The Truth

Children need to hear the truth.  Granted, they need to hear the truth in what they are ready to hear.  I am NOT an advocate of lying to children.

I am not advocating in a blanket tell-all policy either.  We know children are ready for small doses of certain information when they ask.  Then, you answer the question, and ONLY that question.

There are some questions that, depending on your relationship with the parents, are better directed to the parents (think the birds and the bees questions here).  Often times when children ask questions in that regard I simply state, “This is something that you need to talk to mom about.”  Of course, make sure you inform mom so that she is prepared and, if necessary, brings it up at home.

However, the cause of this post really has NOTHING to do with those kinds of questions.  The question that came up that brought on this post was simply the “teacher lives at school” theory.

Yes, we know that children in preschool think that the teacher lives at school; however, we are not doing them any good by letting them continue this thought.

It is important in their development that children understand that teachers don’t live at school.

Why?  Because of their social understanding.  The global understanding that the world doesn’t revolve around them.

Do we go rub it in their faces that teacher doesn’t live at school?

NO!

But, when the question comes up, it should be answered honestly.

I often have children ask me, “where do you live?”

I am not a permanent fixture in their center so they know that I must go somewhere.  I’m honest with them.  I tell them the truth, “I live in San Diego.”

When two children are arguing/discussing whether or not the teacher lives at school (maybe because one saw the teacher at the store and the other doesn’t think that’s possible), I think it’s important for the teacher to say, “Why yes, he did see me at the store and no, I don’t live at school.  I have a home and a family just like you do.”

This allows a deeper connection.  There is now a similarity between you and the child.

The other day I was outside with a group and one girl had a shirt on that said, “My brother did it!”

I laughed and asked her, “Do you have a brother?”

She nodded.

I asked, “Is he older or younger than you.”

She responded, “He’s bigger than me.”

I then commented, “Oh, you’re lucky.  I have a big brother, too.  Do you do special things with him?”

She grinned, “Yes.  He lets me play with his keiko (no idea what this is).  My brother is Joe, what’s yours name?”

Her world was suddenly opened by the knowledge that the world does expand a bit more than just her…and that there are similarities and differences and amazing connections out there.

All because I told her the truth; I know that she doesn’t fully comprehend, but she is now further down that road than if I had tried to “shelter” her from that information.

Fun Days-Teddy Bear Picnic

We often have different “themed” days in some classrooms.  Pajama day is always a fun one, and popular.

One day, however, I saw a great day in a classroom that almost made me wish I was still a lead teacher in the classroom just so I could implement it…almost, I love what I do.

They had a Teddy Bear Picnic day!

What did this entail?  Many FUN activities full of intentionality!

Everyone brings in their teddy bears.  If someone doesn’t have a teddy bear, that’s okay because the teacher had LOTS of extras!  If they forgot or didn’t have one, they were able to pick one to be theirs for the day.

The teddy bears are the children’s “students” for the day and the get to/must bring them around and share their activities with them. 

In the blocks, teddy bears were the receivers of beds made just for them…to size. 

In the dramatic play area, well, what teddy bear doesn’t LOVE coffee, cake, and plastic pizza?

During circle, they sat in a circle according the the teddy bears size!   This was a great math activity to start off and then having the responsibility of “keeping your teddy bear quiet” brought a new attention span to even the most wiggly child.

Circle time consisted of reading/singing the Teddy Bear Picnic book and going around the circle introducing the teddy bear to the rest of the group (name, favorite food, age).

At one of the tables, there were pieces of fabric, scissors, and patterns to make clothes for their bears…if they wanted.  There was one teacher close by to HELP the children stitch the things together with fat needles and thread.  Yes, the teacher allowed them to SEW with REAL needles!  Awesome practice in trusting the children!

At another table, if they so chose, the children had a picnic making activity.  Teddy bears and their owners spent time making sandwiches (math/patterning, fine motor, reading recipes), filling baggies with carrots (counting), and filling baskets with small group numbers of sandwiches, carrot bags, applesauce cups, plastic spoons, paper cups, napkins, plates, and pitchers of milk (community, counting, sorting, spacial awareness).

During outdoor time, teddy bears rode on tricycles going through obstacle courses, built sand castles, and went on…wait for it…a BEAR HUNT!  It was an awesome obstacle course!

Lunch was a picnic out on the grass!

Nap time was a breeze for the simple matter that the children didn’t want to wake their bears.

It was an awesome day!

What kind of fun days do you have?

Working Together

Children working together in the classroom in a cooperative play does NOT come naturally.  Children must be taught how to play together.  Many times you have to do things in steps before it all comes in to play.

Today I was in the classroom with some young three year olds.  This is a group of children, very age appropriately, that does NOT do much cooperative play.  One boy, we’ll call him Cameron, was playing with an old typewriter.  He and I were talking about how typewriters work and what they are were used for.

He was “typing” but the most fun of all was putting the paper in and spinning it through.  He kept this up for a long while.  Put the paper in, turn the handle, take the paper out, pick up a different piece of paper, put it in, turn the handle, take the paper out, etc…

Another boy, we’ll call this one Anthony, came over to see what was going on.  Cameron said, “Watch this Anthony!”   He showed Anthony how he put the paper through and turned the handle.  Anthony’s eyes lit up with excitement and reached out.

Cameron immediately told him, “NO!  Only me!”

Anthony tried reaching out again.  Cameron repeated his words.  Now is the time that a teacher steps in to help engage these two children in cooperative play…the teacher was me.

“Cameron, Anthony wants to try this, let’s give him a turn and then you can have another turn.”

“No, it’s my turn.”

“Anthony, ask Cameron if you can have a turn when he’s done.”

“Can I have a turn when you’re done?”

“Okay.  I’ll tell you.”

After the paper that was in there came out, Cameron stepped aside. 

“Cameron, why don’t you show Anthony how to get the paper in, you are so good at that.”

Cameron proceeds to help Anthony and walk him through the steps.  “Okay, put it there and push this, now turn that.  See!”

When Anthony started putting the paper in, Cameron protested, “It’s my turn!”

Here I step in again because now we are on the next step in cooperative play.  “Anthony, it’s Cameron’s turn and then you can have a turn after him.”

Anthony sat with me for a bit while Cameron had his turn.  These children, although taking turns, are not in true cooperative play yet.  They are taking turns, yes, but not working together.  How do we do that?  A simple suggestion.

“Anthony, Cameron is having trouble getting the paper in because he can’t see.  Maybe you can hold the top of the paper so it doesn’t fold over what he is doing to help him.”

Anthony gets up and holds the top of the paper; Cameron gets the paper in, both boys look at each other and smile widely at each other.  The begin taking turns again but now, when it’s one boys turn, the other holds the paper up.

As time progresses, they move past holding the paper but also taking some time in between to find “their letters” (the letters in their names) on the keyboard, and typing them out together. 

It was such a joy and honor to be part of this process with these two.  Their cooperative play was so positive and wonderfully engaging that several other children came by and watched these two play.  None of them engaged in the play; not one of them even attempted to participate.  However, several of them stood by and watched very interested in what was going on.

Baby steps, we initiate experiences like this in baby steps and end up miles ahead of where we were in less than an hour.

Authors and Illustrators

Authors and Illustrators are people.  They are very talented people that we make sure to recognize in our classrooms daily.  Each classroom highlights an author every week.  The children learn about the authors in great detail: where they are from, books they have written, heck, if we can find out, we’ll even talk about their favorite foods.

We do this to make sure the children know that authors and illustrators are people and not just words on a page.  We post their pictures on the circle board all week.

Another way to reiterate that authors and illustrators are people, and to give children a love for books, is to make the children authors and illustrators themselves.

We do this in two ways.  The first way is one that I am sure many of your preschool classrooms are doing (and if you’re not, you need to be).  We have the children write their own stories.  Take out the dictation paper, have them draw a picture, and then the teacher sits down and writes the words with them, right?

One very important aspect of this is to make sure that the children know WHERE to draw their pictures.  Having introduced them to the books very carefully during circle time and free choice time and any other time we can find, the children are familiar with the makings of a book.  They know the front, the back, the spine, where to find the words, etc…

The second way we enforce for them that authors and illustrators are people; and to also instill a bit of teamwork, we have a very fun activity.  This is typically done on weeks that the book has an author who is different than the illustrator.

Then the children pair up with one being the author and the other the illustrator.  The first time we do this, they work very closely with the teacher.  They talk about what kind of story they would like to tell.  They map out their story together.

There are then two different ways to implement.  First, have the illustrator draw the pictures.  Once the child is finished, then sit down with the author and have that child tell you the story as you write it out for them.

The other way is in reverse: have the author sit with you and tell you their story, then sit with the illustrator and read them the words on each page and have them illustrate that story.

It’s a great way to enforce so many aspects of development and learning.  Also, don’t forget when it’s done to read it during circle time.  They will LOVE it and it will spark all sorts of other books and teams of authors and illustrators.

Apologies

I hear it all the time: "Say you're sorry...no, you need to say you're sorry...you hit him, tell him you're sorry...no, you aren't going to read this book until you say you're sorry...say it...tell him you're sorry..."

This generally goes on for a few minutes before the child mumbles, "I'm sorry" then the adult gives him back the book while saying, "See, that wasn't so hard."

What? Not so hard!?! That was 5 minutes of pure torture for EVERYONE. The child who was hit had to hang around and wait, the child who hit had someone harping in is ear for five minutes, and the adult sat there thinking, "Why won't this child just say two simple words!!!"

In reality, saying those words MEANS NOTHING! (go ahead anonymous, tell me I'm wrong again and don't know what I'm talking about). It's true; especially to a young child. Really, saying "I'm sorry" just means that you are going to stop talking at me and I can get on with what I'm doing and I'm not in trouble anymore.

Saying I'm sorry doesn't make the other person feel better and has no consequence to the hitter (or whatever he did-hit, bite, kick, etc...).

I have, on more occasions than I can count, seen children who have been "trained" to say I'm sorry hit, say I'm sorry, hit again, say I'm sorry, and keep up this cycle.

I'm sorry solves nothing.

So, what are you supposed to do? SHOW you're sorry.

"You hit him, you need to go get an ice pack for him." "You pushed him down, now you need to wash his knee and get a bandaid for him." "Oops, you hit him with the ball, ask him if he's okay."

See, saying (showing) I'm sorry doesn't just go for the intentional; it also goes for the unintentional. When you do wrong to someone, you need to fix it.

Now, while they are icing/washing/fixing the problem, I make it real clear to the intentional injury that, "you could be playing all this time, but you've had to stop to fix this."

Oh, they don't get that book back either if it was intentional. This is were redirection and some time away from others comes into play and some conflict resolution.

When a child says, "I'm sorry", you of course want to recognize that, but that doesn't solve the problem, "I'm glad that you said I'm sorry, but you need to help him...(fix his blocks, get a bandaid, stand up, tape his picture, feel better, etc...). That's how you show you mean you're sorry."

Including everyone

One of the great things about working in Child Development is that we understand development. We take children for who they are today and where they are going. When creating a lesson plan, we look at what will benefit the children in the environment now. That same lesson plan cannot be recreated next year.

You won't find a preschool teacher with a years worth of lesson plans that gets recycled year after year. It's rare to find a preschool teacher who will plan for a month in advanced. I have seen some do so; but even then, they make some last minute changes a week before.

The reason we do things this way is because development in these first 5 years happens rapidly from week to week. Children will go from point A to point B in a matter of hours sometimes. Look at a child learning to walk; in the morning, he is standing, unsteadily teetering forward to propel himself at the desired target. By the evening, he is taking 2-3 confident steps between objects. It happens that quickly!

So, when sitting down to prepare a lesson, a teacher looks at the interests and development of all children in the classroom and creates opportunities from there. Are there some children who have been spending their time building bridges and roads in the block area? Are these same children struggling with patterning? She is going to plan some bridge building activities that include putting the pieces of the road in a colored pattern.

By doing this, it is very easy for a teacher to include children with developmental delays into the classroom. She can look at where the child is developmentally and include activities that work at his level. We preschool teachers are also very good at picking one activity and having it hit many developmental areas.

For example, my activity is exploring in shaving cream. We add some yellow and blue dry tempera to it and we now have a coloring mixing activity for some of the younger children. Then, while they are playing, the teacher starts drawing simple shapes to identify and encourages the children to do the same (another developmental area and level); then the activity changes to verbal instructions on writing letters and changing letters to make other letters (make a c, now add a short line, what do we have "a", now make the line really long what is it "d or q", etc...). This is a more advanced level. See, with one activity, I have been able to hit many area and levels of development.

There is a huge benefit to having children with developmental challenges in the classroom as well. First, the challenged child benefits by having others around to stimulate activities and behaviors that will build on his development. Second, the other children in the classroom learn compassion.

There are times when the children will get frustrated with a child because he keeps grabbing toys. Of course, yelling at the child to GIVE THE TOY BACK or USE YOUR WORDS IT'S MY TRUCK only make things worse on both sides. One is frustrated because, "he's not using his words and you tell us all the time Miss Jenni to use our words and all he does is grab and take things and knocks things over and then runs around the room taking off his clothes"; the other is confused because "all I want is to play with them but I can't get the words out and I have no friends."

When I can approach a child and tell her, "He wants to color with you but he can't tell you. Remember when you were a toddler and you couldn't talk very well? Well, he's still learning to talk like you were. We need to help him and then he won't get so angry," I find that there is a much better response. Eventually, that child will see him come to the table and say, "You want a crayon? Here you go, and here's some paper too."

My favorite response happened a few years ago. I had a child who was PDD (pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise defined; on the autistic spectrum) who started the year not talking, hitting, scratching, knocking things over, stripping, all those things. The children would get very frustrated and, once we began explaining to them and working with them, they became very compassionate. One day a parent was volunteering in the classroom and was sitting reading with her daughter reading a book; the delayed child came over and grabbed the book. You could see the parent was ready to admonish this other child when her daughter turned and looked at her mom, "Mommy, don't get mad. She doesn't have as many words as us and needs our help. She just wants to read with us, let's make space."

She then proceeded to move over and help her classmate get a space next to her on her mom's lap; mom then continued on with the reading.

It melted my heart to see the compassion in this little girl; and I was proud of her, too, for making sure that her mom understood as well.

There are occasions when children with developmental problems just can't be included in a classroom; but every one wins when we they can be acclimated in the room.

Who is Disciplined when Bitten?

I ran across a post on a parenting network the other day regarding biting. This parent was understandably upset that her child had been bitten at "day care". (I won't go into the whole I-work-in-child-care-days-take-care-of-themselves aspect)

I do sympathize with parents when this happens. However, the story that was told that she was so upset about really rubbed me the wrong way. In a nutshell, her child (child A) had reached across to another child's (child B) plate during lunch. Child B bit Child A. She was then upset to find out that Child B was allowed to sit next to her child in the next meal.

Now, let's get into a toddlers mind, shall we? I am child B, I am sitting here enjoying the company of my classmates (and really, in my development, I don't care that there are other toddlers around, what I am really enjoying is my meal) when something reaches across my face (it is awfully close to my plate) and grabs the piece of bread I am going to put into my mouth (man that looks good). I don't have the words language development yet to quickly think, "I need to let that adult there know that something is getting in the way of me and my food so I need to tell you and say stop"; so I do the next best thing...BITE! After all, that hand is in front of my mouth and I AM eating anyway; what's one more thing in my mouth?

Remember, toddlers are still egocentric. They have no idea that this hand actually belongs to another human being!

Now, is what Child B did inappropriate? Yes. But wouldn't you do the same thing in this scenario?

I wouldn't have gotten mad at either child (it's really my fault for not seeing this about to happen, but then I can't see every little thing, I may have been stopping child C from biting child D in the same scenario across the table). I would have spend more time disciplining (remember, that means to teach) child A, though, rather than Child B.

Why? Because the whole thing started with Child A. If Child A hadn't reached across and taken something from Child B, he never would have gotten bit.

From the story I was reading, I got the feeling that the parent of Child A would rather have had Child B not invited to the table after such and incident as this; as a teacher, I would argue that really Child A would not be invited back.

Why? Because it is apparent that Child A is not yet ready to eat at a table with more than one child; he is still too curious at what's on other children's plates.

One thing we have to remember as adults is that Biting is developmentally appropriate but socially unacceptable. Children, especially toddlers, are still learning this.

There are many reasons that toddlers bite. I'm not going to discuss that here (but you can go here if you want to know reasons). How we react is really dependant on the situation.

In this scenario that I layed out today, I would have done nothing more than calmly turn to Child B and say, "Oh, you bit Child A. Tell him, my food. That hurt him." Then I would calmly move to child A, scoot his chair over a few inches (so he is further from Child B's plate) and say, "You're food is here. That's Child B's food. He's not sharing with you." All the while, I would be tending to his bite, rubbing it making sure he was okay (no broken skin, etc...). My support staff would also be bringing me a wet, soapy wash cloth and ice pack so I can tend to the first aid portion.

Neither child did anything that was out of order. There is no reason to get mad at either child in this situation; they both did exactly what is expected of this age group!

I might continue this discussion, while sitting close to these two children, about how biting hurts and we need to eat what's on our own plates and all that; but in no way would either child be in any more trouble. Child B did nothing wrong; Child A got a better consequence than I ever could give. He'll probably think twice about eating off that other plate next time!

Schedule vs. Routine

Any classroom I enter has a schedule posted. Typically, depending on the program, it looks something like this:
7:30-8:30 Greeting/Free Play
8:30-8:45 Breakfast
8:45-9:00 Circle
9:00-10:00 Indoor Free Choice
10:00-10:15 Clean-up
10:15-11:15 Outdoor Free Choice
11:15-11:30 Clean-up/Wash hands for lunch
11:30-11:45 Lunch
11:45-12:00 Brush teeth/Potty
12:00-2:00 Nap
2:00-2:15 Potty/Mats put away
2:15-2:30 Snack
2:30-2:45 Circle
2:45-3:45 Outdoor Free Choice
3:45-4:00 Clean up
4:00-5:00 Indoor Free Choice/Departure

Does that look about typical? There are a few things that always surprise me:

First, does it ever really take you a full 15 minutes to clean up? If the children are helping, it actually only takes 5 minutes. I don't even put clean up on my schedule.

Second, why is lunch the only time we have to schedule a hand washing? Again, I keep it off, but if you must put it on, make sure you put it on for every meal; and you really only need another 5-10 minutes.

Third, again, why is it only at the times surrounding nap that we have to schedule "potty" time. If the bathroom is in the classroom, do you really need to schedule this? If the bathroom is outside the classroom, shouldn't you have more than one potty time scheduled?

Fourth, if our purpose of brushing our teeth is to do so after a meal because that's the healthy practice, shouldn't we have it scheduled after every meal? Ideally, this wouldn't have to be scheduled. You would have the children get up from a meal, clear their place, then they would, as part of the process, get their toothbrush and brush on their own.

Last, I find that many classrooms don't stick to the posted schedule, especially in the afternoons. Things start to get "closed" for the afternoon, so it's not really free choice. Circle goes longer (which is okay on occasion, if they can handle it), free choice is cut short, nap is extended as long as possible, etc...

The thing is, if you are going to truly have a child centered classroom, there would be no timed schedule anyway. You would post a schedule with no time limits.

Sure, there are some things that can't be changed: meals have to be at a certain time so that the cook can get the food in and out and dishes washed in a reasonable fashion. Of course, nap time has to be in the middle of the day so that everyone can get their lunch breaks. If you share a yard and have to take turns, then those times are stuck as well. I understand all this!

Ideally, things would flow without the clock. The thing is, they can! If you set a routine in the classroom, things will fall right into place and you will see that (without looking at the clock) things will fall in to a time frame all on their own. Their are cues throughout the day that will trigger children's transitions to the next activity.

For example, the cook brings in the cart for breakfast, the children will begin cleaning up and come into the table. At a certain time of day, they begin to get tired, they will naturally begin to shut down and rest...NAP TIME!

Really what we need to do is create a ROUTINE for the children. We know that children need a routine to provide consistency and security in their environment. What's important in a routine is to create PREDICTABILITY. Children need to know what is coming next; it helps them transition much easier. If I know that when the teacher says clean up there will be something fun and exciting afterwards, I am more likely to clean up because I'm ready for the next adventure. If I don't know what to expect after clean up, I will be very reluctant to do so because I don't want my fun to end.

So, how do I accomplish a well run routine? Start with your schedule, take out the times, and go!

One thing that you want to have is a when I ____ then ____. When I CLEAN UP then I SIT FOR A GROUP TIME. When I EAT then I CLEAR MY PLATE AND BRUSH MY TEETH. When I BRUSH MY TEETH then I SIT FOR A GROUP TIME.

Really, the key to this is to have gathering times all throughout the day. It helps transition children quicker and more smoothly; in a controlled way. If you have a group of children sitting with you singing songs and entertained, you can send two at a time while they wash their hands to go to the table for breakfast. It's much more controlled than having 16 children all lined up to wash their hands, cutting in line, pushing, shoving, "I'm next no I'm next no me!", etc...

So, what does a typical routine look like?

Come in to set up activities and free choice Be sure to have a few activities available at the tables or areas so that the children can be helped to acclimate to the environment with less tears; this way they can see what there is to do without having to "find" something to do, which many times is the problem with a crying drop off
Clean up The children clean up their things then move to the rug; if one child has more to clean up than another, ask the second child to help so that there is less waiting time for him and things get done faster
Gathering on the rug When they are done cleaning their things, they get a book or other quiet activity that is easily put up when the teacher is ready. Once about half the class is done cleaning up, there should be a teacher sitting on the rug just singing songs; that's all that's needed. This is also a good time to do the weather, pattern, flag salute, roll call
Breakfast During gathering, have a couple children help set the tables so they are ready for breakfast
Gathering on the rug After they clear their place, again get a quiet activity and wait, once half the group is there, the teacher should join and sing songs until everyone is ready. If a child cannot sit and keep themselves busy (jumps around, tackles others) they should help the teacher at the table or even just sit at the table until they are ready to sit on their own waiting. This is then where you would flow right into circle time with your book, lesson, activities, etc...
Free Choice Inside After circle, be sure to dismiss the children a few at a time. This is also the time to have those "skill builder" activities or "focus group" times. Remember, planned opportunities for the children to learn are key at this time.
Clean up See above for clean up
Gathering on the rug Do you see the actual routine here? When I clean up, I sit on the rug. No matter what you are doing, when you call clean up, the children will know what to do when they are done: sit on the rug.
Free Choice Outside Same as indoor
Clean up
Gathering near the door Unless there is a need (safety, time, etc...), I like to gather the children at the door, have my assistant go inside to receive the children, and have a song to help transition them from inside to outside. Some classrooms need to do this gathering inside on the rug, if that's the case, do so; but preferably, sit the children facing the door, you sit in the doorway and let children by you one or two at a time.
Lunch Again, send a couple in before hand to set up the table. Once they are done eating, if possible, part of the process should be to get their own mats and blankets out. Sometimes this isn't possible, but they should be doing this all on their own.
Quiet activity on their matsWhen they get to their mats, they should be allowed 1-2 books to look at while they are winding down. Until the teachers are able to begin rubbing backs to help them settle in.
Nap time Once all children are done with lunch, RUB...THEIR...BACKS! This will help keep them settled and allow them to focus more on resting and falling asleep. If you spend the time cleaning the tables and prepping, they will spend their time watching your every move and may not fall asleep at all. If you rub their backs, they will all be asleep much faster.
Clean up mats When nap time is over, have them stay on their mats with a few books until you call them by name to get up, put their blanket and mats away, go potty and all that. Make sure there are no more then THREE children moving around at once getting these things done. Any more and there will be too much chaos.
Gathering on the rug Again, quiet books or puzzles until half the group is done and then a teacher comes and sings songs. This is a more quiet gathering and can actually be a discussion about the afternoon activities, what they remember about this morning, quiet songs, quiet stories. Remember, some of the children are still waking up and are running a bit slow. Keep it slow!
Snack
Gathering on the rug Do you see the routine? When I finish eating then I sit on the rug!
Free Choice Outside
Clean up
Gathering near the door
Free Choice Inside
Clean up
Gathering on the rug until picked up I always end the day about 15 minutes before closing and have a story time with a late light snack. 2-3 saltine crackers, dixie cup of goldfish, etc... This is where I have the assistant actually read books (book, after book, after book) while the parents come in to pick up. This leaves the teacher free to talk to parents about the children's day, etc...

One other note, I would mix up the quiet activity available to them. Have a basket that is there for them waiting, the same basket all the time so they know that's what is there to do, but mix it up! Put in books one day, then another day put in clipboards with paper and pencils, then another day put in small legos (depending on the group age and oral exploration), then another day put in file folder games, etc... Something that they can do independantly and remain calm.

No matter how you make the routine, remember the most important part is PREDICTABILITY. I know that after I do _____ then I do _____.

Once you fall into a routine, children's behaviors will settle down and you will find that, without you telling them, they will begin to clean up because "it's just what we do next."

What are we doing?

I had to ask myself that question the other day after I attended a training (okay, while I was in the middle of the training). What is our purpose in a preschool classroom?

I completely agree that we are educators. I can agree that part of our job is to get children ready for kindergarten. However, when the presenter said, "Our bottom line is school readiness" I literally did a double take. I thought maybe I had heard wrong; then a few minutes later when we were on to the next section of the trainer, she repeated the exact same line as if she were reading from a script.

That is when I had to go into my brain and think: Is my bottom line for these children school readiness?

The answer is simple: NO! My bottom line is life readiness.

When children leave my classroom and program, I want them to be able to be successful in life. When I am working with teacher's on their technique and practices in the classroom I regularly tell them, "Think about how this would play out with adults in a work environment. What skills does a child need to practice to be successful in the work place?"

When two children are in conflict and we help them solve it, I know that the words I give them will help them while in conflict with their coworkers as adults. When we talk about people being friends vs. peers we talk about respecting all people; we say "we don't all have to be friends, but we all have to respect each other."

Do these same skills make them successful in school? Of course! But, my thought is that if a child in my classroom doesn't learn the skills they need to know in life, I have failed him or her. Sure, I build foundations to learn to read, write, and do math. But the most important thing I teach them is to be social. (Go ahead, hit the link on social, I'm done here for today).

Conflict Resolution

It's been too long, I know. I deeply regret it; however, sometimes real work has to come first. I do have some great things to share with everyone, but I have to start first with my promise: Conflict Resolution.

Last we talked, we discussed friendship, remember? In that discussion (okay, monologue), I told you we would do conflict resolution next. There are two things you want to remember with conflict resolution in the preschool classroom:

First, the idea is to empower the children to solve their own conflicts. You want to make it possible for them to solve their own problems when the time comes and you are not there.

Second, there are 5 guidelines to follow in ALL conflict (we'll get to that in a minute).

There are 4 types of conflict in any classroom:

• Children with children
• Children with adults
• Adults with children
• Adults with adults

In any of these conflicts, remember these 5 things:

1. Keep it respectful: That is probably one of the most important. The name-calling, disrespecting, needs to stay out of it. It isn't going to do anyone any good. Note that the rule isn't "keep it respectful as long as the other person keeps it respectful"; no matter what the other person does, don't stoop to a lower level.
2. Remain calm: This one is all about keeping in control. The level of the conflict will only rise as far as the lower level will allow it. If you are in conflict with someone and they are yelling, keep your voice down. They will only get louder if you get louder. It's a great control mechanism.
3. Be matter of fact: What I really mean by this is "Keep emotions out of it". Conflict has NOTHING to do with emotions and EVERYTHING to do with facts. He has the car, you want the car. Simple as that. Once you start bringing in the emotions, the facts get blurred. He has the car, you are sad because you want the car; are you going to get the car just because you're sad about it? No. Is it going to change anything? It shouldn't. If it does, that's when things start getting inconsistent and unfair. (yes, I know life isn't fair, but the rules should at least be consistent).
4. Get help from an outsider: this is what we are basically teaching the children to do; but this rule is for ALL conflicts. If you as an adult are in conflict with another adult and can't seem to be coming up with a resolution, ask for help from an unbiased outsider! If the conflict is between and adult and child and you can feel yourself getting defensive, the best thing you can do is ask another teacher to help you and the child out. It shows the child so much respect and they learn so much by it.
5. Admit when you are wrong: This is probably the most difficult rule that anyone has. If you find, during the discussion, that you forgot something you had promised before or you find you didn't have all the facts...ADMIT IT! So much is solved with the words, "I was wrong."

Now, onto empowering children. What you want to do at any age is give the child the words to say. If someone wants their toy car back, you need to tell that child, "Tell him I want my car back." When you go over, take the car back from the child and hand it to the other child and say, "Give him his car back" you are only teaching both those children that other people will solve their problems AND if you're bigger and stronger you can do what you want. In essence, in the second scenario, you have become a bully.

Want to look at some scenarios?

Johnny is riding a tricycle, Sara wants to ride a tricycle. Sara goes up and pushes Johnny off the bike. The teacher (you) approach the situation quickly and say, "What's going on?" Here's how it plays out...
Johnny: She pushed me
Teacher: Tell her "Stop pushing me"
Johnny: Stop pushing me
Sara: I want to ride the bike
Teacher: Ask him, "Can I ride the bike?"
Sara (looks at teacher): Can I ride the bike?
Teacher: Don't look at me, look at Johnny and say "Can I ride the bike?"
Sara (looks at Johnny): Can I ride the bike?
Johnny (looks at teacher): I'm riding it now
Teacher: Will you let her know when you are done?
Johnny nods head
Teacher: Tell her, "I'm riding it now, I'll give it to you when I'm done."
Johnny: I'm riding it, I'll tell you when I'm done.
Teacher: Sara, did you hear that?
Sara: yes
Teacher (let's Johnny go then turns to Sara): What do you want to do while you wait your turn?


By giving the children their words to use, the teacher was able to help the children communicate what they wanted to say. Remember, young children are still building their vocabulary and grammar and don't easily or quickly know what they need to say in the heat of the moment. With the teacher walking them though giving them the script, they are able to solve the conflict on their own

By having the children face the each other during the conflict, the teacher is able to give them the courage that they need in the face of conflict. Having the teacher close by makes it easier to stand up for themselves. As they get more experienced in solving conflicts they will find it easier to stand up for themselves without an adult around. Sometimes, children won't need the words (they already know what they want to say) they just need a trusted adult close by to give them a bit more confidence.

With practice, they will soon be able to solve their own conflicts without adults around. It may take a while; it doesn't happen overnight. However, when it does happen, it makes every classroom run much more smoothly.

The most important part that you need to do with the children and make them look at the other person when they are talking. Many times they will look at the adult; but you have to make them look at the other child. This will empower them to solve their own conflicts as they grow and become stronger.

Friendship revisited...

I got a very good comment on this post from the other day and thought that, rather try and explain it in the comment section, I'd make another post out of it. So, here goes:

In a nutshell, the question is, "Okay, I understand that we aren't all friends, but what do I do when my child still cries over it?" ; that and "how do I facilitate respect in a three year old?" So, let's take the first part first:

The quote she used was perfect: "I'm not your friend, I'm [his] friend." Children can't be "friends" with more than one person at a time; they haven't figured that out yet. In a situation like that, I approach the duo with child number 3 and have child number 3 say, "Can I play, too?" (If they are doing something like building a roadway in the block area, I get them more specific, "Can I help you make the road? I could...") The idea is to get the other children to realize that more than two people can be friends at one time. Nine times out of ten, this works.

What do you do about that one time? Well, again, have child number 3 do the talking. "Why can't I play with you?" The response may be, "because I'm playing with him"; and that's okay. Or the response may be, "because when you played with us you didn't listen and made the road wrong." In response 2, that's when we go into conflict resolution and figure out a way for them to play together (conflict resolution is coming next post, I promise!).

In response 2 (I'm playing with him), I will, as the adult, say, "Well, is it something that only you two can do, or can three play?" Sometimes, they will say that three can play. Other times, they will say only two. I do two things at this point. First, I have child number 3 say, "when you are done, can we do something together?" (fill in the something with a specific activity if possible: do puzzles, build a zoo, etc...). Second, I take child number 3 a little distance away and, eye to eye, say, "Well, he's busy right now, would you like to do something with me? Read a book? Play a game? Or would you like me to help you find another child to play with? Junior is doing a floor puzzle over there, it looks like he might need some help, want to try?"

Oh, one more thing I forgot, in response 2, if the child came to me upset because "he said I'm not his friend", I will tell him, "he can still be your friend, he's just playing with Johnny now." (that's only when they specifically use the word friend; since we got them in the habit of using that word, we need to go with it when it comes up. The other thing I will tell him is, "see, he does still like to play with you, when he's done with Johnny he said he would do something with you, what do you want to do while you wait?"

In all of these scenarios you are giving several messages:

1. It's okay to only want to play with one person, if that is where your ability is, that's okay.
2. People still like you even when they don't want to play with you right this second
3. Situations with hurt feelings may just be a miscommunication, ask and find out
4. Move on! If one person doesn't want to play with you, someone else does; it's not the end of the world and you someone else will benefit from your presence

There are more, can you think of them?

Now, let's look at facilitating respect in a three year old:

The MOST important thing to do is MODEL RESPECT. There is no better way than to make sure that you are modeling respect in front of the three year old. Show respect for everyone in the environment (adults and children alike) and you will go far.

Second, don't expect them to be respectful. You (as an adult) respect others because you can understand from another persons perspective. What you do is ask the child, when he's not being respectful, how he thinks the other person feels about this; then explain what that person is feeling.

You ask first not really to get them thinking, but to get you to understand where he's coming from. This will give you a better idea on how to approach.

Here's the thing, in order to respect others, you need to be able to be sympathetic to others. A child of three CANNOT do this!

What you are actually teaching a child at this age is behaviors. It's really equal to teaching them how to brush their teeth, get dressed, go to bed. You are teaching a behavior, not a value. Really, values follow the behavior.

Did I confuse you? Did it help? Do you need clarification? Let me know!

Book of the Week-Eight Animals Bake a Cake

Eight Animals Bake a Cake by Susan Middleton Elya, illustrated by Lee Chapman.

This is a great book! It's easy to read for any teacher, even those of us who are not fluent in Spanish. We can still read it without butchering the words. This is the same author of Say Hola to Spanish. She has done another great job creating a book that both English and Spanish speaking children can both enjoy.

There is a different illustrator this time, so the look of the book is different. This isn't good or bad, just different. The animals have an interesting look to them, but it seems to humanize them for the children; so it works. Each picture tells the story in itself and ease each a work of art.

Back to the story line: The animals are coming together to create a cake. You don't really know that (other than the title) until they all get together. But there are so many lessons in the simple text. There is the bilingual language; the social skills of coming together; the conflict resolution after the cake gets ruined; the science activity that is sure to evolve from this reading into making a cake; the team work; and so much more.

A fabulous book to read for those three year olds who are working on social skills. There is also a recipe for the cake in the back of the book!

However, there is no pictures. So, here's the author:

Challenging Situations-Parents who are too involved

Yes, you read that right. What do you do if a parent is too involved? What I am actually talking about stemmed from a conversation I had this week. A teacher told me about a parent who wanted a call every time that their child hit, kicked, or misbehaved in any way. If she came to pick up the child and heard about any incident in the day that she didn't get a call from, she got very upset. So what's a teacher to do?

Well, we are advocates for the children as well. What I always tell any parent is this: what happens at school, stays at school (and vise versa).

What I mean is, don't come to school and tell me your child can't ride bikes because he wasn't listening to you this morning. What I also mean is, I am not going to tell you everything your child did because we will have dealt with the discipline at school already. We know that children' must be disciplined immediately following an incident; you can't wait four hours and then punish them. First off, that's not teaching them anything but to be on their toes because you never know when something is going to come back to haunt you. Second (and most important) they have already forgotten what they did to get in trouble.

If I am having a problem that I do need parents to reiterate the respect that a child should have for their teachers, I tell the parents to deal with it at school. "When you leave the building, the problems stay in the building." This makes home a happy place; a place they want to be. Not a place that all their troubles of the day is going to haunt them.

If they really feel they must run in, get their child, and don't have time to deal with anything (conversation) except on the way home, I suggest they pick a corner halfway home. From that corner (the one with this gas station at it for example) there is no more talk of school.

The other thing is that the parent has to trust that you can handle the problems children have. If a parent doesn't trust that you know what you are doing, they will ask for a call every time their child does something wrong. Build up that relationship. The best way to do this is to NOT tell the parent every situation their child got into.

A better way to handle this is, when the parent comes in, say something like this, "He had a rough start in the morning, but we talked and we helped him through it and then he had a much better afternoon. He sat at circle and even helped me set the table for lunch!" This way the parent is aware that there were some problems, but that it wasn't anything you couldn't deal with. It works the same if the afternoon was the more difficult, "Well, he has been having a rough afternoon, maybe the last hour or so, but this morning he was such a great helper! He may just be ready for a break from this busy classroom."

Another, and probably most important point: Many parents who want (feel the need) to know every bad thing their child do, probably goes home and punishes the child to no end. Maybe he doesn't get dessert, get to watch a movie, or worse (I don't even want to think about the worse, you can figure out what that is, I've been there and seen it). You are the child's advocate. You already dealt with the trouble and discipline. He's "done his time". He doesn't need to be punished further.

If a parent is insistent that they get that phone call, here's my suggestion: Inform them that if they want a call every time he misbehaves, you will also call him every time he does something wonderful...and that will be even more times than there are minutes in the day.

Get the point across that they don't need to be informed of those few (less than 5% of the day) times that his developmentally appropriate impulse control issues come out. They only need to know what we can't handle. And if they would like some assistance helping at home, you are there to help them.

Book of the Week-Glad Monster Sad Monster

Ed Emberley, a favorite author of mine. I was first introduced to him through Big Green Monster; a definite toddler favorite. When I was looking for some more books from him, I came across this one: "Glad Monster Sad Monster" which is excellent. Especially in a preschool setting.

Children go through so many emotions; and many times they go through many of these emotions at school. He does such a fabulous job of discussing these emotions at a preschoolers level. They can really get a grasp on these feelings they are experiences (or have experienced in the past).

The unique design of the book helps the children become interested in the book and participate. Be sure there is a mirror close by as there is a "mask" to try on with each page.

The only draw back is that it is difficult for a four year old to manipulate by his or herself; the pages will easily tear out left to themselves. (You didn't hear it here, but that may be best if you want to let them explore it on their own). However, if you want to make sure the book stays in one piece, use it at circle time. Show them how to use two people (one to hold and one to "wear" the mask) and make the rule that at least two children have to use the book at once. This would make a great social skill.

My only other complaint is that (say it with me) there is no picture of the author!!! So, here you go:

Water Play Ideas

So it's summer and it's HOT! The children are running around and their little cheeks are turning pink; not from sunburn, but from dehydration. You are constantly reminding them to drink water...right? Even though we have drinking fountains in the yard, I also get some cups and a water dispenser to put out as well. They seem to drink much more water this way. As they are drinking, you can actually see the pinkness fade away.

How else do you keep them cool? Take out the hose! That's always fun. I time it so that I soak them real good and then turn off the hose. By the time we go in, they are dry. But really, running in the water is fun; however, ever thinking as a teacher, I want to know how I can enhance their development through this. Here are some ideas:

1. Give everyone a cup or other container. While you are spraying the hose, put the nozzle on a good shower and spray high up. Have them see how much water they can catch. Put a sensory table out of the spray zone and when their container is full of water, have them dump the water into the sensory table. How long will it take to fill? This works on eye-hand coordination, measuring, social skills, gross motor, and teamwork

2. Have a relay race. You don't necessarily have to race against each other; race against the clock if you like. Fill the sensory tub with water. Have two or three of the same item (large spoon, 1/4 cup measuring cup, plastic egg, etc...). At the start line (where everyone lines up) put the sensory table. At the other end place a sand bucket. Have the children fill their small container and run to the bucket and fill with the water. When they run back, they give their container to the next child in line. Continue until the bucket is full, the time is up, whatever works. This work on balance, gross motor, social skills, teamwork. Turn it into a math activity by having them guess how many times they will need to fill their smaller container to fill the bucket.

Let me say here that I am not opposed to a little bit of competition. Having two teams race against each other is fine as long as the children aren't allowed to have poor sportsmanship. Everyone is recognized for their efforts. Make sure you make the teams equal in strength and weakness. Run the event several times so everyone has a chance. However, if you children can't handle the competition, compete against the clock.

3. Make water parks! Get rain gutters, pipes, funnels, and lots of string. Use the fence to make ramps, tunnels, and mazes to dump the water into. Put a bucket at the bottom of the maze to catch the water. This works with conflict resolution, negotiations, spacial awareness, social skills, reasoning skills, math and science.

4. For the younger children who may not be able to think abstractly and create a water maze: take two sensory tables. Put one in its stand and fill with water. Take the other sensory table out of it's stand and put it on the ground a few feet away. Take a couple rain gutters or pipes and place one end in the tub on the ground. Lean the other end up on the edge of the taller sensory table. Provide different sizes of containers for them to pour water down to the other sensory tub. Is there a way to get the water back up? This plays with cause and effect, science, spacial awareness, science, reasoning skills.

5. Fill spray bottles with colored water (use liquid watercolors to make it washable). Put up a large white sheet or butcher paper. Let the kids spray! Attach things to the sheet (leaves, stencils, etc...) to spray at and see the impression that is made by the spray. If you are really brave have a child stand facing the sheet (so it doesn't get in their eyes) and spray around them to see the impression. With this activity (spraying the children with colored water) you need to have VERY understanding parents and enough knowledge to express what they are learning; but it's fun! The children will get fine motor skills, social skills, reasoning, creativity, science, social skill.

I am of the belief that every classroom should have a large white sheet/blanket/material/fabric that you can use over and over. The sheet holds color better and, if you do it right, it's washable. Plus with being white you can bleach it if the color doesn't come out. This white sheet can be used for spray bottle art, fly swatter art, painting with feet, and so much more. It doesn't matter if it loses its bright whiteness; it should! But it is so much sturdier than the butcher paper!

Does anyone else have any great water play activities?

Curriculum Ideas-From a song

There is a simple finger play song that goes like this:

5 little froggies sitting on a well
1 looked up and down he fell
Froggies jump high
Forggies jump low
How many froggies left in a row?

Of course, the simple thing is to sing this as a finger play putting down one finger at a time. But, why would I go with the simple here? Let's expand this idea:

First idea (this children LOVE this):
Get a container of water to be the well. I have found the disposable food containers work very well for this. You know the kind, ziplock or reynold's have. They are cheap and sturdy. Get one with mouth that opens 4-6 inches is best, but pretty much anything works.

Fill the container up to an inch from the top with water. Get a lincoln log or a long block from the block area and rest it on the edge. I should note here that when you do this teacher directed, put the log closest to you. Then get 5 little toy frogs (I use the frogs from this, but you can find little frogs anywhere). As you, and the children, sing, drop the frogs in the water one at a time.

The children get a HUGE kick out of this. Once you introduce this to them, make sure to put it out on the table as one of the activities. If you don't...they will! So, you might as well be proactive about it and beat them to it. If possible (read you have enough materials) set up 3 or 4 stations until the newness wears off. Then, now don't be afraid, put it in the language and literacy area. That's right! Maybe don't put as much water, but go ahead...trust them! It's only water and I have yet to have a huge disaster that got out of control.

Second Idea:
During a transition time, change the words to include the children. Let's pretend you are in circle time and it's time to go choose activities. There are 16 children there today so you start:

16 froggies sitting on a well
Jose looked up and down he fell (at this point Jose gets to stand up in his spot or in the center)
Jose jumps high (have Jose jump as high as he can)
Jose jumps low (have Jose make little hopping jumps)
And off he goes...(Jose now gets to go to his activity)

This is a longer transition song so it also works well for getting hands washed and bathroom runs done since there is ample amount of time between verses for the person to have washed his hands.

Third Idea:
You have the finger play puppets for 5 green and speckled frogs...use it here!

Fourth Idea:
Buy a long post at the lumbar store (one that has a flat edge so it won't roll) and put it out in the yard. Have children stand on it and sing the song, jumping off when it's their turn.

Anyone else have a great extension for this song?

This song is so closely related to the 5 green and speckled frogs you can almost do the same activities with that song as well.

On observation and question

I made an interesting observation this morning while outside with a classroom, let me explain:

I have two different funding sources at one center; neither of these funding sources can share space at the same time so we rotate outdoor time accordingly. In both contracts 3 and 4 year olds share the yard; and the 4 year old children are great at teaching the younger children tricks (both good and bad).

In one group (let's call it group 1) all the children at some point has mastered the ability to hang upside down from the monkey bars and get very skillful at maneuvering them: swinging from, sitting on, hanging from, and other various tricks. This began last year about this time when the children who were getting ready to go to kindergarten began exploring this way. This years pre-k class quickly picked it up. About 9-10 months ago the three year old class quickly caught on. After all, if you want to play with the big kids, you gotta play like the big kids. Group 1 now has a new child (just turned 3) who will be staying in the 3 year old class next year when the rest of the 2's class moves up. Today, she was able to swing her legs up to the bar, but not quite confident in letting go just yet. I say give her a week.

In group 2, the children have never experienced how the other children play. I was interested when two of the older (and more athletic) of the group went to the monkey bars this morning and couldn't accomplish this task. Try as they might, they couldn't even get their legs up to the bars. After 45 minutes, one child was able to figure out how to "walk" up the pole with her legs to get them up, but couldn't do it without this aide.

It got me thinking about how the center dynamics and "traditions" evolve. I had a child who started spinning out of circle one day. She would stand up and twirl her way to the next activity. It did no harm, so I didn't stop her. After a week, a few more children began spinning out of circle. By the end of the month most, if not all, of the children picked up this habit. For two years after, even after this child had graduated and moved on, the children were still spinning out of circle. It was passed down from one year to the next; completely encouraged by me or the other teachers in the classroom. I left and I have no idea if the children still do this; but I am guessing that the new teacher was very confused by this behavior.

So, what odd traditions have you had passed from one year to the next? Or, has there been a skill that the younger ones have had because of the older influence?

Patriotism in the Classroom

I am a very patriotic person. I am proud to be an American; and I show it! Many of the children who come into our centers have parents in the military; I'm proud of those parents. It breaks my heart that these families qualify for state funding; these men and women protect our country, protect our freedom, and they need financial assistance to help them live.



Anyway, I think that it's important to teach our children to have pride in where we live as well. It's a social skill: we are part of a group. They learn to be proud of where they live, that they are part of a larger society, and a bit of history. So, how do I teach this?



First, every morning we have a powwow time. This is separate from circle and lasts about 5-10 minutes. This is where to take roll, talk about the calendar, discuss the day, and (most importantly) say the pledge of allegiance. For those of you who don't know the words:

I pledge allegiance

to the flag

of the United States of America

and to the republic

for which it stands

one nation

under God

indivisible

with liberty and justice for all

We start saying the pledge allegiance about the time the children turn three. The two year old class, I give the option of saying it formerly because of developmental reasons. The three year old say it formerly everyday. We teach them to put their right hand over their heart. As they are saying it, we gently switch hands if necessary. Eventually, they get it right straight away. We also require them to take off their hats if they are wearing them. We treat this as a sacred event everyday; so they look at it as such. Let me tell you, anybody who comes in to substitute for the day hears about it from the children: "YOU FORGOT THE FLAG!!!"

We have had one student whose mother didn't want her saying the pledge of allegiance for religious reasons. This is fine; I respect that (I am an American after all). She was, however, required to stand out of respect for the culture. She didn't have to say it; and mom worked with her in explaining why she didn't participate. But, just as I would go to their church and respect their practices; she needs to learn to respect ours as a culture.

Along with the flag salute, we also sing patriotic songs throughout the year. Of course, we have to stay away from the religious ones (we are state funded); but Star Spangled Banned (of course), Yankee Doodle, This Land is My Land, My Country Tis of Thee, and others.

The other things we do is celebrate National Holidays and talk about what they mean. For the younger ones, this is talked about through their play and what we do: art work in red, white and blue, books available about famous people and times, etc... For the four year olds, we talk about these things at circle time. They learn about Fourth of July, Memorial Day, Martin Luther King, the Presidents, and everything else. They don't go in depth any further than they can handle and understand.

As I subtly mentioned before, we don't celebrate many holidays in our center. Actually, we only celebrate National ones...our Nation. We have special activities just before Fourth of July, we discuss and celebrate Presidents in February, we talk about Thanksgiving and have a special family night for that, and discuss other Holidays that celebrate the history and meaning of the great United States.

We also teach the children where they are from. We begin the year by talking about what school they go to. Once they learn that, we talk about the city that school is in. From there we move on to the state, and finally the United States! Yes, we also talk about it being part of the world and the universe. We have city maps, state maps, and globes in the preschool classrooms. On the city maps, we label where the children's houses are. We also label the school and other interesting things (zoo, field trip locations, etc...). On the state and world maps we mark the city location. This helps them to visualize where we are and how small we are compared to the whole world.

I do think we need to teach the children about the world and diversity; but before we do that, we need to teach them to be proud to be who they are. We are Americans! That's pretty great!

Catalogs

There is nothing like a catalog. Not for us in the administration. Not even for the teachers as they dream about what they would like to have in the classroom. For the children! They love catalogs. Want to see a group of children sit at a table for possibly hours on end, without fighting, and all talking to each other? Put a couple catalogs in the middle of the table. Some types of catalogs (Avon, coldwater creek, oriental trade) will get conversations that talk about what they like. They discuss the pictures; and just plain enjoy looking through them. Other catalogs (Discount School Supply, Lakeshore, Kaplan) are great fun. They not only talk about what they see and like, but they begin to make connections to what is in the classroom. Most of the time, in my experience, it quickly goes from "Hey this is the same carpet we have" to "Miss N, can we get this?" They make that cognitive connection that the things in their classroom are the things that are in this catalog; that must mean that there is a possibility to have more!
I am always impressed with the language and conversation that comes out of this simple thing. They develop so much language, conversations, social skills, and everything from a simple catalog. They even develop small motor skills (turning pages), literacy skills (which way do the pages turn, what are these words, etc..), and, in an older group, math skills (how much would we need to have to buy these five things you want to get?).

Book of the Week-Fox Tale Soup

Here is a book I recently discovered; one which I can use as an extension to my stone soup curriculum. Fox Tale Soup by Tony Bonning; illustrated by Sally Hobson. This book takes a unique twist to a classic story: animals! And who would farm animals trust less than a fox? When they finish the soup and he leaves, of course they invite him back for more stone soup whenever he would like! The use of a sly fox adds to this tale. The bold colors used in the pictures add to the tale as well. This is a great book for group reading and one on one time. It is also great to expand on the stone soup curriculum; showing children books with the same story written/interpreted by different authors is a great social awareness.

Again, with not picture of the author or illustrator, I am cutting down your work (but only in half). Here is a picture of Tony Bonning: