Field Trips Enhance Learning

 Going on an adventure outside the daily norm can enhance a child's learning experiences. 

This group of children enjoyed a day at Patterson Farm.

This child enjoyed picking a pumpkin. She is just now beginning to verbalize. During the puppet show she jumped up and exclaimed loudly, "What is that?" A sentence, a full sentence with no prompting. Awesome progress due to providing alternative learning experiences.

Here is the same child feeding the animals, she got so tickled at shouting the names of the animals and the sounds that they made.

Deborah K. Howell, M.Ed.

The Difference a Teacher Can Make!

I had planned for this blog to be about the information I learned during a session at NCaeyc, but I was so moved by the story of a woman I met at a workshop I attended Friday, that I felt the need to share.

A quite woman who sat at my table during a workshop I attended in Morganton, NC, shared with me the story of her daughter. The woman herself works in early intervention as well as serves on the board of her county's school system.

This woman's daughter was diagnosed with Autism at a very young age.

Diagnosed as young girl

She told me that she has been fighting with the school system throughout the years for the right to appropriate education for her child. They have encountered many obstacles and her daughter has had  difficulty with school work, making low grades, failing EOGs and other benchmark tests.

One year in junior high school, her daughter was put in the class of a very special teacher. The teacher saw the potential of the girl. She harnessed her talents and encouraged her to want to learn and participate with her peers in school.

One Special Teacher

That year, she passed her EOGs with 3s and 4s for the first time ever! She was motivated to go to school each day, make new friends, and study for her classes.

This past year, during her junior year in high school, she was voted and crowned prom queen!

Prom Queen!

I have heard other similar stories about people with special needs succeeding and accomplishing great things and I think that it is simply awesome and inspiring!

The truth is that teachers do make a difference in the lives of their students and have the power to motivate and pave the way for success in the future.

Making a difference each day!

I hope that you will be inspired, as much as I was, to make a difference in the lives of children you work with each day!

Katie Zink, ITFS-P

When was the last time you played outside?

THE LOST ART OF FORT BUILDING

I attended our annual NCAEYC conference in Raleigh this past week. Like perusing the menu at a favorite restaurant, each year I eagerly scan the list of workshops and carefully make my selections. The description of the workshop Build It---And They Will Come pointed out the many learning opportunities derived from the age-old childhood activity of fort building. I was intrigued, so I decided to pursue the matter further and attend the workshop.

Building a blanket fort requires:

• Cooperation (if more than one person is involved in this activity)

• Planning

• Problem-solving

• Persistence

• Imagination

• Effective use of available resources

• A sense of pride and accomplishment in the outcome

I decided to take my concerns to my lab (home) and invite some test subjects (my grandchildren). The results of my small study showed that the art of fort building is, in fact, alive and well in the imagination of today’s young children. My conclusion: Go build a fort with a favorite youngster. You’ll have a blast!

Katherine Generaux, Community Inclusion

Valuable Lessons Learned

As you may know, the staff at Partners In Learning attended the NCaeyc (NC Association for the Education of Young Children) conference in Raleigh this past weekend! We had so many amazing opportunities to learn and bring back new ideas to our classrooms.

Michelle Macon and Katie Zink presenting on Relationship Building

Each of us attended five sessions of workshops and some of us even got the chance to present to conference attendees.

Moving Keynote Presentation

While I personally learned a lot from these sessions, I believe that the most influential part of this conference was the motivation to come back to use the techniques and ideas that I learned with the children I see everyday!

Teacher-Made Materials

I am so excited to get to put my recently gained knowledge with these children! Stay posted for more blogs on some of the specific lessons learned this past weekend!

Katherine Zink, ITFS/P

More Alike Than Different

Ok, no pictures this time, I want you to use your imagination. So visualize this. I walked into a classroom the other day and there was a group of five children who are three years old. One is lying on the floor rolling around and laughing so hard he can hardly breathe. One child is sitting and clapping and pointing to himself saying "me", "me". The other three children are singing a random rendition of Happy Birthday and taking turns putting in each others names. All the children are laughing and having a GREAT time.

Now think about the children you visualized, what race are they? What sex? Were there any differences? Are they all typically developing children or did any have special needs? Most of you probably had a general visualization of five typical  children of whatever race you are. Actually, in this scenario there was a child who was black, a child who is mixed races and three children who were white, one girl and two boys one of which has Down syndrome.

All of the many differences among these five children yet they were all having a ball together and were more alike than different and didn't see color or ability but simply friends. We could learn from children.

Deborah K. Howell M.Ed., Assistant Director

HOW TO TRAVEL THE WORLD IN ONE DAY

How do you travel the world in just one day? You can do it by joining Partners In Learning and riding our bus to the UNC Charlotte’s annual International Festival on Saturday, September 29th. Over fifty countries will be represented through music, dance and food. The PIL bus leaved the Partners In Learning parking lot promptly at 10:00AM and returns at 4:00PM. What a great way for PIL families to spend the day, so either bring your own lunch or purchase international food at the festival. Here are some things you can expect to experience:

• Continual live music

• Continual dancing in the UNCC arena

• Passports stamped at every booth

• See what the world looks like from the inside of a giant earth inflatable

Here’s the best part-------This event is free, so join us and celebrate the rich cultural diversity that represents our human experience.

Katherine Generaux, Community Inclusion

My Favorite iPad Apps

I am fairly new to the iPad world, but I have already found quite a few Apps that are simply awesome!

Autism Tracker

Autism Tracker
This is really a MUST HAVE App for parents/teachers of children on the autism spectrum. This App allows you to track your child's happiness, stress, activity level, sensory arousal, and even weather on a daily basis. Once you have inputted this information for a number of days, you can see a graph of all of this information and it may allow you to identify triggers and specific correlations between your childs behavior/mood and the environment. This App is available on both the iPad and the iPhone in a free Lite version or the full version for $9.99.

Injini

Injini
This App has a little bit of everything you might need in the field of early education. There are puzzles, patterns, farm animals, seek-and-find, matching, tracing, colors, and much more. I currently have the lite version, but the full version ($29.99) is on my wish list. It is expensive, but from what I can tell, very worth it if you want a great education App for your child.

My Funimals

My Funimals
This FREE App is a great one for hearing both the names of animals as well as the sounds that they make. This App has both the English and Spanish names for each of the animals and is a favorite of the children I have introduced it to.

Photo Touch

Preschool Games - Farm Animals by Photo Touch
This is a great App for identifying animals from a set of three or more, for example, "Touch the cow!" I love this App because there is little negative feedback if the wrong choice is selected, it simply deters you from that answer and encourages you to pick another animal. I also have this game in "Zoo," "Colors," and "Toys." While the Farm Animals is Free, the other versions are $.99.

Little Writer

Little Writer - The Tracing App for Kids
This App allows children to trace capital letters, lowercase letters, numbers, shapes as well as words. You can even add your child's picture and have your child trace the letters in their own name! The App uses entertaining tracing techniques to encourage your child to stay within the lines. This is a FREE App and is very much a useful App for when children are learning to write.

Katherine Zink, ITFS/P