Cute Monkey Robots!

Help children learn to play by joining in the play yourself! Children learn play skills and vocabulary for friendship by the way adults speak to and play with them!

Modeling and coaching how to speak to and play with others is one of Jesse's many strengths! Grace and Hannah asked Jesse to play "monkey robots". Jesse was more than eager to play! Jesse had to hide and Grace and Hannah the "monkey robots", had to find her!

Everyone had so much fun and the game was bonding for both the teacher and the children!

Missing Our Classmates

Today Sauci was not in school. She was at home with her daughter, which I explained to the children, and then Sauci later explained when she called in to class. The students shared that they missed Sauci, and Harper went straight to the easel. When I asked her who she was painting, she said it was Sauci! Children have different ways of internalizing changes in the classroom and in their routine, and Harper found an artistic way to do so!

-Alison

Special Moments

According to noted child psychiatrist Dr. Bruce Perry, children who have one or more trusted and loving adults in their lives have a huge advantage over children who don't. Having a strong relationship with an adult such as a parent, grandparent, or aunt encourages children to succeed and helps them survive the bumps they experience in the world outside their home. In our own busy and complex lives, it's good to find out that it's often the small efforts we make with children that can send them the message that we are there for them.

Think About It
Think back to your childhood. Who do you remember as a key adult in your like? What fond memories pop into your mind when you think about that adult? For me, it was one of my grandmothers. I remmeber her taking me grocery shopping with her, letting me use her cold cream on my hands after my bath, and teaching me how to make mashed potates. In all these things, te message was that she wanted me around and wanted to share her life with me. Remember your own special moments and try to pass them on to the important child in your life.

Some Ideas

• Rock and sing to your baby or young child. Smooth lotion on each other's hands.
• Cook a meal together. Fix a broken item together. Fold laundry together. 
• Spend five minutes with your child at bedtime. Turn off the TV and the cell phone. Just chat together. 
• Plan a weekly lunch date with older children when you can sit together and chat as friends. 

Jenna Bilmes

From Beyond Behavior Management: The Six Life Skills Children Need, second edition by Jenna Bilmes, 2012. Published by Redleaf Press, www.redleafpress.org. Reproduced with permission.

Attachment: I have an adult who cherishes me and keeps me safe.

This year your child's teachers have engaged in an intensive study of the critical life skills your child needs to thrive in today'd world.  We've been working to understand the latest research, think about to help children develop in this area, and incorporate specific teaching of the skills into our daily curriculum.  Together with the Children's Center Learning Committee we are studying the text Beyond Behavior Management by Jenna Bilmes.  We invite you to join us in this study by purchasing your own copy to read at home.  Come ask us about it!


Over the past two months, our focus has been on learning about attachment, the skill of being able to depend on adults for safety and security, seeking out adults for conversation and play, and accepting comfort, love, and affection from a trusted adult.  We have challenged our own long held notions about attachment and learned that many children who appear to have behavior issues may actually have weak attachment skills.  Therefore, withholding attention as a punishment for this behavior can have the opposite of the intend effect on a child.  Bilmes notes, "Making love and affection contingent upon 'good behavior' may seem to make sense on the surface.  If children crave attachment to significant adults, wouldn't they behave better in order to get that love?  In fact, the opposite is true.  Children cooperate more with adults who accept them unconditionally.  Early learning for children is relationship based."


Stay tuned for tips on how to support your child in developing strong attachment skills.

The "Owie" Station

Savita set up the Owie station today with some paint, cotton swabs, a small paint brush, and some brightly colored band-aids. This activity grew out of a reading about attachment that the faculty has been studying. The kids could have a pretend injury - which Savita would gently clean and carefully bandage. Later, Savita volunteered to be injured: cut, scraped, or bleeding. The kids had a chance to show their skills at caring for someone that was hurt. By the end of the session, Savita's arm was sporting about eight band-aids. If your child came home with one, two, or more band-aids, you can rest assured that no children were really injured today!

The Boo Boo Game

This month the teachers and I have been studying the life skill of attachment. How do children develop strong attachment skills? How can we help support that process at school? As part of this study we learned a series of bonding games. The purpose of these simple games are to give children predictable and structured activities that encourage them to safe and secure at school.

Harper and I played the boo boo game. Presented with a box of rainbow colored bandaids and some pretend blood (red watercolors), Harper was immediately intrigued by this game. As I painted boo boos on my arm, and told stories of my run ins with various dangers, Harper took excellent care of me, gently applying bandaid after bandaid until my hands and arms were covered. "Don't worry, I'll take care of you," she assured me. What a caring kid!