You are currently browsing the monthly Archive for July, 2007.
As the summer goes by, parents around the world will start to prepare their child for pre-school and kindergarten. Many of these children will be attending an educational programme away from home for the first time. Parents can help make their child’s first experience a success by assessing their own feelings and expectations, and by looking at how they can reinforce skills that the child is required to have at school. Articles about starting pre-school and kindergarten often focus on what parents can communicate to their child as a preparation for starting school. Looking beyond these conversations, there are other ways that parents can prepare themselves and their child for school.
- Parents can consider and discuss amongst themselves what they think the first day and week of school will be like. Do they know the routine that their child will follow? Do they have a plan if their child cries and does not want them to leave during the first few days? Are they feeling emotional about this first day? Will they experience separation anxiety after their child walks through the classroom door? Sometimes these emotions come on suddenly and unexpectedly; however, a parent will often know the answer to these questions well in advance off the first day of school.
- While touring the classroom and school in advance of the first day, parents can consider the classroom, playground, lunchroom and bathrooms facilities. They can imagine their child functioning in these areas. Are there ways in which they can help support their child as she develops skills to look after and change clothes; function in a setting with other children; use a washroom independently; and, eat in a group setting? Has their child spent time away from the parents or a family member? Does their child know how to listen to and follow instructions? Can their child remain focussed on a task for a specific period of time?
- Parents who feel anxious about this new adventure can talk to parents of children who are slightly older than their child. They can ask these experienced parents how their family adjusted to the new routine at school. Once school has started, a parent can make an effort to get to know other parents and socialize on and off the school grounds.
- Parents should pay close attention to the expectations that the school has of their child. Their child will be expected to bring in and care for belongings and items requested by the teacher; complete homework carefully and in a timely fashion; show up and be retrieved on time; be well rested and fed; and bring a nutritional lunch. Parents are expected to fill in forms and even sign up to help for events or to help out. An efficient and thoughtful approach to these requirements will help to create a firm foundation for a child’s education. The interest that a parent takes in their child’s education communicates a message to their child – that the child’s education is a priority for the parents. Recent research findings indicate that a child is well served if the parents focus on the child’s efforts at school rather than beliefs about the child’s level of intelligence. By making a concerted effort to pay attention to the many tasks connected with school life, the parent can set an example of how one can make an effort at school.
- It is not uncommon for parents to relive old and sometimes negative feelings about their school experiences when their eldest child starts school for the first time. If one or both of the parents disliked school or felt uncomfortable in educational settings, these old emotions need to addressed. Attitudes towards teachers, administrators and homework need to be reassessed with a fresh eye so that old patterns that may have affected the parents’ school years do not return to haunt their child.
- Most importantly, once parents have selected a school for their child, they need to put their faith in the teachers and administration. Pre-schools are often privately owned, and in many cities open boundaries allow parents to choose from a number of public kindergarten classes near the family home. In more restrictive school districts, some parents will move to neighbourhoods so that their child can enter a school within a catchment area. Ideally parents will choose an early learning environment that has an educational philosophy well suited to the beliefs and values of the child’s family. Many conflicts between parents and schools could be avoided if a careful matching of school and family took place during the screening process. As an example, if parents want their child to engage in free play in the pre-school and kindergarten years, they would be ill advised to enroll their child in a traditional Montessori programme. At a time when pre-school/kindergartens compete with other educational institutions down the road for students, it is often up to the parent to discern if the marriage of family and school will be a happy one.
In 1879, in Victorian England, a seven year old student was expected to complete the following test:
6,341 + 1,098 +3587 +209 + 4716 =
5000 – 3801 =
Add together 7/9, 12/27, 4/5, 12, 9/17, 18 6/7 and divide the answer by 2/7 of 9/11 of 20
How many minutes are there in 17/241 of a year? (365 1/4 days = 1 year)
120 years later seven year olds are asked:
6 + 2 =
7 – 3 =
There are 39 cheese sandwiches. Each costs 45p. Use your calculator to work out the cost of 39 cheese sandwiches. What is the number in your calculator display. Write it down. Write your answer in pounds.
Since 1879, some educators in England feel that standards expected of students are five years have fallen behind by five years. While some educators criticize the old curriculum suggesting that Victorian children did not understand their work. Other critics say that Victorian students left school knowing how to estimate volume, weight and volume compared to many children today who cannot complete the say tasks.
Subject: Education / Montessori / Carl Jung
When looking for information about Montessori education, it is helpful to start with the established organizations in this field. Some of them have been promoting Montessori’s educational philosophy for almost 100 years!
What is Montessori? This video provides an informative overview of Montessori education.
Subject: How Smart Are You?
Are you as smart or smarter than a fifth grader? Can you outwit a fifth grader who has crammed facts before appearing on a TV show?
It seems, according to stories circulating on the Internet, that the fifth graders on the current “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader” TV show read crib notes before appearing on the show. How else can you explain the fact that they all answered a question about a relatively obscure president correctly?
In a recent show a “30 or 40 something” female contestant struggled with the following questions:
On what continent does the giant panda live?
After taking time to think about the answer she said “Asia”. Where else would the giant panda live in the wild? Africa?
If only she could have answered the following question correctly. Then she could have taken $500,000 home, rather than $300,000.
Please name the only continent that is also a country?
After giving the question some thought, she gave up and decided to cash out. When pressed by the host to say what her answer would have been she answered “all of them”, and then chided him for grilling her.
One must ignore the fact that the question was flawed. The answer that the host was looking for was “Australia”. Technically Australia is a country. Australasia (or Oceania) includes New Zealand and the South Pacific island countries as well.
There are many simple bits and bytes of information that one forgets about since elementary school days; however, shouldn’t most educated citizens of the world know where pandas live?
When a 1 1/2 year old child I know hears music being played, she goes close to the source and dances while twirling happily – oblivious to the world around her.
Another four year I know asked to see the Yo Yo Ma and the Mark Morris Dancer’s CD over and over again.
While working with students in a Montessori classroom, I enjoyed watching the children dance and twirl to world music with carefree abandon, using diaphanous scarves.
If you want to appreciate the beautiful and sensorial aspects of dance, bring a child to an evening performance and enable opportunities for dance. The person who will learn the most in this situation will be the adult.
I was fortunate enough to see “Amelia” a few years ago in Vancouver. La La La Human Steps came to town recently to present their show Amjad.
For more videos, You Tube has a good collection of clips. This dance troupe’s multi-media presentations, along with their raw and sometimes explosive energy, and the slow building of tension towards the ending, is not to be missed. I have seen this troupe four times in Japan and Canada ,and each time the ending comes suddenly and too soon.
If you appreciate the sensorial aspects of life, it’s hard not to like the movie Scent of the Green Papaya. The film feature birds chirping nearby; rain falling on leaves; floating flowers; wind blowing a strand of hair; wooden elements and pottery elements in a home; a cricket in the garden; and, sounds on a hot night, for example.
One of my favourite sounds is the semi (Japanese for cicada). The semi repeats its song over and over again in a rhythmic pattern, with a pause in between. When you hear that sounds you know you’re in the midst of the hottest “dog days” of summertime. Semis are less attractive than the cockroach, but not reviled because they do not get into dirty places. If you can design fabric as thin as a semi’s wings, are a talented fabric designer.
Other Sounds:
This website offers up a number of well known and much loved sounds in Japan – such as the sweet potato (Ishiyaki imo) call.
Subject: Owl Moon by Jane Yolen (excerpt)
If you go owling
you have to be quiet,
that’s what Pa always says.I had been waiting to go owling with Pa
for a long, long time.
[...]
When you go owling
you don’t need words
or warm
or anything but hope.
That’s what Pa says.
The kind of hope
that flies
on silent wings
under a shining
Owl Moon.
I love both the cassette and video tape version of this story. When the children listen to this story, they seem to revel in the stillness that is created.
A boy with hyperlexia does an impressive job reciting Owl Moon
Subject: Children (A Perspective Worth Considering)
You may give them your love but not your thoughts, For they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you, For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
Kahlil Gibran (1883 – 1931) Source: The Prophet, 1923, On Children
Image source for K. L. Jones’ artwork.
When this movie first came out, I was a bit dubious about it. I wondered if it would be not quite to my liking. …but I decided to buy a copy of the movie and have since watched it many times. Since I have been a fan of magic realism in books and movies since the early 90s, I enjoyed the movie for many reasons.
If you have not seen the film and have high speed internet, get some popcorn, sit back and relax… because this clip serves up the whole film!
My Life in Pink is a rare find, a truly original, compassionate story about recognizable human beings (MARGARET McGURK, The Cincinnati Enquirer)
Does it take a village to raise a child? Not according to some home schooling mothers. For a sampling of blogs and sites dedicated to this topic, a quick search result will present a wide range of opinions.
I used to favour this saying in the 1990s, but now it has become a bit over used. In the context of a country like Canada or the United States, what exactly is a “village”? What do you mean when you speak of a village raising a child? Hillary Clinton speaks about government services. I focus on social and familial connections within a community.
The idea of seeking a village in an urban setting reminds me of Tokyo. Tokyo, in many ways, is a collection of many villages. This is why I like Tokyo so much. I have travelled all over Tokyo on a bicycle and have enjoyed the atmosphere of the different neighbourhoods – villages.
However, life is changing even in these neighbourhoods. It can be a shock to move to newer neighbourhoods in Tokyo, or newer portions in some of the older neighbourhoods, and find that the traditional relationships amongst neighbours are not as you might expect.
Back in North America, where would you find this village to help you raise your child? I read an article in Orion magazine focussed on the aboriginal people of Australia. Evidently it is the responsibility of the whole community to raise the child. This informal social contract frees up the mother to make contributions to society in ways beyond being the mother of that child.
I sometimes say that “back in the day” when my people lived in villages in western and eastern Europe, aunts, uncles and grandparents lived close to the youth in the family. My own grandmother and great-aunt used to run up the hill to their baba’s house in Ukraine when it looked like their mother might be cross with them. They lived in a Chekov-like setting as land owners who – no kidding – owned a cherry orchard and a brick factory. There’s something charming about the image of these young girls running up the hill to take refuge at baba’s. I can imagine that they ran up a steep hill, past old fences and birch trees on the way to seek solace at baba and gido’s house.
Apparently, only about 20 percent of a graduating grade 12 class will actually move away from the area where they were schooled. This means that most people are living and raising their families in regions relatively close to their extended family. The degree to which aunts, uncles and grandparents are involved in the lives of the child in that family vary. While it might be hard to recreate the vilage atmosphere of old Edo (Tokyo) or eastern Europe, the extended family can be at the heart of modern family life.
I hope that the modern equivalent of an urban “village” exists and does have a hand in helping to support the child. Children are moving towards independence from the day they are born. Different perspectives and types of support from varied members of their community can only help to enrich this life path.
The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see Nature all ridicule and deformity, and some scarce see Nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, Nature is Imagination itself.
(William Blake, 1799, The Letters)
I frequently tramped eight or ten miles through the deepest snow to keep an appointment with a beech-tree,or a yellow birch, or an old acquaintance among the pines.
(Henry David Thoreau, 1817 – 1862)
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion.
(Henry David Thoreau, Walden; or, Life in the Woods, “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For”)
One generation plants the trees under which another takes its ease.
(Chinese Proverb)
Knowledge is like a baobab tree - one person’s arms are not enough to encompass it. (African proverb)
There is something so refreshing about the simple colours and lines of the older cartoon shows such as the original Little Lulu. It makes many of the current offerings seem hyper-active and gaudy in comparison.
If you like Japanese children’s animation, you will want to check out a selection of Studio Ghibli film clips, along with video clips and plots summaries at Lukira.com. In particular I appreciate “My Neighbour Totoro” for the depiction of life in the countryside in Japan. The animators have presented many of the nicest aspects of life in rural Japan, including the daily routines of a traditional farmhouse or country home.
My first visit to Japan took place when I was ten. I was dazzled by the Sanrio products found at Kiddyland in Omotesando – in particular by the Kiki and Lalaotherwise known as Little Twin Star.
I also couldn’t help noticing the appealing sweetness of cartoons on TV such as Candy Candy, a 1970s cartoon.
“I’d give all wealth that years have piled,
The slow result of Life’s decay,
To be once more a little child
For one bright summer-day.”
Lewis Carroll, “Solitude”
Image source: dailyphotolog.blogspot – location now unknown
Credit must be given where credit is due. It seems that Bill Gates found a good woman, got married and listened to his mother’s advice at his wedding to give back to others. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has given out more money than the Carnegie and Rockefeller Foundations combined. Considering the fact that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are relatively new to the field of philanthropy, that is no small accomplishment.
The foundation focusses on issues such as malaria, AIDS, child vaccinations and literacy.
It is one thing to have had a chance to go into the sciences and like it or lump it. It is quite another to have gone down the path of no return and never have a shot at a career in the sciences – or any career that requires a science background. While one could always go back to school and start from scratch, for most people this option is somewhat of a non-option. Due to scheduling requirements, pre-requisites and the fact that I attended three high schools, I never had the chance to take a chemistry or physics class. Regardless of whether one ultimately chooses a career in the sciences, or not, it is always preferable to have the exposure first before doors start to shut.
Girlsgotech.org is a Girl Scouts sponsored site that looks at the issue of girls going into the sciences.
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The following is an excerpt from their Website:
Today, more than 60% of all jobs require some form of technology skills. According to the National Science Foundation, women currently represent 46% of the total workforce, but only 25% of the technology workforce and 10% of the nation’s top technology jobs.Despite their success in diverse areas, studies show that many women choose traditionally “female” occupations and research suggests that these decisions take root while girls are in elementary school. Studies show that by age 12, most girls lose interest in these subjects and therefore their chance at many future jobs.The Girls Go Tech campaign aims to encourage girls to develop an early interest in math, science, and technology and, ultimately, maintain that interest to help ensure a more diverse, dynamic and productive workforce.
Watching this commercial, it reminds me of the sensorial impressions that young children receive from the world around them. Some are positive impressions and some are not as beautiful (unfortunately).
During a walk through an avenue of cherry blossoms, the children I was with gazed in awe as the blossoms fell around them.
Children help remind us that you don’t have to intellectualize this type of experience. You can enjoy it without saying a word.
While living in Baghdad as a school girl, I first noticed a pomegranate hanging over a garden wall. It was ripe, with seeds bursting out. Next to the persimmon, it is one of the fruits I consider to be the most beautiful.
“The Fruits of the Earth” (Andre Gide)
Let me tell you of the pomegranate; of its juice, sourish like the juice of green raspberries;
Its wax-like flower the colour of fruit;
Its closely guarded treasure;
Its partitions in the hive;
Its abundance of flavour;
Its pentagonal architecture;
Its skin giving in;
Its grains bursting;
Grains of blood dripping into azure cups;
Drops of gold falling into plates of enameled bronze…
An interesting history of the pomegranate.
Image source .
Image source .
Subject: No Regrets / Mark Twain
Subject: Motherhood in China
In 2006, a research team from Saatchi a& Sattachi travelled 50,000 km in China by van, boat and train to discover the lives and motivations of the people. The findings have been published in a book entitled “One in a Billion: An Introduction to the People of China”, by Sandy Thompson.
In this book Thompson writes about the contemporary Chinese mother.
While Chinese mothers always appeared affectionate and attentive with their kids, we began to sense that being a mother was as much a career to these women as the career they paid the rent with. We asked them, “What makes a successful mother in China? How do you know if you are a good mother or not?”. In China, a successful mother was one who succeeded in bringing up a competitive achiever. As one young mother told us, “Being a mother is not about good or bad; it is about success or failure.” Another told us, “If she turns out to be ordinary, I shouldn’t have given birth to her in the first place. Raising a child is like working on a project: you have a goal to achieve.” For Chinese moms, kids aren’t just kids but rather a continuation of their lives – vessels for their hopes and dreams. They are an assurance that whatever they don’t achieve in this life their kids will. There is, however, one universal truth that we witnessed over and over again. All Chinese mothers, regardless of their ambition, love their children completely.
Subject: Traditional Games
There is so much to say about traditional games. Of course there are games that you play in the street, and games that you play indoors. I was fortunate enough to experience street games in the 1970s in Ireland and Quebec, and learned many indoor board and action games. As a Montessori educator, I have collected resources and photography books about traditional street games. I have also been fortunate enough to travel and collect simple games, and viewed exhibitions about traditional childhood games in Barbados and Japan.
The Streetplay.com website is a wonderful resource for information about this topic. I was also pleased to see that a Canadian sportswoman has been supporting the Right to Play initiative, along with many of her Canadian colleagues, and has recently launched a book about child’s play.
I’m not completely negative about contemporary toys such as video games. For girls in particular, they are a useful tool to develop certain neurological-muscular functions. However, I wasn’t interested in the idea of looking at a TV screen and playing a game when younger, and still find it unappealing. In my classroom, while teaching overseas, I placed traditional games in the window sill that could be used after lunch. The children loved them and would often say that their parents hadn’t told them about these games.
Olympian Silken Laumann says the solution to childhood obesity is simple: play. (Bringing back fun , April, 2006, National Post)
“The schoolyard games have been lost. Kids don’t know how to play four-square, a lot of people don’t know how to play hopscotch,” says Silken Laumann, who over the next couple of weeks will be conducting sessions across the country instructing parents on the rules of the games most of them played as children.”
Subject: Family Circus (Click on image to enlarge)
If you are a teacher of young children, you cannot help but like the Family Circus cartoon strip.
The Family Circus website.
Subject: How to build a community Turn off your TV ~ Leave your house
Know your neighbours
Look up when you are walking
Greet people ~ Sit on your stoop
Plant flowers
Use your library ~ Play together
Buy from local merchants
Share what you have
Help a lost dog
Take children to the park
Garden together
Support neighbourhood schools
Fix it even if you didn’t break it
Have pot lucks ~ Honour elders
Pick up litter ~ Read stories aloud
Dance in the street
Talk to the mail carrier
Listen to the birds ~ put up a swing
Help carry something heavy
Barter for your goods
Start a tradition ~ Ask a question
Hire young people for odd jobs
Organize a block party
Bake extra and share
Ask for help when you need it
Open your shades ~ Sing together
Share your skills
Take back the night
Turn up the music
Turn down the music
Listen before you react to anger
Mediate a conflict
Seek to understand
Learn from new and uncomfortable angles
Know that no one is silent
though many are not heard
Work to change this
Author: Syracuse Cultural Workers community
Image: Mural on Tremont Street in the South End of Boston
Subject: Pediatric AIDS Foundation
What three mothers began around a kitchen table in 1988 is now the leading national nonprofit organization dedicated to creating a future of hope for children and families worldwide by eradicating pediatric AIDS, providing care and treatment for people with HIV/AIDS, and accelerating the discovery of new treatments for other serious and life-threatening pediatric illnesses.
Subject: Bono, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Time Magazine Persons of the Year 2006
Time Magazine’s Persons of the Year Award: 2006
Subject: Children and War
Global Children’s Organization (GCO)
The GCO supports children traumatized by intolerance, terrorism, or war by providing summer camps and on-going programs
Getting an Early Start on Peace, Time Magazine
Children and Armed Conflict in Colombia
Surviving Childhood: An Introduction to the Impact of Trauma.
Disturbing photographs showing the reality of war for children in Iraq.
Links to sites about children and war (scroll to bottom of page)
War Child International.
WCI is a network of independent organisations working across the world to help children affected by war.
Subject: Education & Healthcare / India
A father’s response to the 1985 Air India bombing: The National, March 18, 2005
Subject: Early Childhood Educators / ECE salaries 
A commonly told Canadian story about why ECE teachers are leaving their profession.
Many ECE teachers have completed an undergraduate degree at university. Some have completed a Master of Education or PhD degree as well. The average K – 12 teacher’s salary is well above the typical ECE salary. Recent Vancouver rates being offered to ECE teachers are as low as 18,000 – 20,000 per year. This is $5000 – $7000 less than the average starting salary ten years ago.
If we value our children and want them to have enriched educational opportunities, why don’t we, as a society, value the people who will help these children start their school careers?
Salaries for K-12 public school teachers (in comparison)
Image from MGEU (Manitoba) Postcard Campaign
Subject: Listening
Active listening is a skill that both students and teachers need to develop during their time at school.
Subject: Enfance / Childhood / Emmanuelle Beart
