A while ago, I was observing a group of preschoolers, and I was amazed at how long they stayed at a task. What was so engaging? They were making something rather ordinary and kind of “old-fashioned” -- paper chains. As they worked on this project, I could see why they were so involved. They wanted to make a chain that...
Read MoreWhen I was growing up, I loved dressing up in costumes for Halloween. But my Halloween memories don’t go back much earlier than when I was about 6 or 7 years old, and I’ll bet yours don’t either. For young children, Halloween can take on very different meanings. And depending on their temperament and developmental needs, some children in your care might...
Read More“Kindergarten Social Skills Hold Key to Success.” That was the headline for a USA Today article a while ago about a 20-year study published in the American Journal of Public Health which followed more than 750 children. The researchers found that kindergarteners with the highest scores on “social competence” were more likely to graduate high school on time, earn a...
Read MoreNow that the school year has started -- or is about to start, and you’re trying to get to know a new group of children, I thought you might appreciate a quote that I heard in an early childhood workshop: “We all have one mouth and two ears. Why don’t we use them in that proportion!” That quote reminds me...
Read MoreIt seems that most people associate Fred Rogers’ work with social-emotional development, but I think of it more as dealing with the whole child -- or should I say “the whole neighborhood,” including people, nature and things. In fact, I would often say that Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood offered three basic messages: “helping children feel good about themselves, get along with...
Read MoreI will never forget a lesson I learned when I was observing in a classroom. The children were asked to draw something they did over the wintry weekend. Most drew snowmen or sleds or snow-covered trees. But one girl’s picture was just a murky mixture of colors. To me, it looked like a mess, like something done without much thought. Was...
Read MoreNow that we’re getting close to the end of the “school year,” I hope you can take some time to appreciate how much forward progress the children have made in your care. You invest a lot of your time and energy to guide and support the children, and it can give you a good feeling to think about how much...
Read MoreI wonder how you felt about math when you were in grade school? I know there are early childhood professionals who cringe at the very thought of math. I’ll bet that even now you can remember, like I can, how it felt when we were faced with long division problems with a remainder…or subtraction problems like 325-89 when we had...
Read MoreMarch 20 would be Fred Rogers’ 91st birthday, and I wanted to celebrate by sharing with you the tribute video that PBS produced shortly after his death in 2003. As I listened to the words “Feels Like Home to Me,” on the song they chose, I thought about how much we all have learned from Fred about the simple, everyday,...
Read MoreMuch as I don’t like the cold February weather here in Pittsburgh, one evening I found myself looking at a wintry scene with new eyes, thanks to Fred Rogers. As I was walking to my car in the parking lot, I noticed that the snow was especially beautiful. It was sparkling like diamonds. Normally, I would just keep walking and...
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