Monthly Blog Award

Introducing..........The Monthly Blog Awards!!!!




I have come across some really great blogs as of late. Some are informative, concise and to the point. Some are lovely, poetic and heart felt, but most of all, they inspire me. I would love to dedicate a post or two to these wonderful blogs and their bloggers each month on the 15th. I would hope that each of you would check out their blogs and grow to love what I have come to love and cherish from these blogs.

I am so proud!!!!

Yes, I confess, it feels so good to see children progress and develop. :D I have a child in my classroom who has finally, after almost three months in my class, took her first steps. She had some gross motor challenges and through hard work and lots of love and patience on the parts of the parents and her physical therapist (and us teachers :D) she is doing a wonderful job! My little one was so determined. She hated being carried. She came into my class scooting on her bottom. After some time (with a lot of guidance from her PTs) we managed to get her to crawl on her hands and knees more. We (my co-lead teacher and I) let her walk holding our hands more even though it took the class an extra minute to get outside. We encouraged her to use push toys instead of scooting and crawling around the playground. Last two weeks, she has been trying to stand up on her own. She was also able to walk along side of the furniture in the classroom. Last week, she began walking only using one hand for support. Last thursday, she walked up a ramp holding onto the rail all by herself. But last friday she shocked us all. She took four itty bity steps by herself, she was able to stand for quite a while by herself before falling to the floor. She was so proud of herself! We were proud of her too. I am guessing it wont be long now before she is able to walk!!! and even run! :D

This for that - Redirection

I confess, saying "no thank you," "don't touch," "get down," does not always work on the very young. For some, they need something in place of of what is being taken away, they need a permissible action/behavior in exchange for the action/behavior you are trying to correct. In my class, I have a very lively bunch who love to climb on their tables. I can't tell you how many times I have told the to get down, feet on the ground, you are going to hurt yourself......! Only to turn around a minute later and they are at it again. I also have a little one who is fascinated by all the contraptions on teacher's desk. She is finally just tall enough to touch the key board and mouse or other item that are to close to the edge. Grrrrrr! She is constantly pulling things down! Well, about a week ago i got my aha! moment. I don't know why it took me this long, but I'm really excited. For the climbers, I not only tell the to get down, but I tell them where they CAN climb. They not only get down but they stay down (for a lot longer than before.) for the reachers, I found a high cabinet that I pit a bunch of books and fun item on, now, when they/she reaches up on my desk, I tell her/them to go to their "desk" to reach up on. So fr so good. They all immediately respond to the redirection when given an equally fun alternative.

Book Review: Eight Spinning Planets

This week our center book fair landed during "Our Solar System" curriculum week. When I saw this book, I HAD to get it. Along with fun rhyming information about the planets, great illustrations, it had bubbled planets that the children loved touching. Talk about being in the right place at the right time! :D This book gets all the stars in the universe :D

Books and Technology

Where will the digital world take us?I confess, while sitting here checking email, updating my facebook status and reading tweets, I came across a tweet that asked, "what will libraries look like?" in the future as we move to move forward and e-books become more popular and accessible. I realized that it has been ages since I set foot in a library, this coming from a girl who was practically raised in our small town library. Granted, the last time I went to the library, which wasn't that long ago, was in search of some board books for my classroom, but I'm talking about sitting down amongst thousands of books and spending hours reading.

The thought brought back floods of memories and sensations. I can almost remember the smell of my hometown library. The smell of the books, the carpet under my feet (yeah, I used to take off my shoes when the librarian was not looking :D), the hard seats when the more comfortable chair was already taken, the smooth covers of the books as I shelved books and the goosebumps I'd get when it got a bit too cold. The only sounds heard were the hushed whisperings of patrons, tapping of typewriters and the turning of pages. Being home-schooled allowed me an opportunity to spend hours and hours at the library. On a good day, I spent more than four hours. I even learned how to use library system to help others check out books, input returned books and even shelve returned books. It was such a great experience.

Then comes technology, giving us the e-book. Not sure how embracing I am of the thought of e-books. I love holding books, smelling books and the simple sensation of turning pages. Just how will e-books transform the library culture and way of life? What will they look like? I can only imagine some hallowed room with nothing but glass and colorless, streamlined computer stations where people can hook their ipads, kindles, laptops and other e-readers to charge and download books, information and even automated librarians. The room will have a more sterile smell due to problems dust can create for the library mainframe. There will be no intimacy between person and book or person and library. People will interact with machine instead of other humans.

Who knows what the future has in store for books and the library, but hopefully we still have a long time before the written word becomes obsolete. I'm a die-hard book fan and hopefully enough of us will keep the book and library culture alive. At least for the next 7 generations! :D