I hope everyone had a wonderful and relaxing few days off.
Again, Mary Anne Buckley created two wonderful and useful chapters. I really appreciated how she tied the value and benefits of play, including play during recess, to the writing process. Play truly does help build self-control and perseverance. Has anyone ever read or used the book, The First Six Weeks of School? Sounds like a great resource for helping to cultivate community, which also supports play and teamwork, two elements the author values for helping kids generate and share their stories (page 140). The resources embedded in these chapters are numerous. She mentioned using Boardmaker as a way to help create visual checklists; a great resource I have used frequently. When I was chatting with several ECSE teachers a few weeks back, they mentioned the use of pogoboards. Like Boardmaker, it is a picture symbol system, only on-line. I have not used it, but thought it may be useful and worth sharing.
This blog is in the home stretch. And as the energy levels of your students elevates, and your time dwindles, persevere through these two chapters. I guarantee they will be worth your while.
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A book study from CESA 9 and CESA 5
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Book Study Evaluation
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Book Group Roster
Click here to view participants of this book group.
Teacher Resources/Books
- A Cord of Three Strands: A New Approach to Parent Engagement in Schools by Soo Hong
- Books and Tips on promoting Life Skills
- Building Blocks for Literacy and Language
- CESA 9 Early Childhood
- Center on the Developing Child
- Center on the Social Emotional for Early Learning
- Choice Words by Peter Johnston
- Collaborating Partners/Pyramid Model
- Dome Noche Pacum song
- Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center (ECLKC)
- Elmo's Belly Breathe
- GoNoodle
- Help for Billy by Heather Forbes
- Kimochi
- Magic Island: Relaxation for Kids (CD/MP3) by Betty Mehling
- MindUp Curriculum
- Opening Minds by Peter Johnston
- Stress Free Kids (Book) by Lori Lite
- The Essential Conversation: What Parents and Teachers Can Learn from Each Other by Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot
- The Learner-Directed Classroom: Developing Creative Thinking Skills Through Art by Diane Jaquith
- The Motivation Breakthrough:6 Secrets to Turning on the Tuned-Out Child by Richard Lavoie
- The Whole-Brain Child (Book) by Daniel Siegel
- The Zones of Regulation
- Tools of the Mind: The Vygotskian Approach to Early Childhood Education by Elena Bodrova
- Why Gender Matters by Leonard Sax
- Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards
Children's Books
Click here to view a list of books recommended by your fellow book study classmates.
Book Cover
Contact Information
Beth Tepper CESA 9 PST
btepper@cesa9.org
Cathy Daentl CESA 5 PST
daentlc@cesa5.org
Penciling template by Eternal Thinker
All rights reserved Sharing the Blue Crayon
8 comments:
I'm sharing some resources that pertain to many topics covered in the book:
Teacher Resources:
Magic Island: Relaxation for Kids (CD or MP3) by Betty Mehling -
Stress Free Kids (Book) by Lori Lite - geared to parents, but great for teachers too
The Whole Brain Child (Book) by Daniel Siegel - geared to parents but great for educators too
Picture Books:
Angry Octopus (an anger management story) by Lori Lite
Sea Otter Cove by Lori Lite
We Can Get Along: A Child's Book of Choices by Lauren Murphy Payne
Resources that have come to mind thus far:
Odd Velvet by Mary Whitcomb
Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun-Having the Courage to Be Who You Are by Maria Dismondy
When Sophie Gets Angry-Really, Really Angry... by Molly Bang
Have You Filled a Bucket Today? A Guide to Daily Happiness for Kids by Carol McCloud
I'm Gonna Like Me: Letting Off a Little Self-Esteem by Jamie Lee Curtis and Laura Cornell
I found the chapter on self-control to be very interesting. So much of the time with my itinerant position, I feel that I am working on teaching my students how to be respectful and mindful of their bodies and actions and how that relates to the classroom around them. I think it's important to remember where the children we work with are at developmentally though. Often we expect them to sit and self-regulate their behaviors....but we lose track of the fact that our children learn how to self-regulate through play and these types of experiences that Blue Crayon discusses; and play is so often being phased out of what we are working on in turn for academics.
In working with a few of my cooperating teachers, I'll be using the MindUp curriculum to teach some of these mindfulness skills to my children with special needs but also the entire class as a whole. I'm excited to see where this goes as the year progresses. I also liked how Beth mentioned the use of boardmaker, and pogoboards as resources for children who struggle. Overall, this chapter has been the most applicable to what I do on a daily basis.
I thought that these 2 chapters were very fitting for my classroom now. I have a few students that I have been working with on self-control. These students have a hard time sitting for our morning meeting and also keeping there hands to themselves. Along with a few students working at a station on their own without a teacher next to them. I have never heard of the book "The First Six Weeks of School" but I wonder if it would be helpful for my couple students that are still struggling today. I like the suggestion of Boardmaker and may try printing some off for those students to reference during our meeting and work time. With my students that have a hard time keeping their hands to themselves (along with the class) we have discussed using words like Excuse Me as they mentioned in the reading, and encourage them to use their words to help them solve problems on their own. I especially try to have them work it out during play time, when they all want the same toys.
I liked the book suggestions for helping students persevere and would like to use them in my classroom. This would be helpful for kids to keep trying with their work/learning and help students to solve problems on their own that they may be having with classmates and their work. Whenever we work on a project or practice our letters I remind the class that it's okay to make make mistakes and that is why we keep practicing. These 2 chapters have given me more insight and ideas on what to try with my students.
It was very interesting to note how important the development of inner self control is for little learners and how play is essential for this development.
In this time of more academics pushed down to younger students, play-time is often being pushed to the side. It is no wonder there seems to be more and more impulsive students. It is just as important to work on teaching the management of inner thought as to work on controlling body basics.
An excellent book that came to mind for self control, friendship, and maybe even perserverance: A Splendid Friend Indeed by Suzanne Bloom
In chapter 10 I really liked the idea of using post it's with a 1, 2, or 3 to show the urgency of the child's need. So often I have 3, 4, or more students needing my attention and it often takes time to get through those conversations, etc. I think the post it's would help both me and my students
In this chapter, the touched on why children shout out at group time. I have two students this year who are struggling to remember to raise their hand. The author noted, "It is a child's job to find the boundaries of behavior and then try to push past them to see if the adult will consistently reinforce them." This is so true and reminds me to continue to perserve. The suggestion action referenced The First Six Weeks of School (Denton and Kriete 2000). Sounds like a must read!
I really found the statement in this book how research shows that preschool-age children who can persevere with difficult situations or delay gratifications are better equipped as adolescents and adults both socially and academically. I completely agree with this statement. I feel that social emotional competence is the foundation to learning. I feel that children who can preserve difficult situations are better socially and academically. I feel as a preschool teacher it is very important to teach my students these skills. I also think it is important to educate families on this topic and the importance of teaching their children these skills as wells.
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