Parents Newsletter August/September 2005 page 2
News and Information from the Boonville R-I Parents As Teachers Program March/April/May 2009
Parents Newsletter N 2006 page 2
Upcoming PAT Events
“Screenings”
Saturday, March 7
9:00 A.M. – 1:00 P.M.
Central Elementary School
901 Sixth Street
These screenings are for children ages 6 months to 4 years, excluding those eligible for Kindergarten in the fall 2009. We will be giving a full developmental, health, hearing and vision screening. This will include using an audiometer for those that are age appropriate and getting weight and height. Bringing a copy of your child’s immunization records will be helpful to us.
“Play Ball”
Thursday, March 12
10:00 – 11:00 A.M.
First Presbyterian Church
417 Vine Street
Ball play can be fun for kids of ages, from the toddler to the adult! You get to throw, kick and chase after the ball, which can be a great way to further develop those skills and build muscle strength at the same time. Join us for balls of fun at this play group. We only have a few left for this program year!
2009 - 2010
“Kindergarten Enrollment”
Thursday, March 26
Central Elementary Gym
901 Sixth Street
The new Hannah Cole Primary is almost ready! Are you ready to enroll your 5 year old? Your child must be five before August 1, 2009 to be eligible for Kindergarten this fall.
Enrollment will be held Thursday, March 26 starting with last names beginning with A-K at 4 – 5:30 PM, and last names beginning with L-Z at 5:30- 7PM. Parents please bring your child’s birth certificate, Social Security card, Immunization record and a proof of residency (driver’s license). You will sign up for a screening time at enrollment to be done at a later date.
“Bubbles and Balloons Mania”
Wednesday, April 8
10:00 – 11:00 A.M.
First Presbyterian Church
417 Vine Street
Who doesn’t love blowing bubbles and playing with balloons? Not many people I am sure. But playing with and chasing after them can be a great way to get moving. Your child won’t even realize they are exercising as they try to catch and chase after these fun things. Join us for this final play group before summer.
“Painting in the Park”
Saturday, April 18 (Rain date May 2)
10:00 – 11:00 A.M.
Harley Park
Bring the artists in your family out for an hour to express their creative side. Play along as we Paint with Trucks, Paint the wall, make Sand Art and much more. Your child will have the opportunity to make an Artist Hat (limited supply, first come first serve) and we will have Face Painting. Please dress your child accordingly, we will not provide smocks. This will be an excellent time to observe your child’s intellectual, social-emotional and motor development. We look forward to seeing you there.
Parents Newsletter March/April/May 2009 page 4
Easy Rider
Cowboys have horses. Teenagers have driver’s licenses. So how do younger kids declare their freedom? With their bikes. A bike’s not just a way to get from familiar here to boring old there. It’s a trusty sidekick, a partner in crime, a ticket to adventure.
Wheels take kids away from babies in the sandbox and bring the possibilities of an open road, the exhilaration of flying downhill or making a solo trip to Harry’s Quick Mart for sour-apple suckers.
Not that any kid cares when she’s in the middle of a magnificent spinout, but bikes are good for more than thrills and spills: They develop balance, strength, coordination, and—with proper safety precautions, of course—bravery.
Just as Batman needs the Batmobile, just as The Lone Ranger needs Silver, a kid needs two wheels—and the promise of a free Saturday morning—to call her own.
Wheelie Cool
Toddlers (the starter). The trike rider is refining a skill she first learned with kicking, crawling, and walking: moving her legs in opposition. On the trike, not only does she have to hold her feet on the pedals while pushing them in circles, she also has to steer clear of the family dog, the car fender, her little sister. Strap on a helmet right away to get her in the habit.
Preschoolers and kindergarteners (the coaster). After age 3, a child can balance enough to stand on one foot. That balance begins to improve with practice, and so will steering and stopping. On a pedal-less bike a new driver can start with strolling speed, then built to a flying-feet zoom before the piece de resistance, no-feet coasting. When she’s ready, just add the pedals.
Ages 6 and up (the cruiser). For a cautious biker, training wheels offer reassurance. But don’t go too easy, even at the start, both training wheels should never touch the ground at the same time. Begin with a small amount of lean, and then raise the wheels little by little as your child becomes more confident. Soon she’ll be instinctively leaning into a turn or increasing her speed to avoid spills. And without training wheels, she’ll learn how a strong kick start can get her out of the gate.
Ages 8 and up (the daredevil). First stop: a parking lot for hand brake practice. Once her skills are solid, she may dig a bike that can take her through mud, over a few ramps, and into a bunny hop. A BMX bike’s knobby tires, light yet rugged frame, and double-sided pedals are made to do just that. For a less adventurous trick, try a 360-degree handlebar spin.
(Source: Wondertime. June 2008)
Infant
“Tiny Artists”
Think your 1-year-old is too young to create art? He’s not: When babies start to walk, at around 12 months, they can begin to draw and paint. Art can be more than fun when it’s done at the child’s level of development. Besides encouraging creativity, it can also help boost fine motor skills. Some simple projects:
Scribbling. Hand him an unwrapped chunky, non-toxic crayon and a large sheet of paper. He might put the crayon in his mouth the first time (and the second and the third), but gently guide his hand to the paper in front of him, then let him loose.
Finger painting. Spread newspaper on the kitchen floor and plop your child in the middle. Using commercial finger paints (start with one color, then work up to two) or easy-to-clean-up homemade (mix two teaspoons of food coloring with liquid laundry detergent and water until it has a pudding-like consistency), dip his fingers in and set his hands on the paper, he’ll do the rest.
Buy simple-shape stickers, Circles, squares, triangles. He’ll love creating masterpieces by sticking them on each other, the paper, his body, and you!
(Source: Parenting, 2008)
“Babbling”
Babbling starts as early as 5 months, while an infant’s vocal tract is still maturing. She’ll begin to switch from open-throated consonants-- h, g, k-- to stringing together consonants made with the palate or lips: tata, nana, dada, mama. By 12 months, she’s mixing syllables (tada!) and an English-babbling baby is clearly pronouncing most of the vowels and about half of the consonants of her native language.
Scientist have long debated whether babbling is nascent language or just verbal gymnastics, but recent studies indicate those syllables are in fact small talk. A 2002 study conducted a Dartmouth College shows that when an infant babbles, her mouth opens wider on the right side (as an adult’s does when she speaks), indicating an activated language-control center in the brain’s left hemisphere. This suggests that unlike early cooing, babbling is language based.
Furthermore, until recently babbling was thought to be purely imitative, and therefore dependent on the speech of those around her. According to a 2003 study at Franklin & Marshall College, babbling also can grow increasingly sophisticated (with more complex syllable structure and faster consonant-to-vowel transitions) simply as a result of nonverbal feedback, the smiles and touches of those who care for her.
(Source: Wondertime, November 2008)
Toddler
“Speech Pwobwems”
Your 3-year-old still mispronounces some words, instead of “cocoa,” he’ll say “toto.” Could he have a speech problem?
Odds are it’s nothing to worry about. Speech isn’t generally 100 percent intelligible until age 4. Some sounds are simply harder for kids to pronounce than others, too: Many children don’t master sh, th, s, z, l, r, sp, tr, or bl sounds until they’re 6 or 7.
It’s worth keeping an ear on his errors. Sometimes mispronouncing words can be a sign of a hearing problem, or a developing speech or language difficulty. If you have any concerns about your child’s hearing (for instance, if he doesn’t always respond when called, says “What?” a lot, sits very close to the TV, or often wants the volume turned up), get it tested as soon as possible.
Otherwise, talk to your pediatrician about your son’s speech slipups at his next general checkup or to your Parents As Teachers educator. Chances are he’s right on track.
(Source: Parenting, April 2008)
Preschooler
“Writing Backward”
Four-year-old Maia printed her name and held up the paper for her mom to see. All the letters were neatly formed, but in a mirror image. Next, she made a J lazing on its front, its curly loop hanging down off the line like a monkey’s tail; then she ignored all the lines on the paper and scripted a super-size G.
Children just learning to write will write upside down, backward, all over the page. They fall in love with letters. Young children don’t yet recognize that print is a static form. Literacy experts call it the flexibility principle, but we might call it the Silly Putty principle; How far can a letter be stretched, turned, and misshapen, and still retain its identity?
Preschoolers are new to the two-dimensional world of the page and the orientation of letters and numbers. In a three-dimensional world, a chair is always a chair. So, to a child a C is always a C, no matter its direction. It’s not random; it’s not a mistake. Its configuration is just different. Kids can see the difference; they just don’t think it matters.
It’s also about direction. Young children don’t know about the human conventions of left and right, and their understanding that English is read from left to right typically does not solidify until about age 5.
(Source: Wondertime. December/January 2009)