I’m so excited to welcome author and former kindergarten teacher, Susan Case from Kindergarten and Preschool for Parents and Teachers, and thank her for today’s post!
10 Ways to Prepare Your Child for Kindergarten
The Disembodied Mind
I’m taking a little time away to welcome our new baby to our family. I hope you enjoy this post from last year!
I am a nerd. (It’s OK. While the term might have made me cringe in high school, I have since learned to embrace my nerdiness.) I recently found myself on a short trip with some down time for a little reading, and as any good nerd would, I packed along one of my favorite textbooks from grad school. (I know, I just confessed to having a favorite textbook.)
Encouraging Passionate Learners Even When It’s Not Your Thing
I’m writing today over at Simple Kids. Here’s just a taste:
I have vivid childhood memories of trekking down to the pond near our home and catching as many tadpoles in my bucket as my scrawny arms could carry. I was fascinated by the process of metamorphosis and would check on them every day in the shed where I kept them, marveling over each limb as it appeared. Once the tadpoles had fully transformed into tiny toads, my sibling and I would line them up in our driveway and race them down the lane as they made their way out in to the wild world of pastures, fields, and ditch banks that surrounded our rural home.
Filed under Learning through Play and Experience
What Ever Happened to Nap Time?
Recently, a participant in the Parenting with Positive Guidance Ecourse asked for a bit of advice. Her children had suddenly stopped napping and everyone was suffering from the consequences. Tired, grumpy kids. Frazzled, grumpy mom. What do you do?
Weekend Reads 5.20.12
Just a few interesting links I wanted to share before the weekend is over!
Articles
10 Best Books for Thinking Parents {Parenting.com}
Filed under Weekend Reads
Little Shoulders
As we get ready to welcome a new little one to our family, I’ll be sharing some favorite posts from the past.
My grandmother had a lot of sayings. “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.” “Do not throw upon the floor the food you cannot eat, for many a starving children would think it quite a treat.”
Introducing the Number Bag: Teaching Preschool Math Concepts with Meaningful Objects
First off — Congratulations to Lora who was randomly selected for the Playful Learning Spaces Giveaway! You’ll be contacted shortly, Lora. And for the rest of you, there’s still time to sign up for Mariah’s inspiring course.
Today I wanted to share one of my favorite ways to introduce numbers and numeracy concepts with young children. It’s a mix between show and tell and math time. I figured the best way to show you what I mean would be to make a video. Here I’ll show a lot of different options for using the number bag or math bag. You DON’T need to do them all in one sitting, I just wanted you to see all the different concepts you can teach with one type of activity.
Filed under Learning through Play and Experience, Uncategorized
Tents, Forts, and Hideouts: Special Spaces for Kids
As I mentioned in the Playful Learning Spaces Giveaway (and yes, there’s still a little time left to enter) there is a strong impact in a thoughtfully prepared space. If you want your children to be playful, it helps to create an environment that invites children to play. I can think of few invitations to play that are more compelling than a special space like a tent or a hideout. You can set one up, say nothing, and almost instantly you’ll have children dragging blankets and animals in for a jungle tea party, darting in and out as they dream up dramatic adventures, or cozied up inside with a good book.
Filed under Create, Learning through Play and Experience
