FAMILY BUZZ

Sarah Yamaguchi 7/20/17 Sarah Yamaguchi 7/20/17

Summer Ideas

AUTHOR: Becky Danielson, M.Ed. is a licensed Parent & Family Educator on staff at The Berry Patch and Whittier Wildflowers Preschool. She contributes monthly to the Family Buzz, highlighting a topic or current trend in parenting.

Dear Whittier Wildflowers Families,

The end of the year picnic was so much fun! Thank you for attending. I hope you had as nice of an evening as I did.

Here’s an expanded version of the Top 10 Tips to Encourage Learning over the Summer Months. I hope the list is helpful for you and your children.

1. READ Read as much as you can as often as you can to your children. Spend time at the library. Your children can have their own cards to check out books. Keep the books in a special bag, away from pets and younger siblings. When reading, find words your children can identify. Follow along with your finger as you read to encourage left-to-right motion. Look for words your children know when you’re out and about (STOP, the name of common stores, etc.). Help your children identify letters and the sounds of each letter.

2. WRITE Allow your children to write on a variety of surfaces with many writing utensils. For example, chalk on the sidewalk, crayons on construction paper, a stick in the sand at the beach, markers on grocery store bags, pencils on notebook paper, or fingers in pudding in a jellyroll pan. Print letters, numbers, and symbols. Draw pictures.

3. PLAY Play is a child’s occupation. Through play, children explore their world. This happens through both unstructured and structured playtime. Play fuels creativity. Children will come up with fabulous games and adventures. Join them in their playtime to help your child grow socially, cognitively and emotionally.

4. EXPLORE From the backyard to the park to the nature center, explore with your children. Pack a small bag with a magnifying glass, binoculars made from toilet paper tubes and yarn, a notepad, and a pencil. Make rubbings of tree bark. Watch birds. Look for animal tracks. Collect fallen leaves to make a collage at home. Take notes on your outings.

5. BUILD Make a pirate ship or castle with pillows and sofa cushions. Drape a blanket over a card table to create a fort. Build a city with Legos or blocks. Wash out milk cartons, tape down the triangular top with duct tape for homemade jumbo building blocks.

6. CREATE Put together an art bin in a shoe box with paper towel tubes, string, rubber bands, pipe cleaners, glue, cardboard, thread spools, paper clips, and paper. Add any items you come across that would be interesting. Really, it’s a junk box to make treasures from trash.

7. MOVE On sunny and rainy days make movement (exercise) part of the routine. Dance, bicycle, run, skip, walk, tiptoe, or hop! Any kind of movement is good. Play games together. Have your children teach you games they learned in school this year.

8. LAUGH Few things make a person feel better than a belly laugh. Take time to be silly!

9. REST Too few of us, adults and children, are getting enough sleep these days. Be intentional with bedtime and the routine getting ready for bed. Try to keep the same schedule throughout the summer months.

10. LOVE Love is a decision! Say, “I love you” daily. Show love in words and actions.

Speaking of LOVE, I was blessed to be the winner of the Whittier Wildflowers Preschool mosaic at the raffle drawing for the Patchworks Foundation event in April. Each day, I look at this beautiful piece of art and think of the wonderful students, staff, and families. Whittier Wildflowers Preschool is a very special place. Thank you for creating this beautiful work of art!

Most sincerely,
Becky Danielson, M.Ed.
Licensed Parent & Family Educator

One-on-One Parenting is available for you! Email me at b.danielson@berrypatchschool.com with questions or to set up a time to meet.

Subscribe to the FREE monthly parenting newsletter available at FaithFirstParent.com. Receive a copy of Biblical Blessings when you subscribe April 15-May 1, 2017.

Sarah Yamaguchi 4/11/17 Sarah Yamaguchi 4/11/17

Manners Matter

Dear Whittier Wildflowers Preschool Families,

Manners matter. Children begin learning appropriate behaviors and social skills from mom and dad at an early age. Manners are powerful, both good manners and poor manners. Society may focus on the crass and unruly, but respect and polite behavior will always be in style. Truthfully, would you rather hang out with a friend who is polite or one who is rude?

Teaching manners goes far beyond please and thank you. Manners are not lessons a parent can just check off the “To Do List” like shoe tying. It might take a long time to master the skill but once the shoes can be tied, the child is on his way. Manner lessons go on, and on. And sometimes on, and on, and…well you get my drift! Even with teenagers, it’s a continual time of coaching. Here are a few tips to teaching manners.

Praise success. A little positive reinforcement can go a long way in strengthening a child’s desire to do well.
Verbalize your expectations. “We are having dinner at Grandma’s house tonight. I expect you to sit and the table, eat with a fork, and use a quiet voice.” Children generally desire to live up to Mom and Dad’s expectations.
With younger children, focus on one manner at a time. Concentrate on table manners then move to phone etiquette.
Give directions in the positive. For example, “Please take your elbows off the table” rather than “Don’t put your elbows on the table.”
Be tolerant of lapses but don’t overlook them. Use slip ups as teachable moments.
Make it fun! When my boys were little, I would pretend to be the rude friend that came for lunch and broke every rule in the book; elbows on the table, speaking with my mouth full, napkin left on the table, reaching across others for food. The boys would laugh themselves silly. Then we’d talk about what a polite table manners look like as compared to the rude friend.
Model kindness and polite behavior in all interactions with others.

Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.
Proverbs 22:6 ESV

Most sincerely,
Becky Danielson, M.Ed.
Licensed Parent & Family Educator

One-on-One Parenting is available for you! Email me at b.danielson@berrypatchschool.com with questions or to set up a time to meet.

Subscribe to the FREE monthly parenting newsletter available at FaithFirstParent.com. Receive a copy of Biblical Blessings when you subscribe April 15-May 1, 2017.

Sarah Yamaguchi 2/21/17 Sarah Yamaguchi 2/21/17

National Children’s Dental Health Month

Dear Whittier Wildflowers Preschool Families,

February is National Children’s Dental Health Month. Tooth decay is the most prevalent dental health problem for preschools. Cavities in baby teeth can affect permanent teeth, so it’s best to get a good start with caring for those cute smiles when children are young.

Keeping up on good dental hygiene is important for a number of reasons. The mouth is the first stop in the digestive system. Strong teeth allow for foods to be chewed into digestible pieces. The saliva mixes in and then it’s down to the tummy. When teeth are kept plague free, decay is less likely to occur. Plaque, a sticky, bacteria-filled substance, causes cavities. A bright, shiny smile is the goal!

11 Tips to Help Your Child Develop Good Dental Health Habits

• Use a soft bristled toothbrush. Brush teeth at least two times a day, morning and before bed. Supervise and help your child.

• Use fluoride toothpaste for children over two-years of age with no more than a grain of rice sized amount of paste pressed into the bristles of the brush. (Press it in so the paste isn’t rinsed down the drain.) Encourage children not to swallow the toothpaste.

• Model for your child how to use dental floss.

• Limit sugar consumption. Check labels, as there’s more sugar in our foods than we often realize.

• Water and white milk are the best drink options for children. Juice, sports drinks, lemonade, and pop contain sugar and acid that can harm tooth enamel.

• Raisins, Craisins, gummies, and other sticky treats easily catch between teeth and should be kept to a minimum.

• Have “tooth brush foods” available for snack time: raw carrots, celery, apples, and other healthy snacks with a crunch.

• Get in the habit of a quick “swish and swallow” after meals with water to rinse the mouth after meals and snacks.

• Don’t share eating utensils, cups, or plates. Germs are easily passed along.

• Schedule a check-up with the dentist at 12-18 months and every six months following for a cleaning and exam. Discuss the options with your child’s pediatrician and dentist.

• Let the child choose a fun toothbrush. Having a princess or a super hero help with the brushing is much more exciting.

Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you… 3 John 1:2a

Subscribe to the free parenting blogs available to Whittier Wildflowers Preschool families at 1Corinthians13Parenting.com and the brand new site, FaithFirstParent.com. Like the Faith First Parent Facebook page for encouragement, tips, and fun for faith-filled families!

Sarah Yamaguchi 9/22/16 Sarah Yamaguchi 9/22/16

On the topic of: PLAY

This month’s topic of interest is PLAY! It’s a vital part of your child’s job description and the basis of Whittier Wildflowers Preschool curriculum. Through play, children explore their world, growing socially, cognitively, and emotionally. This happens through both unstructured and structured playtime. Play is considered a best practice according to the National Association of Young Children (NAEYC). Please refer the following article for further information on the benefits of a play-based program. The NAEYC website is a wealth of information for families.

The Whittier Wildflowers staff strategically plans for learning through play with intentional activities prepared and centers available throughout the room for discovery. When your child announces he played all morning at school, he’s correct! Each activity is thoughtfully designed as a learning experience with a specific outcome.

What about playtime at home? It’s sometimes hard to resist the urge to fill in those empty spots on the family calendar with activities and classes for children. Instead, choose to play with your children or encourage them to play together! Here are the benefits.

Social Playtime offers children an opportunity to practice communication skills, learn to share, cooperate, resolve conflict, and build friendships. It’s a training ground for getting along with others.

Emotional While playing, children often act out emotions they are dealing with in life. This is a great time to help your child put words to feelings as well as guide in problem solving. Step in when necessary with comments like, “I see you’re frustrated when the tower you built out of blocks tips over. Let’s see what happens if the base is bigger.”

Cognitive Play provides hands on experiences, allowing your child to experiment and try new activities. When a skill is mastered, it can be built upon for more difficult tasks or applied to other areas of learning. Children are multi-sensory learners, using all five senses to investigate and examine their world. Developmental psychologist Erik H. Erikson stated, “The playing adult steps sideward into another reality; the playing child advances forward to new stages of mastery.”

Unstructured play, without Mom or Dad acting as cruise directors, fuels creativity. These playtimes incorporate social, emotional, and cognitive aspects of learning. Children will come up with fabulous games and adventures. Play is a child’s work. Allow time and freedom for children to explore, even if it gets a little messy the benefits are terrific.

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” —George Bernard Shaw

All the best for a wonderful start to the school year,
Becky Danielson, M.Ed.
Licensed Parent & Family Educator
b.danielson@berrypatchschool.com

Sarah Yamaguchi 8/18/16 Sarah Yamaguchi 8/18/16

2016-17 School Calendar

We're excited for the new school year and an up-to-date website to house all the information you'll need throughout the year! Check out the calendar for upcoming events at Whittier Wildflower Preschool. When you click on individual events, you can easily add them to your personal calendar. You can also find the calendar on the homepage for easy access. Happy last couple weeks of summer!