Swearing in Schools..

Apparently if you go to school in a certain town in England, it is okay to swear in class. The school in this town recently passed a rule that will allow each student to swear up to 5 times per class period. The teacher then keeps a tally on the board and if a student swears more than 5 times they are "talked to." You can read the article for yourself if you'd like: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9132814/

I personally think that this is ridiculous. To swear at a teacher, or even in class is unacceptable in my book. Granted this rule was passed mainly for 15 & 16 year olds, it's still incredibly irresponsible on the part of the administration. Now, don't think I'm against the English. I am English myself. I understand how their schooling system works but to swear in a classroom and ALLOW it is just stupid. What do you think?

On the First Day of Preschool...

I always wonder why the hell I decided on this as a career???? What was I thinking? I don't actually start teaching until tomorrow afternoon, but I went over to the Center-(or as my friend Angela calls it, the Shelter) to sign some paper and it was chaos. Out of 20 kids we only have 4 that were with us last year, all the rest of them went to Kindergarten. So that's 16 new kids to teach the routine too, in addition to 8 new teachers and something like 4 'helpers' who do kitchen stuff. My director was going insane today.

Here's to hoping that tomorrow afternoon is a little bit less hectic...and that my friend has a shot of vodka in her fridge for when I get off of work.

Reading...

I've often wondered why parents don't read to their kids. It's easy to do, it's a relaxing activity, and it allows parent and child to bond over a common interest. But yet, I still have parents tell me that they don't read to their kids because either a) they don't have time or b) their kids aren't interested.

A love of reading starts early. Infants are naturally drawn to the sound of their parents voices, especially their mothers. Reading to infants, even though they don't understand the story line, is a wonderful activity. If you start reading to your child as an infant, the child will learn that reading is a fun, relaxing activity. This lays the groundwork for a life of loving books. When I was a nanny, I read to the kids I was charged with all the time. The oldest, when I got her at 11 months, had never had a book read to her. I started reading with her everyday, many times a day in fact. At first she had no interest in books, but by keeping at it every day she eventually would come to me with a book and want me to read it to her. She's almost 6 years old now and absolutely loves books. With her brother I started reading to him as soon as I started taking care of him. He was 2 weeks old when I got him and I would sit and read the newspaper outloud to him. He had no clue what I was saying but I continued to do it and eventually progressed to books and now he loves to be read to.

So please, read to your kids. It gives you quality time with them, allows them to learn the magic of words, learn intonation when speaking, and it's just fun overall.

Moved In & Ready To Roll...

Hello all. Thank you for being patient with my lack of updates. I'm moved in, everything is unpacked and put away. I do have to say, I have an AWESOME apartment. It's just big enough for 1 person and I LOVE it. I don't have to deal with roomates being up till 2 am, the phone ringing at all hours for everybody but me, having my food eaten up by other people. None of that..I'm so excited.

In other news, I'm still sick-not that I was expecting to get better but it really sucks. I start school on Monday at 10 am. I'll be going back to work on Tuesday so hopefully I can get back to my adventures as a preschool teacher posts that this blog was originally created for. I hope everybody is doing well and have a safe and happy weekend.

Update...

Hi everybody. I know it's been awhile since I last updated but today is the first day since I came back to my dad's that I've had access to the internet. I'm moving to University on Friday so I will start posting again on Saturday or Sunday. I'm still sick, next week will be week number 8 of this damned illness that I have. I went to see a specialist and he too said that it was probably my gallbladder but unless he's 100% sure that's what it is, he won't cut me open. And insurance won't cover it unless they know, without a doubt, that it is my gallbladder. So I will continue to slurp my noodles and chicken broth and hope that I either get really sick so that have no choice but to operate, or get better really fast. Hope everybody is doing well. I will update this weekend. Take Care.

Going To Be MIA For A Few Days...

Hello all. I'm making the 4 hr. treck to my dad's on Saturday and on Monday I'm going back to the Dr. to *hopefully* figure out what's wrong with me. I'm still sick, still nauseous, still weak and tired all the time. Anyways, I don't know how much time I'll get on the net while I'm there since we have dial up there and the phone line usually needs to be open for my dad's work. I will try to get another post up before I leave but no promises. In addition to traveling and going back to the Dr. to be poked and prodded like a cow, I have to move to college on the 26th of this month. So, I'll be a bit busy but I will definitely post after I get back to school, if not sooner. Take care and I'll post ASAP.

Jen

Gotta Love Kids...

I have no idea what made me think about this story, but it happened last year.

I was doing circle time with about 12 kids and the theme was Bears. I read the book Brown Bear Brown Bear, What Do You See? Then I asked each of the kids in the circle what they saw...example: "Andy* Bear, Andy* Bear, What Do You See?" then the child would reply with something they saw. I went down the line and the kids were doing really well...then I got to Charlie*-probably one of the smartest kids in my class. I said, "Charlie* Bear, Charlie* Bear, What Do You See?" to which he replied..."I see Ms. Alyssa's* underwear, lookin at me..and it's Pink!" Obviously Ms. Alyssa* was embarrassed as all get out but I was too busy trying not to laugh. Gotta love kids and their honesty. It can really get ya sometimes.

*Names have been changed.

Proper Terms for Anatomy, & Why Kids Should Know It...

I know this is a sensitive subject and I will probably get some comments that aren't too happy with this post. But as a preschool teacher, I feel that it's necessary to bring this topic up because it is a very hard thing for many parents to accept.

At the center I work at, we teach the children the proper terms for their genitalia. Just basic stuff, girls have a vagina and boys have a penis and we also use the term bottom, not bum-("Sit on your bottom please" or "Bottoms go on chairs, not feet"). The reason we do this is because if the child is ever molested or touched inappropriately they will be able to tell a police officer, teacher, or CPS person where they were touched. I will warn you before going on, I feel very strongly about children knowing these things.

I had a child a year and a half ago came up to me and say "daddy touched my turtle." The child did not look particularly upset so I figured the child had a pet turtle. After talking to the child over the course of 2 days I realized that his "turtle" that daddy touched was actually his penis. Obviously CPS was called and a full investigation was launched, but had this child known the correct terminology, I wouldn't have sent this child home with his father for 2 days thinking that the child had a pet turtle and that they were playing with it together. Now, rant at me all you want. To my defense, it was an honest mistake. It wasn't until the child talked about daddy touching him in other places before touching his turtle that the red flags went up.

I have always felt strongly about children knowing that they have a vagina or penis and bottom. After this incident, I feel even more strongly about it. At the center I work at I have parents who will yell and scream at me and the other teachers for teaching their children this terminology. Now, it's not like we just do it without informing the parents, we send out a newsletter and tell the parents that during this time period we will be teaching your child about stranger danger and the correct terminology for their genitalia. But nonetheless, we have parents who come in just irate with us for teaching their children about their bodies.

Now I know some of you will be upset with me for posting this, but this is where I stand on the issue and I feel that it is very important for children, especially young children, to know these things.

Training for Early Childhood Educators...

"What kind of training/education do you need to play with kids all day?" I had a parent ask me that question last year. I gave her the basic answer about how children learn through play and that her child was learning at the center he was attending because all of the teachers were trained to teach through the child's play experiences. But I was reading an article today that made me want to bring this question back and give it a little bit more justice then I did.

My first 2 years of University for my Early Childhood Education degree was filled with classes about physical and psychological child development. In addition, I took classes about the theories of how children learn, brain developement in young children, how to teach preschoolers through play. Everything you do as a preschool teacher, at least at the center I work at, has to have some sort of lesson attached/integrated into it. Songs have to have gross motor movement, books have to have an activity or lesson involved, the list goes on...but you get the point.

All of this is important, but the most important thing that I picked up from these classes was about the 5 areas of development in young children. This is what we do, we work to plan lessons that are helping the child to develop AT LEAST 1 of the 5 areas of development. This is for every lesson we do, and there are multiple lessons-(based on one theme) during the week. Many times we hit 3 or 4 areas of development a day given that children have short attention spans. The 5 areas of development are: Social, Emotional, Physical, Cognitive, & Language.

Every day we strive to help these children, 20 in my class, to develop the skills necessary for every day functioning in these 5 areas. In addition, we have to zero in on the children who are having particular difficulties in one area and find the time, while also teaching 19 other children, to work with this child one on one. For example, I had a 3 year old last year who could not talk. He babbled, but he couldn't talk. He was never talked to as an infant or a toddler so he never developed those skills. Now, if a child can't talk that has serious consequences for the other areas of development. His physical development was fine, his social development was very poor. Since he couldn't talk, the other kids had a very hard time communicating with him. He was a very emotional child and his emotional development had not progressed to the level that a 3 year old should be at. His cognitive development was very poor, cognitive development goes along very closely with language development. This child, he's 4 now, still has trouble communicating. He is making progress but his mother's continuous-put him in preschool, pull him out, put him back in-makes it very hard to work with this child daily, which is a necessity for his development.

So, that's just a snippet of the kind of training that us early child educators need to "play with your children all day." If you are one of the parents who speak to preschool teachers like they're lower then dirt-(you know who you are) think about your child's development, and the positive impact we're making on it, the next time you tell a preschool teacher that she has an easy job because all she has to do is 'play.'