12.01.09
Christin LaRue, Clinical Director
It's here....the Holidays! And all of us here at TKC are so excited to see the decorations go up and begin our month of celebrating! The children will be learning about all of the different cultural holidays that occur in December, through music, dance, food and traditions! They are so excited and eager to learn about others! It is wonderful to see!
Every day this month the children will be making a decoration to bring home. We will host a family Holiday Hot Chocolate Celebration, with cookies and special treats the children have made.They will also be providing us with entertainment that they will have worked on and practiced all month long! You will be so proud of all the hard work and enthusiasm!
In the next week or so, be on the lookout for a Family Memo letting you know when to mark your calendar for our Celebration!
Happy Holidays!
Friday August 7th, 2009
Christin LaRue, Clinical Director
Well, everyone...two weeks have flown by since we opened and we have had such a great time! Everyone is getting to know each other, and about our school and activities. We are exploring all the new toys and games to play, trying on lots of dress up clothes and learning about expectations and how to make friends. This past week we made life size drawings of our friends, and decorated them using all of the information we learned about them during our first two weeks. We also did cooperative drawings, which allow us to learn to share our ideas and our art for others to add their perspective. Both activities taught us alot about our new friends and ourselves, promoted self - esteem and helped us learn about verbal and non-verbal communication...not to mention how to have fun with lots of messy art modalities! We also had a blind taste test (which helped with sensory issues, trust in adults and trying new things), made fruit kabobs (they were yummy!), and Miss Sharon introduced us to Edie, our class puppet friend. She is really funny!
We are working on the letter R next week, and all about the Rules! We will be comparing rules at home to rules at school, and rules for grown ups vs rules for kids. We will be playing games like "Simon Says", "Red Light / Green Light" and "Follow the Leader" to have fun practicing rules. We will also make fun snacks following the recipes (which are just like rules!).
The following week, we will be working on choosing our group mascot. We will choose an animal, and develop the personality of the character. We will decide on things like their temperament, favorite foods / colors / activities. We will also decide what our mascots strengths and weakenesses are, and come up with ideas to help our mascot develop ways to improve what he or she can, and learn to love themselves even if they are not the best at everything! We will learn to compare ourselves to our mascot and our friends to learn about differences in people and what makes them special. One of us each week will take responsibility for our mascot, bringing him or her to activities, sharing our snacks, and teaching him / her about how to get along at our school. It will be so exciting to meet these mascots as the children develop them into multi faceted "friends".
We are looking forward to our Back To School Night when everyone can meet each other's parents and enjoy a snack while showing off our art projects! Be on the Look Out for a poster which talks all about the Parents Night Out opportunity for the end of the month....where parents can bring kids to the Center for pizza and a movie and parents can go enjoy an adult evening of fun without worrying about who will watch the kids!
Thank you for all your support and encouragement as we have begun this amazing journey. We are looking forward to a rewarding and fun year of friendship and learning!
Miss Sharon
Hi Everyone,
I cannot believe 2 weeks have gone by already! We have all been very busy getting to know each other, learning all of the daily routines, rules and making new friends. Every morning our Center comes alive with a mix of joy, laughter and of course, a few tears as your children say goodbye to you and prepare for a day of learning and fun. Sherra and I are always happy to be the first ones to greet your children as they begin their new day.
Learning new behaviors while challenging old ones can be a daunting task for any of us, but I am already so impressed to see the progress that your children have made. Not only are they beginning to show more kindness and empathy towards their peers, they are also helping each other adjust to the rhythms of our day. I cannot tell you how inspiring and heartwarming it is to witness the positive changes that are taking place every day.
Morning drop-off, as you can imagine, can be a little difficult for some of our children so please do your best to limit your “goodbye time.” A swift exit allows us to move forward with our program and in the long run, it is a lot less upsetting for the child.
I am looking forward to getting to know you as I much as I am looking forward to getting to know your children even more. I can honestly say that in two short weeks they have already secured a place in my heart. Until next time….
Miss Sharon
[continued in the next column]
8/31/09
Christin LaRue, Clinical Director
I can't believe it's been a whole month already. We have been having fun and learning all kinds of new things. Parents are starting to notice changes at home and are also learning how to implement some of the strategies we use here at TKC and finding success! Our Parent Group focusing on natural consequences and attachment theory begins next week, as well as our Open House for Agencies and Professionals who work with families who might benefit from the services here at TKC. We can't wait to have everyone see all of the exciting things happening here (not to mention the beautiful artwork the kids have been creating!)
We are also looking forward to a fun fall excursion for our families so we can be out in the community together! It's going to be a great Fall!
8/31/09
Parent Entry
Hi Everyone…just wanted to share a few experiences we’ve had since being at The Kids’ Center for just a little over a month now…
After school tonight, we went to a friend’s house to meet up and then go to a nearby park. While we were at their house, my kiddos “disappeared” for a minute – fearing the worst I went to get them, I called their names and they immediately answered that they were upstairs “looking for the kitty” I told them to come downstairs, that it wasn’t a place for kids up there. They came down immediately!
Plans changed, and our friend wasn’t able to go to the park with us, so I asked them to pick up the toys and put them all in the toy box, they did it with lightening speed! I asked them to say good bye to our friends – they did it, and then walked outside with me without grumbling at all! They both reached up and held my hand without my asking them to for the walk to the car…
We went to the park by ourselves, when we got there, they both held my hand again without my telling them to and they walked with me until I told then they could go play.
While playing, Brodie was at the top of a slide waiting for a much younger child to get off of the bottom of the slide (her mother wasn’t encouraging her to get off either) it was taking quite some time and Brodie was just watching and waiting…then this little girl about his age came up behind him and pushed him – he tried to tell her that he couldn’t go because of the baby, she punched him, then she pulled his hair really hard, pulling his head backwards, then she hit him a couple more times, (he was crying) then she slapped him in the face! He got even more upset and kinda swung his arm around trying to get her to go away, she hit him again. I was trying to get his attention to move away from her and to go down the other slide right next to that one and come to me, he finally understood and came to me. I comforted him and said, “that girl isn’t being very nice right now, she hurt you.” He said, “No, she not be nice, she hurt me.” I told him that he could play on the other slide and to stay away from her for awhile. He said ok. Well, as soon as he went to play on something, she would run over to him and hit him, she even tried to tackle him while he was playing on the swing! He kept on trying to get away from her and she kept on being the bully! I kept saying to him that she wasn’t being nice and finally her mom picked up on it and started telling her to be nice!
When it was time to leave, I told my kiddos, “one more time down the slide” they ran to the slide, went down and came running over to me to hold my hand on the way to the car. While we were in the car, I told them that when we got home they needed to use the bathroom and wash their hands and then go to the table for dinner. When we got home, I didn’t tell them anything, they both just went in and did as I had asked them. After dinner, I told them to get their PJ’s on and then they could watch a little movie before bed. They did it faster than fast! Then, when the video was over, I said, “bedtime” they both went right into their bedrooms and crawled into their beds!
I haven’t had one cooperative child for an entire evening before, let alone both of them! It was so relaxing!
Another big change is that mornings used to be extremely stressful trying to get my little guy out the door to school, he would scream and tantrum as soon as he thought it was close to time to leave in the mornings. If I didn't have to scoop him off the floor and carry him to the car, he would run around the car and try to hide so he wouldn't have to go to school. If I had to carry him, putting him in the carseat was really difficult, most of the time he would be screaming, hitting, kicking and throwing things as he would arch his back, buckling him in was a chore. Now, I tell him it is time for school and he says, "Ok" and hurries to get his lunchbox and waits for me by the door. As soon as I open the gate, he goes to his door of the car and waits very patiently for me to open it and he climbs in excitedly. I also used to have to carry him everywhere, but now he walks all the time, only occasionally does he asked to be held, but just for a quick hug, then he is walking again.
Another significant change is that my daughter's aggression has dramatically decreased, she used to hit, kick, bite and slap her little brother all the time, I couldn’t leave them alone in the same room together. She still shows a little aggression with him, but only when she is really frustrated with him, she immediately shows remorse and tells him she is sorry and that she didn’t mean to hurt him. She will give him a hug and a kiss and they will start playing all over again. Sometimes instead of hitting him she will tell him that she is frustrated and will try to explain her feelings, he actually listens to her and says. "Sorry, sister."
BC - Mother of 2 children enrolled at TKC
(continued in the next column)
September 1, 2009
Parent Entry
We have had significant struggles retaining childcare due to his extreme aggression and we have needed to move him this year twice to new facilities. He was expelled from the YMCA program early this year and I enrolled him in a high-end private daycare to give him more structure. This was also a failed effort, even after providng professional training for the childcare staff (at my own expense) to help them understand his issues. Our child was a troublesome student during his Kindergarden class and spent as much time in the Principal's office as he did in the classroom, often lying to the teacher so he could leave class and wander around campus alone. After consulting with the local school district professionals, it was determined that he would be equally unsuccessful in a First Grade classrom. We have voluntarily delayed his academic education by 1 year to address his social and emotional issues and have enrolled him in The Kids Center where he receives high doses of attachment based therapy every day. We see gradual improvements that are rewarding confirmations that our efforts are working. Because of the tools our family has learned and practiced, our son has been successful in making a new friend (something he's not been able to do previously) and is showing the begnnings of remorse or empathy after an outburst (instead of laughing). We feel he is making strides with being able to self-regulate his emotional response when presented with high-energy or stressful situations. We have found him to be less argumentative and more expressive of how he feels inside before resorting to hitting or throwing objects. Tantrum/Outburst episodes are not nearly as dramatic or lenthly these days and we can now permit him to play with other children (still supervised) at a park --even attend another child's birthday party - where 6 months ago we couldn't let him out of our reach without concern for the safety of the other children. These are big changes for us. We have a long way to go, but we believe this path is really working! Our son is happy to go to school now and enjoys his days...something we are very happy to see.
Mother of a 6 year old student at TKC
Miss Sharon
Whoever said time flies when you are having fun was right. The mornings with your children sure are busy and fun, although we do work very hard some days sorting through our feelings, working on what it means to be a good friend and participating in activities that will help foster learning, cooperation, trust and teamwork. We had our first Yoga lesson which went a lot more smoothly than I thought it would. Your children took to the poses quite naturally and we even had a few giggles as we crouched into our “puppy dog” pose, leapt like a “frog” and roared like a “lion.” I am still tweaking and refining the lesson to better suit the different age groups and abilities and will be bringing more breathing and visualization techniques to our Yoga time.
Reading to your children continues to be one of my favorite activities to do with them. They have all shown such a strong willingness and desire to really listen to the stories and I am always so impressed by their obvious love of books and learning. I understand the value of reading to children and know how important it is for their cognitive development as well as teaching them some very valuable lessons. I will be incorporating a felt board into our story time shortly and have been working on presenting a special story about sharing that I am sure they will enjoy.
It has been a joy to see how well your children are starting to form bonds with their peers. During a few of our early morning outings to the playground area I have watched them encourage each other to join in on group games. Inclusion is something we really work on with them so when I hear them shout out to one of their friends, “come on over and play with us,” without my having to tell them, it brings a smile to my face!
As we begin our march into fall, I just want to remind you to make sure your child has a sweater/jacket for those cooler mornings when we venture outside to play. I look forward to updating you on your wonderful children’s progress as we enter a new season—have a great week!
Miss Sharon
Miss Debbie
Hi everyone
This second week has been a lot of fun along with a lot of noticeable changes in the kids. This week’s theme was “getting to know you”. This week we really focused on getting to know our friends and our friends getting to know us. Amazingly they really do know each other very well. We did an activity of body tracing. Each day we chose a different child to focus on. The child that was chosen that day we traced and collectively decorated them on paper with their favorite colors, favorite toy, etc. That child also got to choose the game we played that day. The kids actually did very well with this activity. During this activity I also noticed that if one of them thought their coloring was “ugly” (as they would say) another child would not hesitate to make them feel better with compliments, so they did not think it was ugly anymore. I was very impressed by this. The aggression within the group has become much better this week. I did not see a lot of it this week at all. We did have a few meltdowns with a few of the kids who were missing mom a lot this week and were unsure how to direct these feelings. When we saw it come out as anger, the group stopped the activity and asked that child to tell us why they were so sad. Once we figured out the behavior was due to sadness because they missed mom, we read a few stories about missing our mom. We had a large discussion about feelings and once everyone was okay we continued on with our day. One day we stopped five to six times because of the sad feelings. We got through it though. They are really learning how to express their feelings much better this week. I feel like they have really improved in just two weeks time. They are becoming very aware of their friends feelings. It was a good week.
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August 24, 2009
Miss Anna
In the past weeks I have seen a huge improvement in our student’s behavior. The thing that has caught my attention the most is how great they are at sharing and being polite. They do a really good job of asking nicely when they want something and giving someone else a turn. We did an activity where they drew pictures for their friends. That was fun to see everyone choose a friend to give their picture to. Even I got a picture! They did a really good job making something for someone else.
I have also been seeing a lot of empathy, which I didn’t see in the first couple of weeks. The other day when we were coloring, one of the students got upset and started crying, so his friend came over and gave him a hug and said “let’s color”. It was really nice to see them comforting each other. Another example was when a student was coughing, and his friend came up to him and patted his back and said “what’s wrong, are you ok?” It is so awesome to see them showing that they care about other peoples' feelings. An exercise we did to work on learning different feelings was copying emotions. We put them in front of a mirror and showed them different pictures of different faces. They had to copy that face and tell if it was happy, sad, etc. It was so cute to see them making all the different faces! I am really happy with the changes I have been seeing. I cant wait to see how far they will have come in a few more weeks.
Miss Debbie
Wow! It has been four weeks with our friends already! During the last two weeks we worked on two very important themes. We worked on RULES and CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. We also have some very fun things happen within the last two weeks. We had a birthday party for one of our friends who turned 4! It was a very fun day. We also noticed that one of our friends lost a tooth! That was very exciting as well.
So during our week of RULES we talked about rules we have at school vs. rules we have at home. We came up with some really good ones too! J We made a picture of our 3 “golden rules at school” :
1. NO HURTS, 2. EVERYBODY PLAYS, AND 3. HAVE FUN! We also did some fun science projects this week as well. We made an ocean in a bottle with colored water and oil. The kids loved this. We read the book “Tigger hates to lose” this week and discussed it throughout the week. We talked about rules during games and good sportsmanship.
During our CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT theme we played a great game to help the kids become aware of others feelings around them. It was a game called the dinosaur self esteem game. This game has you draw cards and do what the cards say. The kids have to do things like a. Give each person a compliment, b. Talk about what makes you angry, and c. Shake your friends hand like you mean it. It’s a great game! During circle time this week we learned about what a compliment is and each of us went around our circle of friends giving genuine and meaningful compliments. Another thing we have been working on is making eye contact (as this is really hard for some of us who are still learning to trust and respect others) and we have especially learned about looking in the eyes of the person you are talking to. One of our friends was not looking in the eyes of the person who was trying to compliment him. I said to the child “Go ahead and give him a compliment” and the child then replied “But I can’t, he’s not looking in my eyes”. This is when I knew they really are getting it. J
One of the funnest things during this week was picking out our mascots and developing their characters. The older group picked the bear and named him BLUEBEARY. They decided that he is a boy bear who loves honey and lives with hiw mom, dad, grandma, and grandpa. The kids also decided he is not very good at talking and he is grumpy at bedtime. The younger kids picked out a bull dog for their mascot and named him DUFFY. Duffy lives with his two daddies and loves to eat strawberries. We all took great care of our mascots this week. This helped us to learn about others, and develop an understanding of how people are different from one another, so we can feel empathy …it also helps us learn the words to describe ourselves and develop our self-esteem. We also learned a lot about caring for others besides ourselves. We have a group of very caring kids!
Miss Sharon
It was so nice to see all of you at our Open House! I know how excited and proud your children were to show you around our Center and have you view their special art projects, photos and favorite activity areas. Of course, there wasn't enough time to really share with you all of the wonderful moments we get to experience with your children everyday. Some of these recent wonderful moments included seeing them sharing nicely with each other (without having to be told!) and good manners being practiced during snack/lunch time. I have also been the recipient of a few spontaneous hugs and some very kind words.
One of my favorite sounds to hear is the sound of your children’s laughter. Thanks to our puppet friends, Edie and Edward, some really funny stories and a few “random characters” that pop up unexpectedly during playtime, we are definitely meeting our recommended daily dose of laughter!
On a slightly different note, I hope to introduce some Yoga and breathing exercises to our day within the next week or so. We are still focusing on making sure we follow our rules and learning all about our new friends. Every day really is a new adventure here at The Kids Center and I look forward to seeing the amazing strides your children make from moment to moment. Stay tuned for our continuing updates!
Aug. 31, 2009
It's hard to believe we have competed four weeks! I guess the saying "Time flys when you are having fun" applies!
The children know eachother as their friends. They notice who is missing and ask for them by name. They are learning about eachother and sharing with their friends. "Please" and "Thank You's" are heard more naturally amongst eachother, not just with the teachers.
I love the morning drop off! Happy children, smiling parents and morning hugs or soft "high fives" for Miss Sherra. This transition has become so much smoother.
Though I am not in the Center all day with the kids, I love the excitement they show when I come into the classroom. In the last couple weeks, we have celebrated a birthday as well as picked group mascots. To listen to the children excitedly share with me the name of their mascot, and their mascots likes and dislikes shows me the children are learning about caring for others as well as themselves.
YEAH for an exciting month at TKC!
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Miss Sherra
September 16, 2009
Miss Anna
As the weeks go by I see more and more improvements in our students. Of course there are some “off” days, but overall each child has changed so much! The last two weeks were "Personal Hygiene" week and "Tigger" week.
During personal week we learned about how to take care of ourselves. We learned a song about washing our hands, practiced brushing our teeth, and learned what foods are good and bad for us. All of the students did a great job. Since everyone participated so well we introduced the Wii. At first I thought they would be competitive, but they really surprised me. They offered help when their friend didn’t understand and often they complimented each other. One of the students said to their friend “You are really good at this game”.
The next week was Tigger week. The week was focused on learning about making mistakes. We used Tigger as an example because he is always making mistakes. Everyone did a really good job talking about when they make mistakes and why they make them. We watched “The Tigger Movie” and stopped it throughout to talk about what was going on. Our students are getting very good at understanding other people’s feelings and reading non verbal cues. Throughout the movie they were asking “Why is he sad?” and “What’s wrong?”. It is really great when they can point out when their friend is sad or angry. If they notice their friend is upset they will ask them what is wrong and ask them the to come and play. This is something I didn’t see at all in our first weeks.
I am glad to see so many positive changes in our students!
-Miss Anna
Miss Debbie
Heading into September has been very exciting! The last two weeks we had a personal hygiene week and a TIGGER week. I have definitely noticed some great changes among the kids that I have not seen before. They are really “getting it”. I have just a few examples I wanted to share...
When we did theraplay, we were playing a game called soft touches. The touch that everyone was supposed to copy was a soft elbow to elbow touch. A younger child was unable to figure out how to make his elbow touch his neighbors elbow. An older child gently took him by the arm and showed him how to touch his neighbors elbow. This showed great compassion for our friends when they need help. It was great to see.
An example of how the kids are learning about how important eye contact occurred while we were doing another theraplay game called Zoom-Urk. In this game you must look in the eyes of the person next to you and say "zoom" or if you want to reverse the direction you say "urk". A child was passing the ball and saying “zoom”. The child next to him stopped him from passing the ball and said “Oops, try again you’re not looking in my eyes”.
We are trying to overcome some issues with a few of the kids who want everything to be “perfect” and who get extremely upset when they mess up. I purposely wanted to do pudding finger painting for this very reason. IT’S MESSY! A child who usually can’t stand the feel of things on their hands actually did very well with this. This child also got chocolate pudding on their shirt. This worried me a little bit because this in the past had caused a 15 minute meltdown. The child looked at me and said “It's okay, my mommy can wash it”. This was the first time ever that this child reacted this way without a meltdown over getting dirty. It was great to see our messy projects are really working!
During Hygiene week we talked about brushing teeth, washing hands, bathing, and going to the bathroom. We sang songs about washing hands each got to look in the mirror and brush our teeth. We also talked about what it’s like going to the dentist. We heard both good and bad experiences - it was great communication. We discussed the taste of the fluoride, the chair that goes up and down, and the dental floss that goes between your teeth.
We also did a week of just TIGGER and how Tigger makes mistakes. We discussed mistakes we make: like forgetting to hold mom's hand in the store, hiding from mom, spilling food, and breaking toys. We discussed how mistakes are okay and we don’t make others feel bad when we (or they) make mistakes. The mastering of this empathy was exhibited during our pudding making when we had a spill and one child told the other child who spilled "It's ok, that was a mistake". Success!! I can't wait to see what comes next during Dinosaur Week at the Center!
Miss Debbie
These last two weeks, two words come to mind. COOPERATION and TEAMWORK. I noticed quite a few instances where I noticed the older kids in the group patiently explaining the activity to that child until they "got it". It was wonderful to see this TEAMWORK in action. I have also noticed that these kids really do know one another vey well. When a child is upset it seems as though they know exactly what to do or what toy they know will comfort their friend.
Last week we talked about our mommies because it seemed "missing our mommy" has been surfacing a lot the last few weeks. We all interviewed our moms and came to school and presented our moms interview during circle time. We talked a lot about moms favorite things and talked about fun days we have with mom.
Little by little I am seeing great growth in each individual child. It is so exciting to see.
Miss Debbie
October 31, 2009
Miss Anna
For the month of October our theme was “31 days of Halloween”. For each day we did a fun Halloween project. Everyone did a great job following directions, so we could do each project. There are always those days that are a little tough and everyone is wound up, but I feel like we have had a lot less of them as time goes by.
On October 30th we had our Halloween party. I was a little worried that the students would be so excited that they wouldn’t be able to focus, but they all did a fantastic job following directions and listening. The party was so much fun. We fit so many fun activities into the day. They got to decorate cupcakes, bob for apples, make caramel apples, decorate their very own trick-or-treat bags, make mummy cups filled with marshmallows, we even had a ghost piñata! It was so great to see how much the kids enjoyed it. They had a blast! And I think we teachers had just as much fun as the kids did :).
One thing I have noticed in the past few weeks is that the students have been showing compassion for one another. This is a huge step forward for each of them. One day in circle time we were reading books and Zane looked at Brodie and said “I love you Brodie, you are my friend”. That was the first time I have ever heard one of the children say I love you to one of their friends, and I can’t tell you hoe good it made me feel. Brodie and Zane have become great friends. I can tell that all of our students are starting to become close friends.
Miss Anna
Hello TKC Parents!
It’s time again to update you on all of our morning news. As you all know by now, we have a wonderful addition to our morning staff, Miss Cassie. Cassie has had years of professional experience working with children in the field of early childhood education. She brings with her a high level of caring and expertise and is committed to helping your children learn and grow. I am so pleased to have her on our team! Together we have been able to give your children an even greater amount of personalized instruction and education.
Cassie and I, along with the guidance of Miss Michelle, are busy working on expanding our academic program in the morning, making sure we incorporate a variety of learning opportunities for your children. Whatever the activity, we always keep our focus centered on cooperation, friendship and team building. Practicing good manners, using kind words, following directions and joining in on all activities is also stressed throughout the day.
I can assure you there is never a dull moment in our center. Every morning we try to include some physical, cognitive, creative and social/emotional developmental activities for your children. What makes our mornings such a joy to behold is being able to see the desire your children have to learn and discover new things about themselves and their world. Both Cassie and I are excited to see the daily growth in your child’s continuing education! Until next time, be healthy and enjoy the colors and beauty of the fall season.
Miss Sharon
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