'Unlocking the Social Potential in Autism' by Karina Poirier

To your dismay, your child has received a diagnosis of autism. Along with this alarming news comes the barrage of emotions that suffocates you like an avalanche— denial—confusion—depression—guilt. You want to fix your child; you have a million questions; and you want answers immediately. Autism is a journey in which the child and her family navigate challenges and experience achievements along the way. To guide you in this rewarding journey, Dr. Karina Poirier offers her expertise in this book that parents will find incredibly useful.

In this book, you will find the answers you’ve desperately been seeking. Dr. Poirier has provided in simple, easy to comprehend language, an overview of child development, a descriptive explanation of how autism affects each developmental area, and guidelines for advancing your child’s functioning in all developmental domains. You will appreciate the multitude of hands-on, full-color sample lessons for teaching social and emotional skills, language, problem-solving and decision making, and play skills to children with autism.

Publisher: Social Cognition Publications | Irvine, CA Color: Full-color illustrations Pages: 300 ISBN (Print): 9780988798205 ISBN (Digital): 9780988798212 Available: March 2014

Available at: http://www.socialcognitionpublications.com/

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Improving social and communication skills in children with autism

Dr. Karina Poirier, author of Unlocking the Social Potential in Autism, says that understanding a child’s unique needs is the key step to dealing with concerns and developing their strengths.

“Bring everything into the light. The worst thing you can do,” she said, “is to ignore the issue. Parents can help their children learn how to communicate better and develop social skills that will help them thrive later in life.

Get help early, identify the specific issues you are facing, ask questions, learn everything you can, and devise a concrete and detailed strategy for engaging your child so key skills are developed and strengthened”.

Here are her answers to some key concerns that parents of a child with autism are faced with.

Q: My child can sit through a learning task on the iPad or television; however, he becomes restless and fidgety when working with a teacher. Why?

A: Your child’s attention system is reactive. Consider how much children learn from viewing television. Teachers struggle to get children’s attention when an activity does not include the sensory kaleidoscope children are used to receiving when sitting in front of the television.

Key Action: Children must be taught at an early age how to develop the mental tools (attend, remember, think) to engage in deliberate and self-directed learning experiences with an adult’s guidance.

Q: My child does not respond appropriately to mood changes in others (e.g., when a peer’s mood changes from happiness to distress). Why?

A: Your child may be lacking the ability to read nonverbal cues. Children with autism often have impaired ability to read, interpret, and process social and emotional messages. Children who are unaware of others’ thoughts and feelings risk not developing the sense of self.

Key Action: Treatment to teach the child the emotional codes that are part of the social experience. The child needs to develop the ability to understand other peoples’ emotions from their facial expression, tone of voice, and body posture. The child should be taught to recognize and interpret how people around him think and feel.

Q: My child has difficulty with describing his/her day at school, recounting an experience, or relaying a message. Why?

A: Delayed recall skills utilize episodic memory. Episodic memory allows us to remember past events and share these events with others. In other words, it is how we engage in reciprocal conversations with others. Episodic memory produces a conscious awareness of events that have occurred at any one time; it enables people to remember what happened to them in the past or to conceive the future.

Key Action: Effective treatment is required for the child to learn about memory strategies and to practice remembering. Through repetition, the child develops not only better recall of past events, but also the skills to communicate the memory of the event to peers or adults during a conversation.

Q: My child is verbal and has good command of language; however, he has trouble initiating conversation with others and taking turns during a conversation. Why?

A: Children with autism have difficulties in social initiation and social-emotional understanding. Engaging in a reciprocal conversation with others requires the development and interaction of memory, information processing, and expressive communication skills—all of which are pervasive deficits of children with autism. It is not that these children do not desire involvement with their peers. On the contrary, they do have the desire to be socially engaged with others; however, the dilemma lies in the fact that these children lack knowledge of social norms.

Key Action: Effective treatment that emphasizes social norms and rules, and teaches children how to process social information by distinguishing between relevant and irrelevant information in a social situation. Initiating and maintaining a conversation requires a person to have social knowledge, which is knowledge of event schemas.

Q: How much play time is appropriate to include in my child’s learning routine?

A: For a young child, teaching through play is extremely important. Play gives children something to do with their ample free time; it also serves the important purpose of honing children’s physical, social and emotional development. Play does not occur spontaneously in children with autism the way it does for typical children.

Key Action: Investing significant time teaching through play focuses the child on developing fine and gross motor skills, interpreting the social cues of other children and adults, and responding to those social cues appropriately. Play can be used to develop the ability to interact with, explore, and, ultimately master their surroundings. Play is an essential part of the learning process, and its ability to mimic real-life scenarios makes it an ideal way to stimulate overall development.

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About the author:

Karina Poirier, Psy.D., BCBA-D

Dr. Karina Poirier is the Director of the Center for Social Cognition , a board certified behavior analyst at the doc-toral level (BCBA-D), and a certified cognitive educational therapist. Her clinical practice is devoted to providing outstanding individuals and group therapy that improves social and cognitive outcomes for individuals with autism, ADHD, Traumatic Brain Injury, and related disorders.

Learn more at www.drkarinapoirier.com.

ONLINE RESOURCES

http://www.drkarinapoirier.com
http://www.facebook.com/CenterforSocialCognition
http://www.twitter.com/SocialCognition
https://plus.google.com/+Centerforsocialcognition/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2hZCpP_TDdGzWxrREAbJ4w

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'I See You'

a film by Cinti Laird

It takes a village to raise a kid. Bullying is a problem that is even more prevalent than ever. We need to attack the problem before it starts, helping younger children learn to not be bullies.

This film seeks to do just that.

When you support this film campaign, you can also get access to anti-bullying lesson plans for your classroom or to share with a whole school.

Visit the IndieGoGo page directly for more information.

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"Talk to your kids or talk on the phone"

It's a common sight these days, and something that many of us are guilty of doing. We are playing or talking on our smartphones, while the young ones are nearby. Sometimes it is while they are playing with other children at the playground or children's museum. Sometimes it is while they are alone, sitting in their stroller, as we go for a walk or take a break at the park. We are just ridiculously conditioned to pay attention to those technological devices at all times. We are all addicted.

But to what cost to our young ones? NAMC shared an interesting article today on The Atlantic, called "Papa, Don't Text: The Perils of Distracted Parenting." It talks about the importance of actually engaging in two-way dialogue with children, even as young as infants, to teach them about linguistic skills. A study done back in 2009 showed that children whose parents actively engaged with them on a regular basis did better than those who were stimulated with electronic means.

Duh.

We all think that when we read something like this, but then how many of us go back to being on the electronic devices? How many people still rely on technology to "boost" their child's learning?

It's not just with the young children, either. Even as adults, we tend to play on our phones when we perceive that we are bored. I was recently in Chicago with one college friend, and we stayed with another college friend we hadn't seen in 15 years. I remember noting at the time how much our lives had changed. 15 years ago, I was probably the only one with a cell phone. It cost something like a dollar a minute to use, so I only had it for emergencies. Back then, we actually spent time talking and debating various topics. Now, we all sat playing on our phones, because it was too hot to go anywhere. There was little to no quality conversation during the entire weekend.

Make more of a conscious effort to put away the electronics, especially when young children are around. I try to keep mine put away when I am with my friends' kids or babysitting. They are not allowed in my classroom, unless we are looking up something. Talk to the kids and actively listen to what they are saying. Engage them in both natural language learning and socialization, before we create a generation of zombies!

Photo courtesy of MorgueFile

Australia's Silent Epidemic; it’s preventing good early year’s sites and services from demonstrating excellence.

While this guest post from Andrea Doyle focuses on the Australian education system, many of her points are also valid here in the United States. Read and let us know what you think.

Plus, check out the observation app that she has created for the iPad. It could come in handy!

This is a sponsored post via Fiverr.com 

Is it just me? I don't think so. In fact, I know so. Early years carers, educators and leaders are frazzled, frustrated and in many cases burnt out.

Why?

Is it the myths and misconceptions we hold about what is required of us in our current roles, in the current educational climate of new regulations and frameworks? Do we do it to ourselves? No, there has always and will always be changes in education systems. As educators, we except, and expect this and have rolled with it for decades. I believe it is the magnitude of multiple changes all at once and the absence of support structures to assist in implementation and embedding into practice. We were balancing the ‘Reflect, Respect and Relate: Observation Scales’ and devising clever inquiry questions when we were handed the EYLF and almost immediately the NQS on top of it. We had no hands left. In comparison, look how slowly and steadily the Australian Curriculum has been rolled out. That's because when it was handed to school principals they had the strength and courage to hand it back, knowing that they would support each other in their refusal, that they would have one another's back, prepared to cause waves and rock the boat if necessary, to avoid additional stress and pressure and to maintain the dignity of their role. They said, 'The quality of my school, wellbeing of my teachers and learning of my students would be compromised if I agreed to such a task so no thank you, not until you tell me about and provide me with the support structures I require in order to implement this successfully. My teachers need training, release days and time to do this.' Leaders in the early years must find this courage too.

The sad fact!

I have experienced it myself and witnessed it personally over the past year or two and I bet you have too; Directors and team leaders stepping down from their role, an increase in significant medical and emotional illness and leave from work, family breakdowns and excellent, but bewildered, educators leaving the profession they once loved (and often still do).

Why?

Lack of understanding from the community, lack of support from demanding parents, lack of funding from government departments and therefore lack of sufficient administration time to do their job, the job they want to do to the best of their ability. They want the best outcomes possible for their little learners but there is no balance, most work many extra hours above their paid hours, they have to in order to try to meet the expectations of their role, they sacrifice time with their own families, time for their own professional and personal interests and as for leisure time, what's that? They are left with a deep aching conflict within themselves, the desire to make theirs the most exceptional early year’s site ever but an overwhelming feeling of job dissatisfaction because they are spread so thin they are unable to give 100% to any of the tasks required of them. This is not about a cry for more pay, I believe 99 out of 100 early years staff would just like a reasonable amount of admin time to meet the requirements of their role, time to write meaningful child observation records, to discuss and analyse the play program and plan together, to enter attendances into their Early Years systems and to follow up that issue that occurred today with a phone call to the parent - today.

Tell me why a small country school site with an enrolment of 100 students can have a full time Principal with no teaching load (and even a part-time deputy too) and yet an integrated Kindy site with childcare facilities and an enrolment of 120 three and a half (early entry) to five and a half year olds (due to the 'same first day' policy, I'm in SA) has a Director who is still required to teach two days on the floor?

In many sites, Directors, teachers and ancillary staff do not have breaks, they eat with the children because children must be supervised at all times with certain ratios but no additional staff has been employed/allocated to cover these ratio requirements. Even staff toilet breaks are taken at rocket speed, so as not to leave another staff member with too many children to supervise alone, the paper is off the roll before your backside hits the seat. It sounds like some kind of joke doesn't it? But, I am very serious. New young fresh graduates walk in with big smiles, plans and high hopes, excitement and a genuine love for children and go home by the end of their first week shaking their heads and asking 'This can’t be right, can it?'

The fact is, our early years sites and services are filled with maternal nurturing women (mainly, though I respectfully acknowledge and admire our few male colleagues dedicated to early years education) and they are wearing capes, scared that if they express concern over current demands placed upon them, if they question, complain, admit they need help or support, if they buckle under the strain or don't dot every ‘i’ and cross every ‘t’ as required they may be stripped of at worst, their job or what little super human powers that remain. Have I lost you? I’m talking about those super powers which allow these dedicated educators to miss their own children's Sports Days, Concerts, award ceremonies and school assemblies so they can be there to act as teacher, advisor, guide, counsellor, nurse etc to teach, challenge, develop imagination as well as water, feed, bandage, tie shoelaces, wipe noses, and generally 'mother' other people's children as if they were their own.

Do they receive medals, certificates, praise (let alone appropriate financial remuneration) or even just an occasional little ‘thanks’ for their choice, for the sacrifice they make? Rarely, in fact they mainly hear from parents when they wish to complain and bosses when they are requesting to add something more to the already overflowing sink of (becoming very cloudy) dish washing water. A commitment to continual improvement is one thing, I don't think there's many of us that don't want to be the best we can be, but to continue to raise the bar without proper acknowledgement of what has already been achieved is not just unfair, it’s plain rude.

The National Quality Agenda was necessary and long overdue, we all know why so I'm not going to go in to a lengthy rant about it, and I am not disputing that. I personally believe the National Quality Standards cover all they should and are well set out and written. I love the National Early Years Learning Framework. I believe it captured the recognised and unseen principles, practices and learning goals for children that Early Years educators have been dedicated to, enacted and aspired to for many years. To me it was like the old 'Teachers Work' document had been rewritten for the early years. It defines what we already believed about community, parents, children and learning, what we were already doing in practice and what we already aimed for children to know and do before beginning school.

Now, with implementation complete, QIP’s written and submitted, on-going assessment and validation continuing and a new deep understanding permeating all we do, as we deal with the continued lack of understanding, support, funding, and admin time, we need to be kind to one another, support one another, encourage one another and praise one another for all we have achieved in the Early Years over the past two to three years. For our sanity, we must prioritise the most important administration jobs, prioritise the needs of the children and let the rest go. It is hard and we hate it but the children will survive without pre-entry visits and huge bound scrapbooks of every painting they completed at Childcare. Some things have to go. It’s time to work smarter, not harder.

I wonder if maybe the next time we are handed that new massive framework of expectations we will have the strength and courage to hand it back, but likely we'll continue to be superheroes, waiting for the understanding, support, funding and time we need to make our good Early Years sites and services places of excellence.

Written by Andrea Doyle, Teacher, Leader, Learner and Business Owner of Teaching Made Easy

‘Teaching Made Easy’

During her Master Class, renowned author and educator, Maggie Dent, examines the role of stressors and explores ways to de-stress and relax to deal with the unique challenges of our teaching profession. We believe our ‘Teaching Made Easy’ resources compliment Maggie’s message perfectly.

In fact, I designed the ‘Teaching Made Easy – Child Observations’ app and ‘EYLF Made Easy’ programming and planning package after reading numerous blogs of educators crying out for help and after working as a Preschool Director and suffering health issues and stress brought about by the new requirements of the National Quality Agenda and implementation of the Early Years Learning Framework. Both ‘Teaching Made Easy’ resources aim to streamline the documentation demands of busy time-poor teachers to allow less time on paperwork and more quality time spent with children.

The ‘Teaching Made Easy - Child Observations’ app is a recording and reporting tool developed to assist educators in continuous documentation and assessment to meet the needs of individual learners. It allows users to easily develop a Child Profile Folder as they collect photographic evidence and align their learning story to the outcomes of current national curriculum frameworks (EYLF and the Australian Curriculum) and to identify extension ideas and intentional teaching opportunities.

You can view more screenshots & download your FREE ‘Teaching Made Easy, Child Observations’ app here:

https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/teaching-made-easy-child-observations/id627106726?mt=8

We recommend you check it out and see if it would be an observation tool that might work for you.

The ‘EYLF Made Easy’ programming and planning package can be found in the featured products section of our ‘Teaching Made Easy Print’ website. www.teachingmadeeasy.com.au

Please send me an email to info@teachingmadeeasyprint.com.au if you would like more information or would like me to send you some samples.

If you are still not sure, join over 5,500 ‘Teaching Made Easy’ fans on our facebook page, and talk to other early year’s educators about why they love the support, features and benefits of ‘Teaching Made Easy’ resources.

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#AtoZChallenge Color Tablets

I love the color tablets for so many reasons. Yes, they teach children how to match colors and how to name colors. But, they also teach children to appreciate the gradations of colors that exist in our world. Ask a child to name something green. Answers may include grass, leaves, peppers, broccoli, apples, etc. If you think about it, yes, those are all representations of the color green. Every one of them, though, is a different kind of green. That is something children realize with the color tablets.

Color Box 1 teaches just the primary colors. Two sets of tablets include red, yellow, and blue. 

Color Box 2 adds more colors for matching, including pink, orange, green, purple, gray, brown, black, and white.

The third color box starts to teach children how to grade colors, from white to black, and grays in the middle. Some people use one color, grading lightest to darkest.

I learned Color Box 4 as being one in which you grade a color from lightest to darkest, as well as matching those tints and shades with two sets.

Color Box 5 is the best of them all. It grades all of the colors from Color Box 2 from darkest to lightest. Many people have the rows of colors radiate from a circle in the middle. My kids always call it "The Sun." It does resemble the sun or other star.

You can do all kinds of extensions with these materials. Maria wrote about he children using the original color tablets, which were actually spools of silk. You had to hold the ends of them so delicately, as fingers could leave a smudge on the silk and distort the color. Children delicately carried them around the environment, comparing them to everything they could find. I haven't yet seen my children do that, but carrying wooden versions don't feel quite as special.

When I was in training, my Montessori best friend made an original project in which children had to mix paint colors to try to match the color tablets in a grading sequence. I have added to that idea by creating cards that show a certain number of dots in a given color in each rectangle. They measure the drops and then mix the colors to see what they get. 

Does this impact kids for life? Well, I was the kid who always had to have the 64 box of crayons. As a teacher, I get annoyed with the 8-packs of colored pencils, markers, and crayons. I end up spending my own money on packages with more colors. I feel like you can be more creative, as well as more accurately represent the world around you with more color choices. I also aced the color chart exercise in my beginning oil painting class from a decade ago. The purpose was to create a chart of grades of all colors, to use as reference when painting. I whipped mine out in less than two sessions, when most people were taking several weeks to complete theirs. I feel like I can observe minute color changes everywhere around me, and find more complementary color combinations. My artistic eye was more finely tuned by using these materials. At least, that's my opinion. :-)

#AtoZChallenge Binomial Cube

My favorite materials in the Montessori sensorial area are the algebraic cubes. Because this is a post for B, I guess I need to focus on the Binomial Cube.


Forgive me. I forgot to take pictures of my planned posts before spring break. I can't get a picture until we return next week, and can't seem to find one quickly in my collection. So, I am going to refer you to links with pictures that will pop open in other tabs, to help explain a few things.

The equation for the Binomial Cube is (a+b) cubed. (I again apologize, because I don't know how to make the little 3 for the cubed sign.) Montessori for Everyone has some cards that can be used with elementary students who are learning the equation. They also explain how the colors correspond to the equation. See the picture here.

At my age level, though, we do not expect the children to memorize these equations, nor even know what they are. The cubes are a concrete representation of the algebraic equation. Children learn how to put the cubes back together like a puzzle, using the colors, sizes, and shapes of the various blocks. By doing so, they are mapping out later algebraic studies in their brains. When they have done it enough times, they should be able to put it together even when wearing a blindfold. I like to impress the kids by putting together the trinomial cube with a blindfold, to inspire them to try to do the same.

Take a look at kids doing the cubes in this post by Montessori MOMents. 

Does this really work? I tell parents time and time again that I truly believe that my experiences with the Montessori materials helped to shape my love for and ability to do advanced math in high school and beyond. I was able to better visualize the equations, and firmly believe it is due to having used these materials as a child. Others back me up on this.

Visit a Montessori classroom some time and see if you can put these together, yourself. 

#AtoZChallenge The Alphabet

For this year's challenge, my goal is to focus more on the activities, lessons, and materials in the Montessori classroom. What better way to kick off an alphabetical challenge than to talk about the alphabet?

Every year, when new parents come to visit the classroom, they boast about their child's ability to recite the ABCs, especially through song. Okay, that is a start for later learning, but it doesn't mean that the child is a genius who knows all of her letters and sounds. It only means that the ability to memorize and recite is present. She can't necessarily connect those sounds and names to actual letters, yet. Sorry to be blunt, but it's true.

They always want to know what to do at home, to help their child continue to learn the ABCs. It is always so hard to convince them that they need to first focus on the letter SOUNDS and not the names. That is when I show them how we use the sandpaper letters. I give examples about how letter names are more confusing and mess up the intial sounds learning process. For example, the name of the letter C always makes kids say /s/. W always makes them say /d/. Y always makes them say /w/. English is already confusing enough, as it is!

I also then explain the process of how the sandpaper letters lead to sound sorting activities, and then putting together the moveable alphabet to spell words. I adore the moveable alphabet for this reason. It's like all of those spelling games that we like as adults. Take a bunch of scrambled letters and put them together to make words. Scrabble, anyone? Only you have a much more defined path to take with your words. You can have fun taking away one letter and adding a new one to create new words. And how wonderful is it for the environment, to not be writing out sounds on endless worksheets?

I have noticed more of a demand to teach children the letter names, in addition to the phonetic sounds. I was taught to wait to do that until after the child has mastered all of the sounds. Some are doing it simultaneously, especially as more and more children are coming to school knowing their letter names.

So tell me a few things. How do you explain the alphabet to your parents? Do you use a moveable alphabet in one box or that huge one that takes up two boxes? Do you teach the names as well as the sounds? What are your favorite alphabet activities?

Big compliment from a therapist

Sorry I have been slacking. Again. It has been quite busy in the classroom! I have been trying to keep up on these kids' tremendous interest in everything, while simultaneously balancing numerous parent meetings, evaluations, and CPSE meetings. I have a large number of children who are qualifying for OT therapy for sensory processing disorder, and a few other issues. They keep me hopping!

The other day, one of my new therapists pulled me aside on her way out. She is an itinerant special ed teacher, who is helping one of my young guys learn how to communicate (he is nonverbal right now, slowly picking up more expressive language and has difficulty following complicated routines). She has worked in many Montessori programs before, so is quite familiar with the processes. At the end of her fourth visit to the classroom for this child, she said, "You have done an amazing job adapting Montessori for kids with special needs."

I was humbled. Sometimes I feel like we don't do enough. I am battling parents who don't want to acknowledge that their children need more help that I can provide. Some therapists who have no idea about anything with Montessori sometimes ask you to do things that you can't do. The school lawyer is constantly cautioning The Boss about implementing various techniques. Activities that you know would be ever so helpful are not permitted. You can read and research all you want, but never feel like you know enough. You're exhausted at the end of every day. And then a compliment like this comes through.

It isn't the first time. One day, my assistant was out sick. The sub was an older woman, who has been long retired from the Montessori classroom, but helps out on occasion. Before the kids came in, I started to fill her in on a bunch of their quirks and needs, so that she had somewhat of an idea of what to expect. Halfway through the morning, she said to me, "Had you not told me about these kids' issues, I never would have suspected. They are doing quite well."

This doesn't mean that we don't have difficult days. Difficult moments pop up on a daily basis. I get tired and frustrated. I try to cling to those beautiful moments. It's a constant work in progress. I will try to be better about sharing some of the techniques that I use. People have been asking. :-)

'And Winter Came' by Enya on YouTube

If you're looking to change up the music a bit for the month of December, you should check out this holiday collection from Enya. It's called 'And Winter Came' and it is amazingly beautiful. As you already know, I am a big fan of Enya. This holiday collection consists of original and classic holiday music, done in only the way that Enya can do it. As usual, the entire "video" simply consists of the album cover.

Enya's 'Amarantine' on YouTube

When searching for Enya on YouTube, I came across a more recent album that is not in my current CD collection. 'Amarnatine' is one of her most calming and beautiful musical collections to date. I feel like I could listen to this one on a loop for hours on end. It runs about 45 minutes in total length. Again, the only visual is her album cover. The titles of each track do appear at the bottom, but nothing else changes that would distract the children. It's just beautiful. Give it a try.



What do you think of this one?

'The Best of Enya: Paint the Stars' on YouTube

Whenever I listen to Enya, I am transported to a place of sheer calm and tranquility. I remember listening to her often during my Montessori internship year. I have collected her CDs and used her during work time ever since.

Here is another YouTube collection. This one is from her earlier greatest hits CD, called Paint the Stars. The entire soundtrack makes for the perfect background noise while walking on the line or focusing on works. The only video that you see is a stationary picture of the album cover.

The last half of the CD is the most relaxing, I think. Which ones do you like best?

Baking Banana Cookies!

I spent a small fortune this summer collecting items for the classroom that would boost our food preparation area. I also wanted to take more control over doing birthdays, because we have so many food allergies and I want everyone to be able to participate. We hadn't yet tried to bake anything and were just starting to collect baking ingredients. All we had on hand was a bag of flour, a bag of sugar, and vegetable oil for the box of brownie mix that the October birthdays had decided they wanted to bake for next week's monthly celebration.

I noticed that there were still a couple of bananas left on the food prep shelf, that were already rather ripe when they arrived in the snack basket on Monday. They needed to be immediately used or pitched. I quickly went online and started searching out a recipe for something with bananas that didn't use eggs (egg allergy). It took me about ten minutes, but I finally came across a banana cookie recipe that I could adapt to our few ingredients. These are the ingredients that we ended up using:

2 1/3 cups flour
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 very ripe bananas, sliced (ours were about medium-sized)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

Children who were interested in helping had to wash their hands and put on an apron.

First, I showed them how to properly measure flour by leveling it at the top of the cup with a knife. They took turns measuring flour into the bowl. Next, they added the sugar and took turns stirring it all together as I added the salt. Meanwhile, another child was slicing our two bananas. Once the bananas were sliced, they took turns mashing the banana with a fork.

I added the oil and the vanilla and they kept taking turns mashing it all together with the banana.

Next, it was time to put it all together in the big bowl and stir until well blended. (At about this point in the process, one boy who was not participating looked at my assistant and said, "This isn't going to end well," as there were some minor difficulties and a little bickering while stirring.)

I love how they helped each other by holding the bowl, because that was tough to stir!

Once it was fully blended, they used the cookie scoop I had found at Savers last year (with four kid-sized spreaders!) to put the cookies onto the baking sheets.

Each batch was baked in the toaster over at 350 degrees for about 13-16 minutes, depending on the size of the cookies. We left plenty of space between them, but found that they do not expand while baking.

We gathered together at the end of the morning to share our tasty treat. We practiced grace and courtesy at the same time. I went around with the napkins in one hand and the plate of cookies in the other hand. I asked each child if they would like a cookie. They were to respond "Yes, please," or "No, thank you." I also said to each of them, "You take the one you touch," to avoid that lovely habit of young ones to touch a bunch of them until they find a huge one. They were to place the cookie on their open napkin and then wait until everyone was served prior to eating.

As we sat there eating, the kids spontaneously burst into, "Thank you, Miss Coventry!" My assistant and I both said "Thank you" back to them for making the cookies for us. One of the kids also said, "Okay, on the count of three, we need to say Hip Hip Hooray for Miss Coventry, because she is the best teacher ever for letting us bake cookies!" 

After lunch, I chose two volunteers to visit the other classrooms and the office to share the cookies. One girl carried the napkins and the other one carried the plate of cookies on a tray. I was told that they were very polite as they approached each classroom. They also very matter-of-factly told each adult that they had to "take the one you touch." 

I can't wait to make something else and to back off even more from the process!

'Those Relaxing Ocean Sounds' on YouTube

The ocean is definitely one of my happy places. Unfortunately, it is a minimum of six hours for me to access it. I live in Upstate New York, which provides me with an endless supply of lakes. Sure, you get waves on those, especially up on the Great Lakes, but it just isn't quite the same. Fight the winter blues and relax to ocean waves with this spectacular video I found on YouTube.

It is about an hour long and shows a variety of ocean beaches. The water is clean blue and turquoise, just begging for you to come dive in. Use the sounds for relaxation or watch parts of it as a part of a lesson on oceans. See if you can identify some of the wildlife that also makes its presence known through sound. For example, around the 24:00 mark, you hear birds. Around 43:00 you can hear a dog barking. You could play it during a listening activity at circle.

The Loft Proposal Meeting and Plans

Today was the big day for my little group who wants a loft back in the classroom! Today was the day they got to meet with the boss to make their case. I wish I could show you their pictures. One boy dressed with a tie and had a messenger bag as his "work bag," complete with special folder for his notes. He also brought two purple flowers to give to my boss. The other two children were also carrying themselves as important people. The youngest of the crew admitted to being nervous about meeting with her, but felt ready.

They couldn't wait for 9 o'clock to arrive. I finally had to set the timer on my phone and hand it to them to keep them occupied for the final 15 minutes. I printed each one of them their own copy of their proposal. At 9 o'clock on the nose, we went upstairs to her office. 

She was meeting with another staff member at that point, so we patiently waited in the entrance area. When she was ready a few minutes later, she gathered them in the board room. They had formal introductions with handshakes, and the meeting commenced. Each one was taking their own notes (mostly scribbles, of course) and had a chance to speak.

I had to return to my classroom, as there were 17 other children present today. A half hour later, my threesome returned, with a drawn plan from which they were to create their own model.

They sought out materials in the classroom that could help them. Yesterday, they were trying to "build" it out of the golden beads and bead bars. I think the gold color reminded them of the color of the original loft. You can see the red counters next to the picture. They were using the dots to outline the shape on the table, so that they could draw it.

I think it is time to dig out some of the other art materials, so that they can create a true three-dimensional representation of the loft they wish to build.

Part of the meeting also consisted of lessons in taking turns while speaking, allowing others to share their opinions, and brainstorming in a group. All of these are amazing lessons. Remember, these children are only 4 and 5 years old.

I'm very proud of my kids and can't wait to see where this whole project goes!

The Loft Proposal

I have so many stories from my classroom that I want to share and I am so far behind! But this one had to take precedence, as it was one of the greatest experiences, yet.

At our old facility, from which we moved in the summer of 2011, I had inherited the room that had the loft. I was so excited when I saw that classroom on my interview tour. I remember telling my parents that I would love to have that room, but wouldn't hold my breath. I was ecstatic. I loved using it. I would get a birds' eye view as I observed the children moving around the classroom. Children used it when they didn't feel well, or just wanted to get away for a bit. We were devastated when we couldn't bring it to the new facility with us. 

Here is a picture of it after we had moved everything else out of the building:

Many of my students last year had been in that old building, and of course would ask for it. They were sad, but gradually accepted that it was gone. One of them was actually proud because his father had taken it to be reused elsewhere. This year, I am down to just a handful of kids who were in that building. Today, out of the blue, one of those boys asked me why we didn't have the loft.

"Well," I replied, "When we had to move here, [the boss] said we couldn't have it anymore for many reasons. Besides, where would we put it?"

He looked at me with a deadpan expression and said, "So, get rid of the SmartBoard!"

I swear I didn't put him up to this, as I know many of my readers know how I feel about the SmartBoard. And ironically enough, had the loft actually come with us, that's precisely where it was designated to go had the giant SB not arrived. Oh yeah, here is the monster-sized thing:

This is actually a picture from BEFORE the giant arm came out from the top, that is used as the projector. But, I digress...

Anyway, so I told him if he was really concerned about it, he could go ahead and talk to The Boss about it. He recruited one of his younger friends to go with them. The office staff later told me that they came in very serious and demanded to see The Boss (only using her proper name). With hands on his hips, he told her that we needed our loft back and wanted to know what to do. She asked them to draw a picture and to leave it for her later. They returned to the room to let me know.

I happened to have this picture on my computer still, so I opened up the file so that they could see it to draw it. He then used it as a talking point as he gathered other students around him. He told them how every part of it worked, all of the shelves and tables and what-not that had been around it, and how wonderful it had been. He also started listing reasons why we should get it backed and called it his "Business Meeting."

So, I offered to transcribe their reasons and tried to play Devil's Advocate as I came up with more questions for them to solve. When we were done, I typed it up. We printed it out. The little group signed it and then delivered it to The Boss for her to peruse. She told them that she would look it over and then meet with them later. They are determined to meet with her at 9 am, so I hope she does!

Here is what they had to say:

REASONS WHY WE NEED THE LOFT

1. It was very quiet up there.
2. We have tables and knee tables, but we need more room to work with more people.
3. You can put knee tables under the loft.
4. If it is too sunny and you forgot your sunglasses, you can work in the shade under the loft.
5. When it is so hot, you can get cooler under there.
6. It was so quiet up there, that you didn't need to come down to turn off the lights to tell people to be quiet.
7. It was so nice up there. You could see everything in the room and see all the people. You could pick your work without having to walk around. You could look, see what the work was, and then pick it out to take back to the loft. You didn't have to walk and walk and walk and make your legs tired.
8. The bench was up there. You could take a book and just turn the pages. No one interrupted you like down here.
9. I think it would be nice and quiet and not disturbing like down here.
10. The loft was so relaxing.

 HOW WOULD YOU GET THE LOFT? 

"How big is the box?"

WHO IS GOING TO BUILD THIS?

[The custodian.]

HOW WILL YOU PAY FOR THE LOFT?

• Doing jobs, like cleaning works. 

• Collect all of the money at my home.

• Chiropractic job

• Go to all the classrooms to clean all of the works. ("You guys realize that we're going to have to be at school for a long time to get all of that cleaning done, right? We may have to sleep here!")

WHERE WOULD THE LOFT GO?

~~Take down the SmartBoard.  It doesn't work, anyway, so we don't need it.

~~We can move the language shelves, put up the loft, and then put the shelves back under the loft.

~~We cannot block the bathroom, the exit door and the door you come in.

So, there you have it. I'm particularly fond of the sunglasses reason, myself.

Trying to get a loft into the classroom is going to be a difficult task. There are so many factors that must be taken into consideration, such as space, cost, and insurance with liability. We may be able to come up with some kind of a compromise. And honestly, my classroom isn't really loud this year. I think they just are in love with being able to turn off the lights to ask everyone to use quieter voices. ;-)

I love these guys.

I will keep you posted! 

'Rain Relaxation Sound' on YouTube

Are you looking for something different from music to have as a relaxing sound in the background? I found a clip that lasts for almost two hours. It is simply the sound of rain falling. It is accompanied by a photograph of rain falling. It may be more appropriate to pipe in to a quiet corner, as opposed to the entire classroom. I haven't noticed any thunder, so young ones won't have to be startled by that.

Reflections on the first month of school - Meet & Greet and phasing in

I had hoped to write this post at the official end of September, but life got in the way.

We have had four weeks of school. The children come back in stages, starting after Labor Day. The first Tuesday is a sort of "Meet & Greet," where the new children come in for a half hour with a parent. They get to find their cubby, bring in their supplies, and start to explore the classroom with my assistant. I answer the parent's questions, and ask a few of my own. My three big questions? 1-Is your child potty-trained? 2-Does your child go to After School Care or Parent Pick-Up? 3- Does your child have any food allergies? The rest I can usually figure out for myself.

Parents are often so overwhelmed with their child starting at a new school, that they often are stumped for questions. I talk about the general flow of the school day and some of the materials in the classroom. I start to talk about a lot of Montessori philosophy, that explains why we do the things that we do. I know that a lot of it is foreign to the generalized idea of what preschool is all about. I observe how the child is interacting with the environment upon his first experience in it. I also pay close attention to how the child interacts with his parents. A lot of information can be gleaned in this initial half hour, even if I am talking to the parent.

On Wednesday, just the K's come in. This year I have six. Two girls and four boys. One is already 6. Three more will be 6 very shortly. The other two turned 5 over the summer. This is a bigger range in age and ability than I have had in a while in my K's, but that is okay. This year, they got to pick out their journal notebook and folder and go to the school library to choose books for our classroom shelves.

Our Wednesdays are always half days in the classroom. Everyone goes home at lunchtime. Those who stay at school either go to After School Care, or to an enrichment class, which is for an extra fee. We have offered classes such as yoga, karate, Drama Kids, violin, sports camp, and more. These start up in mid-September, and about a third of the children participate.

Thursday is the day the the Extended Day 4's join the class. It is also our first full day of school. I have 14 Extended Day children this year, so 8 4's. They also had the opportunity to pick out their journals and folders.

Friday is the day that the half-day 4's join us. Many of them were in the classroom the previous year, so they already have a good idea what is going on. You always have a few new ones, as well. These 4's are the ones who still nap in the afternoon or who are brand new to Montessori. They have the option of moving up to full day later in the year. I only have one who is a half day 4 year-old, and he still hasn't yet turned 4.

Monday is when "returning" 3's join the class. These are the children who attended our toddler program. That means they are at least familiar with the classroom environment and have seen our faces while walking through the hallway.

Tuesday is the first day that all of the children are present for an entire day. This is also the big day of the crying. You may get a few tears on that Monday, but most of them are already used to leaving their parents. That Tuesday is always a hard one. But, the children get over it and engage in the classroom activities. Over time, the crying ceases completely. It just takes some time. I will post more on that later.

Within the following week, almost all of our specials have started for the school year. By October 1st, they are all in place. Everyone knows where everyone is going. Routines are established. The magic is well under way.

Other schools handle their first few days differently. I know my previous two schools did it differently. One had children come for a shortened day in small groups for two days. I believe there were four groups in all. For the next two days, the class was split in half, again for shorter days. And then they all came for their normal schedules. Another school had all of the children start their regular schedule on the very first day of school.

What does your school do? What have you seen work and not work?

'The Very Best of Enya' on YouTube

I had always been a fan of Enya. When I was doing my Montessori training "at the turn of the century," her music was a staple in our classroom. My mentor teacher didn't often play music during work time, but we used it for group time while walking on the line or delicately carrying objects.

In my own classroom, I often like to have music playing in the background. I start it as we dismiss from circle (if we have one first thing in the morning), or simply put it on at the request of my students.

If you don't have a CD on hand, you can play this Enya compilation from YouTube. It consists of her "greatest hits" and only shows the album cover for the video. It makes for excellent background music.

My favorite song is definitely "Only Time." It often moves me to tears. "Carribean Blue," "Book of Days" are other favorites. Which track is your favorite?

'The Best of Mozart' on YouTube

This video that I found consists of two straight hours of Mozart. Again, his portrait is used for the background video. It's so calm, peaceful and relaxing...