This week has been a big swimming week. Lots of the children have been really engaged with learning to swim. This is a really interesting phenomena. There is the constant draw from the pool. It’s a challenge, a game, a world of fun in the blue mystical water. It’s a little dangerous, but the rules keep us safe, and the children are learning to follow directions, listen, and take advantage of the joy of a kind of education you’re not not going to find in a book. It’s an “I can do” that’s really putting out their arms and drawing the kids in. They are finding the challenge real and exciting, and every one of them is maxing out their discovery.

This week several of the kids have gone from what we call “flounders” to what we call “sharks.” It’s a real migration. What used to be a pool filled with flounders is now a deeper sea filled with sharks. Even some of our three year olds are really swimming.

All this creates a real trust and therefore a bonding between students and teachers. This allows us to teach children anything. It makes the plays work because the children have learned to trust their teachers enough to believe the teachers when they say, “You can do this too.”

Swimming is like the second gear on the engine of education. Now that we are well into second gear, the next step is a really good start to the school year…yeah!

From Education Week

NRC Urges Greater Focus on Preschool Math

“It’s fair to say the attention is almost entirely on reading and literacy, without recognizing the importance of math,” said Christopher T. Cross, who co-edited the report and chaired the committee that produced it.

That lack of attention comes despite research that shows many young students arriving in preschool with an ability, and a willingness, to tackle math lessons, added Mr. Cross, the chairman of Cross & Joftus, an education policy consulting company based in Washington and California.

“There’s a natural curiosity about mathematical things,” he added, “even if they don’t call it math.”

Patchwork System

The National Research Council, headquartered in Washington, is one of several nonprofit institutions charged with providing advice to Congress, as part of the National Academies. The early-childhood study received funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s Office of Head Start; the agency’s Office of Planning Research and Evaluation; and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, which has provided funding for coverage of math and science issues at Education Week.

Ms. Satkowski said she believed the report could broaden understanding of how many different routes into math are available to teachers and parents.

“[E]arly math instruction doesn’t have to be flashcards and worksheets,” Ms. Satkowski explained. “A good pre-K or kindergarten teacher knows how to effectively integrate math into child-initiated play activities with questions about the number of rocks in their pail, the relative size of the two spiders they drew,” and other means.

The consequences of not providing an early math foundation to disadvantaged students, given their more limited opportunities to learn the subject away from school, can be especially great, the authors found. At the same time, high-quality math instruction can help overcome “systematic inequities in educational outcomes and later career opportunities,” they say.

The report focuses primarily on children between the ages of 2 and 6, according to the NRC.

The system of early-childhood education in the United States is a “loosely sewn-together patchwork” of programs and services, as the report describes it. About 60 percent of preschool-age children are in “center-based” care, including services run through the federal Head Start program; roughly 21 percent receive some sort of home-based care; and about 20 percent have no formal child-care arrangements, according to the NRC report.

In addition to the Head Start program, which serves an estimated 908,000 students, many children in center-based care are enrolled in state-funded preschool, as the report points out. A number of states have moved to fund preschool programs for low-income families in recent years.

It follows that bringing about the changes in preschool teachers’ training and professional development, Mr. Cross said, would likely require action from several players, including federal officials who administer Head Start, professional associations, and state licensing programs.

“It’s a complex set of actors who would have to implement this,” Mr. Cross said.

For more of the story go HERE.

Just a quick warning about something we are seeing more and more of and I think it needs to be taken seriously.

The pool is always a place where children pick up all kinds of summer bugs – and strep is a big one.

Children don’t always feel well. There are times they are tired, and there are times children are fighting off some little bug. They feel puny, listless, cranky and the want to sleep all the time.

Last winter, my Bill, age five, was cranky, listless and didn’t really feel well for a couple of days. I don’t think he even missed school. His mom passed it off as “a little something.” Three weeks later, Bill broke out in a terrible rash. He was diagnosed with a staph infection in his kidneys that was brought on by an untreated strep infection. He has permanent damage to his kidneys as a result. He never had a sore throat; he never ran a high fever; he never had puss pockets on his tonsils. He simply didn’t feel well for a couple of days.

If your child is listless, cranky, tired, and runs a little fever, you might look in his or her throat and have the child seen by a physician. It could be strep. If it is, he’s not going to get out of it unscathed. He should be seen. Please don’t wait for this to develop. Do something quick.

One way of checking a temp on a child when a thermometer is not available is putting your cheek to his cheek. If he is hot, he’s got a fever. Hands don’t check thermometers.

Best way of keeping a child’s illness to an all time low is through diet and hydration.

Running a home is a lot like running a business. Sometimes it’s fun and sometimes it’s not. A basic business strategy is: be prepared. It’s the same at home. Preparation does not come from behind, it’s not catch up, it’s not when and if I feel like it. Child care, and the premium word is “care,” should come at the head of the line with someone who has a plan. It’s the same at home as with a child care business.

A man wrote to me asking: If I buy a house and turn it into a childcare facility, how much will I make? I didn’t clobber him. I didn’t even respond. One doesn’t “buy” a house to warehouse children in order to make money. It’s immoral.

Beginning a child care business means clearly understanding the moral answer to the question: Do I have something to give unrelated children? If the answer is yes, then one proceeds one step at a time. You welcome children into your own house. You set up a childcare facility at your church. You find out if you really do have something to offer month after month. If so, then you take the next step and build a facility.

Giving your time, talent and treasure to children is only part of the job. There is the business of finances, just like in a home. It’s not a part time job to be done on Saturday or every other Tuesday. It’s a full time job. It’s not a job that one does after the fact, or occasionally when the spirit moves one. It’s a job one has an eye on all the time, every day, three times a day. Finances mean planning and planning again, and planning a third time, and it takes a consistency that is sometimes baffling because there is always more needing to go out than what comes in – just like at home. And just like at home, there is the business of charity and thoughtfulness because what comes around goes around.

There is the business of feeding children – just like at home. Food can’t be bought after the fact or expectant plates will be empty. Food must be planned, purchased and presented as early as first thing Monday morning. It’s not something to think about whenever, because Monday comes every week, and so does Tuesday, so for the person who is providing food to the public, it must be a constant in the back of the mind: Is there enough, how much do I need, what’s on sale, will the children like this, is it good for them, how is it good for them, how can I cook this, can I serve this with… and the questions never cease. Food is expensive, and having the kind of food on hand that one can “just serve” will break a child care facility. It’s the same at home. If you buy only “Johnny on the spot” food, your budget will break and your children will be poorly fed with premades, already cooked, and prepared. Cooking is an important part of feeding any child.

Cleaning is also a huge issue for both home and business. Cleaning takes time and it takes a plan as well. Who is going to do it, when and how and with what? Cleaning is done after the fact. Floors, walls, rugs, bathrooms, kitchens, counters and toys all have to be cleaned all the time. So for the helter skelter mind, or the guy who is going to “buy this house” it’s never really under control.

Activities are the mainstay of a successful child care facility. Letting kids watch TV all day, or just play, is not childcare. Activities begin with teacher or provider planned activities. They should have continuity, a reason to be, and at the end of a couple of months, the adult should have an idea of what happened, who learned what and what the next step is. Emilio Regio says, “Let the child decide,” but if uninstructed children decide, it will be chaos without an adult who can and will keep the lid on things.

A good provider will not do the same things every day. The plan will change, grow, and be inventive. The plan will evolve just the way children are evolving. Today we do science, tomorrow we do geography, then we will do something else, but every day we will do art, music, and at least one story, and those activities will all be joined by a magic thread. Takes a plan and someone open enough to foster the plan.

Planning activities takes more than a last minute coloring sheet. Children don’t learn anything from a coloring sheet. A coloring sheet says, “I didn’t take the time to plan, so I will just…” It puts the adult’s interest ahead of the children. It’s not good child care.

A child’s life is important, and all the time a child wastes in early childhood is just that “wasted.” Every minute is precious and every minute should be spent doing something of value. The value comes in the child’s response, and that’s why things like coloring sheets are a waste of time. The parameters of the page dictate the whole of the control. One’s ideas are squeezed into a 11.5 x 8.5 piece of paper with what amounts to lines on it. Better to give children a big sheet of newspaper and a red crayon or a pair of scissors, because without lines, a child can invent the whole activity.

There should always be a larger plan for children in early childhood. Learning should be a path in the woods – lots of things to see, lots of things to hear, and lots of things to explore and discover. It’s supposed to take time, and it’s supposed to be fun. But that won’t happen if a great deal of planning by the attending adult is not done, or he or she who is planning is bogged down with every other task. When they talk about a good ratio of child to adult, it includes all the extra work of childcare.

Organizing a day’s worth of child care can be a huge job to people who are not familiar with kids or who don’t really know what to do with a child. So when someone writes to me and says, “I’m going to buy what amounts to a kiddie warehouse and make money, now how do you do that?” I want to reach through my email and squeeze his pompous little neck till his head pops off!

Child care is a labor of love, it’s a way of life, it’s a whole world that is incredibly demanding, cost crazy, and neatly balanced on the teeter totter of joy and frustration. One never ever goes home from child care. It’s a 24/7 job that requires all your time every day. People who are not willing to spend a great amount of time with it are either not successful, or they are not fully engaged. And the rewards – it is never money. It’s something else.

Where else do you have your clients kissing you and telling you they love you? Where else can you wear flip flops and spend a paid day at the pool and your somewhat older and heavier body is never noticed? Where else can you sit down with two semi warm cups of milked tea and enter a very funny conversation about poop or bugs or an owie? Where else will you cry with both joy and sadness and in the next second laugh so hard it makes you pee… child care.”

Now don’t tell me about this house with a fast chaser question of money… that would be like a man proposing, “I want to marry you, now how much will you earn…” Yuck.

Good Morning!

It’s going to be a go, go, go week this week. Another gorgeous day today, and then with rising heat we will be able to swim quite comfortably on Tuesday and Wednesday.

On Friday, we will be going to Blue Springs Cavern if possible. This trip is a new one for us, and we really don’t know what to expect. But sometimes it’s fun to see what’s out there!

We’ve done a lot of new things at school this summer. The children seem to be enjoying themselves. Teaching teams have worked very well. We see a lot of children taking leaps in their development. Children are really stretching and reaching this summer.

We would like to thank all the parents for taking part in the identakid program.

And thank you for keeping track of what your child needs for swimming and for field trips and for regular days at school. It makes a huge difference.

Have a marvelous week!

From Kids Lunch Box Cards:

Here is a product for parents who want their children to have the surprise and delight of an occasional soda. This product was advertised in Kids Lunch Box Cards web site which can be found in Links. I haven’t tried this, but it sounds delicious! You can find this on the web by going HERE.

Elixr Tonics
I’ve found it! I can say “YES” anytime to Root Beer, Lemonade and Ginger Ale! Elixr “soft-tonics” are all natural with real fruit, herbs and spices. My kids go nuts for the Root Beer with sparkling water. The small bottles (12 mini’s to a case) are brilliant for lunches, and we like to have the big bottles on the counter at home so the kids can self serve- no refrigeration necessary! When you check out the soft tonics for your kids- also look at the Classic tonics- they are wonderful to have in the kitchen to keep us away from sodas and other sugar laden drinks.

“An Elixir is a substance that is believed to cure all ills.”

From Kids Lunch Box Cards

Understandably, fruit roll-ups are extremely appealing to kids. I fondly remember every day after school curling up to Bewitched and my Fruit Roll, yum! A couple of years ago I tasted some of the new tongue-tatooing & princess shaped fruit snacks…my kids love them, but I thought they tasted like plastic! Now I know why.

Basically, most fruit snacks have never been within a hundred mile radius of a piece of fruit, much less contain any actual fruit. They DO contain high fructose corn syrup, artificial colors and flavors, and preservatives. The biggest offenders I found were Kellogg’s Fruit snacks (you know, all the fun shapes like Barbie and Spongebob), Kelloggs Yogo’s, Betty Crocker Fruit Roll-Ups, and Jovy fruit rolls. I am sure there are MANY more.

We need to do our best to buy fruit snacks that are made with 100% fruit and no added sugar. They do exist, and they are really good!

Here’s how SIX kid & two adult taste testers voted:

The overall winner was Clif Kid “Twisted Fruit” Sour Apple, followed by Annie’s Organic Bunny Fruit Snacks and Archer Farms Fruit Strips (the organic Target brand!) .

Honorable mention goes to Trader Joe’s Stretch Island Strawberry Pomegranate & Orchard Cherry flavors, Sun-Rype Wildberry and FruitaBu Apricot (the other FruitaBu flavors were too dry).

If I am making a theme lunch, every once in awhile I will buy theme shaped fruit snacks, but on a daily snacking basis, the winners here are fantastic! I have found if I am too rigid the kids pine for unhealthy foods more. Also, don’t forget to have your kids brush after eating fruit snacks- they adhere to teeth prolonging the exposure of sugars.

Tastefully sponsored by:
Lassen’s Health Foods
Trader Joe’s Market

“See what you find in the water when Mommy isn’t looking!”

It was a slow end to a very peaceful week. It was good to have this kind of week half way through the summer. It gave the children a chance to relax and recoup from a very busy march march march beginning to the summer. Five weeks left, and we will embark on Monday with a great week swimming and going on a new field trip on Friday.

Please make sure your tuition checks are in on Monday. The bank is holding our ability to pay our bills until all our clients’ checks clear. That takes two days. That means our fund availability is limited until your checks clear. That means teacher’s paychecks cannot be issued until the available funds are posted. When clients checks are late, we are stuck. If too many checks are late this week, we will have to cancel the field trip on Friday. It’s super expensive. The Garden School’s ability to go on the field trips planned requires that everyone pay. We understand when there are late checks because everyone falls into this category eventually, but when half the school is paying “whenever” we can’t balance the checkbook and do all the things we want to do. We operate on a shoestring, and the field trip fees, although large to parents are really bare bones to us. We thank our parents for their cooperation.

Please make sure your children get enough rest. We are noticing many children dragging. Part of this is the heat and the sun, but children who go to bed at or before 8:00 will do much better than children who go to bed “whenever.”

Last week, Miss Nila cooked with our older girls. This was exciting for the children. We found an angel food cake and a pineapple cream filling we thought the kids would love. They hated it. Isaac was the only child who liked it. Congratulations Isaac, you win a treasure box pass! We are going to try this cooking class again, even though the result was a kind of failure. Next week it’s fresh fruit, cereal, and cool whip. Getting the older girls to be familiar with the kitchen is a big big green light.

Miss Julie helped with the spelling words this past week. It was better. This week the words will be super simple.

July’s focus is on swimming. We want to get as many children in the water and really swimming as possible. This is not only a discovery, and exploration, and an “I can do” it’s a safety matter. We have had super luck with this this year, and we are really excited. I’d like to see every single child do his best to be unafraid of the water.

We will not be going to Pounds Hollow Beach for the last picnic of the summer. We are trying to change this to Scales Lake in Booneville. If you have any connections or information that might make this easy, please tell Miss Judy.

Here is a web site I love. It’s from Susun Weed.

Healing Wise
The Poaceae family – Grasses – the beating heart of life on earth
by Susun Weed

The earth offers us so many green blessings: an abundant, overwhelming, brimming basket of beauty, food, and medicine. With so many choices, it’s hard to know where to start. Let’s learn herbal medicine from the ground up, by focusing on the families of plants. In previous issues we visited with the mallow family, the knotweed family, the rose family, the aster family (and the genus artemisia), the cabbage family, and the lily family. Altogether, that’s more than 30,000 plants we’ve learned how to identify and use. What’s next? The grasses! Few people think of grass as a flowering plant; but it is. Our ancestors had great respect for the grasses. They, in their multitude, are the beating heart of life on earth, the prime mover of agriculture, and the tuning fork of universal nourishment. The grass family — the Poaceae — is found in every habitat all over the world, and includes more than 10,000 plants, all of which bear edible seeds.

For more of Susun Weed’s article, go HERE.

Today was a wonderful day. The weather was superb and the kids were delightful. Here’s a little something from a teacher friend in New York. It’s all about setting some good rules and sticking to them.

First – stay out of trouble.

Second…aim for greater heights…

Third…practice teamwork!

Fourth…save for a rainy day!

Fifth…always take time to smile!

And sixth, nothing is impossible – ever!