Fingerplay and Activity Songs

Singing is a big part of our classroom. To help the children make the transition from one activity to another, fingerplays and action songs are used. They are also used in large group settings. These simple little songs help foster language.

Here is a short column on fingerplays and action songs:Rhymes and movements for the hands and fingers, some of which date back almost 2,000 years, are still used in early childhood classrooms, as well as the more modern action songs that involve the whole body. As children learn fingerplays and action songs, they learn the names of the body parts, numbers, and shapes. They also learn other concepts and skills, including:

• manual dexterity and muscle control
• sense of rhythm of speech and music
• new vocabulary;
• grasp of order and sequence
• increased attention spans
• listening skills

Dispositions as Educational Goals

A disposition is a tendency to exhibit frequently, consciously, and voluntarily a pattern of behavior that is directed to a broad goal. However, not all dispositions are desirable. Therefore, teaching practices must strive to strengthen the desirable ones and weaken undesirable ones.
Dispositions should be included among educational goals for many reasons:

First, the acquisition of knowledge and skills does not guarantee that they will be used and applied. For example, most children have listening skills, but they may not have the disposition to be listeners. Consequently, teaching practices should strive to strengthen dispositions associated with skills.
Second, dispositional considerations are important because the instructional processes by which some knowledge and skills are acquired may themselves damage or undermine the disposition to use them. For example, the amount of drill and practice required for successful reading of the English language at an early age may undermine the children’s dispositions to be readers.
Third, dispositions relevant to education, such as the disposition to investigate, may be considered inborn. Though knowledge and skills not acquired early in life might be acquired later, dispositions are less.
Fourth, the curriculum should include considerations of how desirable dispositions can be strengthened and undesirable dispositions weakened. For example, if the disposition to accept peers of diverse backgrounds is to be strengthened, then that opportunity must be provided.
Fifth, an optimum amount of positive feedback for young children may cause them to become preoccupied with their performance and the judgments of others rather than involved in the task. The cost of such an achievement would be their disposition to learn.
Sixth, dispositions are less likely to be acquired through didactic processes than to be modeled by young children as they are around people who exhibit them. If teachers desire their children to have robust dispositions to investigate, hypothesize, experiment, etc., they should consider making their intellectual dispositions more visible to the children.
For the moment, one of the most important dispositions to be listed in educational goals is the disposition to go on learning. Any educational approach that undermines that disposition is miseducation.

(Adapted from Dispositions: Definitions and Implications for Early Childhood Practices, by Lilian G. Katz.)

Discipline Problems

Here is some valuable information from a class called "Strategies for Managing the Difficult Child in the Classroom-Prevention and Intervention." It is helpful information for both teachers and parents.

The instructor taught that all children want five things:
First, to be heard.
Second, to be involved in making the rules.
Third, to be free to make meaningful choices.
Forth, an opportunity to do his or her own thing, and
Fifth, to be accepted.

How well are we doing these five things in our families and here at the preschool? Our teachers think about each child and how to find ways to meet the needs expressed in these five areas. It must be noted that the developmentally appropriate practice philosophy that we believe in here at the preschool supports very well these ideas.

Here are some guidelines for the prevention of discipline problems:

• Care about and respect the child.
• Be consistent and follow through in each situation.
• Be patient, give children time to resolve their problems.
• Help children feel it is okay to make mistakes and have an environment that supports this.
  Acknowledge their strengths and successes.
• If possible redirect the negative activity to something positive.
• Ask the question, "Are my expectations appropriate for the child’s age?"

Here are some guidelines for intervention that help us with our discipline problems:

• Praise the action we want, so there is positive reinforcement.
• Model the behavior we expect in the children.
• Check the environment- does it encourage good behavior? Is it well organized?
• Are we flexible or rigid?
• Can I ignore some of the negative behavior so that I don’t reinforce it?
• Plan for those transition times of moving a child or children from one activity to the next (for example, from outside play to snack or dinner to bedtime, etc.)
• If we are honest and analyze these points there is plenty to consider in trying to teach young children how to behave.

Coping With Transitions

The summer is just about over. No more going to bed late, sleeping in every morning, or playing outside until dark. Now the routine has to change.

Beginning kindergarten, going back to primary school, or a childcare program usually means two things to a young child:

1. a stricter schedule; and
2. adapting to a different caregiver, classroom, teacher, school, friends, or academic challenges.

These new experiences can bring on stress or cause children to resist necessary adjustments. Even as adults, we sometimes feel uncomfortable or anxious when facing a new situation. Think about how overwhelming it must be for young children who have far less experience in dealing with the unknown! Smooth transitions can be accomplished if the adults who care for children try to view the situation from the child's perspective. Here are some tips on what you can do to make going back to school a pleasurable experience.

Prepare in advance

• Young children always feel more comfortable if they know what to expect. Before the new school year begins, family members can explain to children how their daily routines will change.
• Precisely describe what the morning routines will be in age-appropriate terms. Some children may enjoy creating a pictorial chart to include each step of the morning schedule.
• Try getting up earlier a couple of days before the new school year begins and explain why you're doing it. This may prevent your child from being confused, groggy, cranky, or refusing to get out of bed on the first day of the new program.
• Discuss how the school or childcare environment will be different from the previous year. Many schools and childcare professionals invite families to visit the classroom and new teacher before the school year begins. If possible, take advantage of these opportunities to allow the child to meet the teacher or caregiver, find his classroom, the bathroom, and the playground. These one-hour visits can be valuable to children because they'll be exposed to their new surroundings and still find comfort in going home with a familiar adult or loved one. Make the visit extra special by going out for ice cream or to the park afterward.
• Reading books with children is a great way to introduce any experience. They can see how other children beginning school or a new program have the same feelings of uncertainty and how they overcome them.
• Involve children in preparing for school. For example, they can lay out their clothes, pack a backpack, or select a favorite toy or photo to take with them to the program.

Talk about feelings

• Encourage children to describe how they feel about the "new year" and try to ease any fears they may have.
• Parents may also feel sad or fearful about their children going off to kindergarten or being transferred to a learning environment for older children. If your emotions are too obvious, you may spoil your child's enthusiasm for the first day. Exude confidence and good feelings when saying good-bye.
• Avoid yelling if your child resists getting up from bed, brushing his teeth, or getting dressed, and expect an occasional meltdown. Beginning something new can be stressful and adjustment takes a lot of concentration and effort. Childcare professionals, teachers, and families should expect--and be prepared to handle--a few tears and other emotional displays from young children.

Be there

• If possible, arrive at the new school or program early on the first few days to help the child settle in. The teacher or caregiver may also be available to talk one-on-one with your child before the day's learning begins.
• It is also important to arrange for predictable pick-up schedules. Children need to feel confident from the beginning that they can count on a loved one to come back and to come when they said they would. Use the commute to ease the transition between school and home.
• How adults handle transitional situations can set the stage for how well a child adjusts to other challenges in life. Those who love and care for children can help them adapt by making preparations in advance, clearly explaining the changes about to take place, and listening if doubts or fears develop.

Coping With Death

The following information is taken from an article entitled "Helping Your Child Cope with Death" by Fredric C. Hartman, Ph.D.

Seeing death as a change is important for all of us. For children who are constantly changing, they cope in remarkable ways. "Although children do not conceive of death an express their feelings about it in the same way as we adults might, they most definitely are equipped with a highly sophisticated capacity to mourn a death when it does occur." (Hartman) It is the profound change that brings on the mourning process. Poignant feelings of loss can follow the actual death of a pet, friend, or relative but it can also follow a move, a new sibling, or even the turn over of our teachers here at preschool. Some of the feelings of a young child may be anxiety, fear confusion, insecurity, helplessness, frustration, anger, and sorrow.

What we must do is allow our young children to express their feelings to us without feeling that we must make them feel better. We need to listen, acknowledge their feelings, and talk to them about death or change as much as we can. We need to believe in our child’s ability to come to terms with whatever situation he or she is struggling to accept. If we can be attentive and try to understand their expressions of mourning (this can be a challenge when we are also mourning), then a child’s pain can transform into strength and self-confidence that will aid them their whole lives.

Computers and Young Children

In this age of technology, we recognize the value of introducing computers to young children. Computers in an early childhood classroom are another tool for children to explore, to investigate, and to master.

We believe that computers are a valuable asset to our program, but only because our approach to computer use is geared to the way young children learn and develop. For example:

• We know that young children are developing social skills during these years, so we place the computer where children can interact as they work with it. At least two chairs are at the computer at all times. This arrangement allows for collaborative problem solving and sharing of ideas.
• Children need to have opportunities to work independently of adults. The computer software that we use allows independent use. We choose software with verbal instructions or picture menus that allow children to work with little adult intervention.
• Children learn by doing. The software that we choose allows the child to explore concepts, determine the pace and the direction of the experience, and use their creativity.
• Developmentally appropriate software is open-ended and calls for thinking and active problem-solving.

Just like paints, computers are a beneficial tool in an early childhood classroom. Children have the freedom to explore this tool in a supportive environment that encourages active exploration.

Birth of a New Sibling

No matter how welcome babies are, newborns cause stress in households. Parents are usually very tired. Routines change. Older children may have trouble adjusting to the new role in their expanding family.

Parents can affect the relationship between children by what they do before and after the birth. In the last several months of pregnancy, talk with your child about the impending birth and how everybody will need to help out with the baby. Answer questions about birth, show the child pictures of himself or herself just after birth, and read books about the arrival of a sibling.

Children can accompany mother to the doctor’s office for prenatal checkups and visit the hospital
where the birth will take place.

Prepare grandparents and other family and friends, too. When people are always asking, "How’s the baby?" the older child feels left out. The special adults in a child’s life could be encouraged to pay special attention to the older child, inquiring about her activities and interests.

After the birth, arrange a hospital visit so the preschooler can see Mother and baby. Photograph or videotape the meeting. Consider giving the child a gift to celebrate the new role as big sister/brother - as well as a picture of the baby to take to school.

Minimize changes in the child’s life by keeping up with school attendance, maintaining bathtime and bedtime routines, and trying to initiate as many conversations and playtimes as before the birth of the baby. Enlist children’s help in caring for the new baby.

Changes will occur. But careful attention to family routines and observation of how children are responding can help smooth this time of transition.

Children's Misbehavior

Children’s misbehavior can be frustrating and disturbing to adults, but we also can see it as an opportunity to teach and a chance to model self-discipline and character. Emotional development, like other learning, takes time and learning opportunities. Children, being the excellent imitators they are, will follow our example–for better or worse.

If we yell at children, they will yell; if we hit them, they will hit. Or they will become the perpetual victims of others’ aggression. We get better results when we discipline calmly and teach our children to express their feelings in acceptable ways. When teachers share, children share; when parents are courteous, children are more cooperative.
Here are a few things we do in the classroom; they also work for parents:

• Be clear and consistent. Set and discuss rules and consequences. Rules should be clear, simple, and a few. Some adults have only one basic rule: You may not hurt yourself, others, or things. For example, to stop a child from hitting another child, kneel and calmly state, "You may not hit Ben. People are not for hitting." Then add, "I know you are angry. Can you tell me why?...OK, how can you let Ben know that you want to use the blue crayon?"
• Offer choices. "Do you want to brush your teeth now, or do you want to brush after we read a story?" "Would you like milk or juice with your snack?"
• Ignore certain behavior, like cursing or stomping, if it is not harmful. A child will quickly learn that he will gain nothing by acting up. On the other hand, he will learn that good behavior gets results and favorable reaction from grown-ups.

No matter what we adults do, there are times when children lose control. Aggressive acts may call for removing the child from the action in a brief time-out. However, a time-out period may backfire if used in the spirit of punishment ("Go to your room right now!"). The point is to give the child a few minutes to cool down. Those minutes come in handy, too, for helping a frustrated parent or teacher cool down–and think of what to do next!

"Kids Art"

In an article entitled "Kids Art" by Anne Graham (from Parents magazine, February 1985), she talks about the developmental stages of art as well as some "Tips for Parents."

Developmental Stages of Art

There are four developmental stages to children’s art: scribbling; basic shapes; "tadpoles" and combining forms. Scribbling is an important stage because the child learned quickly that his marks can ‘stand for something.’ One researcher, Thonda Kellogg has identified 20 kinds of scribbles that develop across all cultures regardless of whether or not a child has access to markers and crayons. Parents should value their child’s scribbles.
In stage two, basic shapes develop which indicate increased muscle control and improving eye-hand coordination.
The tadpole stage is where people are drawn as a circle with sticks for arms and legs. The child draws what he/she feels rather than what he/she sees. The child knows his drawing is symbolic. He’ll/she’ll add detail like the torso, sky, and ground later.
In stage four, the artwork continues to be refined. Suns or mandala appear and houses with a square and rectangle-shaped roof start to appear.

Tips for Parents

Whatever position one takes regarding adult involvement in children’s art-making there are basic ways in which all parents can encourage artistic growth and development.

1. Look at the child’s drawing. Knowing something about developmental stages in children’s art will help the parent to understand and appreciate the child’s growth.
2. Make specific comments and ask questions about the child’s art. While it’s acceptable to say "It’s beautiful" (if you mean it), you might sometimes say, "Looks like you enjoyed trying out all those colors"; or "Was it hard to make all those little dots?"
3. Display the child’s art. Seeing his work in his home or over his parent’s desk at work is important to the child. A particularly handsome work might be matted and framed.
4. Provide safe art materials and a place for the child to work.
5. Provide an opportunity for the child to see fine art, rather than just commercial illustrations.
6. Keep a collection of child’s art. It will be a source of pleasure and delight, not only for the child in later years but for the parent. Drawings provide a unique, tangible record of the child’s growth and development.

(from Parents magazine, February 1985)

Children and Pets

Most children love animals, whether they are watching lions and gorillas at the zoo, romping with the family dog, or feeding the classroom guinea pig. This natural attraction is the perfect opportunity for the children to learn some basic concepts about the animal world and to care for something other than themselves.

Pets-like people-have basic needs: a safe place to live, the right kind of foods to eat, and water to drink. Each animal, however, has specific housing and food needs. Even young children can learn that rodents must chew on hard foods to keep their teeth from growing too long, that fish must have clean water to breathe, or that turtles require a variety of fruits, vegetables, and meats. They can learn that parakeets depend on people to keep their cages clean and that house cats need frequent litter-box changes.

Children also learn that different animals must be handled in different ways. They learn to be gentle with small animals, and they realize that they must help some pets get exercise.
Some families are not allowed to have cats and dogs in the apartment or house that they rent. Small animals that live in aquariums or cages, such as fish, hermit crabs, or hamsters, make ideal pets in these situations. Other families choose not to own pets because of allergies or preference. Children in these families may learn at school about caring for live animals. Some kids even pretend to care for stuffed-animal pets at home.

Whatever children’s particular experiences with pets, these enhance kids’ sense of responsibility and caring.

Child Care: What's Best for Your Child?

–A Visit to a Child Care Center–

There were so many little people in the room, I thought I was in Munchkin Land (from the Wizard of Oz). But these little people were babies. One was being held by a young woman; others were walking, creeping, wandering from room to room in the small ranch house.

I was visiting a potential childcare setting (for infants to five-year-olds) to explore the kinds of childcare services that were available to care for my granddaughter while my daughter works.
A tour of the house revealed an empty crib in each room. Yet one six-month-old baby was lying on his back on the double bed in the master bedroom gazing at television. "He can turn from his stomach to his back, but not the other way," explained the caregiver, "so he’s safe in the middle of the bed." We left him there alone, as we continued on our tour. I felt troubled and I thought, What if today is the day he learns to turn onto his stomach? And what if he keeps rolling right off the bed?

In the poorly lit basement, a tangle of toys on the floor was the "playroom" with two four-year-old boys watching a cooking program on TV. There were no adults downstairs supervising them. All the adult supervision was handled by these two caregivers, one of whom was holding the infant on the first floor, and the other, giving us the tour.

Out in the backyard, four toddlers were unsupervised, in an area that contained climbers and a sandbox, out of sights of the caregivers.
Although the two women seemed relaxed and responded kindly to the children, the setting was unacceptable in terms of physical setup, safety, supervision, and the number of adults available to care for the children.

What You Need to Know About Choosing Quality Child Care for Your Preschooler

When you look at which childcare program is best for your child, there are several considerations.

1. You want a place where: your child will be happy, safe, and lovingly cared for; your preschooler will learn to get along with other children; your youngster will participate in interesting and creative activities
2. You need a program that is: convenient to your home or business; affordable
3. You want to find the type of setting that suits you best: when you need all-day childcare, look at group day-care, family day-care, or in-home daycare; if you want your child to be in a preschool program for just a few hours a day, search for a nursery school or parent cooperative to fill your need

Celebrating Diversity

While there seems to be very little diversity within our university preschool classrooms, there is more to diversity than ethnic origin, skin color, or language. Have you ever stood in a grocery store check-out line and cringed as you child calls out for everyone to hear, "Why is that lady so fat?" We smile and applaud when a child says, "Your hair looks pretty today." or "I like your new dress." But we pale and reprimand when they make equally candid remarks that are not compliments.

Exactly why one child is quick to comfort a withdrawn, sad, or crying child and another chooses to taunt the same child is not clearly understood. However, we do know that it is possible to increase the awareness of diverse feelings in a child through discussion and role-play. When a child remarks such as, "Sally doesn’t like me," we can stop and reflect what is being said. "You think Sally doesn’t like you anymore." Your attention could then focus on a query of the behaviors or conversation that led to this conclusion.

Talking about differences, about the feelings of others, about what words make people happy and which ones make them sad helps a child begin to see the world from another’s eyes. Stephen Covey said the way to make people believe you care about what they are saying is to care about what they are saying. Here at the preschool words that cause pain are equally unacceptable to physical actions that cause another pain. When one child pushes another child, we stop the behavior and talk about the feelings—the feelings of the aggressor as well as the injured. When a child uses words that exclude or devalue another child, our strategy is very similar—we talk about the feelings of the child who has spoken as well as the child who has been hurt.

Aggression among siblings is related to the use of aggression with peers, both physical aggression and relational (words) aggression. At home, you can listen to the interactions of your children. If their exchanges include words that devalue or cause emotional pain, begin now to establish limits of emotional safety. Find a "garbage can" for the words your family no longer uses. Help your children understand that they can "feel" angry or "feel" like hurting another with words or physical pain and then develop more acceptable ways of diffusing those negative feelings—be creative, don’t forget humor or physical exercise.

Impulse control is one of the most valuable disciplines we can help our children develop. As adults, we can value every child, treat them with respect and kindness, and provide a safe environment where they can explore and grow without fear of being hurt or being allowed to hurt another.

Categories in Young Children's Thinking

Children have an impressive understanding of categories by age four. They can grasp the distinction between appearance and reality, they use names as a guide for making inferences, and they realize that growth is a natural, orderly process. To some extent, even two-and-a-half and three-year-old children show some of these same early understandings. However, there are also developmental changes during the preschool period (especially between two-and-a-half and four years of age). The youngest children are apt to have more difficulties with the appearance-reality distinction, are less apt to form spontaneous generalizations using the categories they have and are easily confused about the growth process.

Children’s early categories are tremendously important tools for young children and have implications for how they view the world. Like any tools, categories can be used in either useful or inappropriate ways. Some of the dangers in early categories are that children sometimes take names more seriously than they should and draw overly broad generalizations based on the categories they know. Overall, the effects of categories are positive. Children make use of categories to expand their knowledge. By simply naming objects we can encourage children to notice how different items are similar and help children gain new information about the world.

Furthermore, because children expect items in a category to be alike in nonobvious ways, they can learn about "scientific" properties (such as the insides of an animal) well before kindergarten age. Both of these implications illustrate that categories are the foundation for later learning in school.

("Categories in Young Children’s Thinking," by Susan A. Gelman. Young Children, January 1998.)

Book Handling Skills

As teachers and parents, we underestimate the many things a child learns when he or she is read to and has exposure to good books. For example, where the front of the book is–the orientation of the book–how to hold it right side up and open it from right to left, etc. The fact that print contains a message.
It takes children a while to catch onto this important idea and we who already read take it for granted. There is a difference between a picture and print. We start reading at the top and read down. We read the left page first. Each work has a beginning and end sound to it. Before long, a child learns that punctuation marks mean something such as a period means a full stop; a comma, a pause; quotation marks mean someone is speaking; etc. Children begin to notice the difference between capital and lowercase letters. I get very excited when the children start to "read" by opening a book and telling a story, often very accurately just by the pictures and their familiarity with the plot. It’s fun to purposely leave a word out when reading aloud and allow the children to fill in the blank. They will tell you if you skip something or leave something out. These books handling skills become a very important part of learning to read.

As we select books for our beginning readers, there are two aspects to keep in mind:
First, the format and second, the language.
When considering the format, a few lines are best and the print should be a nice size, conventional in style and punctuation. The story needs to be short.
The language in books for beginning readers should have repetitive patterns (as adults we may be bored to tears, but the children love it) and a predictable plot is very important. It’s also critical that the vocabulary is based on the child’s experiences with familiar objects, emotions, and language. The language should be natural and simple. The pictures must support the printed text.

Here are just five of my favorites:
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr. & John Archambault
The Napping House by Audrey Wood
Ten in Bed by Mary Reese
There was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Fly illustrated by Pam Adams
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin, Jr.

Bicycle Safety

The days are getting longer and warmer and being outside is so exciting, especially for the children! Most of them have a tricycle (bicycle) of some sort and I thought I would share some safety tips from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to help prevent accidents:
1. Don’t Ride in the Street.
2. Watch Out for People on Sidewalks.
3. Be Careful Crossing Driveways.
4. Watch Out for Parked Cars.

Maybe you could role-play through the rules in a family night or simply as a game as you supervise them outside. This age child is especially vulnerable to street accidents because they are often given more autonomy than they have been before, and they still don’t connect cause and effect and dart impulsively into the street.

We have done some bicycle safety here at school; but, since they are not able to transfer information from one situation to another, I encourage you to take time to familiarize your child with the potential dangers in their neighborhood.

Artful Classroom

A child becomes engrossed, immersed in the process of making a work of art. The sensation of feeling the smooth thick paint sliding onto the easel paper calms the child and brings pleasure in the creation. When the child grapples with the challenge of representing an object of a person on the page, she is engaging in a task that is both demanding and satisfying.

Teachers provide an assortment of art materials that children may choose from to make their unique creations. We do not have the children copy a teacher’s model or make a designated product. We encourage them to use the materials in different ways. Art is a vital and vibrant part of the early childhood program, contributing to all aspects of the young child’s development.

As they draw, paint, and sculpt, children think creatively, make decisions, and solve problems. Children’s fine motor skills are developed naturally through the manipulation of brushes, crayons, scissors, and clay. All of these activities prepare children for writing in later years. The language also is developed as kids talk about color, shape, and size, and as they describe their work to friends and teachers.

To encourage your child’s artistic enterprises, provide a large blank paper (the ends of newsprint rolls can be purchased at a nominal cost from your local newspaper, or you can recycle paper by letting your child use the back of office paper), watercolors, markers, or chalk for use at home. Art supplies also make great gifts!

Value your child’s efforts and expose him or her to quality artwork through visits to museums and art shows. Recognize that young children learn in a variety of ways and that creative activities provide positive, satisfying experiences for all children.