Who is in Charge?

Who is in charge in your school, home, etc.? 

    It needs to be a teacher, parent or leader.  Be prepared and come with a plan.  Children can sense when you doubt yourself.  Keep it positive, upbeat and confident!

      Children feel safe when they are with an adult that has control of the situation.  Expect children to mind and accept nothing less.  Encourage the behaviors you want and ignore or isolate the unwanted behavior.  Never just watch unwanted behavior.  That rewards that child.  Create something more interesting to do.

Example:  What to do when taking a child shopping at the supermarket? 

• Keep your focus on shopping and the child.  Involve the child in the shopping experience.  (No cell phones or any long conversations with other adults) 
• Have them help look for items or have them count out an amount of some item. 
• Don’t ask them what they want or give them big choices.  Instead give them a choice between 2 or 3 items. 
• Never let the shopping become what the child wants.  This is your shopping list. 
• If a child asks for things say something like, “It isn’t on the list. Maybe we could plan to get it another time.” or “Remember, candy you buy with your own money.” 
• If a child starts fussing about something say: “I never buy for fussing children.” then ignore them. 
• Don’t tell children you will buy them something if they are good, because it creates more problems than it solves.  
• Never turn control of the shopping trip over to the child.   Continue to focus on the list, the shopping and the behaving child. 
• NEVER give into tantrum children or they will tantrum again!

Hope this helpful.  Enjoy the little ones in your care.  Be in charge and everyone will be happier.

Spring Fever

Spring Fever is the restless, edgy feeling that comes in the spring with the many changes of weather.  It makes adults have less patience and children can not hold still.  Knowing this is what is happening, helps us handle the discipline problems this time of year.  What to Do?

Go outside: Find a way to incorporate what you want to teach or accomplish by going outside.

Creative art projects:  Do finger painting, homemade play dough,  torn paper spring collage, etc.

• Sensory activities:  Do sand or bean play, water play (wash the play dishes by hand), pudding painting, etc.
• Vary the routine:  Have the children help create a new routine.
• Music:  Incorporate music in whatever you can.  They will remember what you are teaching and they will love it.  Also, bring out the rhythm instruments, play a marching song and have a marching band.
• Exercise:   Walk ,dance, read while standing/moving and just keep movement in your day.

Spring Fever–accept it and work with it.  Enjoy the children in your life.

Act Don’t React!

As homes today are now schools, we will post often some ideas to help with your new role as teacher.

When you anticipate what will happen and make plans to avoid any problems, it makes everything go smoother.  Here are examples of how to ACT.

• If you have a child that has attention-getting behavior,  evaluate when they misbehave, then plan ahead to give them opportunities to help.  This gives them a chance to have positive attention before you start the family dinner, lesson or other activity.  Preparation avoids most discipline problems.
• When a problem happens, stop and pretend to be angry before it goes too far.  Use very few words.  (I like the word, “Stop”.)  Sometimes we are too patient and let bad behavior go too long.  If you pretend to be angry, you can pick words that address the behavior instead of attacking the child.  If you wait too long and really become angry, you will say things you will later regret.

Think ahead and plan how you will act with the children in your life.   Enjoy the children in your life.  Smile more.

Great learning materials for children.  http://www.phonicsbyspelling.com/

Stop the Spread of Germs

Teach How to Not Spread Germs

(A good lesson for the first day of school)

Objective: Introduce the concept of germs as micro-organisms that can make us sick.  Teach children how to stop the spread of germs.

Preparation:  Have the following materials:

• Hand washing facilities
• Liquid foam soap
• Paper towels
• Materials for model germs such as pom-poms, pipe cleaners, wiggly eyes, foam shapes, etc.
• Construction paper
• Decide on a book to read — Suggested books:  Germs are not for Sharing by Elizabeth Verdick, Germs! Germs! Germs! By Bobbi Katz, The Adventures of Micki Microbe by Maurine Burnham Guymon

Lesson:

Read the book(s) then discuss.  Discussion Questions:

• What are germs?  Germs are tiny living things called micro-organisms. They can’t be seen with our eyes alone, but they can sometimes make us sick.
• How are germs spread?  When you sneeze or cough germs rush out of your nose and mouth into the air.  Germs can be on your hands although they cannot be seen and can spread to things you touch.
• How do we prevent them from spreading?  Cover your face when you sneeze or cough with your elbow or shoulder to stop the spread of germs with your hands.  If you stay home when you are sick, your friends at school won’t get sick.
• When is it important to wash your hands?  You need to wash our hands after you cough, sneeze or blow your nose, play with a pet, or go to the bathroom.  We need to also wash our hands before we eat.

Have the children practice washing their hands.  Role-play washing hands.  (Squirt soap on hands then rub in for about 20 seconds or the length of a simple song, then wash and dry.)

Activity: Make Model Germs

It is fun to have children create germs.  Have the children make “germs” from pom-poms, pipe cleaners, and foam pieces glued to construction or heavy paper.  You can have them draw on eyes or use wiggly eyes or sequins.  Let them be creative and show their interpretation of what germs look like.  Write the word “germs” on the paper.

For more educational materials and information visit www.phonicsbyspelling.com

 

Discipline Tip–First Day of School

Discipline Tip—First Day of School       

 

The beginning of a new school year is a good time to set the tone for the year at home and in the classroom.  Here are a few tips to make the first day of school the start of a great year:

·       Know every child’s name and work to make each feel welcome to your class or your home.  It is fun to sing a simple song that includes each child’s name, for example “Here we are together, together, together.  Here we are together in our school.  There’s ____, and _____, and (continue to include all the children).

·       Only have a few rules and voice them in a positive manner.  (Never use the word “Don’t”.  It just puts ideas in their heads.)  Sample rule:  “In our school everyone treats everyone kindly.” (Then invite the children to create ideas of how they can treat each other kindly.  With children who can read you can help them create a list of the positive ideas the children come up with.)

·       SMILE!

·       Believe children can mind and behave.  Your attitude is contagious.  

·       Plan fun, simple, and short activities.  Keep it a fun, interesting day. 

·       Set a simple routine.  This way, children know what to look forward to each day.  Vary the activities inside the routine.

·       Never use bribery.

Have a great, enjoyable new school year.

For more educational tips and information visit www.phonicsbyspelling.com

Emotions

Emotions       

Objective: Children learn to recognize emotions and how to deal with them appropriately.

Preparation:

• Print out the book from the following link: book emotions
  
• Find a poster with different faces of emotions or use magazines to search for faces with different emotions. 

Suggested books:

• The Way I Feel by Janan Cain
• How Are You Peeling? Foods with Moods by Saxton Freymann and Joost Elffers
• When Sophie Gets Angry… Really, Really Angry by Molly Bang

Lesson:

Read a book(s) then discuss while showing pictures. Ask the students to tell you what emotions are. Review emotions with the students. Ask them to show you what a person may look like when they are feeling different emotions. Emotions you may want to include are:

• Happy
• Angry
• Sad
• Surprised
• Confused
• Excited
• Shocked
• Shy

All emotions are okay, but we can’t hurt others, our friends or ourselves.

Discuss different ways for them to handle their anger, such as kicking a ball, painting a picture, having a quiet time by yourself, or talking it out.

Activity: Emotions Book

Read each page together, then have the children draw face to go with the sentence.  

Check out our website.  http://www.phonicsbyspelling.com/

Martin Luther King Jr. (Kindness)

Objective: Children will learn how to be kind through Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s example.

.

Preparation:

• Find drawings or pictures of Martin Luther King
• Gather the following materials:
  • paper plate
  • yarn
  • hole puncher
  • construction paper
  • markers
• Prepare the dream catcher
  • Cut the center out of a paper plate. Leave about 2 inches around the edge.
  • Punch 6 or 8 holes in the paper plate evenly spaced. Write “Kindness” across the top.
  • Cut out a heart from the inner part of the plate and punch holes around the heart that correspond to the holes in the plate.
  • Cut a 5 to 6-foot piece of yarn and wrap a piece of tape around the end. Tie one end of the yarn through a hole in the paper plate.
  • Cut three pieces of yarn about 5 inches long.
  • Cut out three 1 inch hearts of different colors from construction paper. Punch holes in the top center of the heart.
• Suggested Books
  • No Red Monsters Allowed by Liza Alexander and David Prevenna
  • Martin’s Big Words: A Guide to the “I Have a Dream” Speech by Doreen Rappaport

Lesson:

Read the No Red Monsters Allowed book and discuss:

Discussion questions:

• How did the story make you feel?
• How would you feel if you or someone you cared about were treated the way Elmo was treated?
• Do you think people should be treated different because they are not exactly like you?

Years ago were treated differently because of the color of their skin.  Many people were afraid to do anything about it.  Many people were angry and wanted to fight to change the laws to make it so that everyone can be equal.  Martin Luther King Jr. taught people how to bring about change without violence but by using powerful words.  He told people, “Love is the key to the problems of the world”.  His speeches and his peaceful actions helped people realize that we must treat others the way we want to be treated, with kindness.  The unfair laws were thrown out. Martin Luther King was given the Nobel Peace Prize and we have a holiday honoring him in January.  We learn from him to be kind to everyone no matter how they look or act.  

You may want to define some of the following words:

• Kindness means you are concerned about other people. Kind people think about another person’s feelings, they help someone who is in need, and they are kind even when others are not. Kind people never expect anything in return. They just treat other people kindly because they want to help make others life better. Kindness makes the world happier.
• Tolerance means respecting and learning from others, valuing differences, bridging cultural gaps, rejecting unfair stereotypes, discovering common ground, and creating new bonds.
• Diversity means that there are lots of different kinds of things and people. Just as there are lots of different makes of cars, bikes, washing machines,  or balls.

Poem

• Wouldn’t it be terrible? Wouldn’t it be sad?
• If just one single color was the color that we had?
• If everything was purple? Or red? Or blue? Or green?
• If yellow, pink, or orange was all that could be seen?
• Can you just imagine how dull world would be
• If just one single color was all we got to see?

Activity:  Kindness Dream Catcher

• Give each child the paper plate hearts and yarn prepared for them before the lesson.
• Have the children loop the yarn through the holes alternating the heart and the plate.
• Once you’ve gone through all the holes tie off the yarn
• Tie each piece of yarn to one of the holes at the bottom of the dream catcher. And the other end through the hole in each of the colored hearts.
• Decorate the edge of plate and the heart with markers. Encourage the children to draw pictures that represent kindness, acceptance and diversity.

 

Word Cards for Attention!

Word Cards

Using word cards to introduce every subject helps children know where the lesson is headed.  It helps them stay with you.  Even if the children you are teaching don’t read yet, a word card helps them learn to read plus it gets and keeps their attention.

It is often said that when teaching or giving a speech, tell them  what you’re going to tell them, then tell them, then tell them what you have told them.  This is especially true of young children.  Here are some tips for using word cards:

•  Use a word card to bring them back to the subject.   
• A word card can be used in fun, possibly silly, ways.
• Keeping the word cards down to 1 or 2 per lesson will help children stay focused.
• Vary how the word cards is used.
• Word cards can also help at home to keep children on task and focused.

Have fun using word cards to increase learning for the children in your life.  We would love feedback on how you have successfully used Word Cards.

For more educational products and information visit www.phonicsbyspelling.com

I Like Myself!

Children need to feel good about themselves and their creative work.

 

When children want you to praise them for their work, turn it around and ask how they feel about it.  This builds their internal self-worth.  Example:

• Child:  Do you like my picture?
• Adult:  What do you like about your picture?
• Child:  The flowers.
• Adult:  I see why you like the flowers.

This helps children see what is good about themselves.  When the child comes up with it, it is internalized better.

Try using positive talk about yourself.  This is great modeling.

This takes practice.  Enjoy the learning path.

Discipline Tip—Attention Getter!

As a teacher or parent you have 7 or fewer words to get a child’s attention.  If you start every lesson or conversation with the same words, the children will stop listening before you ever start. 

A good Attention Getter needs to:

·      Have an element of mystery or surprise. 

·      Have the topic on a word card with possibly a picture.

·      Relate to the child.  Look at everything from the child’s point of view.

·      Use less than 7 words.

Check each Attention Getter with these four criteria.  The Attention Getter is the most important part of the lesson. 

An idea is to use a mystery box with a (?) on, to be opened later in the lesson.  Please share your best Attention Getter.

 http://www.phonicsbyspelling.com/