Learning how to use books

I know that it sounds really strange, but children need to be taught how to use a book.  I have been asked many times when a parent should start reading to their child and when they should teach their child about books.  The answer to this is as soon as your child is born. (or earlier...it is a great idea to read to your child when you are pregnant!) Here are some tips for what to teach your child:
1. What the front cover is
2.  What the back cover is
3. Where the spine is
4. How to turn pages
5. what pages are
6. What words and letters are
7. Tracking from left to right when reading

This isn't something that you need to sit down and quiz your child on everytime you read a book.  This is something that you should work into your reading time and make it fun. 

To help your child succeed, you can:
* Let your child feel the book's cover, pages and pictures and TALK about them
* Use sturdy cardboard books with thick pages so your child can turn the pages
* Have your child point to pictures in the book (can you find the mouse?  where is the tree? etc.)

To make this activity more challenging, you can:
* Have your child show you how to turn pages from right to left
* Point to the parts of the book and ask your child what they are
* Ask your child to point to a picture, a word, a letter (not specific words like "a" or "an" just a word or     a letter) (Show me a picture.  Show me a letter.  Show me a word.  Show me a period.  etc.)

If you are reading to an infant, you can point to a picture and describe it to them.  "Look at the green frog.  A frog says, 'Ribbit.'"

Please remember that the number one way to teach early literacy skills to your child is by talking to them!  The more you talk, the more they learn! 

Happy New Year!

I hope you all had a fabulous holiday!   I wanted to let everyone know that ECFE will start up again the week of January 9th.  All class days and times are the same! 

PAC meeting

This is a reminder that the Parent Advisory Council meeting for Early Childhood is tuesday night December 20 at 6:00 pm.

I hope that you can make it!

(There will be food :)

Happy Holidays from the Plaseks!

Carter - 8

Isabel - 5

Nila - 4

The first day of school and everyone is waiting for the bus!!

Happy Holidays to you and your families from the Plaseks!

Update

I would like to take this opportunity to let you know that this will be my final year teaching ECFE.  This was not an easy choice for me to make.  Dale and I (and our kids) have talked a lot about it.  As our kids get older, I really feel like I need to be at home for them in the evenings.  I have thoroughly enjoyed my almost 6 years as the child educator for ECFE!  I have learned a lot and met some fabulous kids (and parents :) in my time at the school.  I will not be giving up teaching young children entirely.  My plan is to open a home-based preschool for 3 year olds.  I am working on my FCC license and plan to be up and running by next September.  I can't thank all of you enough for providing me with such a wonderful experience!  Teaching ECFE and everything that I have learned has lead me to my new adventure.  I will be finishing out this year as the ECFE child educator!  I am excited as we move into our second session beginning in January.  We have some fun things planned! 

Early Childhood PAC meeting

Tuesday December 20
6:00pm
Parent ED room
Everyone is welcome

We need to have parents attend these meetings.  If you are available, please try and come.  The meetings are generally 1 hour long...and there is FOOD!

Activity #1 - helping your child use the information they have

Talking about food

Ask your child questions about food:
* What color is it?  What other things are that color?
*How does it taste?  What other things taste this way?
*How does it smell?
*What do you like the best?  Why?

To help your child succeed, you can:
*Talk about how food tastes, smells and feels.
*Ask your child simple questions about his/her food.
*Do this activity when you and your child are cooking in the kitchen

To make this activity more challenging, you can:
* encourage your child to describe food with more than one word (orange, juicy and sour)
* have your child practice counting raisins, nuts and comparing (big, little) and quantities (more, less)
* Ask your child harder questions about food (Is an apple a fruit or a vegetable?)
* Talk about where foods come from and how they are made

Holiday Make and Take

Our annual Holiday Make and Take is coming up on Tuesday December 13!  It will be held in the Multi-purpose room of the elementary school from 5:30 - 7:00 pm.  We have lots of fun projects to make this year!  I hope to see everyone there! 

**donations will be accepted to help off-set the cost of this event**

Helping your child to process information they may have

It is exciting to see so many children come into preschool knowing their colors/shapes...some even know some letters/numbers.   As a well rounded learner though, we want children to be able to use information that they know visually and use it in different ways. 

An example of this might be...  Melisa knows all of her colors!  YAY!!!  But...  can Melisa tell you common objects that are that color?  (Tell me 3 things that are yellow).  Another example might be...  Melisa knows LOTS of animal pictures and can name them all when asked.   But....  when asked questions like "What animals can fly? or live in the ocean? or can you ride?" can your child process that language to give you an answer?

Processing information, using knowledge creatively, problem solving ...These are important skills that children will need to use as they go through their school years and beyond. 

How can parents help....

***Read to their children-- the more vocabulary they hear and learn the more background knowledge they will have.  While reading, ask them questions and give them lots of time to respond (giving clues if they need it).  Not just "what is this" kind of questions but "Why do you think..."  "What else could she have done?" etc. 

***  Hang out!  Spend time playing, fixing things, cleaning together, baking, etc.  Help them to think or solve problems as you go. 

*** Play games in the car-- ("Hey, we just passed a farm!  What kind of animals might you find there?"  "The light turned red.  We need to stop.  Can you think of other things that might be red?"  etc.

The possibilities are endless....  Have fun and enjoy helping your child learn!

**Thank you to Melisa Brever for allowing me to repost her post! :)**

The Dinosaurs have taken over!

December

It is hard to believe that December is already here!  It seems like we just started the school year!  this week (December 5-9) is our last week of classes for session 1.  I hope that everyone had a great first session!  If you are NOT planning on attending session 2 (January - April) please let me know.  Otherwise, we will keep you registered.  If you haven't already paid for session two and you plan on attending the cost is $44.00.  That includes 11 classes and 4 family events.  Thank you for another wonderful session! 

You will be getting your ECFE Holiday CD this week.  I have the songs posted on the blog.  Let me know if you have any questions! 

Some important upcoming dates:
December 13 - ECFE Holiday Make and Take 5:30-7:00
December 20 - ECFE PAC meeting

ECFE Holiday CD

Bop bop dinosaur

Dr. Knickerbocker

Old MacDonald Zulu Style

5 Jungle monkeys

Pop Goes the weasel

3 smelly skunks

Weather song

There’s a carp in the tub

Head and Shoulders baby 123

5 tall giraffes

Nursery Rhyme rap

Pollywog in a bog

5 tall giraffes standing in the sun

Tooty ta

7 days a week

5 little ducks

This old house

I don’t want to live on the moon

Ziggy says

Slippery fish

Row, row, row your boat

Itsy Bitsy spider

                               

Thank you!

Thank you for being so patient in my absence!  And thank you for the nice surprise on Monday night!  I really appreciated it!  I was back to work today and will hopefully be back from now on!! :)

Craisins Recall

Check your packages if you have Ocean Spray dried cranberries.  Here is the link to check the details.

http://vitals.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/26/9040438-ocean-spray-craisins-recalled-because-of-metal-fragments

Free Movies in Sauk Centre

November 26 - Kung Fu Panda PG
December 3 - Gulliver's Travels - PG
December 10 - Rango PG
December 17 - Megamind PG

Movies are shown at 10am, Noon and 2pm.

This makes a great family event and it is FREE!!

Movie Night

Tonight is Movie Night!!!  We will be watching the movie Curious George: A Very Monkey Christmas!  We will be having popcorn and lemonade!  Feel free to come in your PJ's and bring your favorite pillow or blanket!  We will be in the Library in the Elementary School!  The movie will be starting as soon as people arrive.  I believe it is only about an hour long so it won't be a real late night! 

Talk, Read and Write with Me!

Talk, Read and Write with Me! is a family involvement program through the Minnesota Reading Corps.  The kit contains 8 crayons, a journal and an information sheet.  The books would be the books that you check out of the library or you can use your own book.  We are sending these kits home with our Preschool families and I would like to do the same for our ECFE families.  Every week you will check out a book from the library and then do the activities in the kit using that book.  I would like to see the journals weekly so that I can make a record of it but, it isn't absolutely neccessary.  You will find the kits in your family folder.  There is only one journal/kit but, I can make more if you have more than one child who wants their own journal to write and color in, just let me know!  I would really appreciate your involvement in this project!  Please let me know if you have any questions or if you would like additional journals!
Just a note:
If you have a child in the Parkers Preschool, they will be taking a journal home through the preschool program.  If you would like a journal for additional children in the ECFE program, please let me know and I will put them in your family folder.

Donations for Holiday Make and Take

I have been thinking about some great ideas for our make and take this year. In order to get all supplies by the time we need them, I would like to start collecting materials and/or cash donations now. Some of what we will need are:
50 Pringles cans
4 rolls of Contact paper in fun designs
Snack sized baggies
50 baby food jars
Flame-less tea lights 50 ( I don't have a clue as to price on these...maybe they are too expensive?)

Any ideas for projects that you may have, please share! I have 2 planned so far.

Separation Anxiety

Separating from a parent or caregiver can be very stressful on a child.  It is important that we remember that separating from a parent or caregiver is a process and a skill that needs to be taught and learned.  For a child who hasn't had to separate, a parent leaving can be very scary.  In their little minds, they may be worried that mom or dad won't be coming back.  We need to acknowledge what the infant/child is feeling and let them know that it is normal.  When trying to separate, don't push it.  Gradually decrease the amount of time spent with the child prior to separation.  If possible, begin by spending the day (in the case of daycare or preschool) or time period (in the case of ECFE) with your child following the routine, modeling the behavior and talking about what they are doing or playing.  Make sure to follow the routine.  Grandually shorten the period of time spent with your child in the classroom.  Stay for all but 5 minutes and then explain to your child where you are going and when you will be back.  Reinforce that the child will be safe while the parent is gone and then leave.  Eventually, separating will become easier for the child and the parent.  Remember, this is a process and a skill that needs to be taught and learned.  It won't be solved over night but, with support, your child will become more comfortable with you leaving and they will understand that they are going to be safe and that you will always come back for them.

Welcome to November!

there are a couple of dates that I would like to highlight on the calendar this month:
There will be no class the week of November 7th.  Elementary and Highschool are having conferences that week.

There IS ECFE on November 21 (Monday) to make up for not having class on Halloween.

Family Movie Night is on November 22 at 5:30 in the library.  Movie TBA.

If you have any questions about the schedule, please don't hesitate to contact me using the email link on the blog or calling me.

Happy Halloween!

Reminder that there is NO class tonight!
There is trick-or-treating downtown alexandria from 3-5 pm
at the mall from 4-7 pm
and Pete's County Market noon-7pm

These are some nice safe (warm) trick or treating options.
Have a fun and safe Halloween!  Classes will resume as normal tomorrow night!

Free Movies in Sauk Centre!

10am, Noon and 2pm
October 29 - ZooKeeper PG
November 5 - The Smurfs PG
November 12 - Hop PG
November 19 - Yogi Bear PG

November 25 - Rio G
November 26 - Kung Fu Panda PG
December 3 - Gulliver's Travels - PG
December 10 - Rango PG
December 17 - Megamind PG

November 2011

Sun.	Mon.	Tues.	Wed.	Thurs.	Fri.	Sat.
		1 ECFE 5:30-7	2 ECFE 9-10:30	3	4 ECFE 9-10:30	5
6	7 No School	8 No ECFE all Week Conferences	9	10	11 No School	12
13	14 ECFE 5:30-7:00	15 ECFE 5:30-7	16 ECFE 9-10:30	17	18 ECFE 9-10:30	19
20	21 ECFE 5:30-7	22 Family Movie Night	23	24 Thanksgiving No School	25 No school	26
27	28 ECFE 5:30-7	29 ECFE 5:30-7	30 ECFE 9-10:30

Parent Advisory Council (PAC)

Just a reminder that we have our PAC meeting tonight at 6:00 in the parent ed. room.  Everyone is welcome to come!  If you have little pumpkins, I am accepting donations! :)

Beyond Consequences, Logic and Control

This Saturday, Janda and I had the opportunity to go to a wonderful training by the Beyond Consequences Institute.  The techniques we learned are for working with behaviors in children specifically those associated with trauma.  These techniques work for all children and all behaviors.  It focuses not on changing the child but changing how you deal with the child.  Anyone who is interested, I am more than willing to share what we learned!  There are several different Online Parenting classes that BCI puts on.  The next one is specifically for mothers.  It is entirely online for 5 days.  (saturday for 3 hours, sunday for 3 hours, monday, tuesday and Wed. night for 1 1/2 hours.) I believe it is in November.  If you are interested in registering, you can do so online at http://www.beyondconsequences.com/.  If there are enough people who are interested, we could probably set it up to do at school.  The evening portions are from 8:00-9:30pm.  If you have suffered a trauma or if your child has, I highly recommend this course!!  Trauma includes prenatal stress, birth trauma, abuse, neglect etc.  BC emphasises that if you haven't dealt with your past, you can't effectively help your child.  We all have triggers, specific things that our child or another child will do that will set us off (button pushing behaviors).  We need to learn to identify those triggers so that we can work through them in order to help our children. 

         

October 17-19

Welcome to a short week!!  There will be no class on Monday night or Tuesday night this week.  There IS class on Wednesday morning.  We will also be having our PAC (Parent Advisory Council) meeting this tuesday at 6:00.  Everyone is welcome to attend!  The meeting will be held in the Parent Ed. Room at the elementary school. 

Erickson's Petting Zoo Link

http://www.ericksonspettingzoo.com/
Check out the link to see what you will be doing on your field trip!

October Calendar

Sun.	Mon.	Tues.	Wed.	Thurs.	Fri.	Sat.
October						1
2	3 ECFE	4 ECFE	5 ECFE	6	7 ECFE	8
9	10 ECFE	11 ECFE	12 ECFE	13	14 ECFE	15 Petting Zoo
16	17	18 PAC 6:00pm	19 ECFE	20 No School	21 No School	22
23	24 ECFE	25 ECFE	26 No Class	27	28 ECFE	29
30	31 No Class