Early Childhood Education With Luchie

2007-07-07T19:01:00.000+08:00

Title: Tanuki’s Gift

Japanese Folktale

Author: Tim Myers

Illustrator: R.G.Roth

Brief Summary:

This is a story of friendship between a Buddhist priest and a tanuki, a small badger like animal, who visits him every winter. The tanuki brings firewood and little gifts. The priest offers him shelter and listens to his stories. But when the tanuki disappears to search for three pieces of gold, the priest discovers how much he values his friendship.

Date of first publication: 2003

Recommended age of readers: K2 children (6-7 years old)

Theme of interest: Friendship

*notes on illustration:

Mixed media includes gouche, water color, and oil pastel, ink painted on D’Arches 140 lb cold and hot press papers.

Recommended Book: The Magic Gem

2007-07-03T18:37:00.000+08:00

Title: The Magic Gem
Korean Folktale

Author: Kim So-Un

Illustrator: Jeong Kyoung- Sim

Brief Summary:

A fisherman is rewarded with a magic gem that grants him and his wife their every wish. But the fisherman’s wife is tricked and loses the gem- so their cat and dog decide to get the magic gem back. On their way home, the gem is lost again because of the dog’s thoughtless action. The cat manages to find it and she became the favourite of the fisherman and his wife. The dog is then neglected that is why up to this day dogs and cats no longer get along.

Date of first publication: 2006

Recommended age of readers: K2 children (6-7 years old)

Themes of interest: Responsibility and Jealousy

Recommended Folktale Books

2007-07-01T15:56:00.000+08:00

All of us in the early childhood education field are aware of the relevance of children's literature. We have to provide a rich literature to young children as it will help them to become a literate adult in the future.

For those who are not convinced of the importance of books to young children, let me state here the reasons of providing a literature rich environment to young children.

Children learn aesthetic awareness, growth in literacy through illustrations and text and imaginative abilities.

Children develop emotionally as they learn self-acceptance and coping strategies.

Children develop multi-cultural awareness and cultural identity when they meet families, settings and cultures that are similar in some ways and or different in others.

Children develop intellectuaally when they obtain new information and ask questions.

Children develop socially when they explore interpersonal relationships and human motives.

With all the above reasons in mind, I am in a continuous search for good children's books in the library, especially the Bukit Timah Children's Library. It will be going to close by end of this year, but that is another story.

Nowadays, I am so fascinated again with folktales and fairy tales. I have here a list of folktale books which I greatly recommend.

Title: Why Mosquito Buzz in People’s Ears
West African Folktale

Author: Verna Aardema

Illustrators: Leo and Dianne Dillon

Brief Summary:
Mosquito tells Iguana a tall tale that sets off a chain reaction that ends in a jungle disaster. Iguana is so upset that he plugs his ears and is not able to hear Python’s greetings. Python suspects mischief against him by Iguana so he hides in a rabbit hole- which terrifies rabbit. The legend goes, until finally the chain of mishaps reaches mother owl that reacts by refusing to hoot and wake the sun. Eventually, all is resolved and jungle life returns to normal. But although mosquito learns her lesson and gives up telling tall tales, she adapts a worse habit.
Date of first publication: 1975
Recommended age of readers: K2 children (6-7 yrs old)

Theme of interest: consequence of gossiping

Awards: The Caldecott Gold Medal (1976)

*notes on illustration:

Art is in full color using watercolors applied with an airbrush in both fine spray and spatter technique, pastels rubbed on by hand and India ink. The cut-out effect was achieved by actually cutting the shapes out of vellum and frisket masks at several different stages.

TO BE CONTINUED......

Jean Piaget: Cognitive Development

2006-07-26T16:27:00.000+08:00

Cognition refers to the development of mental activity, thinking intelligent behaviour and/or understanding. It has a major impact on other areas of development.

What we know now on how children think is due to Jean Piaget. His work provided revolutionary insight into HOW the developing mind works. He stressed the active role of the child in the learning process. He saw the child as struggling to make sense of the world around him like a little scientist, observing hypotheses and testing them. According to Piaget, the child actively constructs his own knowledge and this is facilitated by the learning environment adults provide.

Through researches with children, Piaget was able to describe cognitive development. He explained the interrelated principles of organization, adaptation and equilibration. His principles are of course apparent in our own children if we only closely observe them.

Just look at my Karllisse. She has this scheme that she can eat the food given to her by using her hands to bring it into her mouth.

When fork is introduced to her, like a little scientist as Piaget termed, she is studying the new experience- the fork, intently.

She learns to assimilate this new scheme by integrating her existing scheme of eating food using her hands, and then learns how to use the fork. When she discovers that it needs a different way to control her hand muscles that she needs to coordinate her palm muscles and finger muscles to eat with a fork, she accommodates by modifying the old scheme. Accommodation and assimilation work together to provide an equilibrium here. There is an apparent cognitive growth in Karllisse as she was able to acquire a new knowledge; she can use the fork to eat. That is an achievement in her practical knowledge acquisition.

This may be simple for us adults. But you see if we only observe children closely, we’ll discover that children are really active learners. From a simple discovery, they will learn more when given more things to explore. So why not provide your children with more enriching and explorative environment?

Crawling: A New View of the World

2006-07-23T12:16:00.000+08:00

This is my grand daughter Karllisse. As you can see, she is very happy. Why so? Because a new world opens up for her as she can move independently. She can crawl on lengths. Since she can move on her own, she begins to detach from her Mom and or her caregiver. Now she has ideas on what she has to do in moving around the house, on which direction to go whether near the living room or to the direction of the bedroom. She has a new view of the world around her. But this poses problems for my daughter Krizelle. They now have conflicts of interests. And I am sure you know why.

But Karllisse' crawling skills points to something relevant. You know why? It is because her new acquired motor skill is related to milestone in her cognitive development. Being able to move and provided the opportunity to exercise it, new possibilities of exploration and construction of knowledge about the world opens up for her. According to Bushnell and Boudreau (1993) the more efficiently the infant can move, the more she can learn.

As research has proven, especially that of Kermoian and Campos (1988) the infant who can move around on their own were cognitively more advanced than those who could not.

Bearing this in mind, I hope that those mothers around who have infants, would also give opportunities to their own babies to let them move around and crawl in lengths. Do provide them an opportunity to have a new view of the world. Just like my Karllisse. And surely they will grow up to be problem solvers and creative thinkers in the future.

Teacher Bloggers

2006-07-22T09:54:00.000+08:00

There was an article I read before which presented teachers as bloggers. The article to my understanding depicted that it was not proper for a teacher to blog as some students/children would read their entries and would view informations/entries in negative ways. I beg to disagree with the writer of the article. I believe in the positivity of blogs/technology and how it would help the particular teacher in his personal and professional growth and mostly in dealing with parents and students/children alike, and of course in information dessimination.

I am proud that I am a member of the Pinoy Teachers Network which I called PTN for short. It is an organization of Filipino teachers all over the world who are all bloggers. Please visit our site here.

The PTN is founded by Teacher Sol, a special education teacher based in Washington DC USA. Through her entries, I am sure you'll all be convinced of the positiveness of being a teacher and a blogger at the same time.

And to all PTN members Belated 2nd Anniversary!!!

Luchie's Anne Alligator Phonics

2006-06-23T17:48:00.001+08:00

I developed this phonetic drills out of the challenge to prove something to myself as a teacher. Though, it was developed based on other phonetic methods for children, the entire names for each letters are mine, meaning, I personally know children or persons with these names. I am aware that young children learn their names first and are proud that their names are mentioned in every conversations, so I decided to use children's names to state the sounds of the letters of the alphabet. I made use of animals too for I am sure young children are more interested in any topic as long as animals are included. At the same time children also learn that she is use for a girl and he is use for a boy. For all the name of the letters, I addressed them as either Mr or Mrs for the children to understand that Mr is for a man like their own Dad and Mrs is addressed for a married woman like their own Mum. For the sound of letter U, since there is no known name for U in short vowel sound, I used Ugly duckling as it is a familiar story title for children.

Like most phonetic drills for children, this is also done thru singing. Please sing to the tune of Polly put the kettle on. (or to any appropriate nursery rhyme tune)

Here it is:

Anne alligator says a in words, a in words, a in words. She belongs to Mrs. A.

Beth butterfly says b in words, b in words, b in words. She belongs to Mrs. B.

Carrie camel says c in words, c in words, c in words. She belongs to Mrs. C.

Darrielle donkey says d in words, d in words, d in words. She belongs to Mrs. D.

Emie elephant says e in words, e in words, e in words. She belongs to Mrs. E.

Frida frog says f in words, f in words, f in words. She belongs to Mrs. F.

Garry gorilla says g in words, g in words, g in words. He belongs to Mr. G.

Herbert hippo says h in words, h in words, h in words. He belongs to Mr. H.

Irma iguana says i in words, i in words, i in words. She belongs to Mrs. I.
Jamie jaguar says j in words, j in words, j in words. She belongs to Mrs. J.
Kyllenne kangaroo says k in words, k in words, k in words. She belongs to Mrs. K.
Lilie lion says l in words, l in words, l in words. She belongs to Mrs. L.
Marielle monkey says m in words, m in words, m in words. She belongs to Mrs. M.
Nellie newt says n in words, n in words, n in words. She belongs to Mrs. N.
Ollie ostrich says o in words, o in words, o in words She belongs to Mr. O.
Paula penguin says p in words, p in words, p in words She belongs to Mrs. P.
Quennie quail says q in words, q in words, q in words She belongs to Mrs. Q.
Rachelle rabbit says r in words, r in words, r in words She belongs to Mrs. R.
Sally snake says s in words, s in words, s in words She belongs to Mrs. S.
Tessie tiger says t in words, t in words, t in words She belongs to Mr. T.
Ugly duckling says u in words, u in words, u in words She belongs to Mrs. U.
Vina vulture says v in words, v in words, v in words She belongs to Mrs. V.
William walrus says w in words, w in words, w in words He belongs to Mr. W.
Freddie fox says x in words, x in words, x in words He belongs to Mr. X.
Yanny yak says y in words, y in words, y in words He belongs to Mr. Y.
Zeena zebra says z in words, z in words, z in words He belongs to Mrs. Z.

Note: It would be nice if accompanying pictures/ photos are presented with the children. Maybe next time I would be able to print photos, so I could make pictograms for each letter characters.

(Images courtesy of Google Images)

With What Is Your Child Living?

2006-03-29T21:39:00.000+08:00

my grand daughters
our newsletter

I may not be the best teacher or the best mother. But I can proudly say that I did my best to be the best that I could be.

There was one article/poem from The Torrance (Calif.) Herald as written in 1954 by Dorothy Law Nolte for her column “Creative Family Living” that also guided me in dealing with children. I was not born that time, of course, but I happened to read it when I was taking my degree which my professor shared to us. From then on, I kept it and tried to practice what were written.

When I did my newsletter editing in my previous centre, I used that poem for my cover page. It just showed how much I appreciated that article. And now, I would like to share it with all of you.

Here it is.

If a child lives with criticism, he learns to condemn.

If a child lives with hostility, he learns to fight.

If a child lives with fear, he learns to be apprehensive.

If a child lives with pity, he learns to feel sorry for himself.

If a child lives with ridicule, he learns to be shy.

If a child lives with jealousy, he learns what envy is.

If a child lives with shame, he learns to feel guilty.

If a child lives with encouragement, he learns to be confident.

If a child lives with tolerance, he learns to be patient.

If a child lives with praise, he learns to be appreciative.

If a child lives with acceptance, he learns to love.

If a child lives with approval, he learns to like himself.

If a child lives with recognition, he learns that it is good to have goals.

If a child lives with sharing, he learns about generosity.

If a child lives with honesty and fairness, he learns what truth and justice are.

If a child lives with security, he learns to have faith in himself

and in those about him.

If a child lives with friendliness, he learns that the world is a nice place

in which to live.

If you live with serenity, your child will live with peace of mind.

With what is your child living?

Child Growth and Development: Birth to 9 Months

2005-11-30T21:27:00.000+08:00

My grand daughter Karllisse has grown fast over the months. Look at her here the day she was born and on top where she turned six months. Come 17th December, she'll be turning exactly 9 months old. That is why her sitting up, reaching, and smiling are really sure pleasers.

We adults need to learn more about child growth and development so as to understand children the more. Psychologists and doctors have revealed thru their studies that a child’s progress can be accurately measured against milestones or significant points of development. Here are some milestones I want to share, not only to teachers, but to everyone who like children.

THREE MONTHS
* The baby will surely stretch her hand to grasp the toy you place just out of her reach. So make it a habit to give a toy for her to reach out.
* The baby will look at your face intently once you sing lullabies or recite nursery rhymes.
* Gently move a small toy around your baby in a slow circular movement. You will notice then that she will follow the movement with her eyes.
* Always greet your baby with a big smile. When you smile, she will smile too as it is a response that she recognises you.
* When you put a small rattle in her hand and gently shake it back and forth a few times, the baby will continue to close her fingers around it for at least several seconds.

SIX MONTHS
* She will try to sit up independently without support. For your child to be safe, prop her up with cushions.
* During your breaks of conversation, she will babble as if she’s involved with the conversation too.
* She can now hold a small toy in each hand though you still need to place them into her grasp.
* If you dropped a toy accidentally, she will look for it, especially if you ask, “Where’s your toy?”
* If placed face down, she’ll show signs of crawling most especially if she see a colourful toy just beyond her reach.

NINE MONTHS
*Once you bring a ticking watch up to her ear, she’ll turn her head round to look for it.
*The baby will smile at her own reflection on the mirror and might even reach out to touch it.
*Give her a plastic cup and saucer or two small wooden blocks as she will try to play with these two objects together.
*If you place a sweet under a cup as she watches you, surely, she will lift the cup up straight away.

On Discipline

2005-11-18T22:02:00.000+08:00

BURGER

WITHOUT THE BREAD IS

NOT COMPLETE...

SAME WITH DISCIPLINE.

DISCIPLINE

WITHOUT LOVE

IS NOT COMPLETE.

So, when we give discipline to children, let us be sure that there are lots of love

involved.

*photo uploaded from Google Images

A Week -Long Activities in Language Arts

2005-11-03T21:21:00.000+08:00

A. Introduction

Since most children have relevant experience with different types of clothing and most of them have their own closet at home, I decided to have this relevant experience as my topic for my whole week activities with them.

As we went along with our discussion and sharing of ideas, one of the children commented that she has her separate closet from her brother as her mother explained that she is a girl and her brother is a boy. I used that moment to motivate them to discriminate boy’s things and clothing from girls. I also then decided to let my children do two books, one for boys and one for girls.

To guide them to express their ideas into written and artistic forms, I asked them to bring pictures of things and clothing found in the closet. To make the activity more meaningful for them, I guided them in writing, selecting and pasting pictures that are related to their shared ideas about the closet. For me, when a child does anything with interest and enthusiasm is already an artistic expression.

This series of activity though simple and irrelevant to adults, is a worthwhile one for children. The fact that the children exhibited excitement and enjoyed the whole process is a learning experience in itself. The feeling of self worth they achieved made these activities a lifelong achievement for them. The notion that what they shared and talked can be expressed in written and artistic forms will inculcate in them a great desire to be future adults who are readers and writers who love the world around them.

B. Procedure

2005-11-03T21:01:00.000+08:00

DAY 1 : Chorus Question Game: What have you found?

a. Seat children in a circle.
b. Provide a box patterned like a closet with dress, shirt, blouse, t-shirt, short, pyjama, and other clothing and things inside.
c. Pass to the first child and ask him to select an item from the box.
d. The other children in the group ask “What have you found?”
e. To which the first child replies” I found a…” and put it on.
f. The second child then takes the box and continues the game…

DAY 2: Discussion Proper
a. Seat the children in a rainbow formation.
b. Encourage the children to talk about the topic.
c. Ask open-ended questions.
d. Extend their vocabulary.
e. Record their ideas on the whiteboard explaining that these ideas are to
to be written on the pages of the book they will be going to make.
g. Read aloud as the ideas are written on the whiteboard.

DAY 3: Book Making
a. Let children do printing on the prepared book cover.
b. Select appropriate pictures.
c. Ask the children to paste the pictures on the pages of the book.
d. Ask children to write something about the pictures.
e. Let them draw and colour some illustrations.
f. Let them compile the pages together as in a book.

DAY 4: Reading Proper
a. Ask the first child to read aloud the first page of the children made book.
b. Ask the second child to read aloud the second page.
c. Continue with the rest of the children until all pages have been read aloud and all children have the chance to read aloud.
d. Encourage children to read all the pages of the book.

DAY 5: Storytelling: The Emperor’s New Clothes

A. Before Storytelling:
a. Show and explain how a real book looks like.
b. Discuss the book’s author and illustrator.
c. Explain that they will be hearing a folktale about an emperor and a child who tells the truth.
d. Introduce the children to the main characters and the setting.
e. Discuss the purpose why the children need to listen to the story.

B. During Storytelling:
a. Encourage children to react and comment on the story as they listen.
b. Elaborate the text used.
c. Ask questions occasionally to gauge the children’s comprehension of the story.
d. At certain points in the story, ask children to predict what might happen next.
e. Ask children to voice out their own interpretation of the story.

C. After Storytelling:
a. Review the story components.
b. Discuss how wonderful it is to have lots of books around.

C. Lessons Learnt As a Teacher

2005-11-03T20:26:00.000+08:00

The whole process made me more convinced that learning is really a continuous process. My children’s understanding of the topic about the closet and other ideas that came out during our discussion are constructed in their minds. What they learn depends on what they already know, which is their prior knowledge based on their experiences. I came into conclusion that children do not come to school “empty handed”. They already have some knowledge, conceptions and schemes of the new topic I presented. With my role as a teacher to extend, expand and enrich their existing competencies, they were able to conclude that it is really true that boys clothing and things are different from girls. They were even quick to add that some clothing can be worn for a certain function or purpose. They were able to conclude that clothes are worn depending on the weather and time of the day too.

I have proven that children are naturally curious about objects and events around them. The box I used for our Chorus Question Game, which I designed like a closet, made my children more curious and enthusiastic. With my Capitalization on this element of curiosity, I am sure I was able to optimized learning in them. That mystery box brought excitement and joy in them that they were motivated to learn.

I have also proven that when children are challenged to think and solve problem that is achievable, the result is a sense of accomplishment and a good concept of self as a learner. When I asked each child to select an item in the box, he was challenged to think and say more about the item he selected. The facial expression and glow in their eyes proved that there was a sense of accomplishment when they were able to answer the question, what have you found? There was a sense of self worth when they were able to say some more about the item selected and were able to wear the item/clothing properly.

With my discussion with them, I learnt that what they talked about and shared grows out from their meaningful relationships and in their daily interactions with significant people in their lives. The fact that one of my child commented about her mother explaining about separate closet and clothing for her and her brother indicated that a child’s relationship with his parents is an index of the depth of his parent’s involvement with him. Those children who talk a lot and ask questions are those, whose parents have time to talk with them. Those children who are inhibited and shy are those, whose parents have little time to talk with them.

With this experience, I realized that as a teacher, it must be my purpose to partner myself with my children’s parents so I can also help enhance not only the children’s spoken skills but all aspects of their literary development. I must convince parents that with them around, they can also be models, like teachers, in providing the power and fun of reading and also writing. I must reiterate to them that there are many playful opportunities for children everyday to discover letter-sound associations and blending and segmenting of letters that create words. And it is up to the adult around them to make use of these activities and daily life experiences meaningful to the children.

How can we do these?” a question most of the parents may ask. There are many examples of course. One is by teaching the words to name things, people and actions. We must bear in mind that parents are the ones who teach the most important tool a human being has- language. In addition, parents introduce children to abstractions. Parents teach abstraction when they point out “two dogs”, “three pigs”, or “one mouse”. When parents point out the red bus or the yellow truck, they teach colour concepts. When they ask children to get the ball behind the chair or in front of the table, parents are teaching spatial relations. When they throw the ball up or down, or to Daddy or Mummy, they teach direction. Therefore, parents may not know it, but they are already teaching their children by just merely talking to them.

In conclusion, this process heightened my inner feeling of joy. With the belief that I can work hand in hand with parents for the children’s total development, and that I have an important role in imparting knowledge to them and is also instrumental in their psychosocial and language development, makes me more happy. Knowing that my children will be future leaders in the coming future, my gladness is immeasurable. And no one or any amount of money can take that JOY away from me.

D. What Children Got From The Process

2005-11-03T08:21:00.000+08:00

What Children Got from the Process

From all the stimulating activities my children actively participated in, I can say that they learnt a lot not only in acquiring language skills but also social and emotional skills which can be their tools in facing the future ahead of them. I can declare that their learning have been a meaningful and effective one as they were actively involved in the learning process. Much more, their interest in the subject matter motivated them to talk and ask more and more.

Though learning is a process, and each child learn on his own pace, each child were able to share ideas and discussed it on his own way. Provided with teachable-moment technique during discussion, the children learned to be aware of their competency in language that enable them to share ideas, think and discriminate. As each one of them readily talked about their own closet and clothing and things in it, they learnt new vocabulary and improved their pronunciation too.

The children’s thinking ability was nurtured and cultivated too. They were able to discriminate things and clothing of boys from girls. They were able to reason out why such clothing is worn on such purpose and occasion.

The children also realized their own identity. They became more aware of themselves as either male or female. I can say that they are continuously learning how to fit in their roles. The fact that they were able to differentiate boys and girls belongings, made them aware how boys and girls differ and they will continue to be in the coming days.

Creativity was also nurtured in them. They were motivated to think creatively. As the opportunity to have their ideas expressed in written and artistic forms were provided coupled with their creativity being developed, I am sure it will grow and increase in them.

The children also learnt what teamwork is all about. They learnt to share crayons and pencils. They engaged in a fruitful and meaningful activity with a purpose- producing a product which is the books they are so proud about.

The children felt good about themselves. As they were able to make a book, though with guidance, this helps them build their self-esteem and self-confidence.

Because they are proud of their work, their desire in them to learn more and read more and more will stay in them for a very long time.

Play Is Child's Work

2005-10-30T04:52:00.000+08:00

As I have observed since before, many parents tend to ask their children what they did in school. Since children would most certainly answer that they just played, these parents would probably blurt out : "I send you to school not to play but to study!!"

Many parents do not realise that children do their tasks through play. As Weiser, M.G., an educational psychologist pointed out, "Play is child's work."

As proven through researches, there are many values of play. There is an enormous benefits of play as it include the whole child-- cognitive, social, emotional and physical aspects.

Play is a natural avenue for the expression of creativity. Dansky and Silverman (1973,1974) conducted experimental studies and found a caussal relation between play and creativity.

One may be amazed on how the children or the children in my centre in particular, make different structures like aeroplanes, robots and or houses using lego pieces. How they used their problem skills to produce an artistic creation is a manifestation that children are indeed creative by nature and that through play this creativity is enhanced.

Play also encourages social interaction among children as they learn how to deal with the feelings and attitudes of their playmates. In addition, it is worth noting that friendship is develop through play. How can one imagine a person like my eldest krizelle who up to now is in contact with her friends during grade school days? The different play they had in the vast compound of Assumption Antipolo sealed their friendship.

Through play, children are able to express their thoughts and feelings too. A child can express unacceptable feelings in acceptable way. Take my daughter Marielle. She used to include narratives in her play. One time I overheard her say, "This bad man asked the small girl to stop riding her bike." It was only then, after my probing, that I learnt that her bike was forcefully taken from her. She expressed her bad feeling in an acceptable way through narrative play.

Play also let children experiment on their own bodies and see how they function best. It makes them confident and secure. Like my twin grand daughters. I remember that time when Kyllenne & Darrielle walked so fast from me when they learnt that they could really walk fast. They smiled at me as if saying," See, we can do it without you holding our hands!"

With the proven results of the relevance of play among children, we should not restrict or limit their playtime. We must take advantage of this so called "natural learning."

On Learning And Teaching

2005-10-29T22:43:00.000+08:00

Fifty years from now

it will not matter what car you drove

what kind of house you lived in,

how much you had in your bank account,

or what your clothes looked like.

But the world may be a little better because

YOU WERE IMPORTANT

IN THE LIFE OF A CHILD

(taken from ECE Journal, author: anonymous)