Sunday, November 30, 2008

Baking for the Season

Homemade cookies are a holiday special event. Every child likes to bake cookies with mom or grandma. Cookies take a bad rap these days, so as a cookie lover, here are some healthy tips this year to make your cookies a healthy treat:

Start with 2/3 cups canola oil, a cup of sugar - brown or white - an egg or two, a teaspoon of baking soda for crispy cookies or a teaspoon of baking powder for softer cookies, a 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and a heaping teaspoon or more of cinnamon. Cinnamon is a deterrent for diabetes. Cinnamon helps the digestive system utilize insulin. Never skimp on cinnamon. For more information about Cinnamon, go HERE. It's George Mateljan's site, World's Healthiest Foods.

Mix your ingredients with a vigorous spoon or an electric mixer. Then add your whole grains. Use a combination of whole grains like oats, corn flour, rice flour, whole wheat pastry flour, wheat germ, wheat bran, etc. When you have a desired thickness, add your extras like dark chocolate bits, sunflower seeds, peanuts, berries, raisins, etc. These jumbles are beautiful, fun, and good for you.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 8-10 minutes.

Watching Food Commercials



Children become fatter by watching food commercials aimed at them and a ban on fast food TV advertising would reverse childhood obesity trends, according to a new study.

By Sarah Hills, 20-Nov-2008

Here is an interesting article from Food Navigator. For more go HERE.

Meanwhile, after reading the article, I think the focus on food has become unmanageable with most kids. The desire to eat high fat, high salt foods has become an unhealthy goal for a lot of children because sweets are now politically incorrect. The correct thing to do is serve a steady diet of "healthy" snacks like fruit, vegetables and crackers.

But there are problems with even these extraordinarily healthy foods. Fruit is digested in 30 minutes and does not create that sense of fullness for very long, so consequently, the child's desire for food never ceases. Having "healthy snacks" six times between meals will ultimately destroy meal time. Question? What is the tease of constant fruit doing to cause early onset diabetes?

When the child sees a commercial for McDonald's, and the desire for food weight and substance becomes overwhelming. Unconsciously or even consciously the child is saying to himself, "That's what I want."

The next best thing would be chips -- allowable for parents but frowned on for children, so this "golden delicious idol" becomes a child's next desire especially if they are in the house. Crackers are a modern parent's diversion from chips, but actually, some chips are a lot healthier than crackers which are high in fat and sodium and have little or no food value. A Snickers bar has more food value than most crackers. Homemade cookies have three times the food value of boxed crackers provided the contents are whole grain.

The mistake most parents make begins with a parents' constant focus on feeding, feeding, feeding. When snack after snack after snack after snack becomes the prize of the day, the consequences are that meal time becomes a battle zone, duh! The child has not been allowed to become really hungry - bored perhaps and whining for food or drink, but not actually hungry.

Establishing a routine with children that works depends on a family's individual schedule. But the best project is to establish three eating times by the clock and stick to it. We eat breakfast at 7:00; lunch at 12:00; and dinner at 6:00. That gives plenty of time to have a snack between meals and still let the child become genuinely hungry.

And drinks are not better served! Personally, I think drinks are the culprit that actually cause children to become overweight and have bad teeth. That constant sipping of milk or juice is a drain on the system and can lead to diabetes as well. Drinks other than water allow a child to fend off hunger for about 15 minutes.

Hunger is not the enemy of children - it's a disciplinary friend that teaches many things like a true desire for food, an enjoyment for meals, and it prompts picky eaters to really eat.

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Yoga

One of the nice things about having a little time off is doing the things you would like to do if and when you ordinarily had the time. One of those things for me is yoga. I've practiced yoga on and off for about 4 years. In the beginning, it was a real challenge to get my fat body moving and twisting and bending and stretching, but I stuck with it and in six weeks I went from a size 18 to an 8. That in itself is an incentive to practice, practice, practice!

Edith was our first yogini. Then I tried it; then Miss Kelly, and then Miss Amy, and this weekend on Thanksgiving, Miss Molly tried it and loved it. Now all the ladies at the GS do yoga. This month we will be teaching the children once again. It's a marvelous exercise for everyone.

Yoga is a cardio workout; a weight training; tougher than a ballet workout, the overall massage you get with the practice is better than an hour at a spa. It's a meditation time just for you and it empowers you to a strong and vital confidence, and you do it all on a mat about 2.5 feet X 6 feet. You never leave your mat and all the exercise is done either standing, kneeling, squatting, sitting or lying down. You don't need anything to practice but a mat.

The idea of yoga is to exercise every single muscle in the body every time you practice. You start with balance and breathing and a warm up called a sun salutation. In this short routine, you will stretch up, back, forward, squat, lunge, do a pushup, do downward dog, upward dog, and that's only the warm up!

Imagine this: you are standing on one leg, you reach down and grasp the ball of your other foot. You slowly pull that foot out so your lifted leg is straight out in front of you. You put your head on your lifted knee, and then you let go of your foot. Sound impossible? It's not and quite frankly it's fun to go from wobble wobble to a lovely rendition of the correct pose. It takes time and practice, but once you have done this, your vitality and strength is so increased, you think you are 20 again.

Another pose: Stand with your feet about 3 feet apart. Bend at the hip and bend over and put your head on the floor. Grab your ankles with your hands and pull your chest through your legs. Not a chance? It's my favorite pose and I can do it!

There are stories everywhere about people who have been confined to beds and wheel chairs who have taken the yoga challenge and bit by bit recovered completely from paralysis of all kinds. It's a whole body method of getting and keeping in shape, but more than that it's about getting and keeping a healthy body and outlook.

The yoga studio here in EVV is actually in Newburgh. It's on Newburgh Road right across from the Stacer Road light and just east of the 164 interchange.

The 101 studio takes its name from the fact that the practice room is HOT. I despise heat, and I find the 101 degrees a delight because I can do more in the heat than I can in an airconditioned room. Also, I never come away from yoga sore, and that's because of the heat. You will sweat a lot, and that is fabulous for the skin.

Yoga increases your immune system, strenghtens your heart, your digestion, your balance, and it uplifts your mood. I can't say enough about this wonderful exercise.

Practices start at 7:30 A.M. and there are more practices about 9:00. there are classes all day on Saturday and a couple on Sunday. Visit the site and see if there is a convenient class for you - just once; you'll be hooked too.

For more information about Yoga go HERE.

You'll be glad you did.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

The Play


The play was a smashing success. It was really well done, and we can thank our wonderful students who make this year's play so special. The kids were really on target and learned their lines well. They were able to ham it up a little and that made it all more fun. Of course I was tucked away in the practice room with the kids, so I only heard faint rumblings, but from what parents have told me and the teachers, it was very cute.

The kids made the play special this year. Their devotion to learning and their love of the theatre was an outstanding example what this group is made of.

Special kudos to our "family" actors who came on for five scenes: Kamden, Andrew, Emma, Addie, Jaylen, Ethan, and Donavon. Truly gifted children.

Special and great big thanks to Miss Kelly for directing it. She did a marvelous job with the children helping them to learn, and more than that, to understand their lines.

A warm thank you to Mrs. St. Louis who makes our costumes. They are a whole world of art.

A lovely thanks to Miss Amy who taught the children the song. It's always nice to work with someone who took her talents and multiplied them 1000 times.

And thanks again to the parents who helped the children with lines, came to see the play and who brought such generous snacks. You are a blessing to work with.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Vicks!



Susie E sent this: During a lecture on Essential Oils, they told us how the foot soles can absorb oils.

Their example: Put garlic on your feet and within 20 minutes you can taste it.

Some of us have used Vicks Vapo rub for years for everything from chapped lips to sore toes and many body parts in between. But I've never heard of this. And don't laugh, it works 100% of the time, although the scientists who discovered it aren't sure why. To stop night time coughing in a child (or adult as we found out personally) put Vicks Vapo rub generously on the bottom of the feet at bedtime, then cover with socks. Even persistent, heavy, deep coughing will stop in about 5 minutes and stay stopped for many, many hours of relief. Works 100% of the time and is more effective in children than even very strong prescription cough medicines. In addition it is extremely soothing and comforting and they will sleep soundly.

Just happened to tune in A.M. Radio and picked up this guy talking about why cough medicines in kids often do more harm than good, due to the chemical makeup of these strong drugs so, I
listened. It was a surprise finding and found to be more effective than prescribed medicines for children at bedtime, in addition to have a soothing calming effect on sick children who then went on to sleep soundly. I tried it on myself when I had a very deep constant and persistent cough a few weeks ago and it worked 100%! It felt like a warm blanket had enveloped me, coughing stopped in a few minutes and believe me, this was a deep, incredibly annoying- every few seconds; uncontrollable cough. I slept cough-free for hours every night that I used it.

If you have grandchildren, pass this on. If you end up sick, try it yourself and you will be
absolutely amazed at how it works.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008



Last Sunday at Mass, the wonderful Gospel reading about the master and the servants and the talents was read. In the Scripture passage three servants are given different amounts. One is given 5000 talents which amounts to 5000 gold coins, the next is given 2000 and the third 1000. The servants all go about using the talents differently. The first two invest their talents and generate more. The servant with the 1000 talents buries his. What does the master think of all this? He is proud of the two who have done well, and for the one who buried his, the master is crestfallen, because this lazy servant was given gifts and he only put them in the ground. He was frightened by the master and didn't want to "get into trouble," so he buried his lot and hid.

Lots of images there; lots of things you can mentally do with this reading.

One of the things I'd like to do with this reading is apply it to children. Each of our beautiful little children has a lovely respectable amount of talents. It is not for us to question who got more or fewer or why, our job is to be joyful at the talents each has and encourage each child to build his life up and not bury his talents in the ground.

When I think of talents, I think of all the things that could be called talents. The first of these is life itself. When you have life, you have hope. The second is health. Health is a real blessing. There are degrees of health, of course, and health is often the impetus to action. The third, in my opinion, is intelligence. Here is where the amount of talents really becomes diverse. Some children are so gifted and some are not gifted at all. Some rise to every occasion, and some choose to remain in the background. But intelligence is not specific. Some children who are quite bright in one area and limited in another. Some children are people smart and some are book smart and some are building smart and some...

Howard Gardener speaks of the Nine Great Intelligences, and it is true that each of us has at least one. The job of preschool is to present to the child every opportunity to learn by exposing the children to every possible means to learn, and in this way, every child can develop the talents he has been given and multiply them by themselves and live a rich and exciting life.

And this is where good parents and teachers in the very early years can help make a child's life exciting. It is in the preschool years that a child discovers what he will do with his life. Something during the age 3-6 years will captivate his heart and his mind and he will form an attachment to something that he will pursue all his life. So it is in preschool that a child is beginning to search for that special something. If he is shown a myriad of things in preschool, then he has many things to choose from. If he is exposed to a simple kind of music, he may develop a simple interest in music, but what if he is exposed to a complex kind of music? What if he sings, plays all kinds of instruments, listens to the great musicians of every era, and learns to dance? What if he is encouraged to sing solos or learn to play an instrument at four or five?

If a child is read a little story once a week, he might find reading a amusement once in a while. But if he is read to every day, and learns to listen to little stories, then chapter books, then poetry, then creates his own characters and makes his own stories, and then learns to watch good films and can begin to discuss what he has learned, and can take a role in a play and understand the depth and act it out...

And what about art? If he is exposed to a few bedraggled crayons once in a while he might think art comes into play at Hallmark. But if he is exposed to crayons every day along with chalk, colored pencils, colored paper and glue, clays of all kinds, paper mache, paint and loads of stuff to put together, and drawing lessons on top of that, and then gets to look at all the great paintings he might find that wonderful intellectual attitude about art that allows him to incorporate art into his life all his life.

You can look at all of life's subjects like science, history, geography, foreign language in either "meager introductions" or " great submersions" and see that through a great submersion in the early stages of a child's life how rich and rewarding his life travels will be simply because he can form an attachment to something important and real so very early.

Every child deserves to explore his talents and choose something within his gifts to glorify. This is his gift back to his world and his creator. This is the making of the child. It is not a solitary trek on the part of the child. It is a guided tour by loving and caring parents and teachers with plenty of play time.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Monday's Tattler



We had a rush rush rush to the Philharmonic this morning, and Super Sandy got us there first so that we could sit up front. There were lots of instruments: an oboe, a bassoon, a flute, a harp, a French horn, a percussionist with a tambourine, drums, an xylophone, a viola, a violin and a clarinet. The children enjoyed the music and the musicians as they came around and showed the children close up. There were lots of questions asked and our kids had most of the answers. Our children were the best behaved children present.

As I watched the children watch the musicians play, I noticed how riveted they were. Cole especially was undone by the beauty of what he heard. Jake and Sam closed their eyes and put their heads back and kept time with their whole bodies. We had a couple of philistines who tried to talk through it, but for the most part, the children were thrilled.

We came home to play practice with the staging and the props. It's a long way to the play! The children's places were blocked, and a last minute look at costumes.

We played outside for a few minutes, but it was very cold. It never made the 40s today! It will probably be cold the rest of the week. Please dress the children warmly. If you send hats and mittens, please put them in your child's sleeve, or instruct him to do so. It's the best way of keeping track of mittens and hats.

We had children's spaghetti, salad, watermelon, grapes, French bread, cottage cheese and milk for lunch. The kids ate most of it. There were few left overs.

Later this week the Discovery Toy party will close on Thursday. If there is something you want, please see Miss Judy.

Some of the orders for candles and batteries are coming in now. Thank you all so much for your support.

On Friday, our play will begin at 3:00 p.m. All children MUST have an adult escort. If you are unable to come to the play, please see Miss Judy asap otherwise, please be sure that someone arrives for the play. Please bring a treat to share with friends. A great treat is cookies or chips. Children like these best.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Warning - Computer Virus



There is a computer virus that comes through your email that has the words Hallmark or Postcard in it, and it literally destroys your computer. It happened to my daughter, Katy about 3 weeks ago, and she had to send her work computer back to the home plant to be completely redone.

Just thought you'd like to know!

A High Fat Diet...



This article, Brain link to mother’s high fat diet and offspring’s obesity: Rat study, from Food Navigator is interesting because for the first time a study has been done that suggests that the diet mom has during her pregnancy could determine the eating habits of the child.

"A high fat diet during pregnancy may bring about changes in the offspring’s brain that makes them more prone to over-eating and obesity throughout their lives, according to a new rat study that may help explain the rise in childhood obesity."

For more about the subject, go HERE.

Lunch Box Cards



One of the most memorable fun things I've seen this year are the hilarious and heart warming Lunch Box Cards that you slip into your child's lunch box. I was sent a sample of these cards and I gave them to my daughter Molly who thought they were just wonderful. It's an extra special note that is in the form of a post card. They come in many assorted packs.

Kids Lunch Box Cards are a great way to add laughter and excitement any day of the week! They have fun facts and cool ideas, Kids Lunch Box Cards include topics like Wacky World, Fairies, Riddles, Gross-Outs and Looney Laws. There’s space on the back for a special note from mom or dad which is a great way to remind kids of things they need to do, ask, remember. Kids Lunch Box Cards come in packs of five and are sure to put a smile on every child’s face. Check them out at kidsfuncards.com

Friday's Tattler

This is an oops for Miss Judy who should have written this on Friday. But Friday we were all pretty tired. Friday was actually an interesting day. We had a lot of sick kids on Friday. There is a terrible bug going around that starts with exhaustion and the child falls asleep only to wake with ha high fever, headache, vomiting, lethargy, cough and you name it. We'll call it the everything bug. The kids have fallen like dominoes until we had nearly 12 out with it. To avoid this, you need to insist that your child washes his hands as often at home as he does at school - like every time he breathes heavily - and that he keeps his hands OUT of his mouth. At home, your thermostat should be turned DOWN. Cold does not breed germs - heat does. You cannot get germs to flourish in rooms that are COOL. What is cool? For some it is 75 degrees; for others it is 65 degrees.

Funny thing about thermostats - we all think we keep ours fashionably low, but when the thermostat really does say 65 degrees, we all seem to be uncomfortably cool. The truth is, we are most comfortable at about 75 degrees and that's a germ breeding temperature.

And speaking of these things, what happened to all the nice winter clothes we saw in September? All the long sleeves and heavy pants seem to have disappeared, and there is a steady stream of short sleeves now that the temps are in the 30s, 40s, 50s! The giant 15 lb coats have turned into micro minute jackets or none at all. I'm kind of expecting shorts the first day it snows. I'm supposing that families have heat trumped up to that 75 degrees, but at school it is turned way down, so dress your children in long sleeves when it's cold and please choose a jacket or sweater that will suit the temperatures this week. It will be in the 40's all week, so kids will need medium jackets.

The children are learning the lines for the play with great eagerness. I was delighted with Kamden, Addie, and Emma who have five scenes and who know most of their lines. In the other scenes, Skylar is doing a top job along with Phoebe, Mara, Alex H and Alex W, India, and our new little boy Ethan. Ethan started school last week and has five lines for the play. We are so proud of him.

Remember that Monday morning there is a field trip to the Philharmonic at 8:15. Please dress your child in our school t-shirt with a longer shirt under it. We will be leaving school at 8:15 and will return about 11:00.

Beve's pictures will be back in about 4 weeks.

Your Discovery Toy orders need to be in by Thursday.

Remember, the play is this coming week at 3:00 on Friday afternoon.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Free Play and the Benefits



Here's an article from Preschool Matters. The article decries the loss of free play hours. Free play is the impetus of the developing child. In other words, it needs to be! We honor this at the GS and encourage children to engage in any number of choice driven play schemes. We try, in our small space, to allow for at least 50 or more activities the children can choose from a good part of their day. The teacher driven activities provide what we call, "how to" play, and that allows the children to take what they have learned into free play. It's amazing to watch children play school in the library and be us. "I think she's you, today," say the teachers frequently, laughing at someone the kids are copying. It's all great fun.

Anyway, here's a clip of the article:

In his book The Power of Play, David Elkind, professor of child development at Tufts University, writes that over the past two decades, children have lost 12 hours of free time a week and that eight hours of that is unstructured play and outdoor activities. While those figures don't necessarily apply to preschool children, they illustrate a trend that does. In a report on the importance of play in child development, published by the American Academy of Pediatrics, Kenneth Ginsburg concludes children who live in poverty as well as children with abundant resources may not be receiving the full benefits of play.

Ginsburg documents several trends that have resulted in less time for free play, including a decline in kindergarten classroom recess periods over the past two decades, passive entertainment such as television and computers that keep kids from engaging in free play, and a tendency for some parents to over-schedule structured activities.

He points out that when play is allowed to be child driven, children practice decision-making skills, move at their own pace and discover their own areas of interest. Such free play enables them to, in Ginsburg's words, "create a world they can master, conquering their fears while practicing adult roles." In the process, they develop new competencies that help them do such things as work in groups, share, negotiate, and resolve conflicts.


For more of the article, go HERE.



What's New in Education?



From Education Week:

President Elect Obama and his team started work this week on a transition that includes searching for the people who will bring to life his agenda of expanding preschool, improving the quality of teachers, and fixing the major federal law in K-12 education.

For the rest of the article, go Here.

Teacher News from Michigan



Here's an article from Teacher Magazine that's interesting because it could happen anywhere, especially in this day and age. Howell sounds a lot like Newburgh sans clan.

In the article:

A Brand New, Short-Lived School

But perhaps the biggest controversy has come recently. The good people of Howell voted in 2003 to spend $70 million on a second, brand new high school and—with a little wrangling—adopted some pretty forward-thinking strategies (including flexible, college-type scheduling, and online coursework) to improve student services and deal with the transition from one to two high schools. Howell Parker High School opened in September 2007. A buddy who taught there gave me a tour last year—and I can personally testify that it is a totally awesome 21st-century marvel.

Unfortunately, the school closed after one year...

For the rest of the article, go HERE.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Calmness from Mary Grace



Some good advice from Dr. Phil

CALMNESS IN OUR LIVES
I am passing this on to you because it definitely works, and we could all use a little more calmness in our lives. By following simple advice heard on the Dr. Phil show, you too
can find inner peace.

Dr Phil proclaimed, 'The way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you have started and have never finished.'

So, I looked around my house to see all the things I started and hadn't finished, and before leaving the house this morning, I finished off a case of beer, a bottle of White Zinfandel, a
bottle of Bailey's Irish Cream, a package of Oreos, the remainder of my old Prozac prescription, the rest of the cheesecake, some Doritos, and a box of chocolates.

You have no idea how freaking good I feel right now.

Teaching

I used to love Ma and Pa in my youth. They were a real fixture for me, and when I got this clip, I thought I'd share it with you. It's just pure fun.


Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Processing Information = It's a Problem for Some



Every so often we encounter a child who has what we call a processing problem. If you look this disorder up on the web, you will get your usual fare of quasi answers. It's basically attention deficit; it's autism; it's a hearing problem; it's a sequencing problem at the heart. The truth is, scientists don't know what causes it and what to do about it.

Let's look at the child so readers understand what the problem processor is. The child who has difficulty processing simply does not make any sense when you talk to him. If you ask a child if he wants a chocolate, his response is something like, "My mom told me I need to sit down."

If you compliment, redirect, or initiate conversation with a poor processor, the response will be as off the wall. Ultimately someone who compliments has no place to go. "You look nice today; I like your dress." The response, "There are books on the floor and my mom said they should be on the shelf." It finishes the conversation. If you redirect the poor processor, by saying, "You need to put that away," the answer might be: "But the rabbits are in the pen." If you initiate new conversation with a poor processor, he can be so taken back by not having a ready response, he will look at you with horror while you repeat and repeat your question. You can ask a poor processor the same question fifteen times, and they can't answer. In fact, they often can't repeat the question you have asked 15 times.

Having worked with some troubled processors on a daily 10 hour a day schedule, and actually removing much of the problem, here's the truth: Processing problems are a communication problem, and that communication problem begins in infancy. It begins because the parent does not communicate appropriately with the child. The child is cared for in a silent, no eye contact manner from the beginning. The child does not learn at the appropriate time what the conversational exchange is supposed to be. Perhaps it is a question of not wanting or liking the child or being too alone and disillusioned by the whole motherhood process. Because when you regard the parents of these children, they are likable, friendly sometimes outgoing people.

From the moment of birth, children want to know. They make eye contact almost immediately. They want to know about everything, and only the caretaker can show, tell, teach them about everything all the time. If that doesn't happen, then the child will draw a blank. He looks at the parent; the parent doesn't look back. The child coos at the parent; the parent does not respond. The child cries, and the parent takes care of his needs, but in silence. During the day, the child is fed, but there are no words to teach pleasure. The child is changed, and there are no expressions to show relief or humor or anything, so the child does not learn response. For the numerous things we do during the day for babies, there are usually compatible words and expressions that teach a child how to respond, so when it is time to respond with a smile, a coo, a laugh, he does.

At the same time, the well meaning parent places the child in front of TV for hours because the parent has nothing to say to the child, and supposedly, the TV does. This is a double whammy. TV expects no response; it just goes on and on in an incessant drone. This reinforces the child's lapse in conversational response and ultimately teaches him that conversation is noise and only noise. There is no reason for it.

Years ago a good friend of mine wanted desperately to work with me. I gave her a job and she told me after about a week, "I feel really stupid talking to these kids." It was an eye opener for me because that's all you do as a young mother, talk to the kids! From the beginning when a child is handed to the mother, even the most ordinary mother speaks to her child. I remember saying to my kids at birth, "Welcome to the world," and the conversation is still going on as much as 37 years later. I'm sure most mothers can think back and remember the little things they said to their babies.

So it does happen from the nicest people and most well meaning people.

Now what to do about it:

When a teacher gets any child, there is no going back, no changing what has gone before, so the idea is to take a child where he is and take him as far as he can go. The teacher must try to re-teach conversation, but it's not easy. First the personality of the child has to be willing to change enough to begin to understand conversational exchange is important.

Most of these kids are lost, and they are either happily lost or sullenly lost. First the child has to come to believe he is lost and learn to trust. That trust is hard to build because trust is one of the things that is built early through conversation. Sometimes, a lot of hugging and a lot of interest will build trust fast - if he will allow you to do this.

Making a child responsible for what he says is probably the most crucial thing. Take him seriously at his word. Just like the new mother with the newborn infant, start talking simply. Make questions short and simple, and then sit with the child long enough for him to respond normally. He is not going to tolerate any length of time doing this because it's foreign, and therefore unsafe. Most of these kids have become content with their little worlds; it's good and enough, and yours is questionable at best. But don't let him off the hook until he responds appropriately - and he can and he will when he learns how.

Make questions what questions and not why questions. Most children under 6 have trouble with the abstract why questions, so make the questions what. "What are you doing?; what is the color of that butterfly; what did you eat for lunch; what is that, a dog or a cat? Simplicity means success and he will begin slowly to understand success from failure. But that success has to come from his own understanding. You can't take one of these kids aside and say, "You're a mess and we're going to fix this, now listen to me." He won't, and even if manners allows him to listen, he won't understand. It has to be done in short quick responses over a long period of time so that he begins to learn all over again what he must do.

What the disheartening thing is about these kids, they don't understand much of what you say to them unless it is short and to the point. They don't register a lot of new material unlike their counterparts, so learning is slow and laborious and friendships are hard to make. But they can, and they will if they feel safe and loved.

Some other obstacles:

  1. Poor processors often talk a lot but don't say anything of value.
  2. Their hand eye coordination can be atrocious.
  3. Many constantly draw their mothers into their conversation as some kind of a safety zone.
  4. Sometimes one will have learned a host of recordings that he will pull out to play for anyone who comes by, but the content of these prerecorded messages he has stored in his brain are aimless and brainless, and those are the things to change through new patters and new responses.

How long to success? It depends - at least a year because they are not diseased; they are lacking and this can be mended. They are not limited by nature, but by experience. One of our little girls needed music and dance added before she made progress. One little boy needed a best friend. The children who have come to our little school have found success and are top students in public school years later. I think a lot of the re-training comes from love and understanding, the same kind an infant gets - unconditional.

Monday, November 10, 2008

The Garden School Tattler





It was Monday all day... Monday's the kids are very loud - kind of excited to be back at school with all their friends. They played well today. Miss Kelly is still out, so we had a "Play" day and practiced the play in different scenes and then all together as a group. Many of the kids know their lines, and only a couple didn't have a clue, but it was Monday!

On Mondays, typically, the children have forgotten their table manners and eat next to nothing. We made sloppy Joes today with salad, grapes and oranges. They ate some of it. Usually we throw out as much as we serve on Mondays. Not sure why, but that's what Mondays are like.

On Mondays half the children have forgotten most of the rules, can't figure out how to be quiet, how to stand in line without knocking the person in front of them over. They have forgotten how to flush a toilet or ask nicely for something. They can't sit, and they certainly don't want to listen. Getting back "at it" takes nearly a whole day. But Tuesdays are spendid.

Tuesday is picture day. We will practice the play a lot on Tuesday while Miss Beve is working. Today at practice my best students were Kamden, Emma, Andrew, Javeon, Jillian, Meme, and Skylar. Thanks to all the parents for working witht their children.

Because it's Monday, half of the children could not figure out how to put on their coats. We have a routine for going outside. Everyone goes to the bathroom first and washes hands. Then we get our coat. If a child is having problems with your coat, you need to go to the red carpet for help. Well it was keystone cops, and the kids couldn't figure out what to do first. But tomorrow is Tuesday, and they will be listening tomorrow!

The candy sales are moving slowly! We hope this picks up soon. If you need a new box, please please ask for it. If candy is not moving, let us know.

It should be a very nice day tomorrow; looks like rain - at least some of the day.

We have a new student named Ethan.

We are enjoying the outdoor world.

Sunday, November 09, 2008

Helpful Hints





I got this from Patti M.

DID YOU KNOW?

Peel a banana from the bottom and you won't have to pick the little 'stringy things' off of it. That's how the primates do it.


Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.


Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much longer and not mold!


Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating. Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.


Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.

To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in beat them up.


For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt Andes mints in a double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let set for a wonderful minty frosting.


Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic and at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic.


Leftover snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Simply chop them up with the food chopper.


Peel, core and slice a few apples. Place them in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the apples. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes!!! Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream. Yummm!


Reheat Pizza

Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, - Set heat to med-low and heat until warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really works!


Easy Deviled Eggs

Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw bag away when done. Easy clean up.


Expanding Frosting

When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You will frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount of frosting. Also eating less sugar and calories per serving.


Reheating refrigerated bread

To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.

Round Table: Food Policy Under Obama

FYI

And while I am waiting for the thing to download, and we are on the subject of food, I got an email this morning for the recipe for Piggy Pie. It seems one of the children is particularly fond of Piggy Pie.

The actual recipe comes from a book I read on Medieval food and cooking. The original was a honey based recipe, and I "foxed" it by adding ketchup.

The recipe I regularly use at school has pork, but chicken can also be used. You bake the meat, and especially the pork until all the fat is cooked off. Then, using a pair of kitchen sheers, you cut the meat into bite sized pieces and put it in a heavy bottom (so the mix won't burn) pot with equal amounts of ketchup and brown sugar and fruit juice. You boil this mix for about 20 minutes. It can be served on whole grain noodles or brown rice, or as a sandwich material. Kids really love this stuff. It saves in the refrigerator a week once cooked.

This meal was initially used in a Medieval week during a banquet just for the kids, and they liked it so much we have made it part of our fall and winter and spring fare. It's a favorite. We will be having it on Tuesday. I bought a 10 pound roast, so there will be plenty.

One of these days, like in the next couple of weeks, we expect to have our food inspection. This will mean a check on how we are doing at providing food to children. I'm looking forward to this because we have worked so hard this year to make every single meal we serve to our children outstanding.

The video is from Food Navigator and is about the Obama Food Policies. This is the kind of thing I look at all the time.




New Water Guidelines



Here's an article from Food Navigator about water guidelines. the article talks about obesity and it stresses getting all the junk drinks out of the schools. Water is the glue for all metabolic functions in the body. It's a good article and well worth the read.

Go Here.

Saturday, November 08, 2008

New Book: The Attachment Connection



There is an excellent new book out by Ruth P Newton entitled The Attachment Connection - Parenting a Secure & Confident Child Using the Science of Attachment Theory.

This book sorts out the facts from the fiction about parent-child attachment and shows how paying attention to the emotional needs of your child during the first five years of development can help him or her grow up happy, secure, and confident.

The book talks about brain development at each stage of growth. It helps parents use reasonable, easy to implement guidelines based on sound science to foster secure attachment, healthy social skills, and emotional regulation.

It begins before the child is born and carries the reader through age five.

The book is easy to read, and offers parents lots of scenarios to make points and to illustrate, through exceptionally good writing, the mistakes we all make as parents. It's upbeat and positive. I really like this one.

I've had the book on my desk four months and have read parts of the book on and off for those four months and can't put it away. It's really quite good and well worth buying. For anyone interested in how children grow, develop or how the brain develops, this is the book for you.

The book is published by New Harbinger Publications and can be seen at

www.newharbinger.com.

Friday, November 07, 2008

Our Friday Report



It's a been a great week! The kids have been great about the play and many of them have learned at least some of their lines. We are encouraging parents to read the whole script with them so that the children will know when to come in with their line or lines. It should be a wonderful play.

I'm really impressed with the children's ability to color this year. We have been working with the little kids and teaching them to think first before they color. They have begun to understand what it means to turn out something they can be proud of. My best colorers are Zoey and Trevor.

We've talked about the Pilgrims this week, and we've read the lives of Sarah Morton and Samuel Eaton. The children are impressed with how much the Pilgrims had to work. They are interested in what it must have been like to wear lots of petticoats. Meme remembered that one of the household jobs Sarah Morton had was to scoop the animal poop and put it in the garden. Luke remembered that there was poop, but he couldn't place the importance. Addie remembered that Sarah had to milk the goats.

We played the old "name game" that we've played for years at the GS. We choose a category, like animals, and go around the circle of kids and each child names something in the category without naming something someone else has named. If you can't think of one or if your repeat an animal, then you have to sit out. We had Andrew, Isaac, Nathan, Alex W, Alex H, win today. It's a fun game and the kids like this kind of thinking and storing knowledge.

We started two adorable twins this week. They are the cutest kids. They are really enjoying themselves at the GS. We also started a little girl in Miss Kelly's class whose mother pulled her after two days because Mom didn't want to come to any of the parties or participate in the life of the school, and because she worked, thought she should be excused. Also, she thought the very idea of field trip was endangering the lives of the children at the Garden School. She said she really liked our program, but...

If you really like the Garden School program, then you understand that the life of the school depends on the extras, the parties and the trips. It's a whole child program; we are not a day care, and we care about the development of the entire child. The trips help teachers teach, and offer something special that allows kids to think about more than the four walls of the building we attend school in. The parties are celebrations around celebrating times. We have eight parties: Grandparent's Tea; Halloween; Thanksgiving Play; Christmas; Valentine's Day; The St. Patrick Day Play; Spring Sing and Book Fair; Awards Day. These events are 45 minutes long and can be a lunch break.

We had some regular meals this week: today we had homemade pizza, yesterday we had roast chicken. The kids liked the bean and sausage soup on Wednesday. We had hot dogs on Tuesday and chili on Monday. They seem to like fruit salad in a cup served with a pick. Most of our problem eaters are simply in the habit of not eating. It's not that they can't or won't, but that they simply have never really had to eat anything, so they have habitualized not eating.

Please look at the wonderful art work accumulating for Thanksgiving. The kids do such a nice job.

Have a great weekend!

Thursday, November 06, 2008

Teacher News



From Education Week:

Here's an article about what the Democrat’s agenda includes: expanding preschool, recruiting teachers, increasing funding for charter schools, and amending the No Child Left Behind Act.

For the entire article, go HERE.

Give Kids a Smile Day




Dear Parent,

On February 6, 2009, the Indiana Dental Association, in partnership with the American Dental Association, will host the 7th annual Give Kids a Smile Day. Dentists across the state are
opening their offices to donate dental care to children from low-income families.

To participate in Give Kids a Smile, the child must meet thefollowing requirements:

• The child must be 16 years old or under.
• The student must not have access to dental insurance and be unable to afford regular dental care, OR if the child has Medicaid, the family must not have a dental provider.

If your child is in need of dental care and meets the requirements mentioned above, please
follow the directions below. This is a one-day only event. Appointments are required
because many offices cannot accept walk-in patients.

Scheduling an appointment for Give Kids a Smile is as easy as 1, 2, 3

1. Call (800) 680-9302 and an operator will confirm your eligibility, and take the
following information to provide to a volunteer Give Kids a Smile dental office:

• Name
• Phone number
• City where you live
• Number of children who need treatment

2. A local dental office will call you to set up the appointment time.

3. Show up at the scheduled appointment time. Appointments are on a first-come
first-served basis and cannot be rescheduled.

Sincerely,
The Indiana Dental Association

The play



Good morning!

It's play season! Yeah, and to ad to that a yet bigger yeah, Miss Kelly is directing it! This is probably the most difficult thing we do at the Garden School. But that's an opinion based on doing plays for years. The most difficult thing to accomplish is coordinating all the scenes and getting the kids to remember the dialogue and not letting frustrations claim your mood.

Miss Kelly is digging in and making it her own. She is such a good teacher and such a delight to have at the GS. Her work is so careful and deliberate. I know this play, like everything she does, will be outstanding. I am delighted to delegate this task to someone I have complete trust in. Her exemplary work makes it an easy hand over. I really feel the young teachers should have the experience of doing this because it adds a special something to ones teaching strategy.

My own personal appreciation goes out to her as well because the anxiety of performing is really tough on all the senses. You wake in the middle of the night for days wondering if it will work, remembering lines in your sleep and having that awful restless sense that somehow something is missing. As I mentioned, it is probably the most time consuming project we handle, and it takes all of us, but at the center is the teacher who is directing the children. It's really her work that makes or breaks the play.

This year, yours truly will be tackling the backdrops and set; Mrs. St. Louis is adding to her costume collection; Miss Amy is doing crowd control and working on fund raiser; and it goes oh so well.

Most of you have received a copy of your child's lines. Please have your child memorize his or her line or lines and know what comes before those lines. Please read the whole scene to your child so he knows when to say his line or lines. This would be an immeasurable help.

Costumes will be provided.

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Hyperactivity by Judy Lyden



I've been thinking a lot about hyperactivity these days. Perhaps because I see the hyperactive in a different light than most people. I see hyperactivity from the inside rather than from the outside. The question of hyperactivity begins with the question itself - what is hyperactivity?

When you read about it, the experts say, "It's a disease treatable with certain mind altering drugs." That's a bit far to go for someone like me who is as hyperactive as they come. I don't believe I'm mentally ill nor do I believe I need mind altering drugs! So I have to go back to the question of precisely what is Hyperactivity?

Suppose we take a different road into the whole meaning of hyperactivity? Suppose we legitimize hyperactivity for a few moments by saying it's a personality type much like other personality types. Let's look at some other personality types to compare:

There is a personality type of the quiet withdrawn person who rarely speaks and spends a lifetime letting others take the lead. This person rarely starts a conversation, has few friends, and spends a lot of time alone. Would you find this person mentally ill and needing medication? Probably not because this person does not bother anyone.

Let's look at the artistic type. This person is often up and down like an umbrella. They are always finding some weird quirky thing that they talk about with great interest. They constantly produce little craft items with their hands or with their minds. They often make nothing into something. They save and display all measure of things because of the shape or the color or the shadow that the object casts. Would you find this person mentally ill and needing medication to change his or her personality? Probably not because he or she produces interesting things to look at.

What about the athletic type? This person is always thinking about movement and going. This person runs, jumps, lifts, and exercises for full pleasure of the movement. This person is often competitive, arrogant, off putting when it comes to strength and energy or the shape of his or her body because it's the whole focus of every conversation. Is this person needing to be slowed down by medication, and can you call this person mentally ill? Probably not because we get a lot of pleasure from sports and the heroes we call sportsmen and women.

The comedian is always trying to get a laugh and will often disrupt conversation, will disrupt a whole room and draw unnecessary attention to himself and his own brand of the funnies. He will do nearly anything to make people pay attention to him. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, but we wouldn't medicate him because sometimes he makes us laugh.

Now let's look a the hyperactive personality. Hyperactivity is just that - a body that is most comfortable when it is moving. Unlike the athlete who desires movement to hone his body and to become more skilled, the hyperactive is uncomfortable when his motion is stopped. Sitting for any length of time will often make the body cramp and tingle and ache. When you direct the hyperactive in competition or the movement of any sport, the product is superb. It's a match made in heaven.

At the same time, the hyperactive is often artistic and often creates whole worlds for himself because he has the energy and interest in "doing." Most hyperactives will create and recreate their worlds with anything that's near just to have something to do. Sitting or doing repetitive work is as alien to them as creating is to most non- hyperactives. That is unless they can do two things at once like making and watching, or singing and dancing, or doing and talking.

Many hyperactive people are comedians and want the attention of others. They are driven to "do" and make people laugh and cry by their never ending actions.

And last but not least, the hyperactive can be very lonely and keep to himself because there are few others who really understand the intense drive inside them that is screaming for others to turn up the crank. Hyperactive personalities view the world in high speed much like a 78 record. Unfortunately, the world's record turns in 33.

So why is the hyperactive regarded as mentally ill and needing medication?

There are two types of hyperactive personalities: directed and non directed.

The directed personality is well formed by parents who understand their multidimensional child and who direct that child every day to make sure that ALL his talents shine every single day. They don't give the child a break in their demands to do, do, do, and do more until the child drops. Lots of chores, lots of responsibilities very early, and lots of sleep. Lots and lots of calories are served and lots and lots of hours of sleep are mandatory for a directed on target hyperactive. It's a matter of getting up every day charged and ready for a day of go, go, go, do, do, do! As long as there is "production" there is no problem, but then there is the other side.

The non directed personality has been ignored, denied, disliked and suffocated by a well meaning parent who only wants his or her child to "be like everyone else." What these parents don't understand is that their super child will never be "like everyone else." The hyperactive personality is many personalities in one, and the overriding need to do, do, do, will make the suffocated child a mess if he is not directed by the parent. Without direction, the child has no boundaries, no scheme, and ultimately a life filled with chaos. All his energy goes to distruction and disruption.

It's an exhausting job to direct such a personality. The worst thing a parent can do is to medicate one of these personalities and try to force his elephant personality into a nice kitty or a nice doggie. He is and will always be an elephant, and an elephant needs room, food, and a place to roar. Medication makes a child feel lost and alone. He is frightened by his parents inability to regard him with the esteme he deserves. Hyperactive children see their young worlds in a very different light than other children. They are keenly aware of the differences between what they are and the next child.

What most hyperactives think is that most normal people are dullards and lazy. A well formed hyperactive will be bored by most people and will go quiet after a while simply because the communication track has no value to him. A good comparison is sitting a hungry person in front of a slice of pizza and 4 ounces of milk. That's fine for most people, but the hyperactive needs the whole pizza and the whole gallon of milk!

Put two hyperactives together in a room and you have a whole new set of rules. Ever listen to two or three hyperactives talk? It's like a playing two or three records all at once and everyone knows what everyone else is saying and it all makes sense. The non hyperactive goes home sick with a headache, and the hyperactives all go home supercharged and ready to rake six acres of leaves.

The theme songs for hyperactivity are: energy begets energy; the more you do the more you do; nothing is too hard, to long, to much; tired is for sissies; is that all there is?

And the sad thing is, none of this is acceptable to the non hyperactive. The personality type is considered obnoxious and arrogant and much in need of slowing down, so we medicate him into normalcy. Thank God we didn't medicate Alexander the Great, or Theordore Roosevelt, or Davy Crocket or St. Paul.

Monday, November 03, 2008

Halloween



Good morning!

We had a delicious day last Friday. We had our breakfast and climbed aboard the bus early and left for Boonville and the nursing home we visit there. The residents just loved the visit. We sang and sang and sang, and the children were so animated; it was adorable. The songs were precious and the delivery could not have been better.

Our costumes were delightful - lots of fairy princesses and Spidermen; a football player, a zooologist, a cheerleader, a zombie, and dozens of other wonderful make believe characters. It's always so much fun when parents get involved and help a child with a costume.

The party was fun. It was short, as it should have been. This is a time for kids not adults. It's important for the children to have lots of time to trick or treat when they get home. Having them in costume and something in their stomachs is important.

All our teachers dresssed up and so did some of the parents. The kids loved it. Five children, however, had no accompanying adult at the party. Two children were in tears because nobody was there for them. Teachers are very concerned about the failure of these families to appear at the party. Party days are part of our curriculum. In a culture of "reduction" for suitable children's activities, it's important to salvage what we can and include a party once a month to exercise celebrations and make the child the focus of the day. These parties are 45 minutes long. Is that too much time to spend on a child? Feedback is appreciated.

This month, our focus is on the big Thanksgiving play. Children will be given lines to learn and costumes will be provided. We will practice the play two hours a day. The play is on Firday, November 21 at 3:00.

The play allows us to learn about the life of early Americans and the Native Americans who came together to share what they had. Plays are great fun and the kids learn to cooperate with one another in whole new way. It's a great learning experience.

This week out theme is Pilgrims. Please ask your children what they have learned about Pilgrims!

Saturday, November 01, 2008

Campbells For Schools



I like to browse the Food Navigator's articles every week. This week I found an article on the Campbell's company. The article is about changing their formula in order to make it available to school children. Right now, the regular Campbell's soup formula does not have enough nutrition to serve in early childhood places. I can't serve their soups and have it count as a food.

The new formula still includes transfats and has a high sodium of 480 mg per serving.

The other foods I am not allowed to serve are boxed macaroni and cheese and canned spaghetti. These foods do not have enough nutrition to count as "food." Mostly they are bulk calories and contribute to obesity in children. One parent told me once, "But she will eat it." This is not a good reason to serve a non food item to children. Years of eating these kinds of foods will increase holes in the intestines which is called diaviticulosis. This increases the cause and potential for bowel disease.

For more on the article go HERE.