Early Childhood students have worked all year with our Music Guide in Residence, Kari Buishas. The students recently participated in a lesson with the recorded music, "The Dance of the Dandelion." Below is Kari's description of the lesson and the students' work this year. --- This particular piece of music tells the whole story of the life cycle of the dandelion. The lesson began on the rug in our singing circle. I explained what the music is about to say/describe. First the sun shining, wind blowing and the sound of little seed parachutes descending to the earth. Then the sound of the seedling's struggle as it breaks through the soil. Next it ascends toward the sun and opens as a beautiful yellow flower. Suddenly the sound of shrinking, condensing, and drying up appears. Next we hear little seeds being spit out into the wind...they fall to the same music the score started with. The cycle repeats. We then ventured outside. In the yards by the lowe...

What is one of the most important things you can do with your children? Sit down to eat with them! *As a reminder, if you have not had a lunch visit yet, we encourage you to contact your guides to schedule one. Please keep in mind that our last lunch visits are the week of April 30th through May 4th. Muchas gracias!* After a long day that may include school, work, music lessons, dance practice, gymnastics, and other activities, it can be challenging to bring the family together for dinner. Finding meaningful time to eat together is valuable and has a positive impact on your child's development. Here are some reasons to make family meals a priority: D innertime conversation boosts vocabulary!  Dining together provides opportunities for conversation to discuss your child's day, allowing him/her to share exciting events or fun experiences and to express opinions. Dinner  is the most reliable way for families to connect and find out what’s going on with each other....

Spanish is part of our lives in the Early Childhood community. The children are exposed to Spanish from the beginning of the day when we greet them in the morning with, "Buenos días. Cómo estás?" Children learn Spanish by listening to the language and receiving lessons with many different materials in the classroom. We use Total Physical Response (TPR) to teach simple commands, such as: Cambiar los zapatos (change your shoes), lavar las manos con agua y jabón (wash your hands with soap and water), caminar despacio (walk slowly), acerca la silla a la mesa (push in your chair), etc. We reinforce language lessons by creating physical actions involving our entire bodies, which duplicate the message. Children learn sounds in Spanish by consistently practicing the two phonemic awareness skills that are the foundations for all of the language curriculum in the classroom: The Beginning Sound Isolation and the Phoneme Segmentation. With the first activity, the c...

Early Childhood students enjoy every opportunity to explore the dynamics of friendship. This process requires the children to develop self-regulation to succeed.  Self-regulation allows children to manage their emotions, behavior, and body movement when faced with challenges or frustrations.  In our Early Childhood classrooms, the children are working on the self-regulation skills of: Focusing and maintaining attention on a task Communicating needs, wants, and thoughts using words Following requests or instructions Ignoring distractions Moving or acting in a deliberate or purposeful fashion Creating guidelines or rules for a game Regulating emotions in appropriate social interactions   If you would like more information about supporting your child as he or she learns self-regulation, register for a Positive Discipline workshop or support group. Our free Positive Discipline "Parents Helping P...

Play is children's therapy - they work through worries, curiosities, fears, and triumphs through their play. At school we teach that games are for having fun, and if someone in the game is not having fun, the game should change. Children always have the choice not to participate in activities or play. Active play gives children many opportunities to practice reading faces and listening to each other's words. Children learn to be empathetic through more active play. They are learning about their bodies, their limits, about what is too much and not enough. Children are not learning to hurt each other - they are learning how NOT to hurt each other. They are using critical thinking skills and negotiation, and are learning to read body and facial language.   The adults are closely monitoring this play and often make observations and point out choices and options. We talk about what, "stop" means and having the face and body language to match the ...