Avoiding dinnertime battles with our children

Parenting (cont.) Top Brain Foods for Children Slideshow Children's Illnesses Slideshow Pictures Take the ADHD Quiz Medical Author: Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD  Medical Editor: William C. Shiel Jr., MD, FACP, FACR  SHARE THIS ARTICLE: FACEBOOKTWITTEREMAILPRINT IN THIS ARTICLE Introduction to healthy parenting What are the 10 principles of good parenting? How can parents avoid the dinnertime battle with their children? How can parents fit in family fitness? Babies FAQs Parenting Index How can parents avoid the dinnertime battle with their children? Comment on thisShare Your Story Still, there are some gentle ways parents can nudge their kids toward more healthful eating habits. Here are a few thoughts from nationally knownnutrition experts on how to get kids to go from being picky eaters to people with sound, varied diets: Avoid a mealtime power struggle. One of the surest ways to win the battle but lose the war is to engage in a power struggle with your child over food, says Jody Johnston Pawel, LSW, CFLE, author of The Parent's Toolshop. With power struggles, you're saying, "Do it because I'm the parent" and that's a rationale that won't work for long, she says. But if your child understands the why behind the rules, those values can lay the groundwork for a lifetime of sound food choices. Let kids participate. Get a stepstool and ask your kids to lend a hand with easy tasks in the kitchen, says Sal Severe, PhD, author of How to Behave So Your Children Will, Too. "If they participate in helping to make the meal, they are more likely to want to try it," he says. Older children and teens can begin to prepare special meals or dishes by themselves. Get teens started learning to prepare healthy foods before it's time to live on their own. Don't label. Severe reminds parents that, more often than not, kids under 5 are going to be selective eaters. "Being selective is actually normal," says Elizabeth Ward, MS, RD. She prefers the term "limited eater" to the more negative term "picky." Build on the positives. "When I sit down with parents, we'll often find that their child actually does eat two or three things from each food group," says Ward. Just as children can get comfort from reading the same story over and over, they enjoy having a set of "predictable" foods. "Even though they aren't getting a wide variety of foods, they are actually doing OK nutritionally," says Ward. When the child goes through a growth spurt and has a bigger appetite, use that opportunity to introduce new foods, she recommends. Expose, expose, expose. Ward says a child needs to be exposed to a new food 10 to 15 times before he or she will accept it. But many parents give up long before that. So, even if your child only plays with the strawberry on her plate, don't give up. One day, she just may surprise you by taking a bite. But don't go overboard, says Severe. Limit exposure to one or two new foods a week. Don't bribe. Avoid using sweets as a bribe to get kids to eat something else, says Pawel. That can send the message that doing the right thing should involve an external reward as well as reinforces the pattern that eating unhealthy foods is a good way to reward yourself . The real reward of sound nutrition is a healthy body, not a chocolate cupcake. Beware of oversnacking. Sometimes the problem isn't that the child doesn't like new foods but that they are already full, says Ward. "Kids can consume a lot of their calories as milk and juice." Encourage the kids to drink water rather than juice when they're thirsty. You can also create flavored waters by adding a splash of their favorite juice to sparkling or still water. The same goes for snacks that provide little more than calories, such as chips, sweets, and sodas. "If you are going to offer snacks, make sure they are supplementing meals, not sabotaging them," she says. Establish limits. Having a set of bottom-line limits can help a parent provide some consistency, says Pawel. For example, parents may require that kids eat nutritious foods before snack food. Or that they must at least try a new food before rejecting it. "Consistency only works if what you are doing in the first place is reasonable," she says. So, avoid overly controlling or overly permissive eating rules. If bottom-line limits are healthy, effective, and balanced, they'll pay off. Examine your role model. Make sure you aren't asking kids to "do as I say, not as I do," says Pawel. If your own diet is based mainly on fat, sugar, and salt, you can hardly expect your child to embrace a dinner salad over French fries. Defuse mealtimes. Don't make your child's eating habits part of the mealtime discussion, says Ward. Otherwise every meal becomes a stressful event, centered on what the child does and does not eat. Ward suggests that parents reserve talks about the importance of good eating for later, perhaps at bedtime or story time. Give it time. "I find that children become much more open to trying new foods after the age of 5," says Ward. "Most of the time, kids will simply grow out of limited eating." Medically Reviewed by a Doctor on 1/30/2012

http://www.medicinenet.com/parenting/page3.htm#how_can_parents_avoid_the_dinnertime_battle_with_their_children

Christmas Carols from Hoopla Kidz

These are some Christmas carols we are singing in the classroom :) Enjoy!

Santa's Elves

Jingle Bells

Outer Space: "I'm A Star," The Stars Song by StoryBots

Learn Shape Star video | Math video for kids

We are also learning about Stars!

The Number 3

This month we are going to learn the number 3 

The Number 3 Story

Learning red!

Green

Counting 1 to 10

Painting in Zip lock bags

Paint Bag Writing

by AMY on OCTOBER 6, 2009

Learning to write letters and numbers can be frustrating for little hands!  I like to offer lots of play activities that help build those fine motor skills in a relaxed, fun way. Toddlers and up will enjoy making shapes, swirls, and even letters on a plastic bag filled with paint.

To make your own paint bag writing tablet, put some finger paint or tempera paint into a sturdy freezer zip-top plastic bag.  Seal it well and smoosh the paint around the entire bag.  (You could even add a strip of packing tape across the top if you are worried about your child opening the bag.)  That’s it!

We like to tape ours down to the table so it doesn’t wiggle around too much.  Try doodling and writing with your finger first.  Your child may also enjoy using a cotton swab to write with.  When your tablet is full of scribbles (or sight words for older kids), smoosh and smear the paint around and start over.  No mess, just fun!

Happy playing!

http://lets-explore.net/blog/2009/10/paint-bag-writing/

Parents' Evening today!

Tonight is Parents Evening and we are very looking forward to see you all :) Please be on time so that no one is left disappointed! Thank you all!

Electrical safety videos

Isfar

Blu

 

 

Baby Einstein - Baby Newton - Discovering Shapes Episode

Let's count squares

Yellow song

Learn about yellow

Yellow!

Learn about squares

Meet Mr. Blue and Sing the song of B L U E

As From next Tuesday, we are going to start Blue Week!

 

 

 

 

 

Number 2 and square

During the next 4 weeks, we are going to start Learning about : The Number 2 and The Square Shape

Number 2 Sesame Street Video clip

Great Shapes song!

This is my favourite pumpkin - action song

Recipe to do at home - Pumpkin pop tarts

This is a yummy recipe for this Halloween

Pumpkin Poptarts
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 package refrigerated pie crust

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoon milk
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, sugar, and egg. Unroll pie crusts, cut the edges off to make a large square, then cut the pie crust into three equal rectangles (about 2″ x 3″). Spoon a small amount of pumpkin mixture into the center of one of the rectangles, taking care to not let the filling ooze near the edges. Use a small paring knife to carve jack-o-lantern faces into a second rectangle. Gently lay the carved piece over the pumpkin filling, then press the edges firmly together with a fork. Transfer to a cookie sheet and bake in an oven preheated to 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes, or just until the edges of the poptart begin to turn golden brown.

In a large bowl, mix together the powdered sugar, milk, corn syrup, and vanilla. Drizzle glaze over hot pumpkin poptarts. Allow to cool on a cooling rack before serving.

http://www.babble.com/best-recipes/kids-cooking/halloween-recipes-kids-treats-party-food/pumpkin-pop-tarts/

Brush Your Teeth

Acoustic Family Song - My Family and ME!

Muffin Songs - Do Your Ears Hang Low? | nursery rhymes & children songs...

halloween educational games

There are various acitivities and printables on disney junior for this festive season.
 •Halloween activities and games

http://www.thekidzpage.com/freekidsgames/games/memory/pumpkinpatch.swf

 •
This a very good game to increase children's memory skills.





http://www.thekidzpage.com/freeonlinetoys/jackolantern-dressup/index.html



•
This is a fun game to revise words like eyes, nose, ears and mouth which we have been learning in the topic - Myself and to make it even better -- Its a Halloween Pumpkin face!




http://funschool.kaboose.com/fun-blaster/halloween/
 
This link is packed with loads of fun and educational games for Halloween!

•Bubble guppies halloween party game -

  http://www.nickjr.com/kids-games/bubble-guppies-halloween-party.html

Who am I ? Interactive game --  http://www.starfall.com/n/level-b/me/load.htm?f

Kif inhossni

 

 

 

Halloween Numbers Song for Kids

5 Little Pumpkins Sitting on a Gate : Halloween Songs for Children

Today we started learning about Halloween :)

Barney and friends my senses

five senses song

Learn Shapes - Circle

This month we are learning about the circle. What can you see that is a circle?

When I Grow Up

Feelings

 

We love our pets!

 Today we had the blessing of our pets at school! We really enjoyed it!

Parts of a teacher

 

Since we are learning about parts of the body - I thought I'd upload this picture because it's so sweet!

 

 

Is-sensi u Idejja - songs in Maltese

 

I am uploading these 2 videos because I am singing these songs to them in the classroom. You can use these videos to sing the songs with them at home. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rain, Rain, Go Away! from Super Simple Songs

Language development

Teaching Your Child to Talk…There’s No App for That

You might be surprised how simple it is to support language development…..and set the stage for even more advantages in the future!

Years ago, researchers Betty Hart, PhD and Todd Risley, PhD of the University of Kansas, uncovered some amazing results from a very in-depth study of young children (0-3), their caregivers, and their conversations.  After three years of observing 42 families from across a varied socio-economic pool, and examining the more than 1,300 hours of interactions they had recorded, they discovered a great deal about language, but also made some surprising connections along the way.

They were already aware of one well-known finding:  There’s an academic divide across the socio-economic landscape that shows kids from more affluent homes succeeding in schools and kids from poorer homes struggling.  But the next thing they uncovered was more surprising.  The connection to academic success may not come directly from income, rather from something that is absolutely free.  Words.

The researchers found that children in affluent homes heard more words per day than the children from lower SES brackets.  Children from families on welfare were exposed to just over 600 words in an hour of interactions.  Children from working-class homes were exposed to over 1,200 words in that same amount of time.  Topping them all, however, were the children from professional class families, who heard over 2,100 words in an average hour.  Over the course of the first three years of life, that’s a difference of millions of words. 

Now here’s the best part.  Hart and Risley asserted that families from the lower SES brackets who talked like the families in the higher SES brackets had children who performed in school like those higher SES kids.  It was the accumulation of conversations that increased their learning abilities, not the accumulation of wealth.

Considering the seriousness of the educational disparity along socio-economic lines, it’s almost shocking to think that that disparity could be lessened or even erased with something so simple, so accessible as WORDS.

WORDS: How many?  What Kind?

According to Hart and Risley, the optimal input of words in a young child’s day totals around 30,000 words.  That seems like a lot.  But it can come from a lot of sources.  Reading and discussing books at story time could easily yield 2,000 words.  Talking during diaper changes and meal times could increase that total exponentially.  But there is one source of verbal input that was NOT shown to add to those totals:  TV. While there are plenty of words coming from the screen, those words didn’t carry the same benefits as words shared in a conversation with an adult (or even older children) with whom the child shared a relationship.

As Dr. Khanh-Van Le-Bucklin, M.D., an academic pediatrician with the University of California, Irvine has been quoted, “I tell parents that the best toy they can give their children is themselves.  No educational toy, TV program or video can positively affect a child’s development like time spent with an engaged and talking adult.”

While examining hours and hours of conversations, Hart and Risley also looked at the types of conversations that were taking place.  They found that the caregivers who ended up tallying lower numbers of words per day were most often speaking to the child in directives.  “Put on your coat.“  “Get in the car.”  “Go eat your dinner.”  But those who hit the ideal 30,000 word mark were those who engaged the child in conversation and narrated their experiences through the day with descriptive language.

Consider this alternative to the low-yield directive, “Put on your coat.“:

“It’s time to go see Grammy!  But first we need to get your coat on.  It’s so cold and windy today.  Can you see those trees?  See their branches moving?  It’s so windy!  Brrr!  Let’s get your coat!   Let’s put one arm in…..there’s your hand!  Now the other arm……there’s your hand!  Now we need to ziiiiiiip it up!  Do you want your hood on or off?  On?  There you go!  You looks so warm now!  I should put on my jacket too……”

A four word directive turns into an 80+ word experience!  It’s easy to see how quickly the disparity between directive caregivers and conversational caregivers can grow.  According to the research it can be the difference of 8 million words a year!

Can you imagine if we were talking about calories?  If we were discussing the difference between kids who got the necessary 30,000 “calories” a day vs the kids were were only getting 5,000?  In that context we can see that there are children who are absolutely starving for words!

I firmly believe that parents want what’s best for their kids.  I don’t think there’s anyone out there who is intentionally withholding words in the hopes of stunting their child’s development.  There are many things that may lead a parent to talk more or less to their children.  Work schedules, stress, illness, and childcare options can be big roadblocks, and we don’t always have full control over them.

But I also believe there are simpler roadblocks, like awareness, that we can try to remove.  Today.  We can start today by being aware of the distractions that are stealing precious conversations (TV, phones, rushed schedules) while at the same time becoming more aware of the many opportunities for conversations in the everyday moments of our lives.

Here are 5 Ways to Build Early Language Skills:

• Recognize Cues…and Respond! - Even infants and preverbal toddlers participate in the give-and-take “dance” of conversation.  If you don’t think so, check out this video or this one.  Learn to recognize when children are making attempts to communicate.  Making eye-contact, cooing, even hand tapping can be attempts to engage you.  Respond by talking or by mirroring the child’s attempts.  The simple act of taking turns cuing and responding lays the first foundation for conversation.

• Become a Sportscaster - Give a verbal play-by-play to describe what’s going on in your child’s daily experiences.  Talk through the steps as you dress your child, prepare a bath, or serve up dinner.  This is great for giving your child meaningful words in their natural context (as you see in this video, the word “water” was learned through interactions in — surprise!– the kitchen and bathroom).  As an added bonus, this technique also keeps little ones engaged during periods where they might otherwise become impatient!

• Be Present, Be Patient - Perhaps the biggest threat to young children getting enough words each day is the busyness and distraction that engulf us.  On the flip side, the best way to bring words into the lives of our children is to be truly present and aware of what they are paying attention to.  When we give them the words in the moments that hold the most meaning for them, the impact is powerful.  But we have to slow down, be aware, and take the time to talk at a comfortable, natural pace.

• Remember to Pause -  With all this focus on exposing kids to enough words each day, it’s easy to get caught up and overload kids with words.  But quiet is important too.  We have to give kids a chance to contribute as well — whether verbally or nonverbally.  Without remembering to pause, we’re only talking AT children, not WITH them, and we sadly miss the mark.  (Read more about this technique from a fabulous post about the Perfect Pause from The Little Stories.)

• Collect Drops in a Bucket - Remember that children accumulate their verbal abilities one word at a time.  It’s like adding drops of water to a bucket.  Each one seems small and insignificant, but as they accumulate over time, soon you find they’re overflowing!  As we see from the research, simple differences on a daily or even hourly basis may not seem like much in the moment, but over the course of a childhood, it adds up to a difference of millions of words.  And with those words, a world of opportunity opens up.

http://notjustcute.com/2013/09/24/teaching-your-child-to-talk-theres-no-app-for-that/#more-10806

Article about - Sensory play

A Handful of Fun: Why Sensory Play is Important for Preschoolers

(Please, please, feel free to print and share this article with parents and teachers! Simply cite the source as Amanda Morgan, www.notjustcute.com.)

 Think of your average preschooler.  How long has this child been proficient with language?  Depending on the age, the child may not really be too proficient yet!  Others seem to have been talking non-stop since 2 1/2, but that means they’ve been talking now for all of…..about a year!  Now think of how long these children have been seeing, smelling, hearing, feeling, and tasting.  Their whole lives!  Children are wired to receive and utilize sensory input from day one.  This is why children will dive in hands first, exploring a new substance.  The senses are their most familiar, most basic way to explore, process, and come to understand new information.

This is why we must allow young children to learn through experience, not just lecture.  These children need to use their senses and be engaged in meaningful experiences.  As we talk with them about what they are observing and sensing, we give them new language tools to connect with these more familiar sensory tools, building language as well as supporting cognitive concepts specific to the experience. 

Now, the flip side to this equation is important to remember as well.  Just as children learn through their senses, they also are developing the ability to use those senses and are building the neurological pathways associated with each one.  With added sensory experiences, combined with the scaffolding of adults and peers, children become more perceptive.  Their sensory intake and processing becomes more acute.  As they are better able to use their senses, they are then better able to learn through their senses.

Sensory play is really part of the scientific process.  Whether out loud or within the internal dialogue of the mind, children have developed a question, leading them to investigate- by grabbing, smelling, listening, rubbing, staring, licking , what have you!  They are using their senses to collect data and from that, attempt to answer their own questions.  Whether or not young children are always able to verbally communicate this process, it is still a valid exercise in scientific inquiry.

The sensory table is the usually the first place people think of for sensory play.  That’s logical, as the term “sensory” is shared by both.  The sensory table certainly stands as an open invitation for hands-on exploration, but it is not the only place where the senses come into play.  Throughout the preschool room and throughout the preschooler’s day, there are appeals being made to the five senses.  The sound of toppling towers in the block area, the feel of finger-paint sliding under their fingertips, the glow of the Light Brite at the small manip table, the smell of cinnamon playdough.  As teachers, the more we can attend to the sensory involvement of our planned activities, the more our children will be engaged and the more they will learn. 

For example, when discussing the need for warm clothes in the winter time, we can simply tell children about it, or we can have them hold ice cubes, one in a bare hand, and one in a gloved hand, let them really feel the difference and then meaningfully attach a verbal discussion to the sensory experience.

Back at the sensory table, we can find many more benefits to sensory play.  That bin of sand, or foam, orcolorful rice is more than just another way to keep kids busy, it is a bustling factory of developmental growth.  In addition to honing sensory and science skills, sensory play builds language, social, and dramatic play skills as the children negotiate with one another to share tools, create stories, and build dialogues.  Both small and large motor skills get a boost as well, as the children manipulate the medium and tools of the day.  Creative, divergent thinking is displayed as the children are essentially invited to explore and come up with new ways to use the materials.  Cognitive skills are fostered as well as the children learn about specific concepts pertinent to the bin’s contents.  Things like gravity, parts of plants, states of matter, and color mixing are easily explored and understood through sensory play.  As you teach appropriate boundaries with sensory play, children develop more self-control and body awareness.

As one of the truest open-ended activities, sensory play provides an opportunity for every child to succeed.  No matter whether you are gifted or delayed, learning a new language or mastering your first, you can’t really fail with a bin full of beans or a ball of playdough.  Children who struggle to succeed or who are apprehensive about failure often find solace in sensory play.  The simple act of pouring water or running fingers through rice is often cathartic and calming to many children who may be struggling emotionally.  It can soothe the nervous child, distract the homesick child, and serve as an outlet for the angry child.  For children with special needs and sensory integration disorders, sensory play may be particularly therapeutic. (Please note that we must also avoid over-stimulation in many sensitive children.  Special attention must also be paid to children with sensory integration disorder and properly recognizing their thresholds.)

We often think of the sensory table as being a tactile activity, which it largely is, but the other senses come into play as well!  The tapping sounds of popcorn kernels hitting the bin, the pungent smell of baking soda and vinegar at work, the sight of separating colors as tinted water, oil, and syrup are mixed together are all sensory experiences that can be tapped at the sensory table.  Taste sometimes finds less desirable ways to sneak in at the table as well, though taste-tests can also be properly planned as fantastic sensory experiences!

Find ways to optimize sensory play for your children.  Whether that’s providing a bin of sand to explore, giving your child a dish wand and plastic dishes to “wash” at the sink, or finding ways to integrate the senses into your other activities, provide space and time for sensory play!  It’s a natural and satisfying way to explore and learn!

http://notjustcute.com/2010/03/24/a-handful-of-fun-why-sensory-play-is-important-for-preschoolers/