Reality Check Reality Check

For those of us who are no longer in a classroom on a daily basis, there is a great reality check that comes when you are responsible for li...

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11:01 AM

Appropriate Practices Appropriate Practices

I went to a preschool holiday music program yesterday. It was wonderful. Not wonderful in the sense that it was high entertainment with ch...

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2:39 PM

Give Books This Season Give Books This Season

The more I work with children the more I realize that one of the best gifts we can give a child is a book or books. Children's Literatu...

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7:20 PM

The Need for Nurturing The Need for Nurturing

I took my son today to get his wisdom teeth taken out by an oral surgeon. We left the dental office with a list of instructions for the nex...

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2:04 PM

Social Emotional Skills Social Emotional Skills

A critical piece of teaching children social and emotional behavior skills is to do just that-teach the skills. Many adults wait until a ch...

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11:59 AM

Designing Supportive Environments Designing Supportive Environments

In my last entry I mentioned that the most critical piece of the social emotional aspect of early childhood is building positive relationshi...

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11:36 AM

Building Positive Relationships Building Positive Relationships

I was in Tennessee last week visiting with the wonderful preschool teachers in Murfreesboro School District. There is nothing in this world...

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4:55 AM

Harvest Time Harvest Time

Fall is a beautiful time of year. I was discussing with my children's literature classes this week the book, "The Oxcart Man,"...

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9:08 AM

Dots Dots

If you haven't had the opportunity to read the picture book, "The Dot," by Paul Reynolds, you need to do so. It makes me thin...

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8:40 PM

Uncle! Uncle!

This REALLY has not been my week! Even though I was recovering from my running incident, I went on a scheduled vacation to Hawaii. My firs...

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11:44 AM

Ouch! Ouch!

I was out for a run yesterday and got hit by a car. Actually, the car backed into me and because I was running I did a left-side nose dive ...

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3:59 PM

Time Goes By... Time Goes By...

My oldest son turned 30 today. It seems impossible that I have a child that age! Especially since I still feel like I just turned 30 mysel...

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9:18 PM

Lost Teeth Lost Teeth

My granddaughter lost her first baby tooth this past week. Such a growing-up milestone! When your my age, losing a tooth would be a growin...

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10:42 AM

Making Cupcakes Making Cupcakes

My California grandchildren were in town this past week. I was lucky enough to get to babysit my 2 month-old granddaughter and my 3 1/2 yea...

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8:21 AM

BPOE BPOE

I know that there is a national club that has BPOE all over their facilities. I was always told that the acronym stood for "Best Peopl...

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12:49 PM

Does the Paint Come Out? Does the Paint Come Out?

A local group of preschool teachers and directors asked me to come and show the art materials (paint mostly) that are available at Discount ...

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7:52 PM

Starting School Starting School

My oldest granddaughter started kindergarten on Monday. I talked with her on the phone at the end of the day and asked how she liked the fi...

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3:35 PM

Childhood Obesity Childhood Obesity

We definitely have an obesity epidemic in our country. I recently researched the topic for a presentation and was sad to learn that close t...

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2:47 PM

Collaboration Collaboration

I recently attended some early childhood meetings in California. As part of a retreat with an early childhood organization, one of the main...

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4:16 PM

Fine Motor Questions Fine Motor Questions

Lisa's comments on my last post are very true. PreK-K teachers are so worried about meeting objectives right now that they forget how c...

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5:11 PM

Building the Foundation Building the Foundation

We are getting a new kitchen today. The kitchen was entirely gutted and now workmen are busily putting in new cabinets. I was interested i...

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10:42 AM

Dramatic Play Dramatic Play

If you take a few moments to observe most early childhood children, it is evident that dramatic play is critical. Children love to act like...

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1:38 PM

Family Field Trips Family Field Trips

This is the time of year when many families and groups take small vacations or driving trips. For preschool children, these trips can be lo...

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8:49 AM

Activity is a Key Activity is a Key

It is sad that our nation has such a high percentage of children with obesity issues. Certainly the American diet is a big culprit, but ina...

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9:45 AM

Ready for School? Ready for School?

I had a conversation with a friend of mine the other day about her son starting school. He will be five on September 1st, which is the cut-o...

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6:21 PM

Holding Hands Holding Hands

Sometimes it overwhelms me how many skills a parent needs to a good parent. As nice as it is to come into parenting well-prepared, I think ...

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9:05 AM

Guidelines ARE Necessary Guidelines ARE Necessary

Last week I attended the NAEYC Professional Developmental Institute in San Antonio. One thing that came across loud and clear is that we kn...

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8:56 PM

Preschool Rocks! Preschool Rocks!

Check out the following from the University of Chicago Chronicle: Consortium will review study data to identify best investments in childre...

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1:30 PM

Good Luck in California Good Luck in California

The state of California is taking the opportunity to vote on a proposition to create a universal preschool. I wish the proponents of this p...

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2:56 PM

Aloha Aloha

I had the opportunity to spend a few days in Hawaii. I've checked out some of the early childhood resources and settings there. One pl...

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12:35 PM

The Beginning and the End The Beginning and the End

I had to place my mother in an Alzheimer's unit last year. It has been difficult to watch her slowly disappear as the disease progresse...

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1:22 PM

May Day Reflections May Day Reflections

Today is May Day. Someone on the Today show asked if anyone was going to be dancing around the Maypole. I don't suppose you find that ce...

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4:37 PM

Good People! Good People!

I have had the opportunity to give workshops at a number of AEYC conferences the past few months. One thing is always evident. Early Childho...

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12:10 PM

"He's afraid of kids, right?" "He's afraid of kids, right?"

I recently acquired several cats at my home. My four year-old granddaughter came to visit and pet the cats. One of our cats does not like ch...

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7:59 PM

That time of year... That time of year...

This is the time of year when teachers begin to madly assess children in order to report to each parent about their child's progress. I ...

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9:50 AM

Spring Blossoms Spring Blossoms

I have a huge apricot tree in my yard. This past week blossoms began appearing, a little early but just as beautiful as they are each year. ...

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7:12 PM

Professional Development Professional Development

Last week I presented at the Indiana AEYC and the Utah AEYC Conferences. I am always amazed at the effort that many early childhood professi...

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9:07 AM

It's a Wrap! It's a Wrap!

The Utah Legislature will finish up their session for the year tonight (yeah!). Another year of struggling to fund everything and decide whe...

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9:17 AM

Are We Improving? Are We Improving?

Yesterday I got a new grandson. A cute little guy who will come home to two older sisters. As I was holding him in the hospital, I was think...

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1:48 PM

Yes, I guess funding is an issue... Yes, I guess funding is an issue...

My suggestion in a previous post was that some of our early childhood woes come from lack of commitment on the part of our lawmakers. While ...

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8:20 AM

Road Map to Success Road Map to Success

I have been writing an article for the magazine, "Early Childhood News." The article is about using preschool state standards, as ...

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1:01 PM

Is funding the issue? Is funding the issue?

Whenever I have spoken with legislators and other government officials, I always get the story that funding is the reason that they do not i...

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1:16 PM

Funding, Funding..... Funding, Funding.....

Numerous studies continue to show how important it is to invest in early childhood. Study and study has shown that the investment of resourc...

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2:25 PM

Sequential Order of Skills Sequential Order of Skills

While attending the NAEYC conference recently in D.C., I was able to introduce many preschool teachers to the new POCET program that is a pr...

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9:19 AM
 
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