September 13 - Kids Take Over the Kitchen Day
SEPTEMBER 13TH IS “KIDS TAKE OVER THE KITCHEN DAY”
In our Screenless Activities: Quick Recipes blog post, we discussed how beneficial it is to cook with your kids, and how uncomplicated it has to be. There are A TON of lovely children’s books that even have recipes! A good example is on the READ ALOUD section of our Common Ground Youtube Channel. Blue’s Clues Read Aloud: Blue Makes Breakfast. (We will have a list of Teacher Recommended books about food with recipes at the bottom of this blog! Don’t forget to scroll down!)
There is nothing more bolstering to a child, more comforting, more healthy, than quality time with you.
In our busy lives, this can feel hard to come by. We spend A LOT of time with our children! With school, extracurriculars, work, and finding time to breathe on our own, this can feel daunting. But Conscious Discipline says that even FIVE MINUTES of undivided attention a day can make all the difference in the world.
NAEYC has an incredible list of Quality Time Tips for Meaningful Days that basically boils down to: Noticing the positive, expressing affection, special rituals for daily quality time, letting them choose your activities, and putting technology away so your attention is only on each other. Utilize this CELLPHONE PARKING in your home for meals, games, books, walks with your family.
One of the tips is to take the time to EAT with your child! Does this sound stressful because of a picky-eater? You can give them some of the power they crave in that interaction by allowing them to COOK/PREPARE DINNER with you.
Provide them choices that give them power, but are within parameters you set. If they are not fans of vegetables, give them an option of vegetables to choose from and cook. “Would you like to cook broccoli, carrots, or snow peas tonight with dinner?” “Do you want to make the bbq chicken or the meatloaf?” “Which fruit from these options could go with what you have chosen?”
It is going to take them longer, and there will be more mess. We are constantly in the current of busy-ness. Cooking may feel like it takes forever already without a kid taking forever to break an egg (INTO the bowl… with the shells… and now it’s all over their fingers…) and spilling flour all over the place. This is how they learn. Think of every shaky letter and number they’ve ever drawn that you cheered over, and cheer over their stirring, their sifting, their pouring in the same way. Maybe they never develop a true passion for cooking… but they will learn to love learning. They will know that you are their champion, and that you support their process every step of the way. *Bonus* You can teach them how to clean up their messes, and give them more responsibility!!
They may not be interested, They may not want to try the food, et cetera. This is okay! Invite them to join you, allow them to “parallel play” if they want to be in the kitchen, but not engaging. Explain what you are doing step by step. These kinds of activities almost never go as planned, and sometimes do not go as well as you hope. The point is that quality time, that expression of patience. Still give them choices over what you make, still offer them the chance in the future. Teaching them that they have autonomy and how to express their choices with strength and kindness is also an incredible lesson.
Mistakes are Science. Does your kid want to use baking powder instead of baking soda or vice versa? cut the batter in half and let them try both. Do they want to double the amount of sugar? Do they want to try to add something odd to the sauce? Our instincts are to immediately say no. Treat moments like this like improv: “Yes, and-” is your friend here. OBVIOUSLY keep them safe, don’t let them play with boiling water or eat raw chicken. But letting them have a little leeway for experimentation, especially if it’s just this one day, or once in awhile, is a positive experience.
Cooking is a chance to tell Family Stories. Family Recipes are often inextricably tied to Family Traditions and happy holiday memories. There are recipes with cultural and religious significances that tie important lessons to a tangible experience. Cooking can be a history lesson! Connect your digital-native child to their great-great-great grandfather who kept their master-chef recipes written in a water-logged journal. Humans have changed between generations… but everybody has to eat.
There are a ton of poignant children’s stories with recipes in them.
We use a lot of them in the Creative Curriculum too! See below:
Peeny Butter Fudge by Toni Morrison and Slade Morrison. There is no one like Nana in the whole wide world. She is the best. Nana knows how to take an ordinary afternoon and make it extra special! Nap time, story time, and playtime are transformed by fairies, dragons, dancing, and pretending -- and then mixing and fixing yummy, yummy fudge just like Nana and Mommy did not so many years ago....
Every Color Soup by Jorey Hurley. All you need is a pot, a spoon, an adult helper, and vegetables of many colors to make a very special soup—Every Color Soup! Learn colors and vegetable names in this bright and colorful picture book with minimal text perfect for the beginning reader. Jorey Hurley’s bright, graphic art and simple text make this vibrant book a perfect read-aloud for budding cooks and their families. This lively picture book also comes with a recipe!
Apple Sauce Day by Lisa Amstutz. Applesauce Day is here! Maria and her family visit an apple orchard and pick apples. Then it's time to turn the apples into applesauce. Every year they use a special pot that has been in the family for generations. Follow along as everyone helps to make delicious applesauce.
Kalamata’s Kitchen by Sarah Thomas. This book does not have recipes, but encourages trying new things and experiencing foods from around the world! Tomorrow is Kalamata's first day at a new school, and she's nervous! What if the kids aren't friendly? Or worse, what if they don't like alligators!? If only Kalamata and Al Dente could go to back to the Indian spice market they visited this summer, then maybe she'd remember how to feel brave when new experiences seem scary.
The Empanadas that Abuela Made by Diane Gonzalez Bertrand. A whimsical look at the making of empanadas serves up the festive fun of a family’s effort to concoct the delicious pastries, with an easy empanada recipe included.
Cora Cooks Pancit by Dorina Gilmore. Cora loves being in the kitchen, but she always gets stuck doing the kid jobs like licking the spoon. One day, however, when her older sisters and brother head out, Cora finally gets the chance to be Mama's assistant chef. And of all the delicious Filipino dishes that dance through Cora's head, she and Mama decide to make pancit, her favorite noodle dish.
Bee Bim Bop! by Linda Park. A Korean American girl celebrates food and family in this cheerful book about cooking a special meal by Newbery Medalist Linda Sue Park.
Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story By Kevin Maillard. Fry Bread is elegantly written with lovingly rendered pictures that evoke family and love on every page. It’s all about cooking to be connected to the past while moving forward together.
Star Wars: Galactic Baking. These are NOT PICTURE BOOKS. They do not have a story! But any Star Wars Cookbooks that you can get your hands on are so fun, silly, weird, and worthwhile. Star Wars is loved by so many people young and old, and it is such a fun way to connect responsibility and learning to ADVENTURE and IMAGINATION STATION.
Sesame Street Let’s Cook! These are also not picture books, but they are an EXCELLENT introduction to cooking for young chefs.
PLEASE share your experiences, your stories, and, most importantly, YOUR RECIPES with us! We will share more recipes on our social media leading up to September 13th. We would love to someday build a Common Ground Cookbook from our BIG, SHARED COMMON GROUND FAMILY.
Love Love Love,
Your CG Chefs
Busy Bees and Love Bugs meet Jiji the Penguin- 4s start ST Math
This week the Love Bugs and Busy Bees started their ST Math journey with Jiji the Penguin. ST Math is an online program that teaches math using fun puzzles that keep the children interested and entertained. The first step is starting to learn their 13 character password- which sounds daunting, but feels like a matching game. The expectation for Pre-K is 30 minutes per week. We are doing small group sessions of 10 minutes 3 times a week: Love Bugs MWF and Busy Bees TWTh.
To learn more about ST Math and to play games, visit bit.ly/welcome-stmath. For more information about ST Math or to download free family resources, visit stmath.com/parent-math-resources.
So far the kids have really enjoyed the time together learning from Jiji! We will keep you updated on our progress.
Women's History Month: Fantastic Books for Kids
Hello Common Ground Readers!
TODAY IS READ ACROSS AMERICA DAY!!
March is also WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH, so we decided to share ten of our most favorite books to share with your children. Reading to children is essential. It is food for their imagination. It is integral to the development of empathy and understanding people not like them.
Reading is a gateway to the entirety of what we can know. All you have to do is hand them the keys.
Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History by Vashti Harrison: Buy Here - Little Leaders educates and inspires as it relates true stories of forty trailblazing black women in American history.
What will I be? by Jayla Joseph: Buy Here - There are no limits on the greatness we can achieve! A positive & powerful picture book showing Black girls planning for their futures.
Little Feminist Board Book Set by Lydia Ortiz: Buy Here - It is never too early to learn about amazing women of history! This set of board books teaches our littlest leaders about women activists, artists, leaders, and pioneers with colorful pictures to capture their imagination.
Fantastically Great Women who Changed the World by Kate Pankehurst: Buy Here - Share a different story each night, fill your children’s brains with all of the wondrous things even one person can do to change the world.
A Is for Awesome!: 23 Iconic Women Who Changed the World by Derek Desierto: Buy Here - Why stick with plain old A, B, C when you can have Amelia (Earhart), Malala, Tina (Turner), Ruth (Bader Ginsburg), all the way to eXtraordinary You―and the Zillion of adventures you will go on?
Shark Lady: The True Story of How Eugenie Clark Became the Ocean's Most Fearless Scientist by Jess Keating : Buy Here - Who doesn’t love sharks? Who doesn’t love a woman awesome and brave and smart enough to swim with sharks just to learn about them? Read your little marine biologist all about Eugenie Clark!
My Little Golden Book about Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Buy Here - The Little Golden Books all about amazing women are phenomenal, and this one is no exception. Add it to your shelf for your little freedom fighter.
The Girl who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill: Buy Here - This one is for middles instead of littles, but it is worth reading to anyone who will listen. Every year, the people of the Protectorate leave a baby as an offering to the witch who lives in the forest. They hope this sacrifice will keep her from terrorizing their town. But the witch in the Forest, Xan, is kind. She shares her home with a wise Swamp Monster and a Perfectly Tiny Dragon. Xan rescues the children and delivers them to welcoming families on the other side of the forest, nourishing the babies with starlight on the journey.
I will be Fierce! by Bea Birdsong: Buy Here - A powerful picture book about courage, confidence, kindness, and finding the extraordinary in everyday moments.
Dear Girl: A Celebration of Wonderful, Smart, Beautiful You! by Amy Krause Rosenthal: Buy Here - A book about how every woman is extraordinary, especially YOU.
Please share your favorite children’s books on amazing women in the comments!
Do you like posts like these?? We have several book lists for all different themes! Here’s one for Children’s Books on Math!
Subscribe to our blog so you don’t ever miss a thing!
"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
Kindergarten Readiness: A Discussion Series
Common Ground has been around 49 years.
In that time, we have made some incredible discoveries about how children learn and thrive.
Having a curriculum dedicated to kindergarten-readiness for our 3 yr and 4 yr class rooms has proven to be essential to a child’s comfort, confidence, and comprehension in their kindergarten classroom.
Disclaimer: This does not mean we want your three year old sitting at a desk all the time!
We actually want the opposite of that! We have talked about how essential big body activities and play-based learning are to a child’s holistic development. We have discussed the need for peers to really create a learning space rife with new ideas and curiosity.
As a parent AND a teacher, I covered my initial concerns for children not in kindergarten readiness programs HERE. I especially touched on children who were not in any kind of program during the Covid-19 social distancing effort.
Having a daily schedule in a classroom completely dedicated to their exploration with peers who provide endless inspiration is key to a learning spirit. We want to share our experiences, our research, and our findings with you by taking a deeper dive into how a two year kindergarten readiness program benefits:
Natural number sense — an awareness that mathematics is present in all things
Scientific process — independent search for answers to their questions
Emotional regulation and social confidence
Physical fitness and general endurance
Attention, comprehension, and participation
Learning as a PROCESS over a destination
Prewriting and Imaginative Independence — We discussed at length how Emergent Writing is nurtured from ages 3-5 HERE, but will touch on it as we discuss other aspects of a child’s growth and development
We will be discussing Rising Kindergarteners and our Private Kindergarten on February 9th, but we encourage anyone with a child who will be 3 by September 30th, 2021 to enroll them in a readiness program. Follow our journey, ask questions, and do your research! We will also provide further reading on the subjects at the end of each post and discussion.
We are constantly learning and growing as well! As teachers, we love learning almost as much as we love your kids, and want to nurture them with you. Let’s do this together!
Warmest Regards,
Ms. LJ
Show your Support for Early Learning in Virginia!
Legislators are considering many competing budget priorities right now. Can you send your legislator a quick email asking for their support of Governor Northam’s early education budget package? This funding is critical to fully restoring the $85m package from last year.
Click here to contact your legislator.
How can you help?
Check out VKRP locality data and tell your legislator the readiness gaps in their district
Share the Early Learning NOW campaign materials on your social media.
COVID-19 Impact on Early Learners & Programs in 2020:
More children started kindergarten without key readiness skills in literacy, math, social skills and self-regulation (VKRP, 2020).
Literacy skills and reading gaps have increased in kindergartners.
More black and brown children entered kindergarten without the readiness skills they need to be successful academically and socially.
Social skills and self-regulation skills (cooperation, expressing emotions, conflict resolution, attention and controlling behaviors) are kindergarten teachers biggest concerns.
Early educators are on the frontlines and need support.
Early learning programs are a support system for working families(faith-based, Head Start, private and the Virginia Preschool Initiative(VPI). They need financial support NOW.
We are monitoring other legislation that will impact children and early learning programs. Be on the lookout for an update on all bills soon!
Our children, families, teachers and programs need YOU to speak up for them NOW! Thank you for being a champion for our children!
This post is brought to you by E3VA
Teacher Tips: Emergent Writers Need Peer Input
After my previous post about kindergarten readiness and those three and four year olds who experienced the Covid-19 quarantine, I started doing more research. I wanted to see if there were any concerns from experts on how key aspects of a preschool curriculum could be implemented at home effectively.
Serendipitously, Office for Children was offering a class for teachers on how to provide ideal environment and instruction for emergent writers! I signed up immediately. As a teacher and a parent, it seemed like an essential course for me to provide my students (and kids!) as much support as I could.
Here are some key aspects of the class that can be implemented both at home and in the classroom!
The educators discussed the writing environment extensively.
Have many items labeled as possible to help children begin to associate symbolic words with tangible objects. It is even better if you can provide a picture. A child begins to recognize the connection between pictures and real items first, which helps them practice that symbolic association. A trash can label would look something like this.
Have several different types of writing implements, paying attention to how easy they are to grasp and the pressure that needs to be used. For instance, a marker is a much easier implement to use than a crayon because it is larger and requires less force to create with.
Book making is fun, creative, and gives a child purpose. Have book making supplies readily on hand, and keep them so that your child knows what they have created is valuable! Here are instructions for making a fun book with a stick for a spine and other found materials!
READ TO THEM. Have books all around. Change them up so that the books don’t just blend into the environment. Show the kiddos all different kinds of authors so they can begin to recognize different styles! This helps them understand that people can communicate and use words differently, and they can begin to develop their own taste. Try to always read the words as they are written so that children understand you’re not just making up what you’re saying, that the words themselves have a consistent meaning.
Put pictures of animals, plants, stars, favorite characters, around on the walls. Kids will look at these and be inspired to write on subjects they may not have thought of before! If they copy stories they’ve seen or read before, good!
DRAWING IS EXCELLENT FOR EMERGENT WRITING! Drawing means they are working to produce their own pictures and symbols to convey meaning. Writing the words they are saying and spelling them out carefully will help them see how the letters and words relate to their thoughts! KEEP IN MIND that you should also encourage the children to add more detail to their pictures before relying too heavily on the words you add. This will help them work to convey meaning instead of letting you do it.
ENTHUSIASM. IS. KEY. Their enthusiasm will carry them through the practice, will encourage them to continue their process even when it’s frustrating. YOUR enthusiasm will encourage them and help them fly forward without fear of failure! Ask them leading questions like “Oh Wow! What happens next? How does it end?” This not only helps them with story sequencing, but it lets them know that wherever they are in the process, you are happy to be there sharing their story.
TREAT THEIR WORK WITH DIGNITY. I’m not saying you have to keep every drawing or scrap of paper with art on it. I am saying to be consistent with # 7, keep ongoing projects in the same place so that they can return, encourage them to move forward in their studies rather than critiquing WHERE they are in the process.
9. Peer Interaction during the process of emergent writing is key.
There are a lot of processes you can do at home that are helpful and important. But research has shown that other children thrive in an environment when they can watch how their peers practice drawing and writing. They copy each other. They observe different style interpretations. They listen as their teachers give different instructions to their friends. When I was teaching in the four year old classroom, I was blown away by how one child drawing volcanoes transformed into the entire class drawing volcanoes. They told different stories, they extrapolated off of each other’s ideas, they asked big questions that spun off into entire lessons. They were fascinated, excited to draw in their journals and tell me THEIR version of the volcano story. Someone would add a princess, someone would add a PAW PATROL pup, and then another kid would do the same thing the next day, inspired by their friends. Even in COVID times when the numbers are low, even if they have to sit apart at their own desks with their own implements, children that can be around their peers while they practice show greater strides in all aspects of writing, story telling, and literary comprehension.
Educators are encouraged to call their children “authors” and let them “read” stories to their friends. Letting them sit in an “author’s chair” is even better. Even if they’re just reciting a memorized passage, or making up words for their pictures, they have autonomy over the story they are telling. This inspires other children to want to build their story to share.
One of my favorite things to do with my students is to come up with a premise and allow the students to write the story with me. They can introduce characters to the story, provide what happens “next,” I’ve even had my older students come up with lines for rhyming words that match the story! They riff off of each other and begin to understand the structure and sequencing of a story while having fun together. Afterwards they draw the pictures for each page. We put together the book and each child can stand up and read THEIR page in the book we all created together.
Experiences like the those described above show how essential and enriching peers are to the writing learning process. Wonder, creativity, practice, immersion, these are the building blocks to writing success, but all of those things are SUPER CHARGED with friends at your side.
Questions? Comments? Experiences to Share? Please comment below! We love to share our world with you.
Ms. LJ
CG Challenges: Mathematical Reading Recommendations!
Fairfax County’s WINTER READING CHALLENGE is such a fantastic idea!! We will be posting recommendations all winter! Today, the recommendations are all Math-based. A deep foundation of number-sense is key to a lifelong love and understanding of mathematics. This is easy to achieve because math is everywhere! It’s in nature. It’s in music. It’s there to help you share a muffin and build the best fort. By embracing all the opportunities to experience math, especially in beloved stories, we are giving our kiddos a leg up while spending quality time with them!
Here is a “top-ten” list of our favorite math books! Buy them for your bookshelf, or help us by picking one up for our classroom! Tangible, physical books that the kids can touch are especially good for growth.
1,2,3 to the Zoo by Eric Carle: A classic, colorful story that encourages kiddos to count to ten with their favorite animals. Also provides an opportunity for number pairs. (example: There are five animals! Two lions, three tigers! There are five animals! Four birds, one rhino!)
Feast for Ten by Cathryn Falwell: A count-to-ten book that ties numbers to food and family. Gives the opportunity for a class to have snacks and count them, or to “share” the food they pull together.
Ten Red Apples by Pat Hutchins: Introduction to subtraction from 10-0. Can be paired with an art project
Color Zoo by Lois Ehlert: This covers shapes as well as numbers, and it uses shapes to create bigger pictures.
Ten Black Dots by Donald Crews: Number names and sequences! Number comparisons! General number sense and subitization.
One Red Sun by Ezra Jack Keats: Simple 1-10 book, incredibly lovely, inspires art through mathematics
Five Creatures by Emily Jenkins: A whacky story that is so good for number pairs and comparisons!
Quack and Count by Keith Baker: This is perfect for subitization and number pairs, which is the beginning of addition.
Pattern Fish by Trudy Harris: Excellent for pattern recognition and repetition, as well as how to create patterns on your own.
Rosie’s Walk by Pat Hutchins: This is more for spatial awareness along with distance and proximity. It’s also just a relaxing, fantastic story
Concerned Parent -- Kindergarten Readiness
My daughter is a “young five.” This means that she just made the cut off for Kindergarten the year she turned five. While she is quite precocious and has a great love of learning, I was hesitant to put her into kindergarten simply because being socially and emotionally confident is just as important as being intellectually ready. Fortunately, I have had her in the incredible preschool program at Common Ground Childcare. Their play-based learning style and patient, nurturing teachers helped her really blossom into the confident student she is.
Unfortunately, she turned five during the Covid-19 pandemic.
I am a teacher, too. I have taught four and five year olds, and I know just how much these littles can change in a season. I had quite a few “young fives” in my classroom that I would have advised holding back if asked in March, only to see them blossom by summer.
Our little fours and fives of 2020 didn’t have that essential March to June nurturing period to hone their pre-kindergarten skills. They did not have the summer to tumble and play with their peers so that they would be resilient and self-assured come September. They are “young” in their classes, and it shows.
Fortunately, with the arrival of the Covid-19 vaccine we are going to be seeing a new, more familiar “normal.” The one, two, and young three year olds will likely not even feel that “pause” on their lives.
BUT…
I am so worried about the three and four year olds of 2020. What essential life lessons are they missing out on? My students absorb so much during these years, more than they ever will again, I just wonder how long it will take to catch up on those key childhood skills, especially because it is likely that kindergarteners will still be in a hybrid class system September 2021. This usually fun, joyous experience is now so disjointed and uncertain.
Resourceful parents have turned to online worksheets and apps to help catch up on pre-literacy and early number-sense exercises. There are a lot of inventive games and learning programs that do have an overall positive SUPPLEMENTAL effect on a children’s education. They are not meant to do the heavy lifting on a child’s education.
Even without COVID-19 ravaging our normal schedules, 1 in 12 kids are as fit as the average child 35 years ago. Attention spans are suffering under a sedentary education style. Sensory training, emotional regulation, physical stability, these are as key to learning as letters and numbers, and much harder to master after age 5. There is no substitute for peer to peer social training and whole body lessons with trained childcare professionals.
If any of you out there have kids that will be kindergarteners in 2021 that aren’t in a dedicated program with their peers, I would strongly advise you to consider a rising kindergarten program.
There are excellent classes around, like the Honeybees Program at Common Ground Childcare, that strictly follow Health Department regulations to protect their teachers and children from the pandemic, while still letting the kids be kids. Common Ground teachers are also preparing for that “new normal” by helping their students learn appropriate mask-discipline and basic tech usage for when they have to distance-learn.
I think it is essential that all kids have a safe preschool experience that helps them be confident and kindergarten-ready. If a child really is not ready for kindergarten, there is nothing wrong with holding them back! But even if you decide to keep them out of grade school for another year, I would still keep them in a play-based curriculum in their peers. They will go into kindergarten as a much stronger, confident kid.
-Miss LJ
Who We Are: Our Teacher Recommendations for Children's Books.
We have read them all! Twenty Times! In silly voices! We present to you Common Ground’s vetted list of children’s books for every age! When asked, the most popular authors were Eric Carle (overwhelmingly) and Anna Dewdney, but these were the personal favorites for everyone!
Ms. Marita, Infants Teacher:
Ms. Nha, Infants Teacher:
Ms. Patty, Infants Teacher:
Ms. Pinky, Toddler Teacher:
Ms. Simi, Toddler Teacher:
Ms. Kisha, 2s Teacher:
Ms. Delia, 2s Teacher:
Ms. Janette, 2s ad 3s Teacher:
Ms. Vanessa, 3s Teacher:
Ms. Petty, 3s Teacher:
Mr. Josh, 4s Teacher:
Ms. Adella, 4s Teacher:
Ms. Victoria, School-Age Teacher:
Ms. Mimi, Assistant Director:
Ms. Liz, Director:
Click Clack Moo, Cow's that Type by Doreen Cronin. I just LOVE how the farm animals organize a union to get better working conditions!
What you do Matters series (what do you do with a problem, what do you do with an idea, what do you do with a chance)
"None the Number" series
Ms. LJ, Teacher:
Chapter Book: The Boggart (The Boggart and the Monster is my favorite, but you should read the first one!)
Chapter Book: The Bailey School Kids — Vampires Don’t Wear Polka Dots is #1, but they’re all amazing
Chapter Book: The Hobbit — There are graphic novel versions too, but it’s a classic, it’s a charming read, and it’s worth it.
Common Ground: Winter Activities and Winter Attire
We are looking at A LOT OF snowy days coming up this winter!!
And we cannot wait for all of our outdoor winter adventures. There will be some days that are too wet or too cold! We will have little movie and popcorn parties and days where we do art while the weather outside is frightful.
But more and more studies are coming out showing how essential outdoor play is to our kids, and how the loss of consistent outdoor playtime is absolutely detrimental to their holistic well being. Kids are meant to play. They are meant to get dirty and windswept. They are meant to eat snow, trip in their swishy snow-pants, to fall down and find they can get back up again.
Play to Learn, Learn to Play Examples:
1. Building an Igloo with Friends: Promotes core strength, cooperation, simple machines and tools usage, basic engineering, imaginative play, patience, sensory endurance
2. Snow Walking and Rolling down Hills: Inner Ear training, strength training, leg and inner core training, aerobic workout
3. Snow Writing: Using natural tools to promote fine-motor practice. You can also use markers to do color work.
4. Winter Walk: Aerobic Exercise, Seasonal Cycles and Lessons, basic biology flora/fauna studies
Our preschool teachers are especially focused on “Kindergarten-Readiness.” This involves working on letters and numbers and pre-writing skills, but it also involves physical health and social-emotional independence. Outdoor lessons and games help cement fine-motor and gross-motor work. Operating in varying weather helps develop their sensory resilience which is essential for increasing attention span inside and outside of the classroom.
What do we always say? NO BAD WEATHER. ONLY BAD CLOTHES!
Is you child really set up for this winter? Here are items that we have on our student supply list that we highly recommend purchasing as soon as possible:
Kids Snow Boots — Snow comes in all different shapes and sizes, but it is always cold and always wet. An insulated, water resistant boot that goes high up a child’s leg will keep them warm and dry while they play. PLEASE NOTE: While rainbows will keep a child’s foot dry, they are not properly insulated and do not offer any protection against the cold. Snow boots are most appropriate in cold, wintry weather.
Snow Gloves — Snow gloves protect against the cold, but they are also water resistant. Cotton gloves, while warm, will become wet very quickly and will do more harm than good when trying to keep your child’s hands warm. Please make sure they have snow gloves available.
Snow Pants — Snow pants are key to making sure a child is warm and happy for a longer period of time. The water resistant fabric makes sure that the pants they wear to school stay as dry as possible so fewer clothing changes are required.
Thermal Underwear — We recommend these over sweat suits because they keep a child warm without overheating them or keeping their sweat in. These are perfect for layering winter clothes and helping a child regulate their body temperature while they play rough outside.
We will keep you all posted on our winter lessons and activities! Stay safe!!
— LJ and the Common Ground Crew
