A Spoon Full of Sensory Play Ideas

Children are wired to receive and utilize sensory input from day one.  This is why children will dive in hands first, exploring a new substance.  The senses are their most familiar, most basic way to explore, process, and come to understand new information.  This is why we must allow young children to learn through experience.

These children need to use their senses and be engaged in meaningful experiences.  Partners In Learning provides daily sensory experiences in all of our classrooms.   We even have a dedicated section on our Pintrest page.  Follow us at http://pinterest.com/pilcdc/   to see the most current sensory ideas!  

 I LOVE PINTEREST!

 Norma Honeycutt,
           Executive Director

Touchscreen Gloves

While I was planning on blogging about a different topic today, I simply had to share an idea that I got from Pinterest this week!

I call these "iPad gloves."

Have you ever had a child try to use their entire hand while playing on your phone, iPad, etc.?

This is a great (and cheap) concrete way of teaching your child to use their index finger to manipulate touch screens.

To prepare for prewriting skills and other fine motor skills, it is important for your child to use their index finger on touch screens rather than their thumb or entire hand.

I put this Pinterest idea to practical use this week. While I thought that the child would refuse to put on the gloves, she agreed and they worked great!

All you need to do is take a cheap pair of gloves and cut the index fingers out of them. I cut out the index fingers on both gloves since many young children have not yet figured out which hand they are going to use.

I would also suggest cutting out only the index finger on the right hand so that they cannot use their left hand, but still encourage them to put on both gloves.

By the way, are you following Partners In Learning's Pinterest page? We have tons of great parenting, classroom, and therapy ideas pinned!

Katie Zink, Infant-Toddler Family Therapist/P

"Every Child Needs A Champion"

Good afternoon readers. I am beyond excited to begin blogging for Partners In Learning. I have to say that writing has always been a passion of mine as well as my job, and the opportunity to blend the both of them was unbelievable. I began working at Partners In Learning in January of this year, my experience so far as been phenomenal. We will get back to that however let me first introduce myself. My name is Rob and I am 21 years old. I am a college student pursuing a bachelors in communications and never in my wildest dreams did I believe I would work in child care. But when the opportunity presented itself I thought of what an amazing adventure that would be. I am blessed to say I was not wrong.
 I am currently working as a full time teacher for Partners In Learning's Seussical Summer Camp. I would be crazy to attempt to convey my love for my job through this post, so call me crazy. As a child care provider I have seen and experienced some of the most powerful moments of my life. I look at my kids everyday and wonder how I will impact the person they become. There are good days and bad days and some days that just seem like you've given all you can and have no more, but somehow in the midst of the hugs, and cards, and those special moments when you see a child growing right before you're eyes you realize how lucky you are. I am proud that I get to spend my days with children helping them to become better at whatever challenges they face. There could never be an award that means as much as it does to walk into my classroom and see their smiling faces. I believe Rita Pearson said it best when she said that "every child needs a champion" someone who will believe in them with limitless faith and push them to achieve more. This summer has already been so memorable and knowing my kids, there will definitely be more in store for the adventures of our Seussical Summer. This is one blog that will make you laugh and cry, so don't miss it.

Until next week,
Rob Gay, Child Care Provider

THE POWER OF POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT

When your child does something that you want to see happen again, acknowledge the behavior. By letting your child know that you are pleased with her/his behavior in a particular situation, you are providing verbal reinforcement. Very often we focus the majority of our attention on the behaviors we don’t want our child to exhibit, though many times the misbehavior is motivated by a desire for attention. If the consequence is attention, (even negative attention is attention), then it is highly likely that the misbehavior will continue to occur.

Of course, some misbehavior must be addressed, but there is that old adage about picking your battles. The saying we have around here is: “You get more of what you pay attention to.” Try focusing more of your attention on the positive.

(Note: This also works with the adults in your life.)

Katherine Generaux

Live in the Moment

 

Live in the moment with your family. 

 

Why? Well, you only get one chance, why not make it the best you can!

 

 Memories last for a lifetime, give your children the best childhood memories you could possibly imagine!

Think outside of the box and just do it!

Today was good, today was fun, tomorrow is another one. -Dr. Seuss
This is how I want my children to remember spending time with our family!

Family is not an important thing, It's everything! Live in the moment with your family.

Michelle Macon, Family Support Advocate

Custodial or Quality?

Many parents don't really understand the difference in custodial and quality infant child care.  Unfortunately, many infant teachers also do not understand the difference.  As the director of Partners In Learning for the past 15 years, quality has been our top priority.  Anyone can provide custodial care: feeding, changing, and keeping your baby safe.  However, it takes a committed, educated teacher that understands brain development to step it up to a high quality learning environment.  So... you may be asking yourself, "What does that look like"?  

The following are some things to look for when trying to make the tough decision for infant care:

• Is there a curriculum for babies? Ask to see an example of activities planned.
• What resources are offered to parents?
• Is the program accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)?
• Are there enrichments for infants such as storytellers, musicians, sign language, etc.?
• Is the daily schedule adjusted according to each baby’s needs or are all babies on the same schedule?
• Will your child have a consistent group of primary teachers? How long have they been at the center?
• Do teachers interact with children in caring, respectful, and positive ways? Do you see one-to-one conversation with eye contact?
• How will your child’s individual needs be met with the number of children in the room?
• Is the staff child ratio 4 infants per teacher or less?

One of the infant teachers at PIL have music time with the infants.

A newborn's brain is about 25 percent of its approximate adult weight.  But by age 3, it has grown dramatically by producing billions of cells and hundreds of trillions of connections, or synapses, between these cells.  While we know that the development of a young child's brain takes years to complete, we also know there are many things parents and caregivers can do to help children get off to a good start and establish healthy patterns for life-long learning.

One on one time with infants is very important.  This is the time that they build trust in their caregiver and one of the greatest windows of opportunities for brain development.  Programs with high staff/infant ratio's cannot offer these opportunities to children.

Our teachers spend most of their day on the floor engaging with the infants.  They are building brain development all day long.  

Every infant deserves to get off to a great start.  Quality care is essential for that to happen.  If only custodial care is provided, the foundation for the infants later learning will not be as strong.

Norma W. Honeycutt, Executive 

More than just fun with 'Connect 4'

There are many opportunities to turn common household games and objects into learning experiences for your child.

A great example of this involves the classic 'Connect 4' game.

Depending on the age of your child or the number of children in your home, you can use the Connect 4 tokens to teach concepts or words.

I use this game for older two year olds. If the child is working on putting multiple words together, I will ask him to say "more please" or "I want more" before giving him a token to put into the game. If the child is working on articulation, I will ask the child to imitate certain words, such as "alligator" or "fish." Again, depending on the child's age, we will match colors and count the tokens.

The Connect 4 game that I have is SpongeBob themed, which children love. Children then have a chance to talk about SpongeBob and Patrick and their favorite parts of the show, such as "jellyfish" or "crabby patties."

With older children, you could work on vocabulary words or math problems. There are tons of options for this game; be creative and have fun with it!

On a rainy day, try out this game with your child to help improve their language and problem solving skills.


Thanks to Beverly Maurice for this fabulous idea!!

Katie Zink, CBRS therapist

CHILDREN WHO BITE

It is very common for a child to bite others at some point during their early years. When children do not have the skills or vocabulary to express their feelings, they might engage in a behavior, such as biting, as a way to let you know how they feel. Children might bite for a variety of reasons:


 Frustration – she might bite because she wants her toy back or because her sister is sitting too close to her.

 Lack of play skills – she might bite because she feels overwhelmed by the proximity of other children or expectation to share toys.

 Attention – she might bite because biting causes a big reaction from adults. Biting can result in adults interacting with the child or gaining the adult’s attention.

 Teething – she might bite to relieve pain from new teeth coming in.

 Overwhelming emotions – she might bite because she does not know how to express emotions when she is hungry, tired, scared or anxious.

The important thing for you to remember when biting occurs is to stay calm with your actions and words and first try to figure out the reason why the biting happened.

This information  was retrieved from:   www.challengingbehavior.org

Katherine Generaux - Community Inclusion

Ways to Protect Your Child From Strangers

It is very important to protect your child from strangers.  Remember some of the below tips:

Your kid gets separated from you at the mall? Tell her to flag down the first mom with kids she sees.

Put your name and number in the child's shoe when away from home.  Teach your child to pull it out if they can't remember your phone number.

That said, if there is a weirdo at the park, he’s not going to fit the “stranger” model — so stop teaching your kid about strangers! He’s going to come up to your kid and introduce himself. Voila! He ain’t a stranger anymore.

Teach your kids about TRICKY PEOPLE, instead. TRICKY PEOPLE are grown-ups who ASK KIDS FOR HELP (no adult needs to ask a kid for help) or TELLS KIDS TO KEEP A SECRET FROM THEIR PARENTS (including, IT’S OKAY TO COME OVER HERE BEHIND THIS TREE WITHOUT ASKING MOM FIRST. Not asking Mom is tantamount to KEEPING A SECRET.)

Teach your kids not to DO ANYTHING, or GO ANYWHERE, with ANY ADULTS AT ALL, unless they can ask for your permission first.

See how I said ANY ADULTS AT ALL? That’s because:

It’s far more likely your kid is going to be abused by someone they have a relationship with, because most cases of abuse follow long periods of grooming — both of the kid and his or her family.

Bad guys groom you and your kids to gauge whether or not you’re paying attention to what they’re doing, and/or to lure you into dropping your guard. Don’t.

Oh, and that soccer coach who keeps offering to babysit for free, so you can get some time to yourself? NO ONE WANTS TO BABYSIT YOUR KIDS JUST TO!

.  

HAVE WE FINALLY STOPPED IMPOSING GENDER STEREOTYPES ON OUR CHILDREN?

PIL Pre-K graduates



Yesterday’s graduating pre-kindergarten children walked on stage to eagerly accept their diplomas.  The children had been previously surveyed about their interests, and as each student stood on the stage alone for a few moments, their teachers read the child’s comments.   I was pleased to learn their responses to the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”   Some girls reported ambitions toward becoming firefighters and police officers, while some boys stated their interest in becoming chefs.    The audience was amused when a number of children reported that they want to be grownups when they grow up.  (When you think about it, though, becoming a grownup is an achievement that many of us never quite accomplish and so it is, in fact, a worthwhile goal!)  It is good to know that some of the gender stereotypes we’ve held in the past have started to change.   By limiting options for individuals, we diminish the human potential of our society.   

This is Peter Gil, a pre-kindergarten graduate from Park View Elementary.  He plays football and is also a student at Steppin Out Dance Studio.

This is what Peter has been learning in his dance class this year:

• Self-confidence

• Following directions

• Creativity (A 21st century skill)

• Training his brain to instruct his body how and when to move, (a skill he will find useful in football).

• Social skills (He has learned to present himself in front of others in a mature and appropriate way,)

• Music, beat and rhythm, (math reinforcement)

• Self-expression

• A sense of accomplishment and personal growth

• Physical strength and balance

• Physical exercise

Gender stereotyping might have deprived Peter of the opportunity to gain these skills.

 

Peace.



Katherine Generaux - Community Inclusion 

Tour Da' David

David Freeze, Partners In Learning's Wellness Coordinator is passionate about health and wellness.  He works with the staff, children, and families at PIL in an effort to reduce obesity and educate them on strategies for whole body wellness.  

In an effort to bring attention to the growing epidemic of childhood obesity and to raise funds for the Partners In Learnings wellness program, David will be riding across the nation.  

Learn more about Tour Da' David by watching the video at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=SmQ_o5lODP4

We will be accepting donations until he returns.  Our goal is $2000.00.  Help us reach our goal by donating at epartnersinlearning.org