LIVING LOVE AND LOGIC TIP #31

Four Tips for Soothing Sibling RivalryWeekly Tip from the Love and Logic^® Experts

Why is sibling rivalry such a perplexing issue for so many parents? Simply because we can't make our kids love each other. That's completely out of our control.

Listed below are just a few of the many things we can control:

• Whether we do extra things for kids who are battling with each other.
It's perfectly reasonable for a parent to say, "This is such a bummer. I'm tired-out from listening to you arguing with each other. I don't have the energy to drive you to your friends' houses."
• Whether we allow certain items to remain in our homes.
A friend of ours said to her kids, "This is so sad. Every time you guys play with that game you get in a fight. I gave it away so it wouldn't be a problem anymore."

To see 2 more things that we can control with sibling rivalry go HERE!

Celebrating Valentines day

Look what we made!!! For Valentines Day we made many wonderful things, including cards for our parents, a 3-d heart, paintings and mailboxes for our special messages to one another. The children used different art mediums and materials to create throughout the week. We talked about how art is an expression and can communicate feelings. Because this week was about love, we tried to show love in our creations.

 

As parents we recognize the different stages on learning and growth. Each of the students above show complete joy and pride in their accomplished work! Some of us can use our words, while others use illustrations and art. Even our little ones seem to understand the love they have for their parents and enjoyed creating a masterpiece to demonstrate this emotion!

 It is an important concept for children to think about others and to take time to ponder their relationships. Students focused this week on their friendships with one another and worked on showing kindness to others throughout each day. Students paid special attention to make sure our friends all received Valentines. Of course delivering Valentines into the special mailboxes was fun, but so was reading the sweet messages from others.

Of course a celebration has to have a special treat! One of our FANTASTIC moms at HO4K made Delicious chocolate covered strawberries for our snack time. The children loved them and we appreciate the time that was put into making our Valentines treat so special and yummy!

 This week was a great week at HO4K. It was a reminder of all the love we have for others including family, friends and teachers. It was a great reflection of the friendships that have been formed among our little learners with one another and with faculty. We hope you found a special way to celebrate this Valentines with those who you love!

We love the warm weather!

My what fun we have when we play outside together! We have been so lucky lately to be able to go out and enjoy the beautiful Nevada weather! When we play outside it is a totally different learning environement. We have many opprtunities to practice our social skills and further develop our motor skills.

It is proven that children’s learning occurs best when the whole self is involved and we all know that "play" is an active form of leanring. Children expand their ability to express and work out emotional aspects of everyday experiences through unstructured play. This is crucial to the complete development of social skills. When children are permitted to play freely with peers, they develop skills for seeing things through another person’s point of view. There working on cooperating, helping, sharing, and solving problems with others.

MANY state preschool standards are addressed through active play. Below are some examples of the Social Emotional standards addressed.

1.PK.1a Make independent choices from diverse interest centers or activities.

1.PK.2a Express ideas for activities; initiate and participate in discussions with teachers or peers.

1.PK.2b Acknowledge actions and accomplishments verbally and nonverbally.

1.PK.3 Re-engage in a task or activity after experiencing disappointment, frustration, or failure.

3.PK.1 Identify a range of feelings (e.g., sadness, anger, fear, and happiness).

3.PK.2a Express feelings, needs or wants in appropriate ways.

3.PK.2b Demonstrate awareness of feelings of others (e.g., gets blanket for friend and comforts him/her when he/she feels sad).

4.PK.1c Respect rights and belongings of others (e.g., "It is my turn to use the bike, but you can have the bike when I am finished").

4.PK.1d Demonstrate problem-solving skills (e.g. ask for help from an adult, talk about problems, talk about feelings relating to problems, and negotiate solutions).

5.PK.1a Play independently.

5.PK.1b Play in pairs and small groups.

6.PK.1c Use verbal and non-verbal conversation skills (e.g., listening, letting a person finish speaking before taking a turn, staying with one topic, maintaining eye contact, etc.).

LIVING LOVE AND LOGIC TIP #30

Taking Away Privileges VS. Energy Drain Technique
Weekly Tip from the Love and Logic^® Experts

 

Today I am responding to a question that was posted on the Love and Logic Facebook page.

"Ok, I need some help here. I cannot get my kids to stay in bed after I put them to bed. They come out 5 times a night to go to the bathroom, open my bedroom door to ask questions, and are loud and wake people up. No matter how many privileges I take away, they are still coming out."

After reading this question, I have some guesses, and several suggested strategies to try. Go HERE to read about these suggestions.

 

Valentines Day!

Valentines day is right around the corner! We enjoy celebrating our friendships and love for family on this special day. Students have been busy creating their personal Valentines box and other special projects. Please make sure your child has Valentines to pass out on MONDAY! We are doing it Monday so that your student can open them up Tuesday and not have to wait! This is the perfect time to have your little ones practice writing their names, as well as a time to reinforce how important friendships are.

 Our little ones are getting in on all the Valentines action! They also are creating Valentines box and have fun experimenting with the glue, paper and other materials. While working, they are comprehending the commands of on and off, recognizing colors and shapes and working to develop greater small motor skills as they brush on the glue. We are sharing materials and taking turns! Plus, we are no longer putting the glue in our mouth. Its so much fun to do art projects.

BOARD GAMES

When you are looking to spend some quality time with your little one, pick up a board game!

Beyond the joy of spending time together, your child can gain higher self-esteem and can safely satisfy their competitive nature. As an added bonus there are many learning opportunities in a friendly game! Students can master concepts such as:

• number and shape recognition, grouping, and counting
• letter recognition and reading
• visual perception and color recognition
• eye-hand coordination and manual dexterity
• social skills
• how to "gracefully" lose
• greater attention span and focus

Games don't need to be overtly academic to be educational. Just by playing them, board games provide many exciting opportunities for educational review and growth, as well as further development of life skills!

Students at HO4K love playing board games together! We learn how to have friendly competitions and love to practice the skills we already have.

LIVING LOVE AND LOGIC TIP #29

You Can Do It!
Weekly Tip from the Love and Logic^® Experts

Do you ever feel discouraged because you’re having a tough time remembering to use a Love and Logic skill? Does it make you feel any better to know that I experience the very same challenge?

Experiencing setbacks doesn't mean failure. It simply means that the road to personal change is always under construction. You can be successful…To review the very basics to help you with Love and Logic at home, click HERE!

The benefits to building

Blocks are an early learning tool that helps young children develop their muscles and their minds. Through play, preschool children can learn concepts and skills as block activities are taken across the early childhood curriculum. AS children are actively engaged in experimenting with blocks, they are challenging their creativity and problem solving skills.

 Students use blocks as a measuring tool. How tall can they stack their blocks? Are they taller or shorter than their tower?  Comparing towers, who has the tallest/shortest? etc. All these questions are building math concepts as well as problem solving skills.

Students learn to respect each other when they are involved in cooperative construction projects. We really have to trust each other when working with blocks, because sometimes the temptation to knock it over is too much! 

Of course,  block play is also about eye-hand coordination and visual perception.  Students are working with patterns, shapes/sizes, spatial awareness, balancing and counting. Students above replicated a pattern to create a fence around their playing area.

Make sure to check out more about block play HERE!

LIVING LOVE AND LOGIC TIP #28

The Basics of the Love and Logic Approach
Weekly Tip from the Love and Logic^® Experts

 

When you tell people you use Love and Logic techniques in your home or classroom, do they really know what "Love and Logic" means?

Do some think it is a cult you joined?

Do some say that "Love AND Logic" is an oxymoron?

Do you sometimes find it difficult to explain?

With a flexible menu of skills in our approach, and common sense at work, adults using Love and Logic skills may come across quite differently at times. Nevertheless, the "Love and Logic" approach should always look the same and consistency is the key. To review these four steps click HERE!