A virtual village, a network, a posse to help each other with potty-training tips, day care recommendations, new recipes, new books, good go-see-do things to do with our children and all sorts of other shared knowledge.
November 12
Celebrating birthdays Posted at 5:09 pm Pete and I celebrated Dash's 6th birthday over the weekend.
This was our first formal birthday party with friends and kids from Dash's kindergarten class and their parents. We were glad we waited. Dash was old enough to handle the crowd, did pretty good with saying thank-you (with some coaching) and didn't shy away from being the center of attention during the birthday song.
He'd been to other parties and he obviously had picked up some pointers.
We had a great time at 3-2-1 Bounce (I highly recommend it), ate a delicious cake from Karl's Bakery in Everett (they did a wonderful job accommodating my request for a tractor picture and placement of a Pez dispenser) and made the happy realization that though Dash is growing up, he still likes to play with Legos.
I share this They Might Be Giants video with you. The first song is about “Nine Bowls of Soup” – very fun – and the second song is about John getting old.
These may all be skills that make you proud but for most kindergarten teachers of 5 year olds, these skills are not all that.
In fact, it turns out what makes 5 year olds most ready for kindergarten is if they have learned to regulate their impulses.
Other items on a kindergarten teacher's wish list would be whether the student can follow through on a difficult task and have enough self-control to listen to directions -- for just a few minutes.
These were the top-rated skills for kindergarten teachers who were surveyed for a California study, wrote Lisa Guernsey under the headline "What Kindergarten Readiness Means to Kindergarten Teachers" on The Early Ed Watch Blog.
Guernsey went on to report that most kindergarten teachers interviewed for the study said that to have a successful kindergarten year, children needed to have the ability for self-care, have functioning motor skills followed by the ability of self-regulation. ... [Read More] E-mail | Print | Comment
November 2
Pre-K programs mean good foundation for learning Posted at 1:27 pm If you are among those parents who have been emotionally flogging yourself because of guilt for putting your children in school too early, or you are parents debating whether or not to go the preschool route, take comfort in this latest study.
The Pittsburgh Tribune review, in a story written By Jeremy Boren that ran Oct. 23, cited a three-year, statewide study that showed that a good education before kindergarten vastly improves a child's ability to learn.
The study of 10,002 preschoolers from low-income families showed that youngsters who hadn't been given the chance to socialize early and learn from other kids in a classroom setting quickly fall behind academically, said Dr. Stephen Bagnato, a University of Pittsburgh professor of pediatrics and psychology who conducted the study with help from a $1 million grant from The Heinz Endowments.
Also, the value of Pre-K can be measured in the number of children who are enrolled in special-ed programs when they enter school.
The story stated that among “high-risk” low-income children, the rate of kids in special-ed programs had been 18 percent. But the rate among children in the 21 districts participating in Pre-K programs and examined by the study was only 2 percent. ... [Read More] E-mail | Print | Comment