Toddler CLASS

By Lisa Mulliken

Recently my daughter and granddaughter were visiting, and we were all on the couch watching a movie. My granddaughter was cuddled up next to me and very engrossed in the movie. Her mother, on the other side of the couch, said to her, “Tell Mimi what you did at Pop Pop’s house.” When she didn’t receive a response, she asked her again. Still no response. So, she asked her one more time and my granddaughter turned her head, looked at her mom, and said, “Mom, it’s my mouth so I’ll use it to talk when I want to.” She then turned her head back to the movie. I know what you are thinking, she’s sassy! But she is also right! How many times do we ask children questions that they aren’t interested in answering or expect them to engage in conversations with us when their attention is on something else? How often do we ask questions, such as, “What color is that?” or “How many do you have?”

By: Tracy Walter

When you hear the word “literacy”, what do you think? Do you think of literacy for children, in adults or does it make you think of literacy throughout a community?

Erin DelRegno

A bit about the person interviewed:

Greetings and salutations! (I am a Charlotte’s Web fan!). My name is Paula Schroeder. My mother told me that my unofficial teaching career began at age 5 when I taught my 3-year-old sister how to read. I have been a PA and NJ certified educator since 1982, teaching a variety of subjects from K-8 in Camden, NJ and Philadelphia, PA. Living abroad for 7 years, I taught both kids and adults in Mexico, Honduras, and Venezuela. After returning to the states, I continued my teaching career and am currently a certified principal and director of a 421-child preschool in Philadelphia for the last 11 years. We have risen to a STAR 4 status using ECERS, but in the last year felt challenged to switch to utilizing CLASS to measure and improve our instruction.

 ^{Aimee Currier}

You very likely read books to the children in your care daily. We use books for many purposes: education, entertainment, even some physical activity at times. My Kindergartners would get so excited when the Bookmobile would come, and they would have the opportunity to have books read to them by someone who wasn’t me! They were giddy with joy over getting to choose their own books to keep in our classroom for a month. Books were a central part of everything we did in class.

Por: Lisa Mulliken

Mire en cualquier salón de bebés o niños pequeños y verá colecciones de libros en el área de lectura o en contenedores alrededor del espacio. Puede ser abrumador e incluso frustrante a veces para los maestros cuando usan libros con bebés pequeños, bebés que quieren masticar libros o con niños pequeños que se mueven constantemente. Entonces, ¿por qué compartimos libros con bebes y niños pequeños?

Lisa Mulliken

Look into any infant or toddler classroom and you will see collections of books in the reading area or in bins and containers throughout the space. For teachers, using books with tiny babies, older infants who want to chew on the book, or those wiggly toddlers who are constantly on the move can be overwhelming and even frustrating at times. So, why share books with these little ones?

By Amy Hoffman

Have you heard the news? The Program Quality Assessment (PQA) team at the Pennsylvania Key has a lot to offer to programs. You may already know that we (usually) conduct external assessments to support early learning and school-age programs; this involves an assessor visiting your program and observing a wide range of practices including teacher-child interactions, classroom environments, and/or business practices. Because of COVID-19, we are offering programs support through an internal assessment process; program staff complete internal assessments of their practices, and we meet to discuss these practices and to partner with them in their continuous quality improvement journey.

Natalie Grebe

Its 9:00am in a preschool classroom. Two teachers have successfully orchestrated their class of 17 children to clean up their morning centers. One of the teachers calls out 9 names and asks those children to join her on the reading rug. The other teacher tells the remaining eight children to sit at their table seats for an activity. As the children get into their appropriate groups, they clumsily sit down, chatting and laughing, some poking their friends, others complaining they wanted to play longer. The teacher on the reading rug holds up a silver bell and rings it a few times. Almost immediately, many of the children quiet down and settle into their chairs or their space on the rug. A few continue to talk, but a gentle hand on their shoulder and one last ring of the bell tells them it is time to listen. For a moment, it is quiet and each teacher can use a soft voice to briefly tell their group what task they will be doing for the next few minutes.

Kelli Harris

National Friendship Day was originally founded by Hallmark in 1919. It was intended to be a day for people to celebrate their friendships by sending each other cards. By 1940, the market had dried up and the holiday fizzled. It was first proposed in Paraguay in 1958. In 1998, Winnie the Pooh was named the world’s Ambassador of Friendship at the United Nations. In April 2011, the General Assembly of the United Nations officially recognized July 30^th as International Friendship Day, although most countries celebrate it on the first Sunday in August. This year, it will be celebrated on Sunday, August 1^st. The exchange of small gifts like flowers, cards, and wristbands is a popular custom in some countries.

Amy Hoffman

A few weeks ago, a friend commented that her 5-year-old had been “feeling all the feelings” earlier in the day. He was reacting to those feelings by crying when she left his sight, yelling at his younger sister, and refusing to follow directions. And how did my friend react to this? She set aside her agenda and devoted time to him. She cuddled with him and gave him her undivided attention until he chose to leave her lap and resume his day. And guess what? He was able to cope with his feelings in a positive manner for the rest of the day.

Feelings can be huge and can be difficult to deal with – and not just the feelings that we consider to be “negative.” Young children often don’t have the vocabulary to talk about how they’re feeling, so they express those feelings in other ways. A huge part of an early childhood educator’s job is to show children how to manage their feelings in constructive ways. This can lead to positive experiences later in life including a strong sense of self, resiliency, and good relationships.

So, what can you do? How do you teach feelings? Here are a few ideas (and see the links below for more!):

• Use words to name the feeling before, during, and after the child is experiencing it. This helps to develop an emotional vocabulary so children can talk about feelings. It also lets them know that it is okay to feel those emotions.
• Identify feelings in others. Using books or pictures to guide children to discuss emotions will help them to learn empathy and to learn the names for feelings (see above).
• Be a role model. Children learn a lot by how they see you responding when you’re dealing with strong emotions.
• Acknowledge the legitimacy of children’s feelings instead of dismissing them or trying to make huge feelings go away. Encourage them to express how they’re feeling.

Here are some other strategies to use in your classroom to help children to release their emotions in positive ways:

• Teach them to take deep breaths. This video from Mindful Schools includes a deep breathing practice (especially from 1:30 on).
• Coach them to use the actual words for how they are feeling.
• Provide a space for privacy so children can have a quiet place to calm down and escape the stress of the situation or the classroom. Encourage them to use it.
• Encourage them to hug a teacher or to self-hug. Check out this video from Sesame Street about self-hugs.

What are some ways that you help children who are feeling all the feelings? Leave a note in the comment box.

And check out these links for more information:

CSEFEL Website (many great resources from the Center on Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning)

Helping Kids Identify and Express Feelings (an article for parents that is relevant for teachers)

Lessons from Inside Out (for adults and older children about Pixar’s “Inside Out”)

NAEYC Resources