Jenna* is a child in my pre-k class.  She is your typical just-turned-5-year-old - curious, sweet, full of energy.  Jenna comes from a strong family unit with a brother who probably tests off the IQ scale, a dad who is a high school math teacher, and a mom who is a nurse.  Jenna is in crisis.

Jenna’s family, without realizing what they are doing, are putting Jenna into a tailspin before she even gets to kindergarten.  Jenna’s mom and dad are doing what many parents do at this stage: they are encouraging beginning reading skills, such as sounding out letters and words, modeling good writing skills and having Jenna do the same, and living in the “teachable moment”.

Jenna, however, isn’t ready for this.

Jenna is now exhibiting classic symptoms of a child who is being “pushed” academically.  She is having nightmares at home, is reluctant to come to school, bursts into tears at any given moment, is terrified of her parents finding out about things she does at school, and spends most nights in tears when her mom reads out loud to her.

Pre-kindergarteners are highly sensitive to change, and this specific time in their lives is chock full of change.  My preschool class is very aware of the approaching end of school and upcoming summer break.  They are also keenly aware of the “scattering” of friends that will occur as each moves on to a different school next year.  While it is an exciting time for them, it is also a time full of uncertainty, and children can become “stressed out” over such change.

What Jenna’s parents (and I on occasion) are witnessing is an outward show of emotion from Jenna.  She is scared she isn’t like her big brother, the genius, and she will tell you that her daddy teaches at the big school, and she is NOT going there - EVER. 

What Jenna needs is acceptance for who she is - a young, five year-old little girl who likes ribbons and horses, drawing rainbows and hugs.  She knows her letters and numbers, but developmentally, she isn’t ready to start reading or writing.  Jenna needs for her parents to read to her every day in a fun and non-threatening way, to learn to enjoy the printed word and relish in stories, and in her own time, she will learn to tell and read on her own.  By stepping back from the “teachable moment” and allowing Jenna to flourish at her own level of success, they will, in turn, make her a successful student.

*The name of the student has been changed.

My second grader came home last week with a small note stapled to his take-home folder.  It seems that a project is to be created for a parade his class is having.  This project could be an instrument, a flag or a banner, but the idea is to make the entire thing from recycled materials.  Use things that you would normally get rid of in a new way.

Naturally, my son’s idea was to take an empty water bottle and put some pebbles in it for a shaker.  I, however, swayed him down a more involved path than rocks in a bottle.  We ended up making a banner.

We took a torn pair of jeans that my husband had in a pile of clothes of which he needed to dispose and cut off a leg.  We split the leg open down the seam to make a long, denim banner.  Since this parade was in preparation for a big, statewide test the older children at my son’s school would be taking, we came up with a slogan and wrote it in large letters on the material with glue.

Then, the fun began!  We took shredded paper (I had spent the weekend, purging old tax documents) and sprinkled it in the glue.  Since I had been shredding various types of papers, everything from old checks to colorful brochures and documents, we ended up with a myriad of colors in our banner.  It was quite impressive!

This entire process reminded me that, while recycling is a valuable and (should be) necessary part of our lives, reusing is even more important.  Being able to take something that is no longer being used and finding a new job for it is even better than simply recycling.  Look around your house, your trash can, your recycle bin.  Are there things you are getting rid of that might be used for something else?  Giving new life to something is the best way to improve our environment.  See what you can come up with today.

As a preschool teacher to four year-olds, I’m intrigued with one of Wonderbrains’ new products, Alpharings.  Alpharings are designed by Educational Insights, an educational product company that has a 50 year history of providing hands-on activities to reinforce early learning skills.  Alpharings come with 130 adjustable plastic illustrated rings (five of each letter) and an instructional guide.

So, my first question was, why so many rings?  Well, each letter is represented by five different illustrated rings to give the child five different relationships with the letter.  A child can find all the letter “Cc” rings, for example, and place one on each digit of a hand.  It is a great way to integrate sorting and classifying with the alphabet, and these are important pre-math skills as well. 

This set is also wonderful for children who tend to reverse certain letter pairs, such as p and q or b and d.  Children can easily compare the two letters in the pair by putting them on each hand.  The full-color illustrations on each ring are easily recognizable for each letter, so being able to identify b and d is a snap.

As children progress with their learning, these rings become excellent tools for working on word-building skills.  With the availability of multiples of each letter, words such as “tot” and “moo” can be built.  As children work on longer words, such as “letter” or “school”, these rings can be a great tool.  Older children will enjoy working on spelling activities with Alpharings.  They are a concrete tool that can be utilized in a number of ways over a wide range of age and development.

Alpharings retails for $19.99 and is a bargain at that for the variety of activities and age span that can appreciate and benefit from this product. 

Yesterday, we set our Painted Lady butterflies free.  It has been a wonderful few weeks with them, but it was time.  The new caterpillars will be here in a couple of days, and we need to get the “garden” ready for them!

The Butterfly Garden kit comes with everything you need to successfully raise caterpillars to butterflies, including a postcard to send off for your caterpillars (paid for by the cost of the kit).  It took about a week for our caterpillars to reach us, and once they did, the fun began.

The instructions are really simple: place the cup where you can observe the caterpillars, but don’t open it or disturb it.  Once all the caterpillars hang upside down (about a week to 10 days out), then transfer them to the “garden”.  I really thought that would be the hard part, but it was really simple.  When you open the cup, all the caterpillars are suspended from a thin paper layer on top of the cup (similar to onion skin paper).  Simply tape the paper to the side of the garden and wait a few days.

We kept our butterflies for about a week.  We found that orange slices were the best things to feed them.  We would simply wedge about half an orange a day and slip it into the garden.  They were a lot of fun to watch for my little guy.  The entire process was relatively quick, and he never lost interest in watching them go from caterpillar to butterfly.  My older son created a journal and spent a good deal of time each day, writing and drawing his observations.  He even took his journal to school to share with his teacher.

We were sad to say goodbye to our little friends, but the weather is warm, flowers are blooming, and it was time.  We’ll start the whole process over again next week when our new buddies arrive.

April 22nd is Earth Day!  In actuality, every day should be Earth Day as we strive to make our environment a better place for everyone and everything.  Here are some fun, quick, and easy activities you can try with your child in celebration of our Earth:

• Walk.  Take a walk around the block, or make a trek to the school or a store.  You will find that the time you spend walking (and talking) with your child is more valuable than the time spent in the car.  And, you will be saving a bit of gas by not running the engine!
• Recycling Treasure Hunt.  Choose an area (building sites are great for this activity) and see how much recyclable material you can collect.  Our town has curbside recycling, so my boys and I hit the new home construction sites in our neighborhood at least once a week for aluminum cans and plastic drink bottles.  Several crews know about our “quest” and will even pile or bag their recyclables for us!
• All Natural Bird Feeder.  Cover a bagel or a piece of toast in peanut butter and roll in bird seed.  Tie with string to a tree and watch the birds flock!  Our feathered friends will appreciate the treat.
• Here Comes The Sun.  Utilize natural light by opening the blinds and curtains and flooding your home with sunlight.  Turn off the overhead lights and save on electricity.  Find other things to occupy your time besides the television…puzzles, books, board games, and even playing outside are all better for the environment and for you!
• Plant A Tree (Or Something Else).  Give back to the earth by planting a tree, bush, shrub or other plant today.  Create a container garden of tomatoes or beans to grow your own vegetables.  Plant flowering plants to grow and cultivate for your own home decorations.

Post your ideas and thoughts in our comment section.  How will you celebrate Earth Day?

Last April, my husband and I moved from a man-to-man defense to a pure zone defense. Or, to put it another way, our third child entered the world and our family. We quickly became aware of just how outnumbered the “parent team” had become! Recently, I got to experience a more-then-normal lopsidedness to our household balance, because my DH headed out of town for a few days.

I began to think of strategies - some time-tested, others new - for parenting 3 kids by myself. Here’s what I’ve come up with:

1. I’m going to just come right out and say it - TELEVISION. I’m not a strict no-TV mom, but I usually limit the amount of time they get to watch it to 3-4 times per week. But when things get really rough, out comes the DVD collection. Even if it’s just a 30-minute video, it gives me a chance to catch up with the baby, especially for important, full-attention activities like bathtime. One DVD I really recommend is a recent birthday gift - the Dora Dance Along Adventure Mat. My 3-year-old loves to dress up in the costume and dance along, and I feel much better about her watching TV when it involves exercise!
2. Snack time - this one is easier to be healthy, fortunately. Think about it - what takes longer to eat, ice cream or carrot sticks? The crunchier the snack, the more time I can focus on another child who needs my complete attention.
3. Family snuggle time - the kids all love the big bed. So we pile everyone in and pull up the covers. A little tickling and a lot of snuggling go a long way towards killing some free time in a VERY positive way!
4. Time outs - I don’t mean punishments by this, so don’t get me wrong. When emotions run high and everyone starts to break down, I will sometimes send the kids to their rooms for 10 minutes. My two older kids are very competitive, so it’s good to separate them at times. To keep this from feeling like a punishment, I sometimes give them a reserved Happy Meal toy as a treat, or a task to complete (like drawing a picture).

Single parenting is something I hope I never have to do long-term, but strategies such as these definitely help when I’m the only adult and completely outnumbered! Do you have other ideas to share?

Start your day off right with a few fun ideas for reinforcing letters and their sounds!

1. Pancake letters - pour pancake batter on a skillet to form letters for the child to recognize.  Remember to pour the letters backwards so that they will be correct when the pancake is flipped!  We spell our names at least once a week in pancake batter!
2. Set your oven to broiler, and use squeeze butter to write letters on a piece of bread.  Toast the bread in the oven or in a toaster oven (not a toaster).  The butter will brown and the letter will be very visible!
3. Arrange dry cereal in a letter shape (such as Cheerios or Honeycomb).  See how many letters your child can create on his or her own!

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