Barrier Games

Barrier games are an easy and fun way to build listening skills, an understanding of position language, and oral language abilities in young children. They can be incorporated into the math center or sent home as an extension activity for parents. Two players sit on either side of a barrier (e.g., small screen, open folder) so that they cannot see each other. Each person takes a turn giving instructions to the other person to perform certain tasks. Players alternate between speaker and listener roles. Because they cannot see each other's work, they must learn to give clear, concise directions, and listen very carefully to one another. Players can use a variety of materials (e.g., blocks, magnet letters, shapes, crayons) for this task.

Examples:

*draw a blue circle, draw a small yellow circle inside the blue circle, write your name under the blue circle

*place the square on top of a triangle, put a rectangle next to the triangle on the left side

*write your name in the center of the paper, put a large red circle around your name, cross out the first letter of your name

The Princess and the Frog

We took my three year old daughter to see Disney's The Princess and The Frog today. It was her first movie and she was very excited. I'll admit my bias before you read this post further. I grew up on Disney and have had a love for the fairytale based films since childhood. Even as an adult I become transformed into a child when watching these movies with my daughter. But even though I'm enjoying the experience, I can't turn off my brain while watching the movies and pick up so many small nuances that bother me. Do I really want my daughter watching movies that emphasize that the woman only becomes 'whole' when she falls in love with her prince? Life is only complete when the man kisses you? What about all the racial and cultural stereotypes that are portrayed in even the minor characters? How do all these elements affect my daughter's subconscious? 'It's just a movie' you might think, but it's so much more than that. Even though I purposely avoid buying my daughter commercialized toys and books like the plethora of Disney and Dora products available, these are all she seems to get when receiving gifts from others at holiday time. Just tonight her bedtime story was from her Disney Princesses "Stories of Friendship and Love" book. I cringed as I listened to my husband read a story about how Sleeping Beauty planned a lovely party for her and the Prince. "And they danced together all night long...." Blah! How much is too much and is it fair to limit it when it's so prevalent in society? An excellent read for those of you interested is "The Mouse that Roared: Disney and the End of Innocence" by Henry Giroux.

(and what about educators who incorporate pop culture into their classrooms as decorations...)

Helping Children Become Agents of Social Change

I have helplessly watched the tragedy in Haiti on the news. A local school in my community has decided to hold a fundraiser with the goal of the proceeds being sent to the Canadian Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders.

In troubling times such as this I think it's so important to help children feel empowered and provide an outlet for their feelings of helplessness. I know that as a person living far from Haiti, I still felt as though I had done some immediate good when my family made a small donation to the Canadian Red Cross.

Using real-life moments can help children become agents of social change, as they learn how to help affect their lives and those around them. Younger children may not necessarily be aware of the specifics of what is happening, but may indirectly sense the stress their parents and those around them maybe be feeling in response to situations such as the earthquake in Haiti. Regardless of whether educators decide to engage older students in realtime discussions about world events, many children will be aware of what is happening in the world as they listen to their parents' conversations at home, and have instant access to the television and internet. Helping children deal with intense feelings of helplessness and grief is a huge task for parents and teachers - I have never hesitated as a teacher to ask for help from administration, support staff, and educational counsellors to help me in times such as this.

Please consider donating to the Canadian Red Cross at 1-800-418-1111 and Doctors Without Borders at 1-800-982-7903 to help those in Haiti who need it most right now. Thank you!

Teaching Children to Recognize and Spell their First Name

One of the first words that children learn to recognize and spell is their first name. There are a number of creative and hands-on ways to help them with this concept:

-display their name everywhere (e.g., use post-its and stick it on the fridge and bathroom mirror, label their belongings and point out their name to them)

-write your child's name in large print and overlay the print with white glue. Encourage your child to decorate the letters of his or her name using sparkles, macaroni, buttons, and other fun, small objects

-use manipulatives (like in the above picture) that have letters on them to help your child sequence and spell his or her name. Use blocks and unifix cubes

-place magnet letters on your fridge and mix up the letters. Encourage your child to sequence the letters in the proper order. This can be done with recipe cards too. Just print one letter on each card and shuffle.

-stamp out your child's name with cookie cutters or letter sponges dipped in paint

-bake letter cookies together

-use playdough to form the letters of your child's name. Roll the dough into skinny sticks so that it can be manipulated into lines and curves

Once your child has mastered his or her name, move onto other short words and names of other family members.

The Benefits of Board Games

Want to engage your child in meaningful explorations in math and socialization while spending quality time with him or her? Play a board game together! An interesting read from the Washington Post discusses the benefits of playing simple board games (e.g., Candy Land, Snakes and Ladders) with children including:

-children learn self-regulation as they wait their turn

-children learn good sportsmanship - how to be a gracious winner and a graceful loser

-one-to-one correspondence in math is reinforced as children count out the number of moves their player makes

-children practice using simple probability tools like dice and spinners

-children learn to instantly recognize the numeral that corresponds with the number of dots on the face of a dice

-playing face-to-face games with children provides an authentic opportunity for families to engage in conversations about the game and other important events as the conversation gradually steers from the game to other things

-other important ideas like shape and colour recognition often are reinforced through simple childhood games

Leaf Man (Elhert) Science Center

Curriculum Expectation: Patterning: identify and describe informally the repeating nature of patterns in everyday contexts (e.g., the patterns in nature), using oral expressions and gestures

Learning Opportunity: At this center children will have the opportunity to explore and discuss the various patterns they discover in objects found in nature (e.g., flowers, leaves, animals)

At whole group learning time the teacher will read the story Leaf Man (Ehlert, 2005) in order to introduce the concept of autumn objects (e.g., leaves, acorns, seeds) and evoke a sense of wonder and excitement in students. During the read aloud the teacher can be thinking aloud and pointing out the various aspects of the illustrations, in particular the patterns that can be found in the pictures of natural objects such as leaves and seeds (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2003). After the story the teacher can display various pictures of animals (e.g., zebras, peacocks) and encourage children to find patterns in their appearances. The teacher can point out to students that everything explored (e.g., leaves, seeds, fruit like apples, animals) are objects found in nature.

At the science/exploration/tactile center children can be encouraged to become “nature detectives” and invited to continue investigating patterns at the science/exploration/tactile center during center time. Tweezers and magnifying glasses can be used to explore the materials in depth. Children can be invited to dissect materials for further exploration (e.g., the inside of a seed or apple). Sorting plates can be provided so students can group materials. A top-secret ‘science observation journal’ (since students are pretending to be investigators) can be placed at the center along with writing materials so students can record their observations of the materials.

Props:

Circle Time – Leaf Man (Ehlert, 2005), pictures of natural objects and animals (e.g., flowers, seeds, birds and animals, close-ups of snowflakes)

Science/Exploration/Tactile Center – numerous natural objects including rocks, shells, seeds, leaves, real or dried flowers, various nature pictures, faux animal fabric (e.g., zebra print, snakeskin), magnifying glasses, tweezers, sorting plates, blank journal, writing and drawing materials including crayons and pencils

Play: At this center children can role-play that they are detectives on a mission to discover and discuss the patterns they find ‘hiding’ in everyday objects. Using the materials provided they can explore various natural materials, make connections by sorting and classifying the objects, and discussing and recording their observations in a ‘top secret’ observation journal. An adult can help scaffold the learning by participating as the ‘top secret spy’ at the center and using science and math language to help children find challenging and abstract patterns (e.g., not only are there patterns on leaves, but trees also follow a pattern in how they grow, colour, and drop their leaves with each season).

What might children say or do: I believe that children will readily buy into the idea that this center is meant for ‘science investigators’ on a mission who are using top-secret materials. The possibilities of this center allow them to group and classify materials in numerous ways. Kid talk might include: “Look at what I found!” “There are lots of patterns here” “I put these materials together because…” “I wonder why…”

Assessment: This experience can be assessed in a number of ways including: a teacher recording anecdotal notes on what children are saying and doing; using a checklist and recording which students were able to find one or more patterns or who used mathematical language (e.g., word ‘repeats’ when describing the pattern) while engaged in play; analyzing the observation journal to see what children discovered and recorded; asking students in an informal interview to describe what they did at the center and recording it verbatim; asking children to draw and discuss a picture of one pattern they discovered while at the center

Ehlert, L. (2005). Leaf man. New York: Harcourt, Inc.

Ontario Ministry of Education. (2003). A guide to effective instruction in reading: Kindergarten to Grade 3. Toronto: Queen’s Printer for Ontario.

Ontario Ministry of Education. (2006). The kindergarten program (revised). Toronto: Queen’s Printer for Ontario.

How Much T.V. is Too Much?

I recently read an interesting report about daycare children being allowed to watch t.v. during the day. Upon reading this, I was immediately outraged. As a mother of a child in daycare, I would be very upset to know that my child spent her day watching t.v. when I was expecting that she be engaged in authentic, math and language-based activities.

My daughter would watch t.v. all day if we let her. As a three-year-old she is fascinated with the magical entertainment that appears on the television screen in the form of Dora, The Backyardigans, and Max and Ruby. She is allowed to watch some t.v. each day, usually when I need to keep her safely occupied like when I'm making dinner or feeding her younger brother.

My question is - how much television is appropriate for preschoolers? Television is a part of our reality and I believe that not allowing children to experience it, and learn how to timetable it into their lives in appropriate ways is irresponsible. Technology is our future and we need to show our children how to use it for the right reasons and within the right contexts. I also sympathize with her. I know after a long day at work sometimes all I want to do is come home and relax with a movie. I'm sure it's no different for her when she's busy at school all day.

Unless she's watching t.v. like the children in the report!