Smelly What? A Great Motivator and Teaching Tool

After years of struggling with getting my kindergartners to learn their left versus their right, I finally found the answer! It's a double whammy, too, because it is something that I use as a reward for my students as well.
I have to give a shout out to my best kindergarten colleague Stephanie for originally introducing me to "smellies"(Thanks Mrs. S!). "Smellies" are simply chapsticks that come in all different flavors, colors, and smells that you swipe on your students hand as a reward. I use them EVERY day at the beginning of the school year to encourage my students to follow the right method of packing up and getting ready to go home at the end of the day. If they do what they need to (and they all do, of course!), they get a "smelly" on the top of their (here's where the teaching begins) right hand.
The rule in my room is that smellies can only go on right hands. If you do this every day at the beginning of the year for, let's say, 3 weeks, the students really begin to know which hand to give you for their smelly. They've learned their right and, inadvertently, their left as well! It is so funny to watch them as the year goes on figuring out left from right by putting their right hand up to their mouth to "sniff" it. Almost all of my kinders will know their left from right when they leave my classroom and it's all thanks to the "smellies".

A great time to pick up smellies to add to your collection (the more variety you have, the better, of course!) is after holidays when the stocking and basket stuffer smelllies are reduced in price, but not if flavor!  I keep my collection housed in a pencil box that is filled to the brim...this is the reward for students that costs next to nothing (I still have the first smelly I bought, because they last forever!) and never gets old with children.  The students love to sniff and lick (yes, I said lick) their hand over and over again.

Other ways to use smellies for children of different ages include potty training, test taking, a calming mechanism, a distraction for anxious children, proper audience behaviors and more!  If you can think of other ways to use smellies, please feel free to comment below!

It also makes a great gift for teachers (think end of the year!), child care providers and home schoolers!  It's the gift that keeps on giving.

 

 

Hit the Thrift Store

Hi! It's Scott from Brick by Brick. I love to repurpose materials—use materials in ways different from their intended use. One place I like to find great teaching materials is the thrift store (or charity shop). Here are some things I've gotten from the thrift store and repurposed for my classroom. (You can also buy most of these items in discount stores or online.)

Board games - Buy board games and use the pieces for all kinds of things. You can use the pieces for counters, as game pieces for homemade games, for loose parts for all kinds of play. Cover the boards with colored contact plastic to create new gameboards. Depending on the games you find, you can also end up with marbles, dice, or other fun things to use.

Purses - I buy purses and wallets for kids to use in their pretend play. (Suitcases and tote bags are also great finds.) Also I have purchased clothes (a few sizes larger) and robes for kids to wear. Prices vary...so I'll check to see what's available and purchase when I find something just right at the right price.

Lazy Susan - Find a lazy susan to use as a spinner for homemade games. This spinner has colors but you can also create circles with numbers, letters, or whatever you want. You can also put the arrow on the lazy susan and place items around it (or sit kids around it) and spin the arrow.

Shoes - I went to the thrift store specifically to find small shoes so we could paint with them. Look for shoes that have different treads and designs on the bottom. (You can also find kitchen gadgets and other objects for painting, too.)

Wire baskets - I found a variety of wire baskets (and a couple of plastic ones). We use these for weaving. You can use the baskets to hold other things, too. But that's a little too conventional for me!

What are some great finds you have gathered from thrift stores, charity shops, or garage sales?

My name is Scott, though most call me Mr. Scott. I love teaching preschoolers and kindergartners. I have been working with kids for over 25 years. I've been a teacher, preschool center director, volunteer, curriculum writer and editor, and workshop and conference leader. I blog at Brick by Brick.

DANCING THROUGHOUT THE DAY Part 3: A Transition Activity

DANCING THROUGHOUT THE DAY

Part 3: A Transition Activity

Hello EC Community,

As a way to further my passion for offering many different dance opportunities to children, this blog entry is the third in a series of activities based on the daily routine of young children.  They are simple and ready to use!

Using playful movement activities, you can create fun transitions to use when leading children from place to place.  In addition, the tasks are useful to help refocus the child's energy as they progress to another part of the day, such as going from a lively activity to a quieter one, in order to help ease the children into the calmer state needed to concentrate on small-motor skills and related activities. Giving the child a movement task while he is making a transition can help to focus his attention and energy on completing the task.  This can help to make smoother transitions throughout the day, and happier children and teachers!

                                       

                           Tightrope Walker

Adapted from One, Two, What Can I Do?  Dance and Music for the Whole Day (Redleaf Press, 2011)

NOW START WALKING VERY CAREFULLY ACROSS THE HIGH TIGHTROPE!

This transition activity can be done indoors or outside.  


Optional tools for this activity:  


*Masking tape, string or yarn, or chalk  


*A picture of a tightrope walker


Prepare for the activity:


To create the "tightrope" -- a straight line -- for the children to walk on, use masking tape on an uncovered floor, or string or yarn on a rug.  Hold one end of the string or yarn, and tie the other end to the leg of a desk or chair.  Use chalk if you do this activity outdoors.  The tightrope should be six to eight feet long, so that the children travel only a short distance the first time you try this transition activity.  Challenge the children to walk a longer tightrope if you repeat the activity.  Line up the children at the starting point:  for instance, in the hallway, outside, or at the classroom door.  Point out the destination.  You can say, We will all be walking from here, our starting point, to the door of the classroom, our destination.  Show the children a picture of someone walking a tightrope, if available.  


The activity:


Say to the children:


Have you ever seen a picture of a tightrope walker, or visited the circus and seen one in person?  Tightrope walkers have to have very good balance, don't they?  We're going to imagine we are walking on a very high and very narrow tightrope, which is this line of masking tape (or string or yarn).  Keep your eyes on your feet as you step on the tightrope.  Try to place your whole foot on the rope when you take a step, and then change to the other foot very carefully.  Don't try to go too fast -- it is important to take your time so you'll stay on the rope!  Hold your arms out wide at your sides to help you keep your balance.


I will clap my hands one time to let each of you know when it is your turn to climb high up the imaginary ladder and start across the tightrope.  When you get all the way to the end of the tightrope, imagine you are climbing down the long latter back to the ground.  Then sit down and watch the other tightrope walkers come across.


Start the children one by one.  Make sure a child is at least halfway across the tightrop before you cue the next child to begin.  


Once everyone has had a turn, finish the activity by saying: You all made it across!  Now let's stand up and take a big bow, imagining we just finished our tightrope show in the circus!

IMAGINE YOU ARE IN THE CIRCUS!

Follow up to this activity:


Once the children have completed this activity as described above, you can use the tightrope idea without the string or yarn.  For example, say to the children:  Let's imagine that there is a tightrope all of the way from this tree on the playground to the door where we will line up to go inside.  Proceed as above, asking each child to start one by one, and then sit or stand at the destination, watching the other tightrope walkers.

HOLD YOUR ARMS OUT TO THE SIDE AND TAKE SMALL STEPS!

Next up in the DANCING THROUGHOUT THE DAY series: 

Part 4:  A Movement Exploration That Addresses English Language Arts

Keep on Dancin',

Connie

Copyright 2012, Connie Bergstein Dow

MOVING IS LEARNING!

www.movingislearning.com

Skill sharing - transference and play!

Some of the proudest moments I have on the job, are when I see the students in my class transferring, or sharing the skills they have developed from academic lessons. Those academic activities have become play!

In the next 4 pictures one child becomes the teacher and the other the student.

One child is showing the the other our colour mittens, which I use to teach colours. 

This became a dramatic play moment.

They showed remarkable accuracy in the teaching of the colours,

and the correct response to the colours presented.

They remained at this activity until they had completed all the colours,

about 15 or so.

They respected the roles they had chosen and appeared

content with the result of their time together. 

Independently 'playing' also showed the same skill transference.

An activity that had once been taught, now became an activity which seemed like play.

When we think of children playing we think of toys, running, jumping and frolicking about - not always so. Children play in many different ways. All play is a moment to learn and to develop skills. Jean Piaget once said,“Play is the work of childhood.” So whether a child chooses to do something academic or chooses to climb a tree - they are learning and developing skills for life.

I am please that the children in my classroom feel that the activities I have presented, are worthy of 'play'!

Leeanne A - Kreative Resources

Rewarding Reading by Dr. Danny Brassell

Rewarding Reading

Parents and teachers always ask me how they can reward their children for reading. Well, the first reward I recommend is candy. Kids love candy. If candy does not do the trick, I recommend soda – preferably something highly caffeinated. Pizza is also a wonderful tool to convince a kid to read, and if your child still needs motivation, I have found that $20-$50 goes a long way in motivating a child to read.

Hopefully, you have guessed that I am being facetious. Kids are not stupid. They know that if you have to bribe them to read, reading is not worth doing for its own sake. By bribing students for reading you are sending exactly the wrong message. I love that Pizza Hut sponsors the “Book It!” program, and if I ever bump into the CEO of Pizza Hut I am going to make a suggestion. The way the “Book It!” program works is kids read lots of books and get rewarded with pizza. If I were running the program, I would take exactly the opposite approach: every time a child came into my Pizza Hut to eat pizza, I’d reward that child with a book. It is a subtle difference, but a significant one. Reading should not be rewarded; reading should be the reward.

Parents can greatly assist educators in creating a passion for reading in their children. Subtle messages about the “joys of reading” can do wonders in prompting even the most reluctant of young readers. There are all sorts of ways you can make reading rewarding for your child.

Reward Children with Books. Buy books and other reading materials for your child. In my experiences helping parents, educators and children find their passion for reading, a multitude have reflected on the importance of books they were give as gifts (especially those with an inscription from the gift-giver). In fact, many adults have told me how they own those books to this day (I know I have books that my parents gave me as gifts). Make sure you give children books that they want to read. I mean, I love Norman Vincent Peale’s The Power of Positive Thinking, but your preschooler might prefer Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are.

Praise Children Frequently. Praise your child frequently so your child associates reading with pleasure. Praise and encouragement cost nothing, yet I fear they are severely under-utilized. The more you help your child feel she is a good reader, the better she will become. A lot of adult readers share with me that they began to love reading the moment they felt they were good at it. Translation: help your child feel like a confident reader.

Thrifty Treasures. You can find a ton of wonderful rewards at any Dollar Tree or 99 Cent Store, including coloring books, writing materials, journals, books, stickers, etc.  While many of these items may seem “beneath” a lot of adults, I have witnessed my own children get into World War III over a 50 cent pencil sharpener. How does the saying go? One person’s trash is another’s treasure? Trust me: it does not take a lot to excite a preschooler or kindergartner. If you’re going to give a physical reward to your child for reading, try to make the reward something they can associate with reading (rather than a toy gun).

Reward Children with Reading Time. Tell your children that if they finish all of their chores, stay out of fights with their sisters, etc., that you will read aloud an extra story to them or read under a tent in the living room or let them stay up fifteen minutes later to read. Allow your child to read whatever, whenever and with whomever he wants (you can quote me on that). You’re trying to constantly intimate to your child that reading is the ultimate reward.

Get Children Library Cards. Remember public libraries? Despite the best efforts of local governments to close them all down, they still remain as essential safe havens and community meeting places. Train your children how to use the library and obtain materials for themselves. Better yet, make library visits a regular weekly outing. You’ll find that most public libraries offer a variety of children’s programs, including book clubs, guest read alouds, storytime for toddlers and even guest appearances by favorite literary characters and local authors.

Read Aloud in Bed. My children do not realize they can go to sleep without reading a book. Probably my most treasured moments with my children is spent reading aloud with them in my bed. It is a privilege my children cherish (so does their daddy). However, my children know that the better they behave, the more books and chapters we get to read aloud in bed. Am I manipulative? Yes, but there’s worse ways to brainwash my children.

It seems to me that common sense ain’t so common nowadays. Whenever I see parents and educators trying to entice kids to read with promises of goodies, I cringe. A better approach would be to offer reading materials as goodies. Send the message daily that there is nothing more fun than reading, and pretty soon your child will begin to believe it. Sir William of Occam in the 14^th century developed a theory known as “Occam’s Razor,” which basically says that the simplest solutions usually provide the best results. Getting a kid to read is not some chore that requires incentives. Reading should be a luxury that you and your children can enjoy for a lifetime.

Danny Brassell, Ph.D., is “America’s Leading Reading Ambassador,” helping parents and educators inspire kids to love reading so they’ll achieve more. A father of three and professor in the Teacher Education Department at California State University-Dominguez Hills, he is the founder of The Lazy Readers’ Book Club, www.lazyreaders.com, Google’s #1-ranked site for cool, “short book recommendations” for all ages. Watch video tips and learn more from Danny at www.dannybrassell.com.

Patterns and Painted Paper

I absolutely love dot paints. 

Little artists find these so easy to use and love making dots on their paper. 

What instant visual delight to a student when they stamp, press or drag
a tube of paint and suddenly a dot appears!!!

 Students tend to want to stamp so much that they may overlap their colors. I explain to the students to be careful and try not to have your dots touch. They then make a game out of seeing how many dots they can add to their 12 x 18 drawing paper without touching one another.

Next, students add a table (construction paper) for their vase filled with flowers. A 6 x 9, pre-painted paper is folded. Students draw a shape from the fold and then cut on the pencil line to create a perfectly shaped symmetrical vase.

Now comes the large flowers. We discussed various types of petals flowers have; oval, rectangle, triangle etc. Students used buttons to trace to create the center part of the flower. Again the tactile exposure to the button does help when students create a circle in later years. Feeling a circle or visually seeing a circle are great exposures to a developing artist.

 Don 't you just love these petals, So Fun! Lastly, students add leaves to their painted paper stems.

 

Patterns and Painted Paper what Fun! Enjoy!

Laura is a elementary art teacher who is the author of the blog Painted Paper. She has presented her thematic units nationally at the National Art Education Association and Ohio Art Eduction Association Conferences. You can follow her updates on fun and creative projects for kids here.

Talking About Death With Preschoolers

 Hi, I'm Greg & I am an Early Childhood Teacher from Australia. I write a blog called Males in Early Childhood which you can find by clicking here.

Usually when I post here in the collaborative blog I create a new post that either talks about a topic I haven't covered before on the Males blog, or tackle an issue already addressed from a different angle. This post however, will be slightly different. This post will be partly self promoting, something I normally avoid as much as possible. It will be partly a revisit of a recent post on the Males blog, also something I try to avoid. And finally, it will partly be a call to arms, a challenge if you will, to all the early childhood professionals, parents and other interested parties.

The Males post I refer to spoke about how I discussed the subject of Maurice Sendak's death with a group of preschoolers. I won't go into the details of the post here as you can visit it and read it for yourself by clicking on the link provided above, or to make it easy for you, here.

What I do want to talk about here is the reasons I believe this is not only an acceptable subject to raise with young children, but a necessary one from time to time. I don't expect everyone to share my views on this and respect your position either way. All I ask is that as you read on you do so with an open mind. For if we are to truly be the best we can be for our children we need to consider new ideas, approaches and theories with openness in order for us to be able to develop as professionals, parents and individuals.

For so long death has appeared to be one of the unspoken taboo topics for so many early childhood educators and parents. Many believed that young children are not ready to either cope with the strong emotions or deep subject matter such a topic would unveil, or that the children would not fully understand what was been talk about. These are real concerns by real people. However, in my humble opinion they don't give enough credit to the children of the person who might broach such a subject with them.

First of all I would say that many, if not most adults do not fully comprehend the emotions or subject matter when it comes to dealing with death, yet we still talk about it with them. If we are to have a view off young children as being capable, resourceful and resilient then we should honour them by being open and honest with them in all our dealings with them.

Now while death may not be easy for you to even talk about, there are times when it be beneficial for all, including yourself, to introduce the subject. I chose to use the death of the author of one of our favourite books. It made it relevant and I was able to use the book as a way to connect the obscure news with what they were familiar with. It then turned into a celebration of his life, in particular that book and the memories of lost beloved pets.

For others it may be a little more difficult. Someone shared with me how one of their children's siblings had died. Now while some may have found this a time to divert the children's attentions away from this tragedy and cheer them up, this professional used it as an opportunity to enable the children to explore their real feelings and share their empathy with their very unfortunate peer. It was real to them because it affeccted someone close to them and therefore them.

Now while most people won't have to deal with such traumatic even as this with preschoolers, that doesn't mean that those same children haven't already experienced death. Whether it be the death of a pet or a family member. I was astounded to discover when talking to families about this that four of the children who were part of this experience have attended funerals for family members.

No matter how open we are with families there will be things we don't  know about them for one reaon or another. We shouldn't assume that the children have no experience with this or that. Even if death haas never been something they have had to even think of, I truly believe they are still entitled to talk about it in the right circumstances and in a caring and respectful way.

As I said to my preschoolers, "Death is  a part of life. We will all die sometimes and we will know people who will die. Some of us have even hadd pets that have died." That's how we got onto the whole pets who have died topic. Go read the post over at the Males blog. I hope you find what we plan to do to follow up with inspiring. As for you, you may or may not wish to discuss such a matte with your children. That's toatally up to you. Just keep in mind that a something simply doesn't go away if you don't talk about it. Respect the children and the families, but most of all, respect yourself no matter what decision you make.

Finally, I think this article may prove worthwhile for those who want some tips on how to tackle this sensitive topic with young children, particulaly one on one.