Playing is so much fun!

This student models nice leadership skills as he calls kids to take turns crawling through the tunnel.

Friendships and relationships grow through playing and communicating with others. The children at HO4K are so lucky to be able to have so much fun playing each day.  Play helps younger children develop social skills, problem solving skills and also interpersonal skills.

 

Children are born with the innate talent and urge to learn new things through exploration and discovery.
HO4K ensures that children play with others as it is important because it helps in the emotional and social development, as well as in learning skills such as negotiation. Students are constantly learning the lessons of appropriate play, communication, sharing and give and take! Play is an integral part of learning and child development.

There are several different form of play. They are described as follows:

• Practical Play-exploring in sand or water, pounding on drums, etc.
• Constructive Play- building or constructing something using objects.
• Dramatic Play- Pretending to be someone, acting, creating a scenario, etc.
• Games with Rules- games with established rules, board games, competitive games, etc.



Some believe that children play too much and that an increase in organized academic learning is necessary. However, play is a learning time and in fact is detrimental to healthy child development. The children at HO4K get their healthy dose of play every day!

Read more at Suite101: The Importance of Play in Early Childhood Development | Suite101.com http://www.suite101.com/content/the-importance-of-play-in-early-childhood-development-a225507#ixzz1Wa664mFi

LIVING LOVE AND LOGIC TIP #16 and REMINDER

REMINDER!!!!

Our annual program and graduation ceremony will be taking place this FRIDAY night at 6:30. We would love to see you all there. Please RSVP to Mrs. JoAnn by Wednesday the 24th as to how many guests will be joining us so that we can be sure to have enough refreshments. We are excited to see our little ones performance and to celebrate our graduates! It is sure to be a fun time!

Now, for our weekly help!

Help! My Kids Will Only Eat Junk Food!

Weekly Tip from the Love and Logic^® Experts

Do you know any kids who choose junk over good food every chance they get? What can parents and caregivers do to steer kids toward healthier choices without becoming helicopter or drill sergeant parents?

 

Let's look at a few ideas from the Love and Logic menu:

• Provide a good example.
  Fortunately, we have control over the powerful example we set with food.

• Offer choices.
  Some adults find success in offering two good options and letting kids choose: "Would you like apples or carrot sticks for your snack?"

• Use enforceable statements.
  Many Love and Logic parents have found "go-to" enforceable statements beginning with these phrases: "I provide…, We provide…, We buy…" or "Feel free to…" For example: "We provide healthy snacks in our house. Feel free to buy other snacks with your allowance."

• Share the thinking.
  If unhealthy eating has become a problem, experiment with asking some loving questions such as: "What do you think you can do about this?" or "Can you think of some better ways to take care of your body?"

• Be prepared to neutralize arguing.
  When we start setting limits with food, our kids aren't going to thank us - especially at first. Wise parents are ready for the resistance with a handy one-liner. "I love you too much to argue" is my favorite.

For more tips on avoiding unwinnable power-struggles and arguments, listen to Avoiding Power Struggles with Kids.

Thanks for reading! Our goal is to help as many families as possible. If this is a benefit, forward it to a friend.

 

 

REVISITING BLOCK PLAY

Stages of Block Play

* Click on the BLOCK PLAY page on the right to see the complete description and more detail about block play!

STAGE 1- Blocks are carried around and are not used
in construction.

STAGE 2- Building begins. Rows are made either vertically
(stacking) or horizontally (on the floor). Destruction occurs.

 STAGE 3- Stage 3 involves a great deal of repetition,

but bridging also takes place. Bridging consists
of two blocks with a space between them,
connected by a third block.

 STAGE 4- Enclosures are constructed. Enclosures are four
blocks placed in such a way that they enclose
a space.

STAGE 5- Decorative patterns begin to appear. Much

symmetry is seen, but the structures are not
named yet.

STAGE 6- Structures are named for use in dramatic play.
The names relate to how the structure will
be used.

Look at our boat we made!

STAGE 7- Buildings often reproduce or symbolize actual
structures with which the children are familiar.
There is also a great deal of dramatic play around
the block structures.

Moving our bodies

Young children's future health and well-being are directly related to the development and strengthening of their bodies. There are many ways to move our bodies. Children need lots of movement both small (fine motor skills) and large (large motor skills). Of course using large motor movements help our little ones get their wiggles out and hopefully helps them sleep better at night!

Above, this student is working on pumping her legs to swing. This large motor movement is addressing the 4 major components of large muscle development: strengthening of the muscles, balance, coordination and muscle control. While participating  in this activity she is also experiencing spatial relations by feeling where she is in the space around her and her swing. At HO4K students are constantly moving and engaged in more than the minimum recommended 60 minutes of daily physical activity.  

Using our children's natural curiosity of touch and manipulation often help our students to practice using their fine motor skills. Below students are engaged in a simple activity that has them using both large motor skills and small. Anytime a student paints on a large scale, particularly on an easel, they are using their shoulders and hands (large) to paint as well as their fingers (small) to hold their brush. These skills demonstrate their improvement in muscle strength, dexterity, and control needed to manipulate items. Holding a paint brush is just another step in helping students learn how to properly pinch/hold an item which is a pre-writing skill.

These skills demonstrate improvement in muscle strength, dexterity, and control needed to manipulate items. Holding a paint brush is just another step in helping students learn how to properly pinch/hold an item which is a pre-writing skill.

Bye-Bye Banana!

Our changing banana experiment is nearing the end. The students have noticed the decaying banana is getting flat as liquid has been seeping out. Also noticeable is the sticky liquid on the fingers after handling the banana.

Students have been amazed as we near the end. We started with a beautiful, yummy, firm, yellow banana. What remains is far from it. Students have taken turns comparing what is left to what we started with. We also have been taking notice as the changes that are occurring seem to be similar to the actual peel and the banana itself inside. Their curiosity continues to grow at the thought of what could happen next? What will it look like tomorrow? What will be the end of our banana? Asking these open-ended questions and providing this time of reflection and exploration is so important when young children are investigating in science.

LIVING LOVE AND LOGIC TIP #15

One Evening in My Son's Home
Weekly Tip from the Love and Logic^® Experts
 

Choices are magic. My grandson, Ferris, was bemoaning the amount of homework he had to do in kindergarten. Frankly, I think the kid had a point. What ever happened to childhood? Anyway, Ferris was sort of tripping over the line from protest into rebellion: "I'm just not going to do this homework. It's too much! I quit."

 

My son put his hand on his child's shoulder and said, "I understand, Ferris. Just go in tomorrow and tell your teacher it was too much and that you decided to quit." And then my son and I walked off. About twenty minutes later we passed the dining room table again and Ferris was hard at work on his homework. It was almost completed. And my son, with a grin, said to me, "Dad, this Love and Logic stuff is just too easy."

 

Thanks for reading! Our goal is to help as many families as possible. If this is a benefit, forward it to a friend.

 

Dr. Foster Cline

 

 

*** It is not always this easy! Make sure you have "deposited" into your child's "account" by providing many choices throughout the day! The more the better. Your child is going to be more willing to listen when they feel in charge and responsible!

GOING BANANAS!

Our banana is really starting to change! Students have had an eye-opening experience with this experiment. Observing the changes in our banana after several days, students have used their background knowledge of how to recycle and our previous work with the compost to connect and further develop their understanding of decomposition. Students are having to use their five senses to explore and investigate these changes closely.

 

 Something easily observable is the change in color as our banana is now black and oozing with liquid. The smell is more intense and to touch, the banana is squishy and full of liquid! Watch out! It even squirts "banana juice!"

Using descriptive language to describe feelings, relate experiences, and communicate comprehension is part of the standards that need to be addressed in preschool. Looking closely at the student's reaction and facial expressions below, he had no difficulty communicating those to the teacher!  "I don't want to touch it!"

Science Experiments

To further explore natural science, students have been conducting an observational experiment involving change. After watching an episode of Sid The Science Kid on change, we decided to see what would occur to a banana. To start, students discussed a banana. What it feels like, tastes like, looks like, and smells like. We measured the banana so that we could observe any changes in the length. Students are all familiar with bananas and had a great time predicting what might happen to the banana in a few days.

After a few days we discovered many changes occurred. The banana was no longer bright yellow and firm. This soft and brown banana didn't seem as "yummy" to the kids. We talked about how you can still enjoy bananas like the one below in banana bread.

The next experiment also involved a fruit and can be done at home! Students are growing their own avocado plant. What a great way to talk about the life cycles of plants.  So... how can we grow an avocado plant? Follow the steps below at home to conduct your own avocado experiment with your child.

Get a soft ripe avocado
Clean off fruit
Cut ends off pit / seed
Wrap in wet paper towel
Enclose in container put in dark cool place 2-4 weeks
Watch for pit to crack open (1 week)
Watch for Root to start growing (2 weeks)

What a great lesson in discovery! As you can see some students had different reactions.

Look carefully and you can see the start of our new avocado root. We can keep the cycle going!

LIVING LOVE AND LOGIC TIP #14

Swearing Student Proves No Sweat for Love and Logic Teacher
Weekly Tip from the Love and Logic^® Experts

 

I was recently blessed to hear a wonderful story…a tale of a teacher using Love and Logic with a student who called her a vulgar name. Although shocked and hurt, her Love and Logic training paid off. "Ohhhhh, this is not good," she replied. "You must be having a rough day. We'll talk about this later."

 

Perplexed by her calm response, the student grunted, "Huh?"

 

He was escorted to the office where he awaited his fate. "This is between you and your teacher," the principal told him. "She'll visit with you after school. Your mom will pick you up afterwards."

 

During their meeting, the teacher described some options for solving the problem. These included meeting with the school resource officer and paying a fine for disorderly conduct, in-school suspension, or helping her with "community service" tasks around the school.

 

He opted for helping her out. After working with her for two weeks, he realized that she really wasn't what he’d called her. They developed a positive relationship…and there was no more name calling that year!

 

To learn more about building positive teacher-student relationships, read Jim Fay's new book, Creating a Love and Logic School Culture.

 

Thanks for reading! Our goal is to help as many families as possible. If this is a benefit, forward it to a friend.

 

Dr. Charles Fay

 

 

* As parents, we too can remain calm when our little ones use hurtful words. What a great way to teach them about control and forgiveness!

Learning Letters

According to Educational Theorist Howard Gardner, there are several different ways that a student can learn. Gardner has 8 basic types of intelligence that he believes students learn through. Gardner's theory argues that students will be better served by a broader vision of education, wherein teachers use different methodologies, exercises and activities to reach all students. The 8 intelligences are:

• Spatial
• Linguistic
• Logical-mathematical
• Bodily-kinesthetic
• Musical
• Interpersonal
• Intrapersonal
• Naturalistic

Children learning at HO4K are fortunate that these 8 intelligences are addressed everyday through activities provided by the teachers. Below are just a few pictures and examples from this week of how students worked with the letter N.

(logical-mathematical,)

Lentil has the letter "Nn" in the middle. Ms JoAnn read a magazine article about how nutritious they are and decided to serve them in the meat sauce with our spaghetti (naturalistic). The children noticed them right away and were good sports about trying them! We made a math graph to chart who refused, who said yes, or no thanks I didn't like them but I'll try them next time.



(Intrapersonal, Bodily-kinesthetic)

 

 Nickel starts with the letter N. Students revisited coins and sorted them accordingly. We learned about listening for the N sound at the beginning, middle and end of words (linguistic). After students sorted the coins, we took the nickels and made wishes as we tossed them into a wishing well (interpersonal).

(Spatial, Bodily-kinesthetic)

 Lastly, students practiced forming the letter N with noodles! Students loved tracing the uppercase and lowercase letter N's with glue and then placed noodles on top. This is just another way to reinforce letter recognition and formation. 

LIVING LOVE AND LOGIC TIP #13

Getting Your Kids to Do What You Want
Weekly Tip from the Love and Logic^® Experts

 

The essence of great leadership is the ability to inspire people to do things that they can't be forced to do. The essence of great parenting, especially with older children and teens, is also represented by this ability.

 

Are there any things that you want your kids to do that you can’t make them do?

 

Are there any values you’d like them to adopt that you can’t make them adopt?

 

Have you noticed that using brute force doesn’t get the job accomplished?

 

My book, Parenting Kids To Become the People Employers Really Want and… America Desperately Needs! is a book about parenting through leadership. It's also a book about creating the great future leaders our nation needs. It teaches that the key to getting our children to do, and believe, what we want involves parenting around the Five "E's" of Love and Logic leadership:

• Example
  Great leaders walk the talk. They also stay calm when their kids are upset, stay positive when their children are negative, and stick to their values even when it makes their youngsters mad.

• Expectation
  Great leaders have high expectations and transmit these expectations through firm, yet caring, limits.

• Experience
  Great leaders allow their children to make decisions and to learn from experience. Instead of micro-managing or rescuing, they allow their kids to make mistakes and grow from them.

• Education
  Great leaders teach their children how to behave. During calm times, they don't hesitate to educate them about how to get ready for school in the morning, how to complete their chores, how to get along with their siblings, etc.

• Empathy
  Great leaders know that the magnet that draws others toward them involves a combination of high expectations and great compassion.

Parenting around these Five "E's" doesn't ensure that our kids will always do what we want in the short-term. Instead it dramatically increases the odds that they will follow our lead in the long-run.

Thanks for reading! Our goal is to help as many families as possible. If this is a benefit, forward it to a friend.

 

Dr. Charles Fay

Writing Samples

Our current writing project is a story that students are illustrating and writing about manners. Although we share some ideas, each student brainstorms and organizes their own ideas with teacher assistance to create their final story. Learning to dictate a story to a teacher gets better with practice. Students often are excited about the beginning and end of a story and need to further develop the middle. Students continue throughout the year learning how to organize and sequence a story with clear focus. These early writing samples are a great way for students to share their talents in creativity and imagination. Sharing their stories is the final step and is the most important, as they learn to take pride in their work. Have your student share their stories with you during your daily reading time! This important opportunity of sharing is a great way to reinforce their learning and the best time for positive feedback!

Happy Anniversary!

Helping our children learn about love and service is very important. In the past students have discussed this and have even done acts of service to help around the preschool. Recently students learned about Mrs. JoAnn's parents who celebrated their 55th Anniversary! As a service of kindness students made a banner and sang a revised version of Happy Anniversary to them! The kids were very proud of their work and happy to share the SURPRISE when Mrs. JoAnn's parents were visiting. 55 years!!! Its hard to imagine isn't it?!!

Soup Opera

Listening to books on tape is so important for children. It helps them to learn fluency, comprehension and further develops their phonemic awareness. Above a student is holding the story "A Soup Opera" By author Jim Gill. The students loved the comical aspect of the story about a man, a bowl of soup and the man's operatic and comically frustrating quest to eat it! The students loved playfully singing the story along with the narrator. What a great way for children to listen to reading.

Continuing education programs are important as there are consistently new methods, programs, ideas, etc. that are beneficial while working with children. Mrs. JoAnn believes that she will never stop learning! What a great lesson for children. Recently Mrs. JoAnn attended a family care conference where she spent hours learning and meeting new people. Below is a picture of her with Jim Gill the Author of "A Soup Opera." While attending a seminar on literacy with children, Mrs. JoAnn was able to meet with him and get a signed copy of his amazing book! She is excited to implement all the new strategies that she learned!

SUMMER SCIENCE

So, just how hot is it? We conducted a science experiment to find out how long it takes to melt an ice cube. Students made predictions about the melting time inside and the melting time outside. We observed, discussed and charted our results. We compared our predictions to actual melting time and learned more about the concept of time. Look closely at our predictions and you will see that we had a big difference to talk about!

The next two pictures focus on the curiosity and exploration of children and the natural questions they have regaurding the world around them. Above a student experiments with sound. While bending the tube in different ways the sound changes. Children took turns listening to themselves and then sending messages to one another through the "message tubes". 

Water is always a fun way to further encourage exploration and discovery. So when students learned about the pressure in a hose, of course we had to "play" and try it out ourselves. We learned how to create the pressure and then took turns experimenting to see how far we could get the hose to spray out while building up the pressure. Students loved this activity and had fun making designs, spraying great distances, and splashing in the water!