Some more great Quotes

Was cruising the blogging world and found some great quotes to share....

I tried to teach my child with books.

He gave me only puzzled looks.

I tried to teach my child with words.

They passed him by often unheard.

Despairingly, I turned aside.

"How shall I teach this child?" I cried.

Into my hand he put the key

"Come," he said, "play with me."

-      Unknown

"I really am your gift. I am not just a little person who needs to be "raised" and taught, and taken to activities...I came to the people in my life to bring a message: slow down. Feel. Be. Over and over again. When you do, you will notice immediately, that I am not an obstacle to your work, or inconvenient to your daily life. Instead, you will come to appreciate my honesty, humor, presence and love." - Bruce Scott

“Motherhood is about raising and celebrating the child you have, not the child you thought you would have. It's about understanding that he is exactly the person he is supposed to be. And that, if you're lucky, he just might be the teacher who turns you into the person you are supposed to be.”

 - Joan Ryan

“Treat me exactly as you would want me to treat you - exactly. Do not punish me ever. Teach me. Hold me. Love me. Trust that I, just like you, want to do what is right. Help me understand what I don’t know. Don't call me names, or label me or compare me, or make me compete for anything. Help me cooperate and collaborate. Be the example for me.” – Bruce Scott

“A person’s a person no matter how small” – Dr. Seuss

“Whatever they grow up to be, they are still our children, and the one most important of all the things we can give to them is unconditional love. Not a love that depends on anything at all except that they are our children.” – Dickson

Children Are...

Amazing,cherish them.

Believable, trust them.

Childlike, let them.

Divine, respect them.

Energetic, nourish them.

Fallible, embrace them.

Gifts, unwrap them.

Here Now, be with them.

Innocent, delight in them.

Joyful, appreciate them.

Kindhearted, join them.

Lovable, love them.

Magical, fly with them.

Noble, esteem them.

Open-minded, hear them.

Precious, treasure them.

Questioners, encourage them.

Resourceful, support them.

Spontaneous, enjoy them.

Talented, believe in them.

Unique, affirm them.

Vulnerable, protect them.

Whole, recognize them.

Xtraspecial, celebrate them.

Yearning, notice them.

Zany, laugh with them.

© Meiji Stewart.

Childhood Connections to Play

My mom was (and still is with my children) an incredible early childhood professional before it was a profession.  She would get on the floor and play with us, make games, promote crafts, and reading and music were essential, yet she would still send us away to do our own thing often.  I remember creating plays, making food from dirt, riding bikes up and down the street, heading to the creek to hop rocks, and walking through the woods and field by the radio station.  There are two memories stick out the most. 

The first is playing with the giant tinker toys!  They are just what you think.  Tinker Toys on steroids.  I can’t remember all the things that we would make with them, but the favorite was always a house.  As a product from the 80’s they are only available on ebay, yet my mom saved ours.  Some of the pieces are broken and we have a limited stash now, but my kids even love them … on the special occasions I get them out.  I still treasure these pieces of plastic. 

My kids playing with my old tinkertoys!

The second memory is the warmest day on record during Christmas break in the north!  Some of my friends were getting out their shorts … but that’s another story.  That day most of the neighborhood ended up at our house and my sister and I had brought out quite a few stuffed animals and had them hanging on our playset with ourselves.  Stuffed animals were a favorite of mine and I have passed that gene onto my son.  I remember in 6^th grade (I think), my friend and I still played with our animals and even had a wedding between 2 of them.  LOL.

As a child I was given the opportunity to just go and play and was able to use my imagination and create some amazing stories in my head.  Even as I got older, I would use snow days as an excuse to act like a 5 year old and go make a fort, battle the younger kids for king of the hill, and make the largest snowman ever. 

This is something that I want to be able to give my children … and I think I am not doing that bad of a job of it.  Just this afternoon they were in the backyard playing with “ooze” (mixture of cornstarch and water).  At one point, my 7-year-old told my 9-year-old that she was going to be the nurse now.  Not sure how it related to the ooze, but they were using their imaginations. AND I wasn't quick enough to get the camera and document the white stuff everywhere.  :)

As much as play is important for their life, it is also important for me as an adult.  My passion is scrapbooking, yet do not find the time to engage in this creative outlet often enough.  This is where I am able to play, stretch my imagination, try different textures and color combinations, record stories and memories, and get totally lost in the endeavor that I forget to eat … or eat a whole bag of M&M’s because they are sitting next to me.  J  Here is a recent endeavor:  

Children need the freedom and time to play.  Play is not a luxery.  Play is a necessity.  - Kay Redfield Jamison

Play energizes us and enlivens us.  It eases our burdens.  It renews our natural sense of optimism and opens us up to new possibilities.  - Stuart Brown

Relationships matter!

I posted a new link on the left bar for my Reflection on Relationships.  Have a great day!

New Classmates!

I had a wonderful week off of school last week.  We just got back from a family camping trip and I am ready to dive right into my next class "Effective Programs and Practices."  Hello to my new classmates for the next 8 weeks and here's to the journey!

My new blog life

When I started on this educational journey in January, I also started on a journey of reading blogs.  I am now subscribed to (I think) 16 blogs all about teaching preschool and the ideas that they develop - or borrow - and how they worked in the classroom.  Working with 2- and 3-year-olds can be hard in that their developmental levels are so varied.  Books do not always provide the ideas that work, since they are focused on the text-book child that doesn't exist.  So you need to check some of these out.

teaching2and3yearolds.blogspot.com

Sand and Water Tables at http://tomsensori.blogspot.com/

  

He has some great videos of kids playing in his tables!

Another favorite  at  http://www.toddlerapproved.com/ 

I also need to say thanks to some of my new colleagues!  We are finishing our 2nd class on our way to receiving a masters in early childhood studies.  I an excited about continuing this journey with you!
Angie's Early Childhood Blog
Childhood Blog Blog Blog!
Developing Early Childhood
Early Childhood Education in the 21st Century
Southern Soul Rising
MusicWithMoss
stuckngermany
 
Oh ... and then there is pinning.... but we won't go there.  So between my school work, teaching and lesson planning, being a mom and wife, I have found time to blog and pin.   Ahhh, the world of technology!

Intelligence Testing

My family of geniuses trying to figure out the best way to erect a 20 foot Christmas tree of only lights.... I stayed away and let my husband join the fun!

The combination of genetics and environment has worked well for my family.  I grew up in a family of three where my father has a PhD (bio-physics at that!), my sister and I tested into gifted programs in elementary school, and my brother is brilliant.  My own children are doing amazingly well in school and continue to be at the top of their classes (in 1^st and 3^rd grade). This is why I went into education.  In particular my brother…  As I said he is brilliant!  He also has a learning disability and in elementary school they would not do an IQ test because he was testing at needing to be in a resource room for reading.  He has struggled through school and does not like to be an advocate for himself.  I remember him understanding the concepts of algebra in preschool, yet reading and writing were difficult for him.  In High School he went to the School for Science and Math in North Carolina which is a residential school for juniors and seniors around the state to “where students study a specialized curriculum emphasizing science and mathematics.” 

I went into school with a focus on special education, thinking that it would include a focus on the low and high ends of the bell curve.  In fact, there is little known about those with a high IQ compared to the wealth of knowledge we have on those on the opposite end.  There are many commonalities between the two and what we have learned about education for one subgroup can easily be applied to any other subgroup (middle, high, low etc). 

The purpose of an IQ test is to determine a person’s mental abilities relative to others of the same age.  If you score below 100 you are mentally at a younger age than the average, same goes if you are above the average.  I was reading an article on this topic and realized that if we take the children who fall in the center portion of the bell curve, this includes all children from an IQ of 70 to 130.  All of these children are typically placed in the same classroom in the United States.  At 3 years old, their mean age has a disparity of 1.8 years.  By 6 years old the disparity is 3.6 years and at 12 the disparity has grown to 7.2 years.  What does this mean for educators?  I’ll let you come up with your own conclusions.    

We may not have a schooling system in the United States that meets our highest achieving students and helps them completely in the ways they need, but we do have a system that is beginning to see their needs and provide supports.  This is opposed to so many in the world, who are unable to attend school, let alone have an intelligence test done or receive supports on the low or high end of the bell curve.

I decided to keep my focus on Madagascar again and see what their education system is like.  They do have mandatory education for children 6 to 14.  Nevertheless, like I wrote before, child labor is rampant in the country and many children are not offered the opportunity for an education due to their work.  In 2000, 14% of the children continued their education and enrolled in secondary school (age 12 to 17).  The UNESCO has been working with Madagascar for the “Education for All” up until 2009.   The political unrest in Madagascar has limited the ability to help education all the children and poorer and rural areas definitely suffer more.

As an early childhood educator at heart, I have been trained to teach to each individual child’s strengths and weaknesses.  If all educators were to take that stance, we would be grouping children by strengths and weaknesses, not by their IQ or label.  Determining IQ and labels should only be used when more information about the child is needed, but even that does not always give needed information.  When we focus on strengths and weaknesses, we look at each individual child and developing an education plan for that child.  I know that there are a lot of politics and financial issues there, but that in my opinion is what is needed in the United States and around the world. 

Dyslexia

Great little clip!