Common Ground 2/9/21 Common Ground 2/9/21

Inaugural Black Women Physicians Day was 2/8/21

Something that you may not know about me, I wanted to be a doctor for most of my life. In fact, I still look at post-bacc, pre-med programs from time to time (but don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere anytime soon!).

While I have always devoted some of my leisure time to reading medical abstracts (who doesn’t!?), from a scientific thirst standpoint, the pandemic hasn’t been all bad for me. With extra time on my hands, looking for some uplifting and informative content, I stumbled Mama Doctor Jones on YouTube, which led me to an incredible group of female physicians on Instagram, a lot of whom happen to be black.

The content is fun, as most instagram content is, but it’s also informative! I learned that February 3rd was the fourth ever National Women Physicians day and YESTERDAY, February 8th, was the inaugural Black Women Physician Day!

February 8th is actually the birthday of the very first Black Woman MD in the US, Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler. WebMD has a great article on her, that highlights her accomplishments as well as the racial issues that still exist.

While a preschool blog isn’t the place for a long discussion on systemic racism, I want to make that we aren’t whitewashing the content that we share here and with our children. In fact, as we were working on our newsletter this week, we realized that 9 days in, we hadn’t even mentioned that this month is Black History Month.

In honor of Black History Month and Black Women Physicians Day, I’d like to point you to “Stethoscope Dreams” written by Dr. Wendy Goodall McDonald - @dreverywoman on Instagram.

(you can see Miss Janette read this great book on our youtube channel)

With that, we vow to do better with the content that we share and the holidays that we recognize! And leave you with the list of the women instagram docs I love to follow:

Love,

Miss Liz

Common Ground 2/8/21 Common Ground 2/8/21

"I met a Pediatrician in the woods..."

Hello all! Ms. LJ here. We have been talking so much about kindergarten readiness here, both as discussions in our blog and in our kindergarten planning meetings. For many of us it is a passion project, a calling to find a way to reintegrate the joy of childhood with the delight of curiosity, of hunting for answers in this beautiful world of ours.

Learning IS a joy that fuels the fires of our existence. Our children are subjected to the fears of failure early, of “falling behind” or being measured against their peers with a single yard stick and being found wanting. These anxieties become inextricably linked to education as they get older, convincing them that it is something they have to endure, rather than tools given and honed to become our best selves.
Why? It is our very ambitious belief that it is because we have cut off curriculum from play. Particularly in the American education system for young children we have turned away from the most natural, efficient source of teaching.

BACK TO MY ORIGINAL POINT: I MET A PEDIATRICIAN IN THE WOODS…

On Friday morning last week I found myself home with my two children. I had just received my second covid inoculation and was feeling a bit run down myself, but I did not want to squander this rare opportunity to spend alone time with my kids! The Covid-19 pandemic as a whole has been a tragic, frightening event, but I will always cherish the summer I got to spend every day outside with my babies. I took them to the Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, one of our favorite “safe space” hangouts from last year, to walk the grounds and kick the slush around under a blue sky.

It was here on one of these particularly wet paths that I ran into two women, one of which commented that it was nice I brought them out on such a nice day. I laughed and said flippantly “I figured they didn’t need to sit in a classroom today.”

In response, this woman gestured around her and said with utter sincerity, “This IS a learning space.”

I grinned, even though I knew she couldn’t see it behind my mask. “I think so too.”
The lady laughed and turned back to her friend, ”And I’m a pediatrician, so you can quote me on that if anyone asks.”

It’s not just our career teachers that are seeing this. It’s not just the parents who know their “energetic kids” focus better when in motion. Doctors who specialize in children are urging for parents and educators alike to integrate consistent, long-form play into all aspects of children’s lives. Physically, they are stronger. Mentally, they are more able to pay attention and less likely to have sensory issues.

Social competencies and emotional resilience suffer greatly without consistent peer-interaction in a playful and imaginative setting as well! Children often work out a lot of their big questions and anxieties of the day by integrating it into safe-space imaginative play reenactments. Without being able to work these issues out themselves, children are unsure of their own abilities to problem solve, and those anxieties and dependencies grow.

Here is a fantastic article from The American Academy of Pediatrics all about The Power of Play if you would like to read more:

The Power of Play: A Pediatric Role in Enhancing Development in Young Children

It’s not that wrote learning, memorization, and standardized long-form curriculums don’t work, it’s that they miss the point of education entirely. They leave behind many and narrow the focus of the rest, curbing creativity, independent thought, and resilience to the necessary process of failure.

Think about any lesson you still remember 10, 20, 30 years later. Which ones stuck with you?

For me it’s almost always the games. My sixth grade teacher had us turn our entire classroom into a bunch of cardboard houses to mimic Hoovervilles. She dunked our feet in cold water and drew cards with battlefield injuries to give us a taste of war on the front. In third grade, multiplication songs and games stuck with me way longer than any flashcard work. Watching pumpkins rot, playing with baby chicks hatching from eggs and experiencing them grow was a poignant way to learn about the life cycles of living things. One of my favorites was pretending to be sound waves bouncing around a back alley. Even “Which President was it?” trivia tag helped facts that HAD to be memorized something fun and worth doing.

To reinvigorate education as a whole we have to reunite the JOY that should come with it, the fascination, the wonder. Let the kids run off in their excitement and experience a lesson with their whole bodies. Let them learn more than you thought, more widely than you thought. You’ll be surprised what you learn when you’re muddy and out of breath too.

Go Play! Keep Learning! Most of all, Have Fun!

Miss LJ

Common Ground 2/5/21 Common Ground 2/5/21

Second Dose: The COVID-19 Vaccine (Pfizer)

Early Thursday morning we “hopped out the car at Inova, with our masks and our cards again, welcomed to the land of getting vaxxed, woo, I’m gonna get pricked again”…

The three of us, Liz, Victoria, and LJ, were the first group to be vaccinated at the center, and now the first group to get our second dose of the Pfizer-Biontec COVID-19 vaccine.

We planned ahead, hearing that most people had about 8-10 hours from their prick until any “the vaccine is working” symptoms started, so we all agreed that we’d rather go to bed not feeling well, after a morning vaccination, vs. waiting until the afternoon and waking up the next morning not feeling well.

Again - Inova knocked it out of the park with the logistics of everything! We waited only a very short time outside, but once we were inside, we walked right up to get our shots.

One change between the first shot and the second is that we only had to wait on site for 10 minutes.

Symptoms:

Immediately we were all feeling great. It was about 4 hours later that all three of us started to notice that we were feeling some fatigue that continued to build throughout the end of the day.

Victoria reported that she had chills that night after work and then was achy and warm the next day. Spiking a fever of 101 on Friday evening.

LJ reported some aches and fatigue, but it didn’t stop her from running 4 miles the evening of the shot.

Liz reported feeling heavy and exhausted on Thursday evening and into Friday morning.

Strangely, all three noted that the arm pain and headache was worse with the first dose.

Sounds boring, right?

Yep.

After all the reports we were hearing that people were feeling really crummy after the second dose (and yes, Victoria got the worst of it), we were all pretty worried, but all in all, it really hasn’t been that bad!

Common Ground Impact Update:

As we have mentioned in several places, the Honeybees teachers and Miss Mimi will be getting their second doses on Friday February 12th and thus, that room will be closed this Friday.

We are still waiting for the County to open up our scheduling for the rest of our staff for their second doses, but we anticipate getting them in on February 18th or 19th, thus necessitating a closure of the rest of our classrooms on Friday, February 19th. We will update you as soon as those plans are confirmed!

Thanks for reading our update!

Common Ground 1/27/21 Common Ground 1/27/21

Teacher Tips: Ms. Janette talks Potty Training!

FAQ’s about potty training with Miss Janette:

What age should we start potty training?
- Potty training typically starts at age 2, some children might show interest before or after age 2. The best way to go about it is to calmly and slowly introduce the potty and bathroom as a positive experience. You can also wait until the child shows interest in the toilet themselves before you dive into the process.

My child shows interest in the potty before age 2, should we start early?
- You can slowly introduce the use of the toilet for your child, but it is best to go at their pace for the time being, no need to rush. Rushing or forcing the potty training process can actually hinder their interest in the toilet and delay further progress.
- We also do not want to disrupt the child’s school routine by potty training too early, we need them to gradually learn how to be in tune with their body and understand why we sit on the toilet.
- Lastly, having a child push too much or too hard can result in bladder issues. Their bodies are still growing! Potty training readiness also involves physical milestones.

My child is not showing any interest in the toilet and they’re almost 2 years old, how can we encourage them to begin potty training?
- Keep in mind that this is normal. Some children might have other interests that are more appealing to them than using the potty. Most children do not want to run to the bathroom while they are in the middle of playing when they use a diaper or pull-up.
- There are many ways we can encourage our children into using the toilet; books about using the toilet and even reading these books while on the toilet, songs or shows about using the toilet,
- Creating a potty chart might spark interest with stickers or markers that they can add themselves
- Letting them get used to the items in a bathroom like how to flush once, how much toilet paper to use or how to wash hands properly.
- In the end, always keep the bathroom experience positive and reinforce proper bathroom etiquette.

What will we need to have for potty training?
- It is best to have everything on hand in one place during the potty training process. Here is a list of items you would need for potty training;
  - Full set of extra clothes (I have experienced full on blow outs with children and it is best to have a whole outfit complete with socks and shoes; shirt, underwear, pants, socks, shoes)
  - Diapers (as a back-up)
  - Pull-ups (for children at school, pull-ups with thee velcro/detachable sides work best for the teachers and do not require removing pants or shoes)
  - Wipes (there will be accidents and it will get messy!)
  - Gloves (optional, teachers use gloves to protect themselves and the children from spreading germs that could cause infections)
  - Bottom Cream (A new regimen will add irritation to their sensitive areas. Creams like aquaphor or vaseline might soothe the irritation)
  - Potty: your potty needs to be easily accessible to your child! If you have a regular toilet make sure there is a stool they can use to climb on and put their feet against. A potty training lid makes this toilet even more accessible and helps ease anxieties. You could also get them a portable potty that you sit on the floor.
  - Potty training books, both for you and them.
  - Some type of reward system like stickers

What does the routine and schedule look like for potty training?
- There are two routines for you to keep your child and yourself aware of during potty training; the school’s routine and your own personal routine. An important part of potty training is communication between home and school. Parents and teachers need to discuss all details of the potty training process to ensure a smooth transition.
  - At School:
    - Potty checks at arrival
    - Potty checks before and after every meal
    - Potty checks before and after nap time
    - Potty checks before and after outdoor play
    - Potty checks every 20-30 minutes
    - Careful observation between checks to see if the child might need the bathroom without realizing it.
    - Suggest the bathroom before transitions/new activities.
  - At Home:
    - Potty checks at after wake up and before bed time
    - Potty checks before and after meals
    - Potty checks before and after nap time
    - Potty checks before and after outdoor play
    - Potty checks before and after car rides
    - Potty checks every 20-30 minutes
    - Careful observation between checks to see if the child might need the bathroom without realizing it.
    - Suggest the bathroom before transitions/new activities.You can do weekends where the child goes without underwear or pull-ups! (it's a messy risk but can be very effective!)

How should I have them sit?
- For girls: Sit them down further back on the toilet. A trick I teach for dresses: take the bottom of the dress, pull it all to the front, then twist and tuck under the hem above the belly. This helps keep the clothing from falling into the toilet and helps the children wipe/see what they are doing.
- For boys: They should start by sitting down further back on the toilet with their legs spread out on the sides. This helps them see what they are doing and “tuck in” (pointer finger pointing penis down into toilet bowl).

**Potty words** We want a positive experience in the bathroom so we will use the proper terminology. We encourage everyone to say penis or vagina to help children develop a comfortable awareness of their bodies.

What can I expect during this process?
- Expect many accidents and have patience throughout it all. Some children may learn quickly while others may take much longer. It is always best to have the child feel comfortable during the process and to never rush into it. Reward progress, avoid comparisons to other children.

What if my child regresses after seeming to get the hang of it?
- Regression: Having more accidents than usual or not seeming interested in potty training.
- Maybe you took a break. Maybe the child was sick for a few days. For whatever reason they’re showing signs of regression. The best thing to do is get yourselves back on your schedule and continue your training. Provide encouragement and resources to help. Remind them during transition and provide potty breaks every 20-30 minutes.

How do I know when my child is ready for underwear?
- With potty training, you can introduce the underwear as reinforcement and encouragement. If your child is wearing pull-ups but has been keeping them dry and using the toilet more often, then you can put underwear over the pull-up and have them practice pulling that up and down along with the pull-up.
- Once you both feel comfortable using the potty and going without the pull-ups, you can move onto the underwear (maybe pull-ups during nap and over night). This is where the extra clothes are very important to have on hand or at school! You can bring in multiple sets of clothing into school (just please label every article of clothing for the teachers!).

How long does it take to potty train a child?
- With consistency from the teachers and the parents together, the potty training process usually takes 2-3 weeks. However, this really depends on the child as well as the persistence of the teachers and parents. Communicate between one another!