Since we looked at the NAEYC Standards yesterday, I thought we could explore the NAEYC website today. If you are not familiar with NAEYC as an organization, the website can help you navigate all that it has to offer early childhood professionals, adult educators, and child and family advocates. Sometimes, I feel as though our […]
In Sunday August 12, 2012’s Parade Magazine I found a checklist for parents to help them get ready for the upcoming school year. There was a list of 10 tips to follow. Number 6 was entitled “Don’t Trash-talk about math”. Psychologists Harold Stevenson and James Stigler found 15 years ago that in countires that produce a lot of […]
This summer’s Olympic games have gotten me thinking about gold medals and who deserves ’em. If I were to award one organization with the distinction of “the gold medal” in early childhood care and education, it would have to go to NAEYC – the National Association for the Education of Young Children. These folks provide […]
Much like last week’s entry about pbs.org, sesamestreet.org is an equally cool, interactive website for young children. I love (and have loved for years) the Sesame Street puppets. When I was three-years-old, Sesame Street made its debut on PBS, which in Chicago is Channel 11. Before that, we had Ray Rayner, Bozo’s Circus, and Mr. […]
Patterns emerge everywhere in nature. Leonardo of Pisa, also known as Fibonacci, discovered (or rediscovered depending on whose history you are studying) that there is a natural sequence that occurs in the organic world: we just have to look for it. This sequence is made up of the series: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, […]
I think it is important to talk about the “standards”…. Now, don’t get me wrong, I believe we spend far too much time talking about and worrying about the standards rather than focusing on teaching and learning. However, if we work in a system that requires teachers to know and understand several sets of standards, […]
There is a time and place for everything….Never is this more important to remember than when speaking with families. Today, I wanted to talk a little bit about informal communication. These are the moments before and after drop-off when you chit-chat and catch up with family members. It should be pleasant, engaging and friendly. Remember, […]
My friend John sent me this link yesterday to a great articled called “Bedtime Math“. I thought I would share it with you here. This would be great to do when putting kids down for their naps.
Many young children can count up to ten, twenty, fifty and even a hundred. They recite the words, one, two, three and so on, often while they are not actually counting something in particular. Don’t be fooled. Counting like this, is a memorization task, that requires many skills, none of which are mathematical. Learning the […]
You probably saw this and thought you knew what I was going to be writing about today, didn’t you? Well, it is Friday and that means “Friday’s Focus on Families”. So, although I have a LOT of rules when it comes to family communication the “GOLDEN” rule is “Thou Must Never Speak About Children in […]