Best Practice « Growing Children

Leave the Costumes at Home

Posted on October 11, 2011 by 4cforchildren

One year for Halloween, I was required to dress in costume at the center where I was teaching. I didn’t want to scare the children, so I decided to choose a costume I thought would be less intimidating: my husband! I dressed in one of his suits with a tie and hat and penciled in [...]

Filed under: Best Practice, Directors & Administrators, Early Childhood, Infants and Toddlers, Preschool, Professional Development | Tagged: brain development, children, early childhood, halloween, preschool, social and emotional development, teachers | 1 Comment »

The Important Things

Posted on October 6, 2011 by 4cforchildren

A few nights ago, my son came home from school in a really bad mood. He was overwhelmed with school work and wasn’t happy with how his friends were treating one another. While he’s ranting and raving about all of his stuff, I was trying to cook dinner, help my youngest with her math paper, [...]

Filed under: Best Practice, Directors & Administrators, Early Childhood, Family Child Care, Parents | Tagged: children, parents, self-care, teachers | 1 Comment »

Teacher as Model and Mentor: Ever Changing

Posted on September 19, 2011 by 4cforchildren

Continuing the three-part series on “Teacher as Model and Mentor: Ever Teaching, Ever Learning, Ever Changing,” 4C’s Janine Rigg gives us “Ever Changing”: Change can be scary, and it can be intimidating. Change may require diving head-first into the abyss of the unknown, trying to get back to the surface as quickly as possible. But [...]

Filed under: Best Practice, Directors & Administrators, Early Childhood, School Age | Tagged: children, early childhood education, teachers, teaching | Leave a Comment »

Putting on the Brakes

Posted on September 15, 2011 by 4cforchildren

You’re driving on the interstate, keeping up with traffic, when you see a police officer with a radar gun aimed right at your car. Does your right foot automatically go to the brake? Do you nervously look in the rearview mirror to see if the police car pulled out onto the interstate? Now imagine that [...]

Filed under: Best Practice, Early Childhood, Infants and Toddlers, Preschool | Tagged: child development, children, early childhood education, safety, teachers | 2 Comments »

It’s Criminal Not to Protect Children

Posted on August 17, 2011 by 4cforchildren

Believe it or not, in some states it is possible for a convicted felon to legally work in a child care facility. Furthermore, only 17 states require a check of staff against the sex offender registry. Ohio and Kentucky are among those who don’t require this check. According to the National Association of Child Care [...]

Filed under: Advocating for Children, Best Practice, Preschool | Tagged: advocacy, advocating for children, background checks, children, preschool, protecting children, schools, teachers | Leave a Comment »

Teacher as Model and Mentor: Ever Learning

Posted on August 10, 2011 by 4cforchildren

Continuing the three-part series on “Teacher as Model and Mentor: Ever Teaching, Ever Learning, Ever Changing,” 4C’s Janine Rigg gives us “Ever Learning”: Why bother with “Ever Learning”? It is hard to find the right words to describe how important continuous learning is, especially to those who question its importance. In Harry Wong’s book The First [...]

Filed under: Best Practice, Directors & Administrators, Professional Development | Tagged: early childhood education, teachers | 2 Comments »

Risky Business

Posted on August 2, 2011 by 4cforchildren

A recent New York Times article posed the question, can a playground be too safe? After reading the article, I started reflecting on my experiences as a teacher and what a rebel I was in the classroom. I let children climb up the slides. I let them go down the slide head first and on [...]

Filed under: Best Practice, Early Childhood, Preschool | Tagged: child development, children, early childhood education, preschool, teachers | 4 Comments »

Making a Connection

Posted on July 19, 2011 by 4cforchildren

Recently, my daughter was seriously ill in the hospital with her husband and 3-month-old daughter at home. What could I do? I was ready to help, but didn’t know how. Should I buy diapers for the baby, flowers for my daughter, cook dinners for my son-in-law, something else? I felt so helpless, but after a [...]

Filed under: Best Practice, Early Childhood, Family Child Care, Parents | Tagged: children, early childhood education, preschool, relationships with parents, social and emotional development, teachers | Leave a Comment »

Parents are a Child’s First Teachers

Posted on July 14, 2011 by 4cforchildren

4C’s Debra Chin knows you want encourage the children in your care to be independent, but if you give them too much freedom, they may get confused, misuse the freedom or make the wrong choices. On the other hand, if you use the benefit of your experience and make all their choices for them, you [...]

Filed under: Best Practice, Early Childhood | Tagged: chidlren, developmentally appropriate practice, early childhood education, parenting, preschool, social and emotional development, teachers | Leave a Comment »

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