Do you know what ICE is? I’m not talking about what you put in your drink to keep it cool. ICE stands for In Case of Emergency. I have several contacts in my cell phone, namely my husband, my sister and my father, who are designated as ICE contacts if something were ever to happen [...]
Filed under: Best Practice, Early Childhood, Family Child Care, Infants and Toddlers, Preschool, School Age | Tagged: early childhood, emergency preparedness, school, teachers | 3 Comments »
Since the beginning of 2011, I have experimented with being a vegetarian. I call it my “vegexperiment.” I just wanted to see how important meat was to me. Originally, it was going to be only for the month of January, but I have since extended it to February. I’m even keeping a blog chronicling the [...]
Filed under: School Age | Tagged: children, dietary restrictions, healthy foods, school, snacks | Leave a Comment »
You thought I was done talking about music, didn’t you? There’s still more to say! Like I said in my previous blog, music is a life-long pastime. The benefits don’t end when a child enters school, and it’s important to acknowledge that. The benefits of music last through our twilight years! If you have ever [...]
Filed under: School Age | Tagged: child growth and development, learning, music, teachers | Leave a Comment »
Music has always been near and dear to my heart. For as long as I can remember, I have been singing and dancing, and they are two of my favorite things to do as an adult. Neither of my parents were very musical, but they always encouraged music to be a part of our home. [...]
Filed under: Early Childhood, Infants and Toddlers, Preschool, School Age | Tagged: child development, children, music, school, teachers | 6 Comments »
As I was strolling through the grocery store this weekend I found “snack packs” of everything: pudding, crackers, apple slices and cookies. I overheard young children repeatedly asking their parent to buy the cookies because “they were on sale.” Now, I am guilty of buying snack packs for myself to include in my lunch or [...]
Filed under: Early Childhood, Family Child Care, Infants and Toddlers, Preschool, School Age | Tagged: childhood obesity, children, health, snacking | Leave a Comment »
Recently, I attended a “train-the-trainer” at the Louisville Science Center on science activities for young children called “Do Science Everywhere,” and that’s just what it was about: how to do science everywhere and how to show child care providers that many of the activities they are doing every day are opportunities to do science. During [...]
Filed under: Early Childhood, Family Child Care, Preschool, School Age | Tagged: child care, children, exploration, preschool, science | 2 Comments »
As I sipped my coffee watching the Early Childhood Directors filter into the Sharonville Convention Center this past Friday, I marveled at the commitment of this group of professionals. It was an unseasonably warm, sunny day and they were making the choice to attend 8 hours of training. Yes, there was yummy food inside, and [...]
Filed under: Early Childhood, Infants and Toddlers, Preschool, Professional Development, School Age | Tagged: administrators, advocacy, child care, children, early childhood, leadership, preschool, professional development | Leave a Comment »
With the weather getting cooler, days getting shorter and people spending more time indoors, I’m hearing a lot of excuses to keep children indoors when we should be doing the opposite. I don’t understand why so many early childhood educators do not take children outdoors! It can be 75 degrees with a slight breeze and [...]
Filed under: Early Childhood, Family Child Care, Infants and Toddlers, Preschool, School Age | Tagged: child care, children, early childhood, outdoor play, parenting | 8 Comments »
I’ll say it right from the beginning: I don’t like video games. It’s strange that I feel that way because my fiancé plays video and computer games like they’re going out of style, most of my friends are gamer geeks and I come from the so-called “Nintendo generation.” I’ve heard nostalgic stories of first video [...]
Filed under: Early Childhood, Family Child Care, Infants and Toddlers, Preschool, School Age | Tagged: child development, children, early childhood, school age, television, video games | 7 Comments »
Professional Development Coordinator Sadie Bonifas blogs about children’s art experiences… Over the holidays, I visited programs and was happy to see lots of children’s artwork displayed on the walls. Displaying children’s artwork is a great way to encourage pride and showcase children’s work to parents. However, as I walked around the classrooms, I saw elves, [...]
Filed under: Early Childhood, Infants and Toddlers, School Age | Tagged: art, children, creativity, early childhood | Leave a Comment »
