Happy Easter!

Happy Valentine's Day!

On your mark, Get Set, WAIT!!

Two weeks ago this was one of our Monday night class vocabulary words.  Waiting is a very important skill not just for your little one but also for you!  The more time I spend teaching sign language to young children the more aware I am of the importance of waiting for a response. The reality is our schedules and plugged into technology lifestyles have left us very accustomed to a point, click and respond universe.  But to really engage while teaching your little one signs you need to adjust to thier clock. 

Every child is unique.  We have all heard it and probably said it.  But it always catches me off gaurd just how accurate that statement is!  In class, you show your child the sign, make eye contact, smile, & WAIT.  But how long?  The answer is ... you guessed it ... unique to every child.  The truth is for most of us, at least when we begin, it feels a bit like an uncomfortably long pregnant pause, & we don't wait long enough. We don't look long enough.  We don't unplug from the environment and plug into our little long enough.  The window of opportunity lives somewhere in between barely taking a breath before showing the sign again and waiting so long your child disengages.   Having the courage to simply sit still smiling at your child seems easy and it is. 
 
Finding Your Waiting Window
When I am trying determine a student's waiting window I turn on a little metronome in my head.  Then I ask a question that I know they respond to frequently.  With the very young I often use a beloved toy or blanket.  I turn on the metronome in my head (Beat, Beat, Beat, Beat).  Next, I ask the question.  Where is your blanket? or The ultimate go to question ... Where is mommy?  I count the beats between the time I finish asking the question and the moment I see a response from the child.  That response could be a facial expression, a vocalization, hand or body movement.  I have exprienced it taking as few as 4 beats and as many as 29.  I recalibrate often.  With most student's I do this weekly when I greet them at the door.  ;)


When you sign with your child the goal is not just looking for them to understand you, but to look within yourself to make sure you are waiting, watching, and listening. For those of you in class a good test is to ask yourself if by the end of class you have spent atleast 60% of your time looking at your children's gorgeous little faces?  I mean directly into thier faces.  If the answer is yes, then I say ... way to SHINE!

Why Wait??
Let's be really honest for most of us learning patience and how to wait is a life long journey.  So why not start practicing this skill with your little ones now!  Here are some tips for ways you can help your child start to understand waiting and patience:

At Play Time
- When you are at the park place your child on the swing, sign wait, then wait a minute before the big first push.  Be sure to clap, say and sign great waiting!!

At Meal Time
- Prepare you child's plate, hold it in front thier place, sign wait, wait a moment and the set the plate down.  Be sure to provide thunderous applause for such great waiting!

At Bath Time
- Have your child stand outside of the bath tub for a moment before diving in for a splashing good time.  Sign wait, wait a moment and then proceed with bathtime.  Be sure to acknowledge that awesome waiting!!

On the Road
- Next time you are all in the car buckled and ready to go.  Say we are waiting.  Use the sign for wait.  Then start the count down.  5, 4, 3, 2, 1 ... Great WAITING!! 

 

Happy Signing & Shining!!

DIY Felt Tree

We have had so much fun this holiday season!!  One of our favorite parts of story time this month has been playing with our felt christmas tree.  Here is a template that can help you make your own! Felt Tree Cut Out

Thumbprint Art!

We had so much fun Signing and Crafting at the Jacksonville Mommies' Holiday Market!  We have enjoyed making these adorable Rudolph Hopkins and Menorah Thumprint Crafts throughout the season.  Now you can download print, color and craft them at home!!Thumprint Antler's for Rudolph Hopkins and Thumbprint Candle Light Menorah Printables

DIY: Holiday Crafting

I find that completing this entire project from begining to end is best suited children age 3 and up.  However, with a little construction prep work ... it can be terrific fun for all ages and abilities.  As with all craft activities children must be carefully supervised around choking hazard and other housholds dangers. 

 

Happy Crafting!!

What you'll need:

• 6 colored craft sticks (popsicle sticks)
• White craft glue
• Glitter pens (or loose glitter)
• Other found objects (buttons, gems, glitter)

How to make the Star of David Shape:

1. Apply a small drop of glue to the ends of three coloured Popsicle sticks and lay them on top of each other in the shape of a triangle. Repeat this process with three more sticks, so you have two identical triangles.
2. Wait 15 to 20 minutes for the glue to set.
3. Once your triangles are dry and securely glued together, lay one on top of the other in opposite directions so that they form a star.
4. Put small dabs of white craft glue on the points that meet and gently hold them together to help set the glue.
5. Wait another 15 minutes to make sure everything is dry and begin your decorations. 
6. Decorate and display on the table, mantel or windowsill. !!

How to make the Snowflake Shape:  

1. Apply a small drop of glue to the middle section of three coloured Popsicle sticks and lay them on top of each other in the shape of an astrick.
2. Wait 15 to 20 minutes for the glue to set.
3. Decorate and display on the table, mantel or windowsill!!

Decorating Tips:

• Use glitter pens or white glue and sparkles, buttons or little gems. add some personal touches!
• If you can’t find colored Popsicle sticks, paint your own using washable acrylic paint.
• If have a little under three consider completeing the construction portion of this activity for your little one.  Allow it to dry completely and let them paint the stars or snowflakes with baby friendly finger paints!

Alternate Display Idea!

For a different look, decorate both sides of your Star of Davids or Snowflakes and, using long pieces of fishing wire or colour ribbon, hang them over your table from your light fixture so they look like twinkling stars in the sky!!

Multi-Age Learning Environments ...

I had to use a bit of humour in this photo.  Of coarse, they are both
students.  But watching the response from our littlest sprout & growing
confidence on one of our medium size sprouts highlights
the power of multi-age learning at work! 

Our learning studio offers lots of ways to learn: private tutoring, single-age group classes, and multi age classes.  While I love teaching in all environments, I have a special place in my heart for teaching a multi-age classroom.  Our multi-age classes are typically broken down into 3 year age brackets.  For example our Signing Time Classes are geared for children and babies (0-3 years).  I know the concept of multiple ages in an environment can be overwhelming for some parents and teachers.  In this post, I wanted to take some time to share with you why I adore the multi-age environment as well as barriers that exist in our multi-age classes to help you decide which type of learning enviroment best suites your sprout. 

In my opinion, I see some of the most sustained and independent results from sprouts who participate in our multi-age learning activites either in our classrooms or at playgroup.   One off the most compelling studies I have read on multi-age learning groups was written by Dr. Patricia Porter.  She higlighted 5 benefit areas that I have seen living, breathing and working in our multi age environments.  I think they are best presented the way she did so take a look at this excerpt.

Benefits of multi-age learning environments ...

We use work space levels to help older sprouts. Maintain
independence while still inspiring younger sprouts!

-  "Not all children in every age bracket learn at the same pace. Your child might benefit from being with children who are at his or her level of learning."

- "Children learn from each other and older children can help younger children learn while benefiting their own learning. Teaching is a great way to learn."

- "Multi-age classrooms encourage responsibility for learning. Children are encouraged to explore and challenge their own abilities in areas like problem solving, teamwork, and cooperation."

- "Friendships -  Children can make friends with older or younger children depending on their maturity.  Our society requires us to interact across age levels.  From a social perspective the older child learns compassion and patience for younger students and the younger children are challenged and inspired by the skills off the older students."

- Sense of security - children feel less threatened by change and are able to concentrate more on learning in multi-age environments."






The mulit-age approach does come along with a few challenges.  You should expect that the multi age class is going to be a "busy" class.  There is, in fact, a lot going on!  This is why we limit class size to ensure that we can keep everyone having fun and moving forward.  Sometimes the busy nature of our class means it gets louder than a single age group class.  But it is just as likely to get so quite you can hear a pin drop due to the laser focus of our little sprouts..  Because we have children working at different maturity and skill levels 3 children working on the same project may be working on entirely different skill sets.  A baby working on our craft project might simply be enjoying the tactile experience of finger painting her thumbprint, while the toddler is focused on placing those thumbprints perfectly on her project, and the pre-k sprout is working on all of that and his writing or pre-writing skills.  Our multi-age class encourages independence and cooperation which is awesome.  We are helping our littles to understand how to make space to accomplish thier goals while working as a part of team to learn larger lessons. 

One of the questions I hear parents asking each other far more frequently in single age classes is "How old is she or  he?" shortly after a child does some absolutely adorable signing or displays a skill set we are focusing on with ease.  It is often followed by, "So exactly how many months?"  As a mom ... I totally get it.  It's hard not to want to grab for a measuring stick to evaluate and assess where our littles are on the learning curve.  Every parent wants to see their little be successful.  However, there has been a ton of research that shows searching for assesment to early doesn't just stress out mom and dad - it can also intimidate littles.  The purpose of our class is to have fun, learn and play together!  So no matter which learning environment you choose remember your priority at any sprout event is to enjoy fun learning time with your little.  We will work on goals and targets together individually after class ... learning time is play time!

 

We look forward to signing and PLAYING with you and your  sprout soon!!