When a devastating 7.0-magnitude earthquake rocked Haiti nearly two months ago, all schools in Port-au-Prince collapsed. Haitian children who survived the earthquake experienced trauma that could negatively affect them for life.

To help restore children’s sense of well-being, Kaplan Early Learning Company has partnered with Mercy Corps and the Bright Horizons Foundation for Children, a global workplace childcare provider, to bring comfort to displaced children.

The Comfort for Kids counseling methodology was first developed in New York by Mercy Corps and Bright Horizons to help children recover from the trauma of 9/11. Subsequently, Mercy Corps has used Comfort for Kids to help children recover from the China and Peru earthquakes and Hurricane Katrina.

Over 4,000 Comfort Kits, assembled and delivered to Haiti by Kaplan Early Learning Company, have now been distributed Mercy Corps.  Presented in small, child-friendly backpacks, Comfort Kits are designed to promote emotional security, comfort, and basic developmental support to infants, toddlers and preschoolers. The youngest children received kits that include a stuffed animal, toys, and a book. Preschoolers received kits that include a stuffed animal, crayons, books, a doll and play people.

Watch this moving video of Mercy Corps workers handing out Comfort Kits (small, child-friendly backpacks stuffed with blankets, soft stuffed animals, toothbrushes, crayons, paper, and other comforting items) to the children in Haiti.

To lay the groundwork for longer-term recovery, Mercy Corps recently announced a partnership with Haiti's First Lady, Elisabeth Delacourt Préval, to implement Comfort for Kids trainings for adult caregivers. The First Lady and UNICEF will organize “safe spaces” in camps to run arts, sports and music activities for children, while Mercy Corps will run simultaneous sessions — in French and Creole — to educate parents and caregivers about child symptoms of trauma and how they can be addressed.

Over the years, I have seen many families face the dilemma of what to do for child care when their child, who has been going to the same daycare center for 4 years, will be going to elementary school.  If the center your child attends has a school-age after school program with transportation provided, it may be an easy decision but, if not, you will need to start your search for the perfect program for your child.

Start your search by asking neighbors, friends and family about which after school programs they are using and which programs they recommend. If you are new to the area, call your child’s school and they will have a list of centers where their students go. It could be local In-Home centers, Daycare centers, a local church, or they may even host a program directly in the school. Some counties have child care locator services. With your list compiled, all you need to do is find the right program.

Fortunately for you, competition in the after school market over the past few years has been a catalyst for all programs to step up their game. Programs that were once just a “Stay & Play” have had to change their ways to remain competitive. While recreation should be a component of the program, it shouldn’t necessarily be all that the children do. Family schedules are hectic, so one component to look for is homework time. With sports, boy/girl scouts, and various clubs, families have limited time together. If homework is completed in the after school program, it allows for more family time. Another component is curriculum. What curriculum do they use? Is it age-appropriate? Is it aligned with what they will be doing in the regular school day? How is it balanced with other activities? If it is a program that is housed away from the school campus, ask how the children are transported. Do the buses pick-up and drop off? Does the facility provide transportation via a van or bus? Do you even want your child being transported? Do your homework and visit each center so you can get a feel for the program. Make sure each program is clean and welcoming. How do the teachers speak to the children? What do they do on a typical day (schedule)? How long do activities last? How are different ages grouped? Do they have a current license? What kind of teacher turn-over do they have? Do they offer snacks? There are enough questions to make your head spin. How will you remember all of them? In order to simplify this process, you will need to tackle it the same way you would go about eating your average four-ton elephant, piece-by-piece. This elephant-sized task must be broken up into pieces in order for successful completion.

1. Write down all available options (In-home, daycare center, program at school, etc.
2. Write down a list of interview questions to include topics such as: health, safety and emergencies, daily schedule, hours of operation, availability, cost, learning opportunities, homework time, and teacher to student ratios… and ask for references! This step can be done over the phone or if you have time schedule a time to see the program (remember a picture is worth a thousand words!). It wouldn’t hurt to bring your child along.
3. Check those references. Not only can you get additional information from another parent’s perspective, you can also get to know the other parents at the center.
4. Ask your child for their input. After all, it is your child that will have to be there every day.

Remember that after all of your research, above everything else, you need to make sure your child is happy. But beware what you wish for. In a recent survey I administered to our families, I found one parent’s response that warmed my heart and made me laugh at the same time…

“My son is in 1st grade, and he cries and yells if I pick him up too early. He gets his homework done (most of the time) and he loves the art and free play-time. I wish it wasn't as much fun. Maybe I could get him home earlier :)”

Contributed by John Putnam, Director of Logistics, AlphaBEST Education, Inc.

AlphaBEST Education, Inc. designs and operates academically focused extended day programs that offer opportunities for elementary school students to learn, develop, explore, and have fun beyond the normal school day in a safe, educational environment.  Our safe, caring, child-centered programs meet the needs of families and schools. Our academically enriched extended day programs are interactive and engaging for children to promote life long learning. AlphaBEST's team of trusted educational professionals values their role in creating a well balanced atmosphere for children to build pathways to success.  To learn more visit http://www.alphabest.org.

Preschool programs across the country are becoming more and more diverse.  Teachers want to support the home languages of the children in their classrooms while giving their English-speaking children the benefits of learning new languages. There are some surprisingly easy first steps that any teacher can take to help all of her children learn the languages of their friends and neighbors. Let’s get started! 

GREETINGS: Talk to each family to find out exactly what language the child speaks at home so you can plan for their first day of school.  Ask parents or volunteers to teach you how to use the greetings that are meaningful to the children in your program.  Learn how to pronounce each child’s name – it is important to their self esteem. Everyone in your program should know how to greet each other in the different languages to create an environment that welcomes diversity. 

SURVIVAL WORDS:  Think of about twenty words that will help any child feel more comfortable on his or her first day.  Words to try: yes, no, bathroom, eat, drink, stop, come, hurt, help, clean up, good job and ‘mommy will be here soon’.  Send the list home with the parents – even include a small voice recorder.  Ask them to write or record the correct pronunciation.  It’s important for the teacher to establish basic communication with each new child.  It is even better if all of the children can learn a few words to help their new friends.  And, these words are much more useful than learning the days of the week or counting to ten!  Make new words easier to learn by adding them to a song or chant.

FUNCTIONAL VOCABULARY:  Once you get started, you will find that all children are interested in learning the languages of their friends – but it takes practice.  As you are adding to everyone’s vocabulary, try to include words they will actually use several times a day in play, during regular class activities, at mealtimes, greetings or goodbyes. What words do children need to know – or WANT to know – so they can play and learn together?  If they love the block area – introduce words like help, build, up, down, tall, short, long, and “watch out!”.  If you serve family style meals, think about practicing terms like hot, cold, good, not good, cup, plate, fork, spoon, napkin, more, please, no, thank you, and all finished.  Focus on words you and the children will use every day.  Post pronunciation cue cards or labels to help the staff remember the useful new words.  Use some of the great photo resources available in the Kaplan catalog to illustrate and facilitate communication among all languages.  Real photographs and authentic props help children learn by building on prior knowledge.

DIVERSITY COMMITTEE:  Get parents and community members involved.  A diversity committee is a great way to invite parents of different backgrounds to work together for your program.  They can find resources and materials in different languages.  They can also review translated materials to make sure they are correct, and right for the audience. Ask them to share their culture in the classroom with songs, poems, stories, recipes and games they remember from their childhood. These collaborative activities will help immigrant parents practice their English while English-speaking parents can learn the languages their children are learning. Everybody wins! 

Karen Nemeth is the author of Many Languages, One Classroom: Teaching Dual and English Language Learners (Gryphon House, 2009) She earned her BA in Psychology from William Paterson University and her M.Ed. in Learning, Cognition and Development from Rutgers University. She has been a teacher and a teacher educator for more than 25 years, and has presented at national, state, and local conferences on topics related to first and second language development. She is on the executive board of NJ Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages/NJ Bilingual Educators and is co-coordinator of the Early Childhood Special Interest Group. Currently, she teaches at William Paterson University and consults with programs throughout the country. For more information about young English language learners, visit her website at http://www.languagecastle.com.

Parent involvement is much more than a school full of parents. For parent involvement to be truly effective, schools must strive to draw in parents from all walks of life in order to share research-based reading strategies. Students will be able to reach their full academic potential when schools engage parents and empower them with effective strategies they can use at home. 

Laura Beaver and Jill Nolen, natives of North Carolina, have a combined 30 years experience in education. They have worked as regular classroom teachers as well as specialists for struggling and gifted students. While teaching across the hall from each other, Beaver and Nolen pursued their dream of writing a book.  In 2004, they published Into the Tub, a children’s book that includes research-based reading strategies for parents to use during story time.  Beaver and Nolen began spending after-hours time together outside the classroom doing book signings to promote this book.  Soon, this energetic pair found themselves traveling across the nation training educators on how to empower parents with the tools they need to help their children become successful readers. 

Their vision of parent involvement is much more than simply having a school full of parents...it is also about making sure that all parents walk away from the school empowered to use research-based reading strategies with their children. Their message applies to any parent – from a poverty-stricken teenage mother to a busy, middle-class father, from a grandmother raising her grandchildren to a well-educated lawyer.  They believe parents should walk away from every parent involvement event with strategies to make a positive impact on their child’s academic success.  By sharing strategies based on research in parent-friendly terms and by modeling strategies with parents so they can easily use them at home with their children, educators can draw in parents by the dozens. 

Over the past few years, Beaver and Nolen have created a variety of materials that are being used by schools as part of their parent involvement initiative. Learn how to draw in parents by the dozens by offering interactive, non-threatening evens, such as hunting for hidden treasures, building model cars or even making pepperoni pizzas.  With just a few clicks, you will be well on your way to a perfectly planned workshop at your school with a Parent Workshop Survival Kit.  And you can draw in parents by the dozens with Family Fun Events for all ages.  Planning parent involvement events for Pre-K to Grade 5 has never been so easy!

Jill and Laura have conducted school-based and district-wide staff developments across the U.S. sharing their vision and inspiring educators to become better partners with their parents. Request training information for your staff and let Jill and Laura help your school develop a new vision of parent involvement. Their contagious enthusiasm and practical solutions will leave you with a smile on your face, a stitch in your side and the knowledge and passion to empower your parents with the tools they need to help their children succeed.

A few nights ago, I attended a concert at a local high school. The choir sang and the symphonic orchestra and band played wonderful music. As I watched the teenagers perform so beautifully, I became teary-eyed. Seeing children – no matter what age- involved in music brings me great joy.    

Music experiences are especially important for young children because they affect every area of development. Dr. Howard Gardner cites music as the first of the seven multiple intelligences to surface. [Gardner, H. (1985). Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences] According to Gardner, musical-rhythmic learners are sensitive to nonverbal sounds and are very much aware of tone, pitch and timbre. Using rhythm, chanting, and songs with children can increase their attention and interest while motivating them to learn.

Why should a child learn music?  Simply ask a reading teacher who needs children to understand sequencing or a science teacher who is teaching about sound.  Or ask a math teacher who understands musical time signatures or a dance instructor who needs students to hear the beat!

Music can be used to teach math, language and listening skills.  It can help children understand science.  It develops coordination and helps children develop enhanced cognitive skills in a fun and pleasurable way.  A major form of communication, music is calming and helps us express our thoughts and emotions. Music also teaches spatial reasoning skills, which is particularly significant because spatial reasoning skills are part of the abstract reasoning skills that the brain uses to perform common, everyday activities, such as walking, and complex functions such as solving problems in mathematics and engineering.

Using the song, “If You’re Happy and You Know It” as an example, let’s explore how music can stimulate many areas of a young child’s development. When children sing this song, they employ cognitive development (to identify body parts), gross motor skills (to perform required actions with the body parts), and emotional development (to express happiness).  Recent brain research tells us that early experiences affect the development of the brain. This early “wiring” shapes the way a child thinks, learns, and behaves for the rest of his life.  Singing the song increases listening skills because the child is copying what you are singing. She is matching the tones of the melody. She is learning loud and soft, fast and slow, up and down. Auditory discrimination is totally enhanced.  The song develops vocabulary, differentiates between letter sounds (phonemes) and can include rhyming and sequencing which are all important pre-reading skills. Singing the same song over and over again increases attention span, concentration, and memory.  The actions in the song develop coordination and rhythmic beat.

Universally, children universally love music.  Language, cultural and developmental barriers come tumbling down when children listen to sounds, sing songs, discover rhythms and patterns in nature, make instruments, and listen to music.  Music is non-judgmental.  There is no right or wrong. It is joyful for everyone!

This post was contributed by Jackie Silberg, who has an M.S. in child development.  An early childhood advocate and popular keynote speaker, Jackie received the Distinguished Alumna Award from Emporia State University, recognizing her current achievements as well as her long and prolific career. Jackie founded and directed the Jewish Community Center School of Music in Kansas City, Missouri, and worked for Channel 41 television, planning the music and performing her original music for "41 Treehouse Lane," a children's program.  She wrote and produced a television show for Time Warner called "Just Kids," which addressed children's needs and interests. Jackie has worked as a consultant with the Discovery Channel, setting up their music streaming website. She has given workshops, keynote addresses, seminars, and family concerts throughout the U.S., Canada, Australia, Germany, and in Singapore. Jackie has served as an adjunct instructor at both Emporia State University and the University of Missouri at Kansas City and lectures at Johnson County Community College. Jackie is the owner of Miss Jackie Music Company.

Books by Jackie Silberg: Games to Play with Babies , Games to Play with Toddlers, Games to Play with Two Year Olds, Revised, Reading Games for Young Children, Brain Games for Babies, Brain Games for Toddlers & Twos 

The results of the Head Start Impact Study show conclusively that Head Start works. The study repeats what the Head Start community across the nation clearly understands and that is that Head Start children show definitive gains in important cognitive abilities and meaningful social skills during their tenure in Head Start.

The study repeats past observations and research. What the study makes clear is that however ready a child might be for learning and advancement as they leave Head Start and enter public school, the cognitive gains so evident in Head Start are less evident two years later.

Head Start feeds its children into some very good public schools in the nation and absolutely into every single of the worst functioning schools in the nation. The results shared in the Impact Study clearly indicate that the gains a child makes in Head Start – all of which are clearly documented in this research – are not sustained over a span of two or more years in the public school environment. What is clear from this study is the need for deepened partnerships between Head Start and public schools on behalf of the most-needy young children in our country.

Among the many contributions to the success of Head Start, is the skill of Head Start staff in working with families in poverty and their young children. This specialized skill must be carried into ongoing partnerships with the schools to help them sustain the gains children make in Head Start, and clearly these skills with families in poverty are necessary in all public schools serving low income families, if school reform is to succeed.

Head Start succeeds because of a number of unique approaches. The program has a strong commitment to working closely with parents as their child’s first teacher, and the Head Start emphasis on health, mental health and nutrition combine to support learning and a strong foundation of social-emotional stability in at-risk children. It is critical that these factors be carried forward into early elementary school experiences.

Post contributed by Barbara Haxton, Executive Director of The Ohio Head Start Association, Inc. (OHSAI).

With over 600 activities,

Cherries On The Tree

Materials

• Pastel construction paper
• 1” x 4” pieces of brown construction paper
• 5” circles of green construction paper
• Glue stick
• Plastic lid or small piece of aluminum foil
• Red fingerpaint or poster paint

What To Do

George Washington’s birthday is February 22^nd. President’s Day is February 15^th.

1. Discuss the story of young George Washington chopping down his father’s cherry tree.
2. Give each child a 1” x 4” rectangle of brown paper and a sheet of pastel construction paper.
3. Demonstrate how to hold both papers in a vertical position and glue the brown rectangle to the bottom half of the pastel paper.
4. Give each child a green paper circle. Show them how to glue the green circle to the top of the brown rectangle, forming the shape of a tree.
5. Put a small amount of red fingerpaint into a plastic lid or small piece of aluminum foil.
6. Encourage the children to dip their fingers into the red paint and make thumbprint “cherries” on their trees.

More To Do

Social Development:  Draw a large tree on tagboard and let the children add thumbprint cherries. Have each cherry symbolize an act of kindness by that child.

Related Poem

I’ll pick some cherries from the tree, (pretend to pick cherries)

Five for you and five for me. (show five fingers on each hand)

We’ll eat and eat—(pretend to eat)

5—4—3—2—1 (count down with fingers)

Until the cherries are all gone! (show empty hands and look surprised)

Christina R. Chilcote, New Freedom, PA

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Pie in the Sky by Lois Ehlert

George Washington by Andrew Santella

George Washington and the General’s Dog by Frank Murphy

George Washington Soldier, Hero, President by Justine Korman Fontes and Ron Fontes

George Washington Father of a Nation by Joe Loesch

Cherries and Cherry Pits by Vera B. Williams

Under the Cherry Blossom Tree by Allen Say

With over 600 activities, The GIANT Encyclopedia of Monthly Activities is the result of a nationwide search for the most unique, fun, developmentally appropriate, and educational experiences for children. The activities included were selected as the best-of-the-best, and are organized by month for easy use by teachers. Teachers will love the creative ideas that span the traditional areas of the curriculum such as science, math, art, and music and movement, as well as the additional experiences including field trips, cooking, and holidays. Each activity includes instructions and a list of materials, plus possibilities for extending the activity further into the curriculum. Many also include lists of related children's books to further both literacy and imaginative play.

Dragon's Tail

Materials                   None

What To Do

Play this game for Chinese New Year. Explain the role dragons play in Chinese festivals. The Chinese New Year is celebrated on the second new moon after the winter solstice and ends 15 days later on the full moon. It can start any time between January 21^st and February 19^th, depending on the lunar calendar.

1. Form children into groups of 7 to 10, putting similar size children together so that smaller children are not overwhelmed by bigger children in the group. This is not a team game, so even one group of a few children is enough to play.
2. Have the groups stand in a line, holding firmly onto the waist of the child in front of them.
3. Tell the children that each of their lines is a “dragon.” The person at the beginning of each line is the dragon’s head, the middle ones are the body, and the end ones are the tail. If available, let the dragon heads wear dragon masks.
4. Explain that the object of the game is for each dragon’s “head” to chase its own “tail” and try to catch it. The job of the body and tail is to protect themselves from the dragon’s head, while staying joined together.
5. On a given signal (clap or whistle), the dragon heads start to chase their tails. The children must try and keep out of the head’s way—the more children there are in the dragon, the harder it is.
6. If the body of the dragon becomes disconnected (if one or more children let go of the person ahead of them), those children or anyone else who notices must shout, “Dragon, stop!” and the dragon’s head must freeze until the whole body is connected to him again. Then the dragon’s body or tail can shout “Dragon, go!” and the chasing may begin again.
7. If the tail is caught, then the last child in the line becomes the head.
8. Play until everyone in each dragon has had a turn being the dragon’s head.

More To Do

Music and Movement: As the children play the game, play undulating music and point out how the dragon’s body moves and flows. Use different numbers of children to make the dragon and ask whether a small or large number looks better.

Anne Adeney, Plymouth, United Kingdom

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The Knight and the Dragon by Tomi DePaola

Day of the Dragon King by Mary Pope Osborne

The Last Dragon

The Seven Chinese Sisters

In The Snow

Max’s Dragon Shirt by Rosemary Wells

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Multi-Ethnic Ceremonial Costume – Asian Boy

Multi-Ethnic Ceremonial Costume – Asian Girl

Octopus or Dragon Bean Bag Toss

Learning about shapes is fun with

Take a sneak peak at two activities from Learn Every Day About Shapes:  

One-Shape Pictures

Learning Objectives

The children will:

1. Put ideas they have into practice.
2. Understand and follow directions and answer questions.

Materials

• Lots of construction paper in different colors
• Scissors (adult only)
• White paper
• Glue sticks

Vocabulary

Circle                          heptagon                    pentagon                    spiral

Create                        imagination                rectangle                    square           

Gallery                        octagon                      semi-circle                 triangle

What To Do

1. Engage the children in a discussion to decide on the single shape they will use in this art project. Use a basic shape like a triangle, square, rectangle, or circle.
2. Cut several shapes in different sizes from a variety of paper.
3. Encourage the children to think of creative ways they can make pictures using colorful shapes. For example, if the children are using circles, they could put them together to make a colorful flower garden, a snowman family, and so on. Also, consider doing “modern” shape art: experiment with putting several different-sized shapes next to each other or on top of each other.
4. Have “gallery time,” and give each child a chance to talk about his artwork.

Assessment

To assess the children’s learning, consider the following:

• Include shape artwork in portfolio documentation. Include the children’s input (for example, record what the children say about their artwork at gallery time).
• Ask the children questions about shapes at the beginning and again the end of the activity. Use visual clues if necessary (for example, if children are having trouble identifying a rectangle, say, “A rectangle looks like a door”).

Children’s Books

Shape Capers by Cathryn Falwell

The Shape of Things by Dayle Ann Dodds

When a Line Bends…A Shape Begins by Rhonda Gowler Greene

Freya Zellerhoff, Towson, MD

Symmetrical Shapes

Learning Objectives

The children will:

1. Learn to identify a square, rectangle, triangle, circle, and oval.
2. Learn about symmetry.

Materials

• Scissors (adult only)
• Construction paper
• Red, yellow, and blue paint
• Brushes
• Newspapers

Vocabulary

Shape names                        symmetry

Preparation

• Cut construction paper into various 9” x 12” shapes.
• Set out newspaper over the area where the children will be working.

What To Do

1. Engage the children in a discussion about symmetry. Show the children how to fold a paper circle in half, and how it remains symmetrical. Then fold a triangle in half in a way that is asymmetrical.
2. Give the children paper shapes to fold in half, and then reopen and lay flat.
3. Provide paint and brushes. Invite the children to put dabs of paint on one side of the folds on their papers. Remind the children not to brush the paint around, but merely to dab them.
4. After they have put a few dabs of different colors of paint on their papers, direct the children to refold the paper, pressing hard several times on the paper. Help the children carefully reopen the paper so they can see the symmetrical dabs of paint on both sides of the paper.

Teacher-To-Teacher Tip

Consider taking the children on a walk through the school or the neighborhood to look for examples of symmetrical objects. Take notes or photographs of the symmetrical objects for the children to discuss later in the classroom.

Assessment

To assess the children’s learning, consider the following:

• Does the child understand symmetry and asymmetry when you show him the difference with paper shapes?
• Can the child fold, paint, and press the paper to create symmetrical images?

Children’s Books

All Shapes and Sizes by John J. Reiss

Circles, Triangles, and Squares by Tana Hoban

Color Dance by Ann Jonas

Is It Red? Is It Yellow? Is It Blue? by Tana Hoban

The Art Lesson by Tomie dePaola

Susan Oldham Hill, Lakeland, FL