We Do More Than Just Play

Some Videos to Make You Think

falkl80 — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 21:29:09 +0000

Hand Dominance

falkl80 — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 21:14:26 +0000

As early childhood educators, teaching basic writing concepts is something we must be familiar with. Before a child can start learning to write, their hand dominance must be determined. Since we live in a predominantly right-handed society, many tools have been designed to accommodate right-handed individuals. Here are a few techniques for determining hand dominance: the way to write.

Letter People

falkl80 — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 20:51:37 +0000

When I attended Kindergarten in a Catholic grammar school, the letters were taught with the Letter People Program. This was a children’s literacy program and eventually became a television series. Each letter person had a theme and a theme song to correspond with their letter. Vowels were Ms. and Consonants were Mr. It was a fun way to learn to recite and write the alphabet, I still have some of the theme songs stuck in my head!

Letter People: (some names were revised to cut out the junk food references)

Ms. A (A’choo!)

Mr. B (Beautiful Buttons)

Mr. C (Colossal Cap/Cotton Candy)

Mr. D (Dazzling Dance/Delicious Doughnuts)

Ms. E (Exercise Energy)

Ms. F (Funny Feet)

Mr. G (Gooey Gum)

Mr. H (Happy Hair/Horrible Hair)

Ms. I (Impossible Inches/ Itch Itches/ Incredible Inventor)

Mr. J (Jingle Jingle Jacket/Jumbled Junk)

Mr. K (Kaboom Kick/Kind Kicking)

Mr. L (Longest Laugh/Lemon Lollipops)

Mr. M (Munching Mouth)

Mr. N (Noisy Nose)

Ms. O (Opposite/ Obstinate/ Optimistic Optimist)

Mr. P (Pointy Patches)

Mr. Q (Questions/Quiet)

Mr. R (Rainbow Ribbons/Ripping Rubberbands)

Mr. S (Super Socks)

Mr. T (Tall Teeth)

Ms. U (Unusual Umbrella/ Upsy-Daisy Umbrella)

Mr. V (Vegetable Vest/Violet Velvet Vest)

Mr. W (Wonderful Words/Wonderful Wink)

Mr. X (Different/All Wrong (Mixed-Up)

Mr. Y (Yodeling Yawn/Yawning)

Mr. Z (Zipping Zippers)

NAEYC- The National Association for the Education of Young Children

falkl80 — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 08:38:42 +0000

The National Association for the Education of Young Children is an organization that works towards fulfilling the needs of all young children through improving professional working conditions, supporting early childhood education programs, and creating organizations who also share the same goals. Members are individuals who want to work towards achieving rights and needs for all young children. Current programs include:

-publishing educational resources (books, videos, posters) and journals with current research

-the charity “Supporting Teachers, Strengthening Families” which helps prevent child abuse/neglect

-The School Readiness Connections project

-set and promote standards for Early Childhood Education and Early Childhood Professional preparation

-gain public support for programs that support the families young children

I feel that this organization is a great resource for information on what is being done to support Early Childhood Education. NAEYC works towards gaining support and providing knowledge about current Early Childhood Education standards and how they are being made better. Anyone can be a member of this organization so long as they share the same passion for promoting education for young children and are in some way involved with Early Childhood Education.

Bulletin Boards

falkl80 — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 06:50:32 +0000

Bulletin Board Pro has galleries of bulletin board ideas for every topic: months of the year, seasons, back to school, computers, reading, library, writing, math, etc. You can also make a bulletin board with a classroom theme, which is important for making your class feel connected like a learning community. Most class theme bulletin boards include something done by the students, such as a handprint or piece of writing, along with a picture of each student. Back to school bulletin boards can be a way of welcoming your new class and creating a positive outlook for the new school year. Bulletin Boards also add color to blank walls and can be used as educational tools.

Rowan’s Education Newsletter

Robin Martin — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 20:29:54 +0000

I have spent the last year working in the Dean’s office in the Education Building here at Rowan. We send out an education newsletter on a semesterly basis. This is just an overview of programs that the department of education are holding or of news that ma directly affect Education majors here at Rowan. I find it beneficial in order for us to know the things that are going on and changes that may occur. Take a few minutes and read the Rowan Education Newsletter.

ABCTeach.com

Robin Martin — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 13:56:46 +0000

I recently visted a website called ABCTeach, and I believe that it is a great resource for both teachers and future teachers, maybe even parents. It has lesson plans, themed units, booklets, coloring pages, writing prompts, flashcards, and many other activities both hands on and digital. It even has an online tool to make your own custom worksheets. This site is fantastic to get things prepared so we can become better and more effective teachers.

Technology & Academic Achievement

Robin Martin — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 22:48:47 +0000

Technology and Academic Achievement. I read this article and found it quite interesting. 5 billion dollars a year is being set aside to provide computers and other technology in a classroom. I never would have thought of putting a computer in the hands of a 4 year old until I spent my summer working at a preschool in my town which had two computers in a classroom of about 14 students. It was fascinating to see these students working with computers that had only educational activities on them. They really did help them understand colors and numbers as well as spelling and writing.

Video Games

Robin Martin — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 21:30:03 +0000

I have never understood the concept of video games. Even the “educational” video games seem a little senseless to me. The world seems to be so caught up on video games and things like that, that i feel like we should be teaching our children to read a book or something along those lines instead of video games. Our literacy rates are far from good enough and we need to teach children to read and write and do things somewhat productive rather than handing them a video game controller and letting them sit in front of a computer or television screen for several hours at a time.

education

Robin Martin — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 21:26:00 +0000