Wisconsin

This is a really fine article - long, I admit, but well worth reading. It reminds me of all the things the GS has been trying to do for a long time. We are in many ways a charter school with a different approach to teaching and learning.


JSonline
Changes at street level
North Ave. offers array of education options
By ALAN J. BORSUKaborsuk@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Dec. 10, 2005

First of three parts

When Ronn Johnson started teaching at Lee Elementary School just off W. North Ave. in 1989, there was one dominant option for schooling in the neighborhood: Lee Elementary, an aging Milwaukee Public Schools building with low test scores and a conventional program.
North Avenue: Main Street Of School Reform

Sixteen years later, Johnson is still an educator in the neighborhood. But now he works five blocks away in a school that was unthinkable in those days.

The Young Leaders Academy is a charter school - charters weren't created until the early 1990s. It shares a building with a YMCA branch - the first pairing like that in the United States didn't happen until 2000, a few blocks farther down North Ave.

It has a highly charged curriculum with some of the coloration of a military school - there was nothing like that on the Milwaukee map in those days. Now, there are two on North Ave. alone.

It operates outside the MPS system, is open to any city child who applies and makes it through the waiting list, and is funded with public money. Unheard of in 1989.

Immediately behind Young Leaders Academy is Sharon Junior Academy, a Seventh-day Adventist school funded largely with public money through the nation's first and most encompassing school voucher program. Another voucher school, this one non-religious, called the Milwaukee School of Choice, is kitty-corner.

These schools are part of an array of publicly-funded schools that have developed rapidly along a stretch of less than four miles from N. 9th St. to N. 52nd St. Put them together, and this is an appropriate slogan for North Ave.: the main street of American school reform.

Along the avenue, you'll find MPS schools with markedly different approaches. Charter schools. Voucher schools. Schools offering language immersion. Schools offering religious education.

Schools with an emphasis on early childhood education. Highly structured "no excuses" education. In-your-face, military-boot-camp education. An emphasis on business, starting from the early grades at a school run by a for-profit company.

North Ave. is a microcosm of the wealth of things being done to help educate low-income black students and is ground zero in Milwaukee (which itself has been called ground zero in America) for school reforms of many kinds - all of them paid for with public money.

"This whole plethora of schools has inspired this community and given this community hope," Johnson says. "All of the schools along the avenue are sending a very strong message to the community that education is the key, and there are very strong options."

But if North Ave. illustrates how parents in Milwaukee have a wider array of choices in publicly funded education than parents elsewhere in America, it does not yet provide convincing answers of what will come from the innovations.

Is North Ave. the route to closing the achievement gap between the haves and have-nots that is perhaps the most urgent issue in American education? What will be going on along this street 10 years from now, and will the overall picture for children now enrolled in these schools be one of success?

Factors for change

Why has North Ave. become such a vivid example of the changing education scene?
Consider three reasons:

• The need was great. Fifteen years ago, in the neighborhoods along this length of the street, relatively few students did well. It is clear from the response to the school boom that many parents wanted fresh options for their children. And educational, political and civic leaders, as much as they disagree on many things, all agree that raising the level of success in this area is a top priority for the city. It was not a coincidence that MPS and the Boys & Girls Club put their combined new facility on the street, that the Milwaukee Urban League looked to the area to locate its charter school, and that the YMCA built its new facility, including a school, on the street.

• There was a major shortage of school seats along North Ave., a fact shown in the research done when MPS created its Neighborhood School Initiative in 2000. Hundreds of students every day were bused out of the area to schools across the city simply because the schools in the area, such as Clarke Street School, had too little room.

Several schools in nearby areas have new additions, as a result of the more than $100 million spent on the neighborhood plan, and there's one entirely new MPS building not far away, the new Mary McLeod Bethune Academy at 1535 N. 35th St., which replaced the run-down 37th Street School this year.

• Location and access. When enrollment was faltering at the MPS French Immersion School, then located on the southwest side, policy-makers looked for a more central location and selected the building of the poor-performing Steuben Middle School at North Ave. and N. 52nd St., which was being closed. North Ave. is generally easy to get to and relatively central to the whole reach of areas where low-income students live.

The net effect is that North Ave., instead of exporting children all over the city for schooling, might well be a net importer of children now, although no one has compiled such numbers. There are far fewer students leaving the adjacent neighborhoods for elsewhere than there were a few years ago, and many students come from across the north side and sometimes from the south side to attend schools along the street.

There also have been tens of millions of dollars invested just in the physical facilities of schools along North Ave., which some point to as a part of a general improvement in vitality of the area.
At every one of the North Ave. schools, whether MPS, charter or voucher, the budget is driven almost entirely by how many students attend. Finding a market niche, convincing parents that you can serve their children best, treating parents like "customers" - that's the thinking.

"The competition (to get kids) is just out of this world," said Shannon Kilsdonk, in her first year as principal of Hi-Mount Community School. "Everyone wants the students."

There are some winners in the parent-driven market along North Ave. MPS' Starms schools have grown to almost 800 students in three buildings; the Milwaukee Urban League Academy of Business and Economics has outgrown its building at N. 38th St. and North and is using a second building at N. 46th and W. State streets; Milwaukee College Preparatory School and Young Leaders Academy have waiting lists.

Some schools are struggling, too. At Lee, enrollment was almost 700 in 1990; this year, it is 359, and that's with grades six to eight added to the school, one of many in MPS that has become a kindergarten-through-eighth grade school in recent years.

Johnell Sharp, who is retiring this month after 15 years as principal, reflected on how the school has changed in a recent interview: more mobility among the students who remain; a higher percentage of students with special education needs; more behavior problems, especially with the introduction of middle-school students; too many parents who take too little responsibility for their children; many parents who want high standards of conduct and academics moving their children to charter and voucher schools.

"Today's children are different," he says with a sigh.

Extra challenges

Many MPS teachers feel put upon in the new reality. They argue that their schools end up with a disproportionate share of children who have special education needs and behavior problems, while voucher schools, particularly, do not have to meet the accountability demands put on public schools.

"We're like a Statue of Liberty, give us your weak, your strong, we will educate them," said Selestine Skipper, principal of Metcalfe School.

Along North Ave., there is evidence to support such concerns. Most of the charter and voucher schools have special education students, some more than others, but the MPS schools appear to have larger shares and the children with more severe problems. (The charter and voucher schools do not receive any additional funding to work with special ed students the way MPS schools do.)

And while no school has a monopoly on either good or bad behavior, the charter and voucher schools make more active use of the option of sending students who don't meet the program's standards off to other schools. Critics say the schools are, in effect, selecting the best students; supporters say the schools are showing they mean business about high standards.

At Hope Christian School, a rigorous "no excuses" program at N. 25th St. and North Ave., Kole Knueppel, superintendent of this and two other rapidly growing Hope schools, says, "The kids will respond to whatever your expectation is." In his view, on North Ave., you are seeing "the magic of school choice."

Hope Christian Principal Scott Raymond taught at a nearby MPS school for several years before joining this school. The differences at Hope, he says, lie in such things as more structure, the "no excuses" commitment to children succeeding, more attention to detail in how to get students to succeed, and the religious and moral content of the program.

MPS Superintendent William Andrekopoulos says the growth of strong options on North Ave. shows how committed educators in MPS and outside the system are to finding ways to innovate in pursuit of educational success for children.

"Innovation is in the DNA of this community," he says, adding that nowhere else does a city have the diversity of choices that are offered in Milwaukee.

Andrekopoulos says that even as MPS enrollment has declined in recent years, the public school system remains the dominant choice in the city and, in reality, a higher percentage of students attend public schools in Milwaukee than in many other large cities, even with the rise of voucher and charter schools.

It is hard to look at North Ave. and not conclude that competition has changed the reality and added incentive to what every school is aiming to do.

Andrekopoulos says: "We do things differently because we have to compete. We have a consciousness of all the options in the community."

At the Young Leaders Academy, Ronn Johnson says, "It's very clear to the school operators that you have to offer a high quality option or your customers will leave."

He calls the burst of new schools "a wake-up call to everyone that the power has shifted. It's no longer in the district. . . . Parents really have the power now."

Garden School Tattler

We more than welcome Miss Kelly to our school staff. With pictures yesterday, it was a wild morning. The children all looked beautiful, but the play lasted too long and the noise level rose, and rose, and rose, till the roof seemed at odds with the rest of the building.

But Miss Kelly held strong, and we had a really complete day. We had a new breakfast - homemade cinnamon biscuits with apples and milk. I bought the most adorable tableware and the children were able to apply butter to their biscuits with rabbits and sharks and whales.

We had tacos, rice, salad, bananas, apples, sour cream and salsa. The kids seemed to enjoy lunch.

At Christmas, we do an Around the World theme. It was the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe yesterday, and we told the story of Juan Diego and his cape which is still on show in Mexico. We did an art project and sang all our Christmas songs. I'm delighted at how well the children are singing.

Time seemed so long, and now it seems so short to Christmas. There is so much to do. The list is so incredibly long, it seems almost to have no end.

Today is the Feast of St. Lucy. It's crown day, painting day to catch up. Maybe we will go outside - depends.

And the beat goes on....

Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Again

I take issue with this article from top to bottom. Let's start at the beginning. Being attention deficit and being hyperactive are two very different things. To lump the two together is just like saying that a tomato can be sliced into an apple pie because apples and tomatoes are both fruit.

If you've ever worked with an attention deficit person, you know that hyperactivity is generally not the issue. When you work or know hyperactives, lack of attention is not the issue; the issue is keeping up with them.

Secondly, I take issue with hyperactivity being a mental disorder. How can enhanced movement and quickness be a mental disorder?

Third, I take issue with the so called symptoms developing in preschool. A person is hyper from conception. My son crawled at two months. He was sitting for a Christmas picture in December when he was born on October 20.

And last, one is not educated "ON" anything. Does one stand on hyperactivity like some kind of mountain?

Perhaps that's why good preschool teachers don't read articles.

As a hyperactive who is definitely not attention deficit, with high energy children and grandchildren, I abhor the idea that I'm mentally ill. Does my ability to accomplish deeds quickly and sustain an energy level for 18 hours a day without sitting down make me a wacko? Does leaping out of bed at 3:45 with energy and a real desire to accomplish something wonderful during the day make me certifiable? Some would say yes. I've been hyperactive all my life. And like most hyperactives I understand that I am "differently disposed."

The "disorder" that's "unbearable" to most teachers comes from an in ability to keep up with high energy children. High heels and tight skirts won't cut it. Keeping up with high energy kids means out thinking them.

Personally, I love the high energy hyperactive child because they are hilariously funny, bright, filled with life, and get it done twice as fast as anyone else in the classroom. They also know where everything is, how everything works, and how dull most school work is. They get the information first and can do the work dangling from the ceiling. Mrs. St. Louis once taught a child to read while the child was upside down with a rabbit in her arms. So who cares about posture; the child learned to read.

Most hyperactives don't need to do the paperwork. One quick look at the paper, and they have already done it in their mind. The mind is the playground for any hyperactive. You can see a hyperactive child's learning in the eyes. But they won't do it like most other children. They instantly separate the important from the unimportant and they disregard the average.

Disregarding the average can incite the riot of the average person like no other shot to the head. The average person regards his environment as perfectly acceptable. The true hyperactive looks at the same environment and says, "How can we make this better?" Why is it necessary to increase everything? Because a hyperactive wants to see limits - yours and mine, but especially his. He will never be content with what is but what could be and that is daunting to most average people.

Now regard the average person from the hyperactive's point of view. To one of us, the average person is moving in slow motion. Nothing ever gets done because the average person is adding unnecessary steps so slowly, you'd think it was Montessori all over again.

Want to know which one is hyperactive? The child who never sits down. He will have one parent who is also hyper, he will probably love oranges, and will sleep with his eyes half open. A hyperactive will not make friends easily, but he is unusually kind and helpful. Hyperactives come in all sizes and shapes, and the one outstanding characteristic is in movement.

Problem? When hyperactivity is not directed first by the parent and secondly by the child, there is chaos. It's as if he's lost and can't find his way. Show the child the way, and you will have superchild.

Now the article:


Most knowledge comes from magazine articles

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most prevalent childhood disorders. Symptoms start to develop when a child is of preschool age, which has implications for preschool teachers, who are a main influence on the lives of children during these formative years. Researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia have determined that most preschool teachers are not extensively educated on ADHD, which can make it difficult for them to deal with their ADHD students' challenging behavior.

"The most common educational experience of preschool teachers was reading a magazine article that included information on ADHD," said Melissa Stormont, Mizzou associate professor of special education in the College of Education, who conducted the study along with Molly Stebbins, a school psychologist with Columbia Public Schools. "Without quality educational experiences such as reading a journal article with summaries of scientific research or going to a workshop with valid information, the information teachers are getting from types of popular media may only be fads and myths."

The study examined 138 preschool teachers. Teachers were asked to rate their own knowledge concerning ADHD and report their opinions on current ADHD trends and issues. They were then tested on their general knowledge of ADHD. The educational level of the teacher also was noted.

Stormont found that 81 percent of teachers surveyed had read a magazine article on ADHD, while only 61 percent had read a journal article on the subject. Fewer than half of the preschool teachers reported going to a workshop on ADHD or reading a book about the disorder. The study also found that teachers with graduate level degrees possessed more knowledge about ADHD than teachers with high school or vocational level degrees.

"Almost 77 percent of preschool teachers indicated that it was not easy to tell which preschoolers had ADHD," Stormont said. "About half of preschool students with ADHD will continue to have severe behavior problems into their school years, so teachers need to be able to recognize the onset of symptoms as soon as they occur so children can receive appropriate support to make school experiences more successful. Many children with challenging behavior are 'kicked out' of early school environments and enter kindergarten without the social skills needed to be successful."

Stormont also believes the perpetuation of myths and fads by the media could spell trouble for preschoolers in the care of early child care professionals who don't look elsewhere for more information about ADHD.

"Teachers need to understand a child's individual needs and the nature of his or her disorder," Stormont said. "If they attribute ADHD to poor parenting or excessive sugar, they may be less supportive and accommodating in the classroom than if they understood the biological basis of ADHD."

Stormont's study recently was published in the journal Teacher Education and Special Education.

The Garden School Tattler

Just a reminder that it's picture day Monday. Beve Pietrowski will be there about 8:00 - 8:30. She is very flexible, so if you have any special orders, ask! We will ask her to do a group portrait. You can bring a change of clothes with your child tomorrow, and all girls dressed up will get first pictures.

Did anyone see Narnia over the weekend and what did you think?

It's going to snow all week, so an outdoor outing looks a little bleak.

Someone suggested ice skating, and we have a couple of volunteers including Justin's mom, Grace, who was an ice skating teacher, but it seems more like a mommy and me thing than a school thing.

Thoughts?

Pacifiers and Sids

Use of a pacifier appears to reduce the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, report a team of researchers from the National Institutes of Health and Kaiser Permanente in an article in the British Medical Journal.

The article will be published on-line.

In the study, the researchers compared infants who died of SIDS to a group of healthy infants with similar characteristics. The authors found that infants who used a pacifier (referred to as a " dummy " in the BMJ article) during sleep had a 90 percent reduction in SIDS risk when compared to infants who did not use a pacifier. The study provides support for the recent American Academy of Pediatrics recommendation to consider offering a pacifier at nap time and bedtime to reduce ">SIDS risk.

Christmas and Violence

Interesting for those who play these games or know those who do. It's a natural thing for young men to hone their sharpshooting skills. you can see it in very young children who will practice shooting with whatever they can manage to make into a gun. Even carefully bitten toast can become a gun, but gun play won't desensitize a child. Apparently these games do. I think the natural action of the protecting dog and the intensity of the water creates a violent picture. What appears to be true is not always true.

Video Game Violence Desensitizes Players to Real Life Violence, MU Researcher Finds
By Shannon Burke

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Video games such as Gun and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas might be at the top of many Christmas lists this year, despite their graphic violent content and mature ratings. These games might be mere entertainment to some, but a researcher at the University of Missouri-Columbia found that playing these violent games changes a person’s brain function and desensitizes chronic players to real world violence.

“Most of us naturally have a strong aversion to the sight of blood and gore,” said Bruce Bartholow, assistant professor of psychological sciences at MU. “Surgeons and soldiers may need to overcome these reactions in order to perform their duties. But, for most people, a diminished reaction to the effects of violence is not adaptive. It can reduce inhibitions against aggressive behavior and increase the possibility of inflicting violence on others.”

Bartholow, along with Brad Bushman from the University of Michigan and Marc Sestir at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, asked 39 male undergraduate students how often they played their five favorite video games and how violent the games were. Next, the researchers showed participants a series of images on a computer screen, including emotionally neutral images, such as a man riding a bicycle; violent images, such as a man holding a gun to another man’s head; and negative, but nonviolent images, such as a dead dog. As participants viewed these images, the researchers measured a type of brainwave, known as P300, which is believed to reflect how people evaluate images like these.

After viewing the pictures, participants were told that the last part of the experiment involved a competition with another participant to see who could press a button faster following a series of tones. Before each tone, participants set the level of a noise blast that their opponent would receive if the opponent lost. There actually was no opponent. This method is often used in lab studies as a measure for aggression.

The researchers found that the participants who routinely played violent video games showed less brain reactivity, measured by diminished amplitude of the P300 brainwaves, when they viewed the violent images compared to the equally negative, nonviolent image. They also found that the smaller a participant’s brain response to violent images, the more aggressively he behaved during the final part of the experiment.

“These findings are among the first to link chronic violent video game play, diminished brain responses and aggressive behavior,” Bartholow said. “People often assume that any negative effects of playing violent games are short-lived, but these results suggest that repeated exposure to violent video games has lasting negative consequences for both brain function and behavior.”

This study will be published in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.

Children and Pets

An animal at home is the cherry on the ice cream sundae. It's nice to have other life forms around because it gives a child other perspectives on life. My children still grieve for some of the animals who have graced their lives. Our problem is the animals never die. When this article says 14 years, at our house that's at least 16 and probably 20.

The worst pet we ever had was a dog named Rosie. She was a darling West Highland Terrier who bit. She was a paranoid dog with what my husband described as a condition mimicking Turretts. She lived 16 years and in all those 16 years, Anne, my youngest never touched her. And that's a shame, but we made a commitment and we stuck to it. Now we laugh at what an incredibly terrible pet she was.

We have a cat we rescued on his way to the oven when he was fourteen. That was nearly 10 years ago.

But the key to rescue or to adoption or to buying an animal is commitment. You bring the dog or cat or rat or hamster or guinea pig home, and you make a commitment. Babies are really cuter than adult animals, but the reality of the animal and it's friendship with you will be based more on your treatment of that animal as an adult than as a baby simply because it's longer. Enduring an unsatisfactory pet is difficult but it doesn teach a child a lesson.

Children are very interested in their parent's response to animals and will learn kindness and mutual respect from watching. A parent who "saves" an animal is a hero. Children relate to animals and animal care. "My mommy is feeding the dog. My mommy feeds me too. My mommy likes the cat, and she likes me too." What they see a parent do with an animal is reassuring.

At our house, we rescued downed baby birds and returned them to the wild. Anne had a robin she carried around in her apron pocket until it was ready to fly away. We also had a starling named Mavis we got after a storm. She didn't even have feathers. She flew away at last and is fondly remembered as the bird who would fly out of the trees and land on your head nearly anywhere in town. We got calls from all over "Your bird is down here - again."

Caring for an animal is part of rearing children. It's a group activity. We all care for one another even the dog. My children love to tell stories about how I used to say, "I know there is a tornado out there, but go find the cat." It's a bit exaggerated, but you can guess that when the weather alarm went off, the cats went to the closet with us because the children loved them and worried about them because I taught them how to worry and care for something smaller than themselves.

But an animal is an animal and not a child. Children first please. I've seen baskets at the grocery store with a dozen cans of Alpo sitting side by side the cheapest bologna and two loaves of nine-miles-for-a-nickel white bread. We never fed the animals at the table or treated them like people. They are what they are and what they are is simple and good, so we treat them well and enjoy them.

Here's an article about a new product for pets. I am told by Miss Molly, that they are using this kind of tracking devise on children as well.

Remember to Tag Your Holiday Pet Instantly With a FasTags(R) ID Tag

ANAHEIM, Calif., Dec. 1, 2005 -- Each year thousands of pets are given as holiday gifts. Unfortunately, many of these pets are lost shortly thereafter, and without an ID the
chance of finding them again are slim at best. A FasTags(R) ID tag is a quick, inexpensive, and easy way to make sure pets can be reunited with their owners. With the help of an oven, or toaster oven, and less than 10 minutes from start to finish, anyone can make sure that their pet is protected.

With over 60 fun designs, there's a FasTags(R) to fit any style. Identity is Everything!(R)
Jecca Zinder, a FasTags(R) customer, recently said, "I am glad that finally there is a [company] dedicated to people like me, who not only wants to help me get back my best friend in
case he (or she) gets lost, but also does it with such class."

Taking a trip over the holidays? FasTags(R) identification tags are great for family pets, and their travel and show supplies. Mark your vacation location and phone number on your FasTags(R) with the dates you'll be there. If your dog is lost in Peoria, you don't want him returned to Los Angeles! FasTags(R) are available from local pet stores, veterinarians, and barkeries throughout the US (also available internationally). FasTags(R) are also available online at http://www.fastags.com.

FasTags(R) also carries FasTags for Tack, and a new set of designs perfect for people as well as pets. Tag your camera, your sports bag, or your holiday bag with a handy FasTags(R).
Chosen in December 2004 for the Cat Fancy Magazine Editor's Choice Award, FasTags(R) continues to find stylish ways to protect pets throughout the year. Don't forget FasTags(R)
as a last minute stocking stuffer this year!

FasTags(R) - The Tag That Shrinks(R) - is made in the USA by Project FasTags, Inc., a company based in Anaheim, California. FasTags(R) are in their 10th year of
production, are sold throughout North America and internationally, and are protected by a US Patent. Price availability: $3.95 - 8.95. Dealer inquiries are always welcome. Contact us toll-free at (866) 412-6860.

Things to Remember for Giving a Pet at the Holidays:

- Do your homework. This should NOT be an impulse purchase.
- Is the recipient ready for a 14-year commitment?
- Have you considered a "rescue pet" from a local shelter?
- Put a "new pet package" full of accessories, including a FasTags(R) ID, under the tree with a certificate to choose the pet together after the holidays.
- Write a contract for your child outlining their responsibilities related to the family pet. This avoids confusion later.
- Take your time. Remember that you're adding a new member
of the family. You want a pet with the right temperament for you.
http://www.fastags.com/

The Garden School Tattler

I've always liked the word concierge. There's something down right snooty about it. "Let me call the concierge, Daahling; I'm sure the concierge can help."

With the way things are going, I will probably retire as a cat concierge. That's mostly what I do at home these days. I am called one way or another - meow from Birdbite or MENOW from Clonmacnoise (he's a male) and then there's the tireless wait from the little ill and starving old stray who appears on my porch but won't come in. I call him Terminal. Then there's the nasty little female who would take over my home we call Spook.

They are always in constant need. It's quite pathetic. I go through cat food like Tuchachevski went through East Prussia. Sometimes they eat it and sometimes they do a light swoon as if to say, the croutons are not toasted enough - fish again? Oh dear, I'm not sure I like the bowl; does this come in a chicken flavor?

Keeping up the cat pace like a good concierge keeps me trim and fit for childcare duty. At school it's a constant quizzing, a constant onslaught of demands. It's almost a game to satisfy the kids who want only the orange marble. We used to have two orange marbles, and one child wanted the smaller one and would fuss all play period for that marble. What they don't know is it's a miracle we even know where the marbles are.

Managing toys means knowing all the kiddy tricks. Children hide their favorite toys behind things so they can easily find them later and no other child will find it first, so putting toys away has become a nightmare with everyone finding little stashing places all over the school. What the kids keep forgetting are the hiding places and that they liked that toy to begin with or why. So deep in the bottom of a puzzle box we will find two army men that have been lost three weeks. It's hilarious once you drop the pretense and relax. It's like the concierge taking off his tie.

One kiddy trick is the indoor intercepting run. We don't run in the building. We walk, but a run seems permissible if they are getting something like a drink, or telling a teacher something, or getting to the end of the carpet before the toy hits the ground. "Stop running!" "But I was just..."

Boys and girls really don't like the same toys nor do they play with the same toys the same way. Girls like smaller toys that move and have thousands of parts. Boys like things that explode, make noise and come apart into a thousand pieces. We usually give the boys a larger play area.

Recently, we were given a lovely set of Polly Pockets. These are just for the girls. The boys simply take off all the clothes and scatter the parts trying to make baskets through the chimneys of the play houses. The girls actually play and create homes and skits, and take part in sharing.

Knowing all this stuff and orchestrating it is a lot like cat concierging. Knowing all the details and being able to use them to achieve a minimum order is fun. Some days I actually get frisky and feel more like the shuffleboard queen on a large cruise ship hoping to save the puck from being shot overboard.

England

This is a fairy tale come true. Edith and I wrote some children's stories a while back, but the dream of getting them published is like being told you have been invited to the Moon. It's one thing to self publish. There are a lot of companies who will actually produce your book, but to be picked up and then made a TV program is one shot in a million.

I really like the whole idea of these books. It takes a child away from the super heroes and allows him to focus on the real world a la child. I hope it becomes very popular.

C21 Media
December 5, 2005

Radical Sheep dips into preschool books

Canadian children's programming producer Radical Sheep Productions has optioned the rights to produce a 2D animated preschool series based on book property Stella and Sam.

Written by awarding-winning Canadian writer/illustrator Marie-Louise Gay, the series of books centres on Stella and her little brother Sam and their exploration of the natural world. The plan is for the TV version to remain true to the books' playful and light tone, in which playtime is only limited by a child's imagination. For example, a cardboard box can become a space shuttle while the backyard is a lunar crater.

The Stella and Sam book series has been translated into 16 languages and has sold nearly 800,000 copies worldwide. Radical Sheep is currently pitching the series to Canadian broadcasters.

Compare with Minnesota

It's always interesting to me how people manage childcare in other states.

ST. PAUL, Minnesota
Dec. 5
PRNewswire

For most Minnesota families with young children, child care arrangements are complex, with most relying on acombination of child care providers to meet their day-to-day needs. A recentstatewide study of 1,363 families with children 12 and younger found:
-- Parents turn most often to family and friends to care for their children
-- Compared to five years ago, more preschoolers are in child care centers, which tend to be more structured and oriented toward learning
-- Child care costs take an average of 28 percent of low-income families' monthly paychecks (10 percent is widely considered "affordable")

Three out of four Minnesota families use child care for their children under age 13, and those children spend an average of 24 hours per week in child care.

The new report by Wilder Research, commissioned by the Minnesota Department of Human Services, paints a detailed picture of child chare costs, satisfaction, and choices for families throughout the state.

Child Care Use in Minnesota: 2004 Statewide Household Child Care Survey updates a similar study done five years ago.

"As we work to implement policies and develop practices that affect Minnesotans, particularly families with lower incomes who use child careservices, it is important that we periodically conduct surveys to understand the child care use patterns and reasons parents are choosing certain arrangements for their children," said Charles E. Johnson, the MinnesotaDepartment of Human Services' assistant commissioner of Children and FamilyServices.

"Information from this study and others will help us make more informed decisions to better serve Minnesotans and help meet their basic needs."

Child care through relatives and friends

The study found that relatives and close friends are the most common childcare providers in the state, serving as the only or the main arrangement for46 percent of children age 12 and younger. "In many ways this is a positive choice for parents, especially for their younger children," said Richard Chase, the Wilder Research scientist who ledthe study. "They have someone they know and trust, and someone who can transmit their family and cultural values to the children."

Higher participation in preschool programs

Another positive finding compared with five years ago is an increase in participation of 3- and 4-year-olds who are regularly in settings that are geared to help them learn and develop socially, such as preschool, nursery school, Head Start, or child care centers. "This makes a lot of sense given the growing awareness about theimportance of school readiness," Chase said.

Child care challenges for low-income families

Minnesota families with low incomes (at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty guideline or about $38,700 for a family of four) have childcare challenges, the study found. They more often report having little or no choice in their child care arrangements (38 percent, compared to 27 percent ofother families). They give lower quality ratings to their child care than other parents. Child care problems prevented 36 percent of low-income parents from accepting or keeping a job in the past year, compared to 14 percent of other parents, the study found. And while the average out-of-pocket cost for Minnesota families using child care for one or more children is 10 percent of their income -- which is considered affordable -- the families making less than $20,000 a year are paying 28 percent of that income for child care.

"However, this research shows that families with publicly subsidized childcare fare much differently than other low-income families," said Chase. "When it comes to choice, affordability and parents' perception of quality, their experience is much more similar to middle-income and higher-incomeMinnesotans."

SOURCE Wilder ResearchWeb Site

The Garden School Tattler

There's nothing better than change if change means growth. Growth and development - these are words we hear all the time - ad infinitum, ad nausium, and they become pulp in our heads. But growth and development - real growth and development - are what most of us are all about every day.

Yesterday, Seth learned a lesson about Santa, Alexa started wiggling her first tooth, parents learned that their child's art work is really neat, and we all learned a few new games. One of the most impressive things I learned yesterday is how one teacher, Mrs. St. Louis, can really teach a child how to draw and angel. It was miraculous.

I have always loved teaching the youngest because their growth and development is so in your face. Mrs. St. Louis reminded me yesterday that the kindergartners are still the youngest only with some abilities. We had a good laugh.

I just love my class. It's filled with an abundance of personalities you couldn't make up. We have the quiet, refined children who do everything with great precision like Madison and Logan and Justin. They are the dependable children who will always give their very best, pay attention, and do what they need to. Justin in particular is an amazingly perfect child. He does his work really well and never calls attention to himself. He's the ideal classroom child.

Then there are the auditory learners who do everything you ask but in their own way. Faith and Taylor will listen and because they hear so well, they bypass what all the other kids think you said and just laboriously do their work. There's a lot of thought going on there.

Then there are the "need help" kids. Aidan will always double check everyone's work just to make sure he has it right, and that takes some time, so he's usually beginning his task when the auditories are finishing. Daymon is a needy soul. I need to see every breath, every wink, every mark on his paper. "Miss Judy, look, look, look... ad infinitum." Then there are the rush through its. Dawson can probably mimic more paper work than anyone, but ask what it is, and he's lost. He's got a really excellent brain in there someplace.

Then there's Seth. Seth needs a big dose of growth and development. He's just not, and that's his problem. If he were even interested in the staircase of growth and development, he'd be a different child.

Kaito is still struggling with the English. It's hard to know how much he knows because he's silent most of the day. Japanese kids are like that until they can get it right.

Abby is just preciously precocious. She listens politely, does her work slowly - would rather socialize, than do paperwork, and I don't blame her. Once I really move into that room, we might have a reading clubhouse.

From now through Christmas, it will be a project to project time. We will do group tutorials for the beginner readers, and math projects and skill honing while we wait for our new teacher to begin. It's an exciting time, and Mr. Tom has promised to fill in the gaps. I think the kids will look back on this time as their favorite because it will involve a lot of skill races and games. Since we are a year round school, we can afford to spend some time practicing in a play atmosphere and still manage all the learning. It's fun to be small.

The games Mr. Matt sent are all educational, thought provoking games. My new favorite might be Squint. It's a "can you build this" kind of game with parts of geometric shapes. It's a mental match, group, make and think with a timer. It's a lot of fun.

These games would make good family entertainment.

Some has suggested ice skating as a possible field trip. Any comments?

Speaking of ice and snow, the weather is indicating some slippery tricks this week. Please watch for school closings. If either Warrick or Vanderburgh is closed in the morning, the Garden School will also be closed. If the weather turns really bad during the day, we will close school by 3:00 to avoid our children being out on perilous roads. It's never our ability, but some crazy who doesn't know that roads can be treacherous. I always worry about our kids and the fruit cakes.

Pax with an a.

Life, School, Thoughts, Goodies

"The artist knows he must be alone to create; the writer, to work out his thoughts; the musician, to compose; the saint, to pray. But women need solitude in order to find again the true essence of themselves." - Anne Morrow Lindbergh

I got this this morning from my daughter Molly and realize just how true this is. There are times when the world seems just too busy and too demanding, and most of the women I know will opt for the "hot bath." It's a time to pull back and be alone for a while so that the thoughts can begin to fix themselves with some reason and order.

I get up before dawn even on days off and bask in the silence and the deep shadows in my house. I never turn on a light. There's permanent light over the African violets in the dining room, and someone has probably left a light on someplace else. I often leave a light on on the porch for the wild cats to let them know there's food out, and that light shines in the windows.

Deep shadows and silence are a gentle way of starting a day, of being alone with your thoughts and your needs. Sometimes a person's needs are put away for the needs of another. I always thing people are at their best when they lose themselves in the needs of others. There is a real sense of achievement which builds real self esteem that comes from within rather than from without. We try to teach the kids this.

Yesterday we hired a beautiful young woman to teach in our first grade classroom. What made her seem so lovely was what she said, "I want to share the experience of teaching." These are key words, golden words. It is only through community and sharing the joy of teaching that real teaching can be accomplished. It sounds absolutely icky, but when one teacher tells a funny story from her classroom and shows another teacher some work or a project and gets a loving response from the other, the desire to work is prompted. It makes all the trials and efforts count and matter. There are days when successes seem few and the work seems like climbing a mountain, so the loving words are like food to someone starving.

When art makes its way to the front hall of the school and is displayed with enthusiasm, when children can recite a new poem, a new song, or understand a new concept like cutting or using glue correctly, it's a time to share.

But what happens when there is no communication between teachers? No stories, no anecdotes, no exchange, no art? What happens when the primary interest moves from the classroom and the children to the mundane lives of the teachers? It's as if the heart of the place has been removed.

There are 168 hours in every week. We talk about this a lot at school. What do you do with your allotted hours? The kids don't have a clue, but someday they will. For a teacher, teaching hours are somewhere between 30-40 a week. Those of us who are serious spend about 5 hours outside of school on school. But that still leaves 123 hours to spend on self, and when the cost of spending on self is supplied by the school, the few in school hours expected should be focused on school. I think it's like that with any job.

So this morning in the deep shadows of my house, I sit and share a few thoughts about teaching.

Yesterday:

We received yet another package from Out of the Box Publications. Matt Mariani sent us yet another game the kids will just love. You can find the web site by clicking here. It's a neat site and these are really child friendly games.

We need to have a game day. It creates a math high and replenishes the social order. Matt sent us three games and there are still a few from the toy test including Matt's game, Snorta. The kids like rounding the board on the Monopoly games, but these games are more manipulative than either Monopoly or cards.

Kaito's grandparents are visiting from Japan. As I was baking them cookies, they arrived, and I asked them to stay for coffee while the cookies baked and cooled. They speak a little English and we had a nice time trying to understand one another. They brought a huge amount of goodies for the children so we will spend some of the morning writing thank you cards.

Life is really beautiful when you let it shower you with gifts.

Thailand

I think the people of my town, Newburgh, Indiana, site of the recent tornado, can relate to the rest of the world and the kind of disaster we usually only read about or see on TV. The recovery might seem quick, the clean up takes the debris away, the roofs are repaired, the wrecks toppled down and taken away and new houses are put up. But lives are changed forever. The question is a hopeful one: Will it be changed for the better or the worse?


Relief Web
Source: United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)

Thailand: Childcare Centres Are a Boon for Both Economic Recovery and Child Development
By Natthinee Rodraksa

SRIBOYA ISLAND, Thailand, December 2005 -

Three-year-old Mutita was fortunate: She escaped injury in last year's tsunami, clinging tightly to her father's neck as they fled the surging waters. The rest of her family also survived. But the tsunami did more than just kill or injure people - it also inflicted tremendous economic damage. Now Mutita's family is struggling with its effects.

The waves swept away Mutita's home, her family's fishing boat and gear, as well as the small grocery shop they operated on Phi Phi Island. Their livelihood was essentially wiped out.

Mutita's mother, 31-year-old Pranee Wankama, says she and her husband are now earning only half of the income they had before the tsunami and are having difficulty just making ends meet.

"My husband and I have to work harder now to earn as much as possible to compensate for the loss," says Pranee sadly. "We both have to work longer hours in a rubber plantation, which means we have less time to care for the children."

Reconstruction

Working with other organizations and UN agencies in an effort to restore families' livelihoods on Sriboya Island, UNICEF has been helping the island's schools and child development centres play a supporting role in economic recovery for affected families.

UNICEF helped reconstruct two child development centres on the island, as well as three others in the Nue Klong district on the coast. One of the rebuilt facilities is the Koh Sriboya Child Development Centre. This Centre was originally housed in a 12-year-old dilapidated wooden building that was on the verge of falling apart. The building has now been replaced with a new brick and concrete structure, the construction of which gave some work to the island's masons and labourers.

Little Mutita, who attends the Centre while her parents are at work, likes it because "it's big and has more toys."

Many benefits

Naree Kongderm, a caregiver at the Centre, says that in addition to providing children and parents affected by the tsunami with a sense of security and optimism for the future, the Centre is also generating a great deal of interest in early childhood development activities among all the island's parents.

Pranee says the centre is helping Mutita develop the skills she will need once she starts primary school, and that her daughter has lots of friends to play with there.

The centre has also "helped ease the burden of taking care of our daughter during the day," says Pranee, allowing her and her husband to concentrate on improving the family's economic situation. She is hopeful this will help her family get back on their feet as soon as possible.

Eric Mullerbeck contributed to this story.

New Game

There is so much of this creativity out there, but so little of it becomes marketable because so few of us are marketers.

Postgazette.com
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Hampton Preschool Teacher Creates a Game, Starts a Company and Wins National Toy Award

Thursday, November 17, 2005
By Alisha Hipwell

Kathleen Zang isn't creative in a crafty kind of a way, but the preschool teacher sure knows how to play.

After years of making up games, songs and stories for her preschool pupils and her own children, Mrs. Zang, of Hampton, launched a company with her sister that scored a hit with its very first product.

The Healthy Habits Preschool Game, produced by Zang Games LLC, has been selected as one of 100 Best Children's Products of 2005 by Dr. Toy, aka Stevanne Auerbach, a child development specialist and director of the Institute for Childhood Resources in San Francisco.

Mrs. Zang, 47, created the Healthy Habits game four years ago while writing lesson plans for Dental Health Month.

"If you give me scissors and glue and tell me to make something, I'm all thumbs. But I enjoy making up games and songs and plays," she said.

The game consists of 8-inch-by-14-inch laminated game cards that are placed on the floor. Players act as game pieces by rolling a die and moving forward or backward, depending upon the healthiness of the directive on each card. For example, a card might say, "Sneeze on a friend. Move back two spaces."

Healthy Habits, which addresses topics including daily hygiene, proper nutrition and healthy sleep habits, was an instant hit with Mrs. Zang's pupils at St. Catherine of Sweden School in Hampton.

"They loved it. After they played it once, they asked to play it everyday," she said.

It wasn't until last year that Mrs. Zang, whose four children range in age from 14 to 21, felt the time was right to market her game. She turned to her sister, Janet Dietz, of Austin, Texas.

"She asked if I could help her sell it to a toy company," said Mrs. Dietz, who has worked in marketing and sales for years. "I said she should just do it herself."

With a $7,000 investment, the two formed Zang Games LLC and set about preparing the game for market. That meant doing everything from manufacturing professional-looking game cards to finding a box company.

"It's been a bit overwhelming. We're both still moms and living the same life we were before, but now we're trying to launch this company on top of it," Mrs. Dietz said.

Mrs. Dietz saw a notice about the Dr. Toy contest on the Dr. Toy Web site, www.drtoy.com.

"She e-mailed me and said the deadline is in August. Let's go for it," Mrs. Zang said.

She packaged a Healthy Habits game and sent it to Dr. Toy for review but didn't expect anything to come of it. A month later, she pulled a package out of her mailbox bearing a sticker that said "100 Best Products Winner."

"I was sitting in the car on the phone with my sister screaming. It was just so exciting to be validated, even though I already knew the kids loved it," Mrs. Zang said.

Dr. Toy divides her list of 100 best toys into eight categories. Healthy Habits was a winner in the category for 10 best active products. A description on the Dr. Toy Web site describes it as "a fantastic game for preschool children who like to move."

Each product is reviewed using criteria that Dr. Toy has developed over the years, including safety, age-appropriateness, design, durability, lasting play value, cultural and ethnic diversity, educational value, learning skills, creativity and fun.

The game sells for $25 plus $8 shipping and handling and can be purchased through the Zang Web site. A Spanish version will be available in time for the holidays.

Mrs. Zang has ideas for other games, including a manners game called "That's Just Rude." For now, she is concentrating on promoting the Healthy Habits game in the hope it will be picked up by toy stores and catalogs.

"It's been a real learning experience," she said. "We'll see where it takes us."

California

I found this interesting since I'm a Californian by birth and early wanderings. What I'm not sure of is how a whole state the size of California could fail a whole part of the population. When we talk about what the "state" will do, do we then take the parents' role away and deliver the responsibility to a government? Sounds vaguely like Iron Curtain demands.

Report: California Failing Children In Spending, Preschool
November 30, 2005

California is failing its children in such diverse areas as school spending, health insurance, and access to pre-school, according to a new report released Thursday by public advocacy group Children Now.

Children Now - a nonpartisan, non-profit organization dedicated to improving conditions for children nationwide - gives the state a "D" in children's obesity, a "D+" in K-12 education and a "B-" in health insurance.

"The aim for our 2005 Report Card is to create broad awareness and clear understanding of the issues keeping California children from thriving," said Ted Lempert, Children Now president.

"Our goal is not to highlight the negative, but rather to focus on problem areas where we can affect a positive shift for all children in the state."

Good Bye is Hard

Silence is sometimes the best policy when there’s flux or chaos or a problem, but parents are curious about the inner workings of school, and they have a right to know about the coming and going of their children’s teachers and curriculum.

Last week on Monday Miss Rachel resigned her post. It was a heartbreaking uncomfortable time for everyone. It was long in coming, and I wish the job would have gone to Christmas, and I blame myself that it didn’t.

I love Rachel like one of my own kids, and I’ve offered her a place in my heart forever and a place under my roof many times. She returned the affection. Miss Rachel is wont to make changes, and sometimes those changes need to be made for her. When she came to the Garden School, the idea was that she would stay a few months. She stayed four years.

The Garden School can’t pay scale. We do offer some benefits like medical and retirement and carte blanche in the classroom, and 25 days paid vacation, but that low paycheck is hard to live with after a while. We wish we could pay more, but none of us take more than a pittance home. Our salaries are all just about the same.

Rachel is not a greedy or needy person. She’s a beautiful young woman with an excellent teaching approach. I hope she understands that she has something very fine and very exceptional to offer the world of children. She’s a wonderful artist, an unusually happy, healthy, interested person.

When someone like Rachel seems shadowy and unhappy, something is wrong. When wrong lingers too long, changes need to be made.

We will miss Rachel so very much. Our hearts go with her wherever she goes. Be it known that we will do anything we can to help her make this transition. Perhaps she may come and work for us in the summer. She is always welcome.

Personally, I can say I have grown knowing Rachel. I have learned a lot from her. When someone or something is a big part of my life, I usually write about it. My next novel is called, Romancing Rachel. I hope she is a continuing part of my life.

Miss Stacey is leaving as well. It was not a good match. Although she gave it her best shot, Miss Stacey felt that her ability to teach preschool was very limited, and so she is opting out.

Mrs. St. Louis has decided that she would like to teach preschool. She has wanted to do this for a very long time. Edith has been teaching since 1963, and she would like to relax and play with the very youngest children teaching them to listen, to count, to play with letters and numbers and do the inscrutable puzzle.

Miss Judy is delighted with Mrs. St. Louis’s pre-K K class. Although I am not a licensed teacher, I have taught preschool since 1983. I have baccalaureate degree from the University of Evansville, and some masters work in Education. I have a national reputation regarding the teaching of young children, and I am delighted to work with this very special class.

Miss Molly will continue as the Archangel in charge.

We are currently looking for a licensed first grade teacher. We are hoping to find either a man or a woman who is interested in what we do. Tomorrow is our first interview. We are looking forward to meeting her.

In the interim, we have a very busy, very full Christmas schedule. This week it’s the Feast of St. Nick, and the cookie stuff will be delivered on Friday. On Tuesday, we will have our art show, and Beve Pietrowski will leave picture orders for December 12.

We are still looking for options for a field trip. Everyone seems concerned that the new Narnia movie will be too scary, and with the weather and the fact we have a new artificial tree, I’m afraid of going to cut a tree like we’ve always done. If you have any suggestions, please let us know.

Acoma Tribe in New Mexico

This is interesting to me because I grew up in Southern Colorado in the 40's and 50's. I knew some of the Ute and Navaho people and their love for their homes and families. I'm glad to see that the Acoma are teaching their traditions to the young people. This is an important job for all the grandparents to do.

Edith St. Louis

Keres Teachers Keep Acoma Tradition Alive
by Diane Fowler

LAGUNA PUEBLO -

Three daughters of Acoma Pueblo are teaching the younger generation the language of their ancestors in Cibola County.

As the first teachers in the new Acoma-Keres Language Program, Marlene Vicenti, Cheryl Lowden and Josephine Yazzie pass on the traditional language to students at Cubero Elementary School and Laguna-Acoma High School.

The language program grew out of a Memorandum of Agreement among the Pueblo of Acoma, the Grants/Cibola County School Board and the New Mexico Department of Education, which allowed the pueblo to recruit and certify its own instructors regardless of established state standards for public school teachers.

The three women expressed great enthusiasm for the program during the interview at the high school, where they were joined by Gloria Hale, Director of Native American Education for the Grants/Cibola County School District.

Vicente is from Acomita Village, where she has lived all her life. She attended the University of New Mexico for one year and became so homesick that she dropped out and returned home.

Vicente then attended New Mexico State University-Grants campus where she earned an associate’s degree in early childhood education. “Keres was my first language,” Vicente said. “I was actually forced to learn English, but I love teaching our language to the kids.”

Vicente is seeing the effect of learning the native language in the classroom. “Most of the students have heard the language at home, but don’t know the meaning of what’s behind it. Now they can’t get enough of the language and I hate to see the classes end. These kids learn where they’re supposed to be,” she said.

Yazzie grew up in McCartys with her grandparents, who spoke Keres at home. She went on to work for Amtrak for 25 years as a conductor’s assistant on the Southwest Chief, which ran from Los Angeles to Chicago. “At first it was a big adventure, but as the years went by, I got homesick for Acoma,” she recalled. Later she worked for the Grants/Cibola County School District for 11 years as an educational assistant. “The language program was ready when I was ready to come home and help our kids,” she said. “Until I started teaching the language classes I didn’t realize how much knowledge needed to be brought back to the children.”

Loudon teaches Keres at Cubero Elementary School in addition to part time teaching at LAHS. She is a native of Acoma Pueblo, but spent most of her childhood in Arizona where her father was a foreman for the Santa Fe Railroad. She grew up playing with Navajo kids, but at home her entire family spoke Keres. Her late grandfathers on both sides spoke the old, traditional form of Keres.

Loudon dropped out of high school, but later earned her GED certificate and went on to get a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of New Mexico. She has a state teaching license in elementary education. Louden taught early childhood education at Acoma Head Start, fifth grade at Pine Hill School on the Navajo Reservation and second grade for the Zuni Public School system. She has a total of 25 years’ experience as a classroom teacher and became involved in teaching the Keres language at the Acoma Language Retention summer camps, which were established in 1999. She found that the school district needed certified teachers and that eventually led her to the newly established Keres language program.

Because the course integrates artistic and cultural elements such as traditional sewing and moccasin making, the students learn much more than language. “All these elements make the students want to learn more about their history and culture. They develop a better comprehension of what our ceremonies and prayers mean,” Louden said.

“I really feel like I’ve come home,” she added. “This program is so important because it helps the kids to build self esteem and identity. These students want to know who they are and the language and traditions really help them with that discovery.”

The teachers said they have found that many of their students want to take the course more than once, but the necessity of accruing all required courses often prevents this. The Keres language course is an elective, so if a student requires an extra elective for graduation, he can take the course a second time.

“Often the students who have already taken the course act as mentors for the new kids,” Yazzie said.

A pool of qualified teachers is being developed by the pueblo’s community-based education program. An evaluator from the Linguistics Institute for Native Americans at the University of New Mexico will assess the Keres language program in the near future.

Hale pointed out that attempts are being made to establish language programs for all 22 Native American communities in New Mexico, which include the 19 pueblos, two Apache reservations and one Navajo community.

Yazzie noted that, “the students start to say that they’re proud to be from Acoma and that they have a better understanding of the clan system. This course starts a continuous learning process that the students will carry on to their lives in college, the workforce and their families.”

Baby Zone

BabyZone has released Amazing Toy 2005 Winners!

"It's The Pits" has been selected as a winner in three categories!

Every year, just in time for the holidays, toy makers add more selections of children's toys to an already overwhelming market. BabyZone helps to make it possible for parents, grandparents and friends to find quality, innovative, safe toys!

"Our favorite toys are those that are sure to become classics in your home—toys that your family will enjoy over and over again for years to come." BabyZone helps the consumer to best find unique, quality toys for memorable gifts. It's The Pits

"As a parent, you’re always trying to find ways to ease your little one’s pains—but medication and bandages aren’t always necessary. For minor aches, bumps and bruises, this is a lovely addition to your home and medicine cabinet. Each plush animal is filled with a sack of cherry pits that can be heated or chilled. Place the cool or warm animal on your child for a soothing and cuddly experience." BabyZone Review November 2005

Blogging

I got this release with a lot of others and really thought it was quite original, so I'm publishing after I make a plug for the links on this blog in a round about way.

When I started this blog, I didn't have clue. I had read a few religious blogs, but nothing with any regularity. I read Catholic Answers sometimes and add a few comments when the mood strikes, but generally, I didn't know blog from hog.

In the past few months, I've started writing for two mega blogs - Daycare Manager and Metro Day Care. These mega blogs get 800,000 hits a month. But blogs are hungry for writers. They can get the sites, the links, the ads, and the sign ups, but they can't get people to write about childcare simply because there isn't anyone. Nobody IN the business writes consistently about childcare.

When I ask myself what I want my own blog to be about, I keep repeating the word resource. That's why the links are important. Unlike the mega blogs where day care sites are published in a kind of membership, and tips on childcare are popular, I think the most important part of early childhood is knowing what is going on in the world. I publish articles I find about other places because they're fun. I publish an occasional old column on a timely subject, and because it's a personal blog, stuff that's happening at school, because it's important to me.

I would love to tackle questions and answers - did that in the paper from time to time, but I don't get a lot of that kind of response.

Now - after this wordy diatribe, please use the links. I promise to include any anyone sends, and now for this one which is just delightful. You will find it under a new heading Christmas as well.

HALF MOON BAY, Calif., Nov. 28, 2005 -- An anonymous private family in Northern California, is proud to share with children of all ages around the world http://www.saintnick.org/ to promote spreading the spirit of Christmas and community on the Internet.

"We simply do not have as much time to contribute to our community as we would like during the holiday season," said one of the elves (speaking on the condition of anonymity).

"Instead, we decided to make http://www.saintnick.org/ an annual holiday volunteer project for our family, leveraging our creative and technical talents for others to enjoy."

"What makes http://www.saintnick.org/ unique is that it's one of the very few non-commercial Christmas Web sites on the Internet that really focuses on the true spirit of Christmas," said yet another enthusiastic elf.

About The Elves:

During the rest of the year when the elves are not creating interactive Christmas festivities for children worldwide to enjoy, the elves are working for a living in Silicon Valley.For more information e-mail santa@saintnick.org.

New Stuff for Christmas

There is a lot of stuff out on the market. We asked the kids yesterday what they wanted for Christmas, and there was a lot of TV involved. Here are some releases sent by a marvelous lady, Debby Peters:

Families on the go share in the fun with Fox Home Entertainment's latest wave of UMD titles for the PlayStation Portable (PSP) hand-held units!

Available December 20: The hip girl power CGI-feature BRATZ ROCK ANGELZ

CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN starring Steve Martin

The basketball comedy LIKE MIKE, starring Bow Wow and a double header feature with THE SANDLOT and THE SANDLOT 2.

Available for $29.98:

ROLL BOUNCE, rolling on to DVD

December 13 from Fox Home Entertainment.

Starring, Bow Wow, one of the hottest young hip hop artists and an ultra cool cast including Nick Cannon Available for $27.98

ROLL BOUNCE: Synopsis Retro roller-skate jams fuel this coming-of-age comedy, as X (Bow Wow) and his friends, who rule their local rink, are shocked when their home base goes out of business. Heading over to the rival Sweetwater Roller Rink, they find they must bring up their game a notch to successfully gain the respect of the hometown trick skaters and the attention of the pretty girls.

REBOUND from Fox Home Entertainment on December 20. Comedian Martin Lawrence (stars as a hot-tempered college basketball coach who meets his match in a group of wise-cracking, basketball "challenged" junior high kids. Available for $27.98

KONG ELECTRONIC ARMS - $19.99- Deluxe Kong Arms allow children (of any age!) to become Kong. PressKong’s left paw to activate Kong- like roaring and crashing sounds.

SUPREME KONG FIGURE - $24.99- Majestic and mighty, the fearless Kong patrols his island home. Sensing something's wrong, the massive gorilla rises to his feet, raises his powerful fists, and pounds the air in a ferocious display of pure primal fury! With authentic knuckle dragging walking action and real Kong sounds, now you can control the king of Skull Island wherever he may roam!

By David Elkind

From Home Educator.com

Taken from “Education Next, a Journal of Opinion and Research”, Summer 2001 issue. Education Next is published by the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, Stanford, CA.

This is a brilliant piece and well worth reading. It's long, but so well done, it explains the whole concept of good early childhood and the misconceptions about forcing children to be dancing dogs rather than learning children. The article separates what should be done in early childhood. I hope we keep doing it right.

Much Too Early by David Elkind

Children must master the language of things before they master the language of words.”—Friedrich Froebel, Pedagogics of the Kindergarten, 1895In one sentence, Froebel, father of the kindergarten, expressed the essence of early-childhood education. Children are not born knowing the difference between red and green, sweet and sour, rough and smooth, cold and hot, or any number of physical sensations. The natural world is the infant’s and young child’s first curriculum, and it can only be learned by direct interaction with things. There is no way a young child can learn the difference between sweet and sour, rough and smooth, hot and cold without tasting, touching, or feeling something. Learning about the world of things, and their various properties, is a time-consuming and intense process that cannot be hurried.

This view of early-childhood education has been echoed by all the giants of early-childhood development—Froebel, Maria Montessori, Rudolf Steiner, Jean Piaget, and Lev Vygotsky. It is supported by developmental theory, which demonstrates that the logical structure of reading and math requires syllogistic reasoning abilities on the part of the child. Inasmuch as most young children do not attain this form of reasoning until the age of five or six, it makes little sense to introduce formal instruction in reading and math until then. The theory is borne out by a number of longitudinal studies that show that children who have been enrolled in early-childhood academic programs eventually lose whatever gains they made vis-à-vis control groups.

Yet there is a growing call for early-childhood educators to engage in the academic training of young children. The movement’s beginnings lay in the fears sparked by the Soviet Union’s launching of Sputnik in 1957. The civil rights movement and the growing public awareness of our educational system’s inequality led to the creation of Head Start, a program aimed at preparing young disadvantaged children for school. Although Head Start is an important and valuable program, it gave rise to the pernicious belief that education is a race—and that the earlier you start, the earlier you finish. This encouraged educators like Carl Bereiter, Siegfried Engelmann, and, more recently, E. D. Hirsch to introduce early academic programs based on the learning theories of E. L. Thorndike and B. F. Skinner. These writers assume that learning follows the same principles at all age levels—ignoring both children’s developing mental abilities and the fact that academic skills vary in their logical complexity and difficulty.

Concerns over our educational system, fueled by our students’ poor performance in international comparisons of achievement, have reinvigorated the call for early academic instruction as a remedy for inadequate teaching later on. All too many kindergarten teachers are under pressure to teach their children numbers and letters and to administer standardized tests. In some kindergartens, children are even given homework in addition to the work sheets they must fill out during class time. In a developmentally appropriate classroom, children are busy taking care of plants and animals, experimenting with sand and water, drawing and painting, listening to songs and stories, and engaging in dramatic play. It is hard to believe that these young children learn more from work sheets than they do from engaging in these age-appropriate activities.

In the end, there is no solid research demonstrating that early academic training is superior to (or worse than) the more traditional, hands-on model of early education. Why take the risky step of engaging in formal academic training of the young when we already know what works?

Giants of the PreschoolThe educators who established early childhood as a legitimate time for guided learning all emphasized the importance of manipulative experiences—of seeing, touching, and handling new things and of experiencing new sensations—for infants and young children and the dangers of introducing them to the world of symbols too early in life. Froebel, Montessori, and Steiner all created rich, hands-on materials for children to explore and conceptualize. Each of them acknowledged, in his or her own way, that the capacity to discriminate precedes the capacity to label, that the understanding of quality precedes that of quantity. Children, for example, learn to discriminate among different colors before they can distinguish different shades of the same color.

This is not to suggest that the founders of age-appropriate practice were of one mind. They disagreed on such matters as the teacher’s role in guiding young children’s learning and the comparative benefits of individual versus collaborative learning.

Froebel, for example, believed that introducing children to different manipulative materials (which he called gifts), such as a wooden ball, a square, and a diamond, would teach young children not only geometric shapes but also abstract concepts of unity and harmony. Montessori, by contrast, doubted whether children would learn abstract concepts by using manipulative materials. She did argue that there were critical periods in development during which children had to exercise their sensory-motor abilities if they were to fully realize them. Montessori regarded children’s exercise of their sensory abilities, and indeed of all their activities, as preparation for adult life. Froebel saw play as a valuable mode of learning for young children; to Montessori it was frivolous and should be the child’s work. For example, she wrote that children would be better served if they used their imaginations to fantasize about real foreign countries rather than fairytale kingdoms.

Steiner, founder of the Waldorf schools, believed that education should be holistic. In Waldorf schools, handicrafts, the arts, and music are integral parts of the curriculum. Children are asked to write and illustrate their own textbooks in science, history, and social studies, for example. Whereas Froebel and Montessori focused on having children learn from their own individual activity, Steiner’s activities were more social and collaborative.

Piaget, while not supporting any particular early-education program, argued that children learn primarily from their own spontaneous exploration of things and a subsequent reflective abstraction from those activities. This is an indirect argument for the importance of manipulative materials in early-childhood education. Vygotsky, while also believing that much of intellectual growth was spontaneous, nonetheless proposed that children could not fully realize their abilities without the help of adults. He argued that there was a zone of proximate development that could be attained only with guidance and modeling by adults. Vygotsky emphasized the teacher’s role much more than other writers, who entrusted much of young children’s learning to the children themselves.

Contemporary early-childhood educators also disagree on the teacher’s role in the learning process and continue to debate what is the most effective curriculum for young children. What unites them, and sets them apart from those who would make early-childhood education a one-size-smaller 1st or 2nd grade, is their commitment to building early-childhood practice on their observations of young children. Put a bit differently, the giants of early childhood and their followers agree that early education must start with the child, not with the subject matter to be taught.The guiding principle of early-childhood education is, then, the matching of curriculum and instruction to the child’s developing abilities, needs, and interests. This principle is broadly accepted and advocated by most early-childhood educators. The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) has issued a policy statement entitled “Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early-Childhood Programs.” The NAEYC now evaluates and certifies early-childhood programs that meet its criteria for developmental appropriateness.

Complex Understandings

Those who believe in academic training for very young children make a fundamental error: They fail to recognize that there are different levels of understanding in math and reading. Learning to identify numbers and letters is far different from learning to perform mathematical operations and to read with understanding. This is easy to support. “Sesame Street” has run for more than 30 years. Children today know their numbers and letters earlier than ever before. Many know them by age two. Yet children today are not learning math or reading any earlier or better than did children before there was “Sesame Street.” Learning the names of numbers and letters is only the first step in the attainment of true numerical understanding and reading comprehension.

Take the concept of numbers. The three levels of numerical understanding—nominal, ordinal, and interval—correspond to different forms of scaling. Nominal numbering is the use of a number as a name, such as the numbers basketball players wear on their uniforms. By the age of two or three, children can use numbers in the nominal sense. By the age of four or five, children can begin to use ordinal numbers; they can order things according to quantitative differences. For instance, they can arrange a series of size-graded blocks or sticks from the smallest to the largest. Once the arrangement is complete, however, they are not able to insert a new, intermediate-sized element into the perceptual array.

It is only at age six or seven, when they have attained what Piaget calls “concrete operations,” that children can construct the concept of a “unit,” the basis for understanding the idea of interval numbers. To attain the unit concept, children must come to understand that every number is both like every other number, in the sense that it is a number, and at the same time different in its order of enumeration. Once children attain the unit concept, their notion of number is abstract and divorced from particular things, unlike nominal and ordinal numbers.

Mathematical operations like addition, subtraction, and multiplication can be performed only on numbers that represent units that can be manipulated without reference to particular things.The interval concept of numbers is an intellectual construction. It builds on children’s practice in classifying things (attending to their sameness) and in seriating them (attending to their difference). At a certain point, and with the aid of concrete operations, children are able to bring these two concepts, of sameness and difference, together into the higher-order concept of a unit, which brings together the ideas of sameness and difference. It is only when children understand that something can be the same and different that they have a true understanding of quantity. Learning the names of numbers and rote counting are less important in this attainment than is practice in classifying and seriating many different materials.

A similar hierarchy of understanding is involved in learning to read. In fact, in some respects reading is a more complex process than arithmetic, in that it involves auditory and visual discrimination as well as cognitive construction. Nonetheless, the principle is the same level of reading is the recognition of words by sight. At ages two or three, a child may learn “stop” and “go” in part by the perceptual configuration and in part by the colors associated with these words. Sight words are like nominal numbers; they reflect a very early level of reading achievement. A second level of reading is phonetic; this concept corresponds roughly to ordinal numbers. Children at four or five can learn the sounds for single letters and are able to read words like “hat,” “cat,” “sat,” and so on.

The same child who can read phonetically, however, may not be able to read phonemically. To read phonemically, a child must be able to recognize that a letter can be pronounced differently depending on the context. A child who can read “hat,” “cat,” and “sat” may have trouble with “ate,” “gate,” and “late.” Likewise, a child who knows “pin” may have trouble with “spin” because it involves a blend of consonants that may throw kids off. In Piaget’s terminology, “concrete” operations are required for this highest level of reading.

Those calling for academic instruction of the young don’t seem to appreciate that math and reading are complex skills acquired in stages related to age.

Children will acquire these skills more easily and more soundly if their lessons accord with the developmental sequence that parallels their cognitive development.

A Developing Knowledge BaseFrom the outset, let’s acknowledge that hard data on the comparative benefits of one or another type of early-childhood educational program are hard to come by. The difficulty stems from the fact that education is a chaotic process. Each time children and their teacher come together they are different, thanks to the intervening experiences each has had. In other words, every classroom meeting is a nonreplicable experiment. Our research tools, however, are borrowed from the physical sciences, where regularity, rather than chaos, reigns. In physics and chemistry it is possible to control most, if not all, of the variables in play. This is almost impossible in education.

For example, classrooms that follow different educational philosophies will vary in many other ways as well. The teachers may vary in skill and experience as well as in personality. In addition, it is almost impossible to match two groups of children. A reliable match would require comparable families, a condition that is difficult, if not impossible, to satisfy. Moreover, the instruments used for assessment, whether observations or tests, are less reliable and less valid at the early level than they are at later ages. This does not mean that meaningful research cannot or has not been done. It just means that we may have to be more innovative in designing studies of educational methods than we have been in the past. The physical-science paradigm, which presupposes regularity and replicability, is simply not appropriate to the study of classrooms.

Longitudinal studies can overcome some of these difficulties, thereby providing meaningful evidence comparing one method with another. Long-term observation and measurement reduce the chance that random factors, such as a teacher’s bad week, are corrupting the data. In an analysis of ten independently conducted, and variously sponsored, longitudinal studies of the effects of early-childhood education for poor and at-risk children, High Scope Educational Research Foundation scholar Lawrence J. Schweinhart and his colleagues found that children who attended preschool performed significantly better intellectually, at least during the program and shortly thereafter. In some but not all of the studies, significantly fewer of the children who attended preschool were classified as disabled and placed in special-education classes. Likewise, in some but not all of the studies, children who attended preschool had higher rates of high-school completion.

These investigations of early-intervention programs provide clear evidence that early-childhood education, in most cases of the developmentally appropriate kind, had lasting effects on the lives of participating children. It is not clear, however, whether the results would be the same if advantaged children were the subjects. Consider an analogy. If you take children who are significantly below the norm and feed them a full-calorie, nutritious diet, they will make remarkable progress until they reach the norm. But if you put well-nourished children on a similar regimen, there will be few if any effects. If you start at a low level, you have more room for improvement than if you start at the norm.

Studies of children in different types of preschools are merely suggestive. One study by Leslie Recorla, Marion C. Hyson, and Kathy Hirsh-Pasek compared children who had attended an academic preschool with those who had attended a developmentally appropriate program.
Although there were no academic differences between the two groups, the children attending the academic program were more anxious and had lower self-esteem. These results diminished after the children began to attend public school.

An older study was carried out by Carleton Washburn, the famed Evanston, Illinois, educator. He introduced children to formal instruction in reading at different grade levels from kindergarten to 2nd grade. The children who were introduced to reading at these three levels were then retested in junior high school. The assessors didn’t know the grade at which each child had learned to read. Washburn found little difference in reading achievement among the groups. The children who had been introduced to formal instruction in reading later than the others, however, were more motivated and spontaneous readers than those who had begun early. Similar findings were reported in the Plowden Report in England, which compared children from the informal schools of rural areas with children who attended the more formal schools of urban centers.

Studies of early readers, those who are able to read phonemically on entering kindergarten, have found similar results. In both the United States and Canada, only about 3 to 5 percent of children read early. In such studies, most children had IQs of 120 or higher and were at Piaget’s stage of concrete operations. In addition, almost all of them had a parent or relative who took special interest in them. These adults did not engage in formal instruction; they read to their children, took them to the library, and talked about books with them. In order to learn to read early in life, children need the requisite mental abilities, but they also benefit from the motivation that develops from rich exposure to language and books and the special attention of a warm and caring adult.

Evidence attesting to the importance of developmentally appropriate education in the early years comes from cross-cultural studies. Jerome Bruner reports that in French-speaking parts of Switzerland, where reading instruction is begun at the preschool level, a large percentage of children have reading problems. In German-speaking parts of Switzerland, where reading is not taught until age six or seven, there are few reading problems. In Denmark, where reading is taught late, there is almost no illiteracy. Likewise in Russia, where the literacy rate is quite high, reading is not taught until the age of six or seven.

Current Practice

Why, when we know what is good for young children, do we persist in miseducating them, in putting them at risk for no purpose? The short answer is that the movement toward academic training of the young is not about education. It is about parents anxious to give their children an edge in what they regard as an increasingly competitive and global economy. It is about the simplistic notion that giving disadvantaged young children academic training will provide them with the skills and motivation to continue their education and break the cycle of poverty. It is about politicians who push accountability, standards, and testing in order to win votes as much as or more than to improve the schools.

The deployment of unsupported, potentially harmful pedagogies is particularly pernicious at the early-childhood level. It is during the early years, ages four to seven, when children’s basic attitudes toward themselves as students and toward learning and school are established.

Children who come through this period feeling good about themselves, who enjoy learning and who like school, will have a lasting appetite for the acquisition of skills and knowledge. Children whose academic self-esteem is all but destroyed during these formative years, who develop an antipathy toward learning, and a dislike of school, will never fully realize their latent abilities and talents.

If we want all of our children to be the best that they can be, we must recognize that education is about them, not us. If we do what is best for children, we will give them and their parents the developmentally appropriate, high-quality, affordable, and accessible early-childhood education they both need and deserve.—David Elkind is a professor of child development at Tufts University and the author of Reinventing Childhood and The Hurried Child.

The Garden School Tattler

One of the best things about working in a small school is the sense that you are not alone in your desire to help a child move out of a poor behavior, or achieve a certain proficiency, or excel in a talent. We all talk about the children and where they are and what they need. Unlike a giant school, where the talk has to be guarded, labeled, and recorded, our teachers work in an atmosphere of immediate exchange and get instant back up needed to make a difference in a child's life.

Because we see parents every day, the opportunity to discuss a child's difficulties or achievements is also immediate, and the desire to meet with parents is part of offering a child a very special place.

The Garden School is looking for a teacher who is interested in the work we do from top to bottom. The plant or building - inside and out - is a faculty responsibility. We have no cleaning staff and obviously no professional decorating staff. Individual classrooms and teaching areas are a joint problem and activity. Sometimes we need help. It never just falls to one person.

At the same time, ideas about play, play stations, playroom order, materials, equipment do not come from "on high" but from the faculty. Ideas need to be supported and take shape by faculty interested in a particular avenue of children's learning. New idea about play? Implement it - now. I'll help - now. It's called a working relationship.

Curriculum is not cut in stone and does not come from outside demands, or some board standard we never have a voice in. Our curriculum comes from us. We design it, but we don't design it from what someone else says. We design it by trial and effort. When there is lack of effort and a lack of trial, there is a stymie in the curriculum. That's why our faculty maintains a constant interest in what we do and why it's important through group discussions and faculty meetings, and then we contribute to that. That's what we have always expected, and have enjoyed.

Our main objective is in understanding how every child as an individual learns. If that's the case, then every classroom should demonstrate the differences among our children and cooperate with the individual plan.

Art is a primary tool in ferreting out a child's particular needs. When a four year old can't draw, it is either that he has not had the opportunity, or he has some emotional problems. Art is the window to what is going on in a child's mind. It's his only way to communicate simply because his language skills are not developed enough, and he is not writing. So art is the number one identifying tool we have to communicate. We, as a faculty, are not interested in turning non drawers over to the shrink. We are interested in letting a child work out his problems in a peaceful and often transitional art through teaching, through encouragement, through love and the kind of affection that will offer every child a respite from his little suffering or a warm smile for his joy.

I'm not an artist. I'm a writer by training, so writing in school is important to me. I think reading for sense and writing are the second most important parts of a child's curriculum because through the thought processes in working out "thought" on paper, a child comes to realize how important his ideas are. I love the picture plus story paper available at teacher's stores because it's easy, immediate, and the product is something a child can be proud of - now. Worksheets are never memorable and never a tribute to the individual child. They are a necessary part of practice, but practice has to go someplace.

I write novels outside of school. I am finishing the third book of a 1600 page trilogy. When I think about the tools to write, they are fairly simple. Children are able, through a personal and guided effort, to create a character and have that character do simple things. Every child should have a character they take around with them trying stuff out and then be able to put a few sentences to a drawing of the character. The character can be anything - a knight, a bug, a princess, a frog - even a clam on the bottom of an ocean can be a great character.

One child told me in circle time that he wanted pictures because he could not imagine the story in the book I was reading published in 1922 - sans pictures. "You can't picture in your mind what a white footed mouse might look like sitting on a stump?" The child said no.

This is a whole other target area - TV. But TVs are not going to be turned off, and children are not going to be encouraged to sit longer hours to write words they have trouble imagining. So that's our role as teachers - to instill a love of imagination where very little exists and to show a child how to draw - because truly anything can be drawn with a simple line or a circle - and then create a life or world from the imagination and offer it to the drawing at hand.

If I were dictator of the world, and there are a lot of people out there this week who think I am, I would insist that at least part of every classroom curriculum be strictly learn by drawing and story including math because I think understanding comes from inside not outside.

And last but not least, when an adult in a child's life encourages imagination his/her life shows it. His/her surroundings show it, his/her interests show it. The world closes down on the marketplace and becomes the studio and the creation is limitless.