Spanish Schoolhouse preschool at age 2 and are immersed in the Spanish language and culture during the school day until they move to kindergarten.

At the beginning of the school year, both English and Spanish are spoken so pupils can understand the rules and expectations and get to know their teacher. A smooth transition to Spanish-only is easy and even fun for them, Kelly said.

Teachers act out what they are saying so that children will understand. If the teacher ever doubts the children understand something, she briefly explains in English and then continues in Spanish. Students also have a daily English class to help develop reading skills and prepare them for kindergarten in regular school.

“We are here to encourage the love of the Spanish language and will ensure that the children feel comfortable and secure in the environment of our school,” Kelly said.

Research shows that the best time to learn additional languages is from birth to age 12 or 13, Kelly said. Spanish Schoolhouse takes advantage of that “window of opportunity.”
She said the school’s teachers are native Spanish speakers.-

Sarah Salzer is a fan of the school. Her 6-year-old daughter, Peyton, has attended Spanish Schoolhouse since it opened three years ago, and now corrects her mother’s pronunciation of the word mango.

Spanish Schoolhouse “has made her more accepting of other cultures,” Salzer said. “I don’t agree with the opinion that because we live in the U.S. we should only speak English. In Aruba, people speak five languages, and if we don’t start soon we’ll miss the boat.”- IN THE KNOW Spanish Schoolhouse

Ireland

This piece was interesting to me because I got an email from England from someone who was amazed that we could freely post pictures of our children on the blog. In England and Ireland and probably other places, you can't do that.

From America, I've received several thank yous from the grandparents of our kids who are delighted with posted pictures because they don't get to see their kids or grand children often enough. I can't imagine losing that freedom.

This picture is of the kids getting ready for the play. It's fru-fru day, and the girls are trying on their crowns.

The Corkman is convicted of breaching the Child Care Act

THE CORKMAN newspaper was fined €750 by Judge Michael Pattwell for breaching the Child Care Act.

The newspaper published a story and picture of a man who was protesting about accessibility to his children, who were in care at the time.

The paper was convicted of breaching section 31 of Child Care Act, 1991. Editor of The Corkman Brendan Malone was in court to answer the charge and was represented by The Corkman solicitor Graeme Murray.

Both legal sides agreed to amend the summons from Independent Newspapers to The Kerryman Ltd, the publisher of The Corkman.

Solicitor for the Health Service Executive (HSE) Southern Area, Denise Kirwan told the court the article, which was published, concerned a parent who made a protest regarding accessibility to his children.

“The article and photograph identified the children and the photograph of the father linked both together, and that’s why we are here today,” said Denise Kirwan. She said the newspaper had contacted the communications department of the HSE prior to publication and were advised not to publish the photograph and the article.

She said an e-mail from the HSE was sent to The Corkman regarding this but it had gone unopened before the paper printed the photograph and article.

Defending solicitor Graeme Murray denied the newspaper made contact with the HSE but an e-mail which had arrived at the editor’s computer prior to publication went unopened as it was one of 200 which he received on that day.

“Had the e-mail been opened before publication, it would not have been printed. On discovering the error we immediately wrote to Denise Kirwan explaining the circumstances. Again, there is just no way we would have printed the article had the e-mail been opened,” said Graeme Murray.

The Corkman Editor Brendan Malone said it was the second year in a row that The Corkman had investigated the same man making a protest regarding access to his children.

“We went ahead with the story unaware that any proceedings were taking place. I received the e-mail but, unfortunately, and correcting what was stated previously, it was not one of 200 there were, in fact, in excess of 300 on that day.

This event happened right in the middle of the two busiest weeks of the year for our paper,” explained Mr Malone. Judge Pattwell said, as editor, he could not possibly do all of the work himself. “We would simply not have published this story, had we been aware of the forewarning, as it goes against everything which we stand for,” Mr Malone pointed out.

Denise Kirwan argued, within the body of text, it clearly stated the children were in care and therefore the newspaper was responsible for the identification of the children.

In response, Brendan Malone said the same thing happened the year previously and the paper had spoken to the HSE regarding same. “It was a news value story as it was the year previously,” said Brendan Malone.

When Judge Pattwell asked was news value more of a dominant feature for the newspaper than little children: Mr Malone said the protection of children was paramount to the paper. Graeme Murray asked Judge Pattwell to consider not recording a conviction because of the extenuating circumstances, and offered payment to a children’s charity.

This was rejected by Judge Pattwell who said the case was a serious matter. The monetary fine for a breach of Section 31 of the Child Care Act is €1,269 and the Judge felt this was grossly inadequate, but said he could only work within the law. “The apology the newspaper offered immediately must be taken into account, and maybe the individual who was protesting should have considered his responsibility to his own children,” said Judge Patwell.

He said it was with some regret that he reduced the ‘miserly fine’ to €750.

* In addition to the fine, The Corkman has decided to make a payment of €1,000 to a children’s charity.

Belize

News 5 Belize
Unlucky preschool finally catches a break

It's an educational institution that we visit frequently ... almost always to report bad news. Today, however, Jacqueline Woods headed to Yabra for a different reason.

Jacqueline Woods, ReportingIt was really refreshing to see smiles on the faces of these preschoolers. In facts everyone seemed to be in an upbeat mood at the Port Loyola Preschool in Belize City. The principal, teachers, and children have suffered greatly following numerous break-ins and other acts of vandalism at the school. But today, as the boys and girls celebrated a cultural day inside the building, there was another kind of activity taking place outside on the compound.

A concerned viewer, after hearing about the losses suffered by the students and staff, decided to use his contacts and extend a helping hand. Michael Cain is the principal and manager of Friends Boys School on Allenby Street. He says after hearing about the children’s plight he had no choice but to get in touch with friends in the United States who decided to use their alternative spring break to good use. The group of volunteers are from Huntington University, a Christian College in Indiana.

Norris Friesen, Academic Dean/V.P., Huntington University “For this group of students they decided they would go on a service project, a missions project to Belize. And so we found lots of sun here and we traded the sun for the grey skies and cold weather of Northern Indiana.”

Michael Cain, Principal/Manager, Friends Boys School “We welded broken bars, replace some bars that were missing, built some new bars where it was needed and those kinds of things. Moved bars there were inside, of the windows to the outside, so that they won’t tear up the windows then find out that there are bars in the inside.”

Principal Gwendolyn Jones says the repairs and the spirit in which they were made, has fostered a sense of renewed energy among her staff.Gwendolyn Jones, Principal, Port Loyola Pre School “We have been through so much disaster and for us to be blessed like this, it is very motivating, it makes us want to come to work. Like yesterday morning I woke up very, very early to come to school because I felt so good, because we have always wanted our school to look the best for the children.”

Investigations have revealed that most of the break-ins were committed by children themselves. Michael Cain“One of the causes that we see from our students is it’s a break down in the homes. Our students are coming with single parents, not enough time, not enough money to just take care of the family. And so the kids start looking for other areas to branch out and end up running with what looks like the macho guys on the streets and the gangs and then they end up getting into trouble.”

It is hoped that the new security measures will keep the burglars out and the school can focus on what it does best: early childhood education. Jacqueline Woods for News Five.The work is expected to be completed by Thursday. In addition to their labour, the group of students bought the materials with money raised through a fundraising drive held in the United States.

Movie Review

Edith and I went to see Eight Below on Saturday Night. We saw a promo for it at another movie. The movie was just as good as we thought it would be, although it didn't get rave reviews. We thought it was a really marvelous movie for kids about age six and up. The adventure took place at the South Pole with the great sled dogs. It was sad, and it was funny, and well worth seeing. The lives of dogs are often an important part of a child's life. You can go to this site, Eight Below, and hear a promo.

The Garden School Tattler

It was a good play, but it was different from my perspective, I think than from the audience's. What I saw really amused me. For those of you who saw the play, I'd like to add a few extra delights.

Because it was Friday afternoon, which is the worst possible time in early childhood - end of the week - the kids were beginning to lose it. Edith had a terrible time with the cast who were tumbling and rolling around in Miss Kelly's room.

The play started with Jalen's intro line. He had been very quiet up to play rehearsal, but he really liked the acting and asked for a larger role. He took to the narrator's role very quickly. He liked the costume and lines, and was a quick study.

He wasn't the only one who liked acting. When the O'Leary's came out on stage, David was suddenly in his element. David's beautiful face looked out at the audience with delight and amazement. It was as if he "found his niche." His eyes lit up at the whole thing, and he carefully delivered his lines making love faces at his watchers.

Dawson, who generally is a terrible ham, went dead. He took one look at the audience and nearly shook himself into heart attack. "I'm not going out there," he exclaimed at the door, "Oh yes you are."

Poor Daymon couldn't remember his lines from one moment to another for two weeks, but once he got on stage, he relaxed. It was interesting to see. He had real presence of mind and that amazed me.

Logan was our steady actor. He began the play with well delivered lines and carried it from beginning to end.

Morgan was a delight. She stepped out of her age into a kind of timeless mastery of stage presence and delivered her lines wonderfully. The costume was really cute on her.

The Leps were tough and rumble - but that's the way Leps are supposed to be. My Jack delivered the line "A saint? Here in Ireland?" with great feeling. I was pleased with the costumes Edith made, and the leps seemed to take great delight in them. Adyson had the longest lines and he delivered them well. Ty was the brilliant Lep; Taylor was the complainer, Aidan was the matter of fact Lep and Justin was the so-say-it Lep. He had a great smile on his face. The Leps were at the heart of the story.

They were trying to earn their wings back so they could go back to Heaven. They were friends with everyone and although they were a bit scheming, they were good natured and tried to sell a good story.

Mayli did an outstanding job as Queenie. She really has a nice talent for acting. She added an MMMMM that really got a good laugh from the parents.

I think the girls got the most laughs. They were very willing to share all the fru-fru and they helped each other out. There was absolutely not one second of fighting over anything. Peyton's line, "And I think I might be one of them," (gods) was hilarious. When Faith said, "Would you consider a rain cloud?" they laughed in good spirit. I was glad the shoes held up.

Abby was our usual bright and shiny golden girl. She was also a goddess, "a real tribute to the universe. " Madison is still young, but she did a good job with calling St. Patrick a brownie. Hadley who is generally very shy did a great job as the straight-man Druid princess.



Austin did an wonderful job as the Druid King. Behind his chicken feathers, lay the heart of a real shining king. "Is he powerful?" asked the king to St. Patrick? "Very powerful," answered the saint, "He made you." "That's impressive" replied the king.

Yuta played St. Patrick. He's a straight man. I saw some pain come to his face as he tried to remember his lines exactly. It was a matter of honor. I could tell by his intensity. I wish he could have laughed more, but he wanted those lines exact, and English is a second language for him.

The brownies were stage struck. Triston, who is usually a real clown came down to earth with too big an audience, but Briana loved it. She stood on stage not wanting to leave. She liked the moment and the costume, and the limelight. She liked being pink, pretty and on stage. Triston, who is always on stage in his mind was suddenly struck with the reality and cowed.
The chorus sang well.

The snakes were really funny. I'm not sure if any of you saw this, but Jasmine didn't quite know she was on stage, MJ was confused by it, and the one actor who stunned me the most was Brian. He was one of our snakes. Now I worked with the snakes for days and they couldn't repeat a line to save their lives. So we thought at the end of the play, they would say something endearing. Brian kept improvising. He kept adding things to his lines. He got a very matter of fact look on his face as if to say, "I really like this, and I'm going to keep talking until someone stops me." So a two line role became about ten.

We don't have a lot of room for plays, but we make the most of what we have. It's an occasion that causes us a lot of work, a lot of stress sometimes, but if the kids are enjoying it, and learn what it means to produce a little piece of art, it's well worth doing.

The Garden School Tattler

It's play week this week so the Tattler has been put aside to shop and sew, but it was worth it. all the kids look great in their costumes and they've had a lot of fun wearing them in dress rehearsal yesterday. I wanted to see if the shoes would work on the carpet. Miss Kelly congratulated Miss Peyton on her high heeled strut yesterday.

The girls very quickly decided what belonged to whom, and it was a quick grab yesterday and there were no arguments. I was stunned.

Edith and I've been out till dinner time shopping, and Wednesday we closed. Yesterday was platelet day and today's the play, so everyone is pretty tired. But most of the work is done, so it's a matter of just having fun with it today. It's always impressive to get what you get with kids. You work and you work, and then it's up to them, and if they can yell out their lines, they will probably have the nicest play they've ever had.

The week has really gone spectacularly well. The kids have helped make paper flowers for the stage, and we had the rug cleaned and we hung Miss Molly's backdrop. The children know all their lines, and know when to come on stage. We've had a lot of absences, but that doesn't seem to bother the children.

I'm grateful for the weather this week. It's given us a great opportunity to blow off some steam.

Well I wish all of you could see the play. It's really cute. Next week is Medieval week, blood drive on Friday at 2:00, and the following week ( Thursday and Friday) is spring break.

Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Status Quo

Status Quo - something to think about.

There’s talk again about fostering a new learning culture within education. That’s what education does – fosters learning. The problem is in the word fostering. You can’t foster with a status quo that remains in neutral.

People make changes in education when they divorce the status quo and begin exciting projects on their own. Innovators receive no help from the status quo, of course, but it’s worth doing because children benefit.

One new idea is to remove the early childhood experience from day care and the public school and give it its own place to be. Early childhood learning begins about age three with a child’s desire to see and do, and finishes about age eight with reading for meaning, or intellectual independence.

Children learn more during these years than any time in their lives. So why does the status quo say “moratorium on learning” until the magic kindergarten cut off date? Is this 2-3 year absence of curriculum a control issue? Is it a failure to understand just how productive the early childhood years really are? Is someone asleep at the switch?

Because children three through eight learn through play rapidly, easily, and with little prompting and little repetition, the early childhood school should be an environment made for play with space that is adaptable to many variables, where education breaks are comfortable and become learning adventures and should unfold like all great stories.

Desks isolate children and retard play while common tables encourage secondary learning: from one another by doing things together.

Workbooks are classroom crutches for teachers with no imagination or integrity. If it can’t be worked out by hand with manipulatives and acting out, it’s a waste of time. What children learn from workbooks is how to do workbooks, and who cares?

All early childhood learning should be hands on and story telling because very young children need to make intellectual connections that they make through their five senses. Children need to do many things in a single day: acting out, building and creating, listening and perceiving, talking and sharing, seeing and doing – moving, in an unfixed, self generated working experience that teaches from many perspectives or intelligences.

It takes group discipline and organization to support the root of the learning tree. Discipline is much easier to accomplish when children are busy and engaged, go outside a good portion of the day, and receive a nutritious plentiful meal system. The unnatural demand for constant silence, chronic indoor play, and meager food only incites the worst behavior in the smartest very young children.

All this takes a tremendous amount of work on the part of a teacher. That’s where partnerships in teaching come in. Teachers working together can accomplish a whole world of learning. Segregated teaching only produces the status quo. No one can do it all by themselves for long. When mine-yours becomes ours, any project fosters learning – even among adults.

No way you say? Not a chance? Not in my lifetime? Well, it is happening. It’s happening right now with innovators and innovations that are defying the status quo. And the children are having the time of their lives learning, retaining and mastering little worlds.

What is Women's Work Worth?

The Bismark Tribune.com

What Is Women's Work Worth?

Six local organizations will host a town hall discussion Monday to talk about women's issues, including pay equity, single-mother challenges, child-care struggles and the glass ceiling.

The Business and Professional Women Foundation defines the glass celing as the "organizational and societal barriers that keep women from advancing up the career ladder."

Titled "Women's Work: What's It Worth?" the discussion will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Bismarck Public Library.

Billed as "the first of its kind" in the area, sponsoring organizations also will address higher education for women and the value of child-care professions.

The town hall-style meeting is free to the public and will feature a panel discussion, short vignettes, town hall questions and time for networking. Panelists include Barb Tengesdal, with Voices for North Dakota's Children; Linda Wurtz, from AARP; Kathy Osteen, with Business and Professional Women; Marilyn Hudson, Indian Women in the Work Force; and Renee Stromme, with the North Dakota Council on Abused Women Services.

During the panel presentation, local women will share their personal stories.

Free tutoring and story time will be provided at the library for children ages 3 to 12, courtesy of University of Mary education students.

Sponsors for the discussion are: American Association of University Women, Business & Professional Women, League of Women Voters, N.D. Council on Abused Women Services, Voices for North Dakota Children and AARP.

The following facts were provided by the organizations described above.

A full-time working woman currently earns 77 cents to every dollar earned by a man. This percentage is significantly lower for minority women.

If women received the same wages as men who work the same number of hours, have the same education, union status and are the same age (and live in the same region of the country), women's annual family income would rise by $4,000 and poverty rates would be cut in half. Working families would gain $200 billion in family income annually.

According to the 2000 census, while 75.6 percent of women in North Dakota with children under 18 are in the work force, only 33.9 percent of those women are in professional and managerial positions.

Women are paid less in every occupational classification for which sufficient information is available, according to the data analysis of more than 300 job classifications.

Median annual earnings for women in North Dakota rank 42nd in the nation.3 Only 16.3 percent of North Dakota state legislators are women. Nationally, 22.4 percent of state legislators are women.

Michigan

Another interesting approach to early childhood.

mlive.com

Chinese immersion program targets preschoolers
3/12/2006,

The Associated Press

(AP) — BAY CITY, Mich. — Bay City Public Schools plan to begin teaching some 3- and 4-year-olds in Mandarin Chinese as part of an immersion program that officials hope will help them become more competitive in the global economy.

The idea is that young children are like sponges, making it easier for them to learn a foreign language than for an older person, said Suzanne Murphy, the school district's director of the gifted and talented program and special projects.

"The younger the child, the more open they are to learning," she told The Bay City Times for a story published Sunday.

For half the day, the children at the Webster Childcare Center would be taught in Mandarin Chinese while being immersed in the Chinese culture and the Chinese way of teaching preschool. For the other half of the day, the children would be taught in English, using traditional American curricula.

Because of budget constraints, the school district cannot provide any funding for the project. Instead, planners are seeking grants and contributions.

Although Chinese classes are not yet an option at other Bay City schools, long-range plans call for the preschool program to be expanded to higher grades.

If it is, the preschoolers who have been exposed to Chinese will have the basics under their belts.

"Anything that you do ... when you go to pick it up again it will come much easier than for someone who's never had it," Murphy said.

Chinese has been a part of the high school curriculum in Huron County for more than 20 years.
Annie Eichler, who teaches the language to about 115 students at Laker High School in Pigeon and four other schools via videoconferencing, said several of her students have been offered jobs in China. Others have put the language to use in fields such as in nursing, where workers may encounter non-English speaking patients.

A pilot project that began in January is bringing Mandarin Chinese via the Internet and Michigan Virtual University to 30 students at 21 high schools across Michigan. The plan is to make it available to all high schools this fall.

Speaking Chinese could provide students with opportunities across the globe. About 1.3 billion people worldwide speak Chinese, according to the Asia Society, an international nonprofit group promoting U.S.-Asia relations.

"Our world is Hindi, Farsi and Chinese," Murphy said. "We want our kids to be prepared and to compete globally."

Ghana

Here's what's happening in Ghana:

Ghana Home Page:

Early Childhood Project Launched at Saltpond

Saltpond, Mar. 10,

GNA - An Early Childhood Development (ECD) project aimed at improving the lot of children and ECD educators has been launched at Saltpond, in the Mfantseman District.

The project known as the GNAT-BUPL is a collaboration between the Ghana National Association of Teachers and the Danish National Federation of Early Childhood Teachers and Youth Educators (BUPL). The Trade Union Council for International Development Cooperation (LO/FTF) of Denmark are the main sponsors of the project.

Mr Thomas Baifi, Central Regional Secretary of GNAT, who launched the programme on Wednesday, said since early childhood development had been accepted as the foundation of the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) programme, GNAT had seen the need to consolidate the foundation, which had been neglected for too long. Mr Baifi said in 2002, GNAT in collaboration with its foreign partner decided to set up the project in a 16 districts in four regions on pilot basis.

He said the number was increased to eight districts each in four regions. "The success story of the project has made us to decide to extend it to all districts in the four regions".

"The main objectives are to improve quality of early childhood education in the country and to promote the professional identity, prestige and respect for the profession of early childhood development and also help to create awareness among policy makers about early childhood development".

The GNAT Secretary said an Early Childhood Educators Association to be recognised by GNAT would be formed.

Miss Mary Enos, Mfantseman District GNAT Secretary, said childhood development educators who did not have any prospects could negotiate for a better condition of service through the association and upgrade themselves up to the doctorate level while still teaching. Miss Vivian Etroo, District Director of Education, said teaching in early childhood institutions did not mean only singing or sleeping and urged them to be innovative using objects as teaching and learning materials, adding that they should make their lessons interesting to make the children to remain in school.

Mr Ato Etua, Assistant District GNAT Chairman, advised Early Childhood Educators to take advantage of new courses at the University of Cape Coast and the University of Education, Winneba to upgrade their qualifications.