Teaching Classmates About Food Allergy

by Alexander
Sept. 13, 2009

 

 

 

Dear Alexander,

(Q) I’ve tried to explain food allergies to my classmates, but they just don’t care to understand. How can I show them how serious food allergies are?

(A) You have a few options. Have you shown them any of the Alexander, the Elephant Who Couldn’t Eat Peanuts videos? Your classmates would enjoy these animated stories about a friendly, young elephant who can’t eat peanuts. Some of the Alexander videos even have interviews with real kids who have food allergies!

There are also Alexander storybooks that a parent or teacher could read to your class. These storybooks cover a wide range of topics and can help show just how safe you have to be all the time.

Asking your teacher, the school nurse, or the principal for help is another good way to get your classmates’ attenion. Your safety is very important to these adults, so they would be great advocates. Sometimes, classmates won’t listen unless an adult is the one talking.

Whatever you do, I’m sure that with enough work, your classmates will understand the importance of food allergies.

Good luck!

Your friend,

Alexander the Elephant

 

Editor’s Note: The information above is not designed to take the place of a doctor’s instructions. Patients are urged to contact a doctor for specific information regarding guidelines for care.

We would like to know what you think? dan@youngchronicle.com

Source: Food Allergy

National Zoo – Bald Eagle

By FNZ
Sept. 12, 2009

Order: Falconiformes
Family: Accipitridae
Genus/Species: Haliaeetus leucocephalus

The bald eagle’s scientific name (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) means “white-headed sea-eagle.”
Eagle

Description

The adult bald eagle is a striking dark brownish black bird with a white head and tail. Juvenile birds are a mottled brown with white blotches. They do not obtain the full distinctive plumage of the adults until they are four or five years old. Bills, legs, and feet are a deep yellow.

Size

Second in size only to California condors (Gymnogyps californianus) and about the same size as golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos), bald eagles dwarf most other North American raptors. Their wingspans range from six and a half to seven and a half feet, while body length varies from about three to three and a half feet. Bald eagles weigh from six to eight pounds. Females are larger than males and have a slightly longer wingspan.

Life Span

Bald eagles have lived up to 48 years in zoos, although their life span in the wild is likely far shorter.

Distribution and Habitat

Bald eagles occur from Baja California and Florida north to Newfoundland and Alaska. Within this area, they are nearly always found near water, along rivers, lakes, or the sea coast and coastal marshes, reservoirs, and large lakes. They also pass over mountains and plains during migration. The northern and interior populations may migrate to open water in the winter months.

Bald eagles breed in much of Alaska (where they are most common), Canada, the Pacific Northwest, along the East Coast, the Mississippi River, and the Gulf Coast, around the Great Lakes, and in other areas with sufficient water and wildlife. The birds winter along the coasts and across much of the U.S. Some reach northwestern Mexico.

Near Washington, D.C., bald eagles have increased around the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. They nest at several sites around the Capital Beltway, and have been seen flapping over the National Zoo.

Although unique to North America, the bald eagle’s closest relatives live in other parts of the world. These include the African fish-eagle (Haliaeetus vocifer) of sub-Saharan Africa and the white-tailed sea-eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) of Eurasia.

Diet

Bald eagles are predators. They have several adaptations that fit them for that role. They have excellent eyesight and the frontal setting of their eyes gives them excellent binocular vision as well as peripheral vision.

The eagle has a strong, hooked beak with which it tears food, but it uses its powerful, taloned feet to capture prey. Bald eagles prefer fish, which they often capture by swooping down and snatching them from the water’s surface. Another successful technique is to wade in the shallow water catching fish with the bill. They also take birds, especially waterfowl, and occasional mammals.

In addition to eating other animals such as ducks, muskrats, and sometimes turtles, they eat carrion willingly, and are notorious for robbing osprey of their catches. Eagles will wait on a favorite perch for an osprey to return to its nest with a fish in its talons for its own young, then harasses the smaller raptor until it is forced to drop its prey for the eagle to retrieve.

National Zoo Diet

The Zoo’s bald eagles eat dead rats and chicks sprinkled with a vitamin and mineral supplement.

Behavior

Bald eagles spend hours perched in trees overlooking water, their keen eyes alert for feeding opportunities. When not fishing, they sometimes steal food from ospreys, pursue injured or healthy waterfowl, or settle in for a meal of roadkill or fish chopped up in turbines at dams (including Maryland’s Conowingo Dam).

Reproduction

Southern bald eagles remain on or near their breeding territory throughout the year and probably mate for life. More northern birds may migrate long distances over the winter months and it is unknown whether pairs remain together during migration. Initiation of courtship depends on the latitude. Southern birds may begin courtship and nesting activity in the late fall or early winter, while it is more common for northern birds to court and nest in the early spring. Copulation occurs on branches or other secure perches and is preceded by tail pumping and wing flapping displays by the male.

Eagles construct their nests near water in tall trees or on cliffs using large sticks. The nest is lined with twigs, grasses and other soft materials. Each year, a pair works together to build a large stick nest high in a tree or on a cliff.

Sometimes a pair reuses the same nest for years (such as a pair that nests at Great Falls, Maryland). In Florida, bald eagles nest almost year round; they begin nesting from March to May in other areas. Since these nests are used year after year, they may become very large.

Bald eagles lay two, occasionally three, eggs that are incubated by both parents, in turns for 34 to 36 days. Often only one chick survives, but if food is plentiful they may rear two or occasionally three. Young birds fledge after 12 weeks and remain with the parents for another month.

Conservation

When the bald eagle was adopted as our national symbol in 1782, there were between 25,000 and 75,000 birds nesting in the lower 48 states. Illegal shooting, habitat destruction, lead poisoning, and the catastrophic effects of DDT contamination in their prey base reduced eagle numbers to a mere 417 pairs by 1963. Legal protection began with the Bald Eagle Protection Act of 1940 and continued with the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966 and the 1978 listing under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. The single-most important regulation affecting bald eagle recovery may have been the banning of DDT for most uses in the United States in 1972.

In 1995 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service down-listed bald eagles from endangered to threatened in most of the United States. They were never listed in Alaska, and had been already been listed as threatened in Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Oregon, and Washington. In the 17 years since they were declared endangered in most of the country, bald eagles have undergone a strong increase in numbers and an expansion in range. Private organizations, state, and federal agencies counted 4,450 occupied nesting territories, a ten-fold increase from the 1963 low.

Though the recovery has been spectacular, bald eagles remain threatened by illegal shooting and loss of habitat due to wetland drainage and human occupation of waterfront areas. Lead poisoning from shot ingested when feeding on carrion was a major problem prior to the phasing out of lead shot for waterfowl hunting in 1991. Large quantities of lead remain in the environment. Over the winter of 1994-95, 29 bald eagles died in Arkansas and nine died in Wisconsin from an unknown toxic agent. In the past 15 years the National Wildlife Health Research Center has diagnosed more than 100 cases of poisoning in bald eagles. Many of these cases are believed to be intentional poisonings through illegal use of pesticides and other restricted chemicals such as strychnine. DDT breakdown residues remain in the environment and continue to cause reproductive problems for eagles in many parts of the country.

Zoo Eagles

The Zoo houses two bald eagles in the Bald Eagle Refuge exhibit in Valley Trail, arriving from Tennessee in 2003. The flightless eagles living in this exhibit were discovered injured in the wild. The female was recovered in Alaska and the male was rescued in Pennsylvania.

A Few Bald Eagle Neighbors

osprey

(Pandion haliaetus): Ospreys are more agile hunters than eagles, hovering then diving for fish, while the larger eagles pick fish out of the water just as they reach the surface. Eagles sometimes snatch ospreys’ fish in mid-air acts of piracy.

mink

(Mustelavison): This nocturnal, wandering mustelid (member of a group including mink, weasels, and ferrets) hunts muskrats, fish, and other wildlife along many waterways frequented by bald eagles.

snapping turtle

(Chelydraserpentina): This large, mud-colored turtle lurks in freshwater wetlands, ambushing fish, ducklings, and other small animals. It also eats aquatic plants.

By saving bald eagle habitat, we protect these and many other animals.

References:

Final Rule to Reclassify the Bald Eagle From Endangered to Threatened in All of the Lower 48 States. Federal Register 1995 (Volume 60, Number 133, pp 36000-36010)

Johnsgard, P. A. 1990. Hawks, Eagles, & Falcons of North America. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington.

Newton, I. 1990. Birds of Prey. Facts on File, New York.

Snyder, H. and N. Syder. 1991. Birds of Prey: Natural History and Conservation of North American Raptors. Voyageur Press, Hong Kong.

Source National Zoo,American Eagle Foundation

Editor’s Note: We want to know what you think? dan@youngchronicle.com

Help Kids Making Learning Fun

 

By Jackie Fitzpatrick
Sep. 10, 2009

 

When Judy Grigg Hansen saw our recent request for ideas on making learning fun at home, she thought of her father.

He had a game for everything,” she says. To reinforce social studies, he would lead his seven children in a round of current-events hopscotch. To teach math, he’d cook up a make-believe stock market game. “My dad just loved to learn–he still does–and he passed that on to us,” she says. Judy, now a mother of five, has followed her dad’s lead, with similar games.

More than 500 parents who wrote to us have found ways to blur the lines between home and school, to make sure the classroom isn’t the only place to learn. Some have tried to sneak troublesome subjects into their kids’ favorite games; others have simply made the process of asking questions and finding answers an everyday ritual. What works best? Nearly every parent suggested this: Keep learning playful. The biggest hits, they told us, are ideas that don’t have the feel of homework but are simply new ways to have a good time together. In this package we have compiled our favorite ideas.

 

Editor’s Note: Jackie Fitzpatrick is a freelance writer who lives with her husband and two children in Milford, Connecticut.

We would like to know what you think? dan@youngchronicle.com

 

Source: Family Fun

Jazz Up School Supplies

By Family Fun
Sep. 13, 2009

For Jennifer Jones and her 10-year-old daughter, Lauren, getting ready for school each year means spending a few late-summer afternoons getting crafty. The Montgomery, Illinois, pair start by picking a piece of back-to-school gear, then set to work embellishing it. Past projects include covering a white metal lunch box (purchased from orientaltrading.com) with stickers, and decorating a plain black messenger bag from an army surplus store with iron-ons and fabric paints. “It’s a special activity that we can do together.

We have fun hunting for that perfect item and coming up with ways to turn it into a keepsake,” says Jennifer, who makes sure she adds her own handiwork to the project. “Having such a personalized article makes it easier for my daughter to strike up conversations with potential new friends, since someone always asks to see her masterpiece. It helps her adjust during the first days of school every year.”

 

 

REHEARSE THE NEW ROUTINE

 
To help Logan, age 7, and Megan, 5, tackle the transition back to class, the Potts family of Toms River, New Jersey, gets accustomed to the fall schedule ahead of time. During the last weeks of vacation, they begin to shift into school mode, setting their alarms, then eating breakfast and dressing by the time the bus will arrive. They set the stage for handling homework too, establishing an afternoon study time for reading, crafting, or conducting fun experiments. Says mom Sandra: “By the time the academic year kicks off, Logan and Megan are already in the swing of things at home.”
GET TO KNOW YOUR TEACHER (AND VICE VERSA)

Brooke Rodgers and her son Logan fend off jitters by sending a “get to know me” letter to Logan’s new teacher on the first day of class. The letter lists a few fun facts about the Manchester, Pennsylvania, first grader, such as his favorite foods, colors, sports, and animals. But the really interesting part? Brooke also includes a similar survey for the teacher to fill out and return. “Knowing that his teacher is a real person with likes and dislikes just like him really helps Logan get through those first few days.”

Source: Family Fun

 

Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think? dan@youngchronicle.com

Orecchiette with Sausage and Broccoli Rabe

 

By Parents
Sept. 11, 2009
 

Makes: 6 servings Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 18 minutes

 

Ingredients

8 ounces orecchiette pasta

1-1/4 pounds sweet Italian turkey sausage links, casings removed

2 medium-size yellow squash (about 6 ounces each), cut in half horizontally and sliced into 1/2-inch half-moons

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 bunch broccoli rabe, cleaned, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces

1/3 cup low-sodium chicken broth

Grated Parmesan cheese for sprinkling (optional)

 

Directions

1. Cook the orecchiette according to package directions. Drain and return pasta to the pot; keep warm.

2. While the pasta is cooking, heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Crumble sausage into skillet, breaking up large pieces. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until no longer pink. Stir in squash and increase heat to medium-high. Cook squash 3 minutes. Stir in garlic and red pepper flakes; cook 1 additional minute. Add the broccoli rabe and broth and cover. Cook 2 minutes, then remove cover and stir. Cook another 2 minutes or until broccoli rabe has wilted and is tender.

3. Add sausage mixture to pasta pot and stir to combine. Sprinkle with cheese, if desired.

Source: Parents.com

Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think? dan@youngchronicle.com

Hearty Split-Pea Soup

 

by Molly O’Neill
Sept. 12, 2009
 

We used smoked pork hocks for this version but we usually make this soup when we’ve had ham on the bone. We’ve also made it with smoked turkey wings. The smoked flavor is what’s important,” Belle and Liv Gerasole say. “A vegetarian version of this can be made with vegetable stock, smoked tofu, or smoked setan.”

 
 
You’ll need:

1 pound of smoked meat
2 stalks of celery — chopped
1 large onion — chopped
2 medium-size carrots or 1 large carrot — cut in slices
2 bay leaves
2 cloves of garlic — chopped
10 black peppercorns or 1 teaspoon of ground pepper
A bag of split peas
A little adult help

 

Equipment:

 
A cutting board
A large pot or a crock pot
A colander or sieve
A pair of tongs
A slotted spoon
A timer

1. Put the smoked meat in the large pot and cover with water. Add the celery, onions, carrots, potatoes, pepper, garlic, and bay leaves. Don’t add any salt. Smoked meat is cured with salt and that will be plenty.

2. Bring the water to a boil then turn down the heat and let the soup simmer for 2-3 hours or until the meat falls off the bone.

3. Ask mom or whoever is helping you to please take the bone out of the pot. Use the tongs to fish out any blobs of fat you might find. Now you have a good, rich broth. Broth like this can be the start of a number of recipes, not just pea soup.

4. If you let the broth cool at this point, you will be able to skim the excess fat out of the soup. The best way to get the most fat out is to let the broth stay in the refrigerator overnight. Fat is lighter than water and will rise to the top and solidify, so you will be able to lift it off the surface of the soup by sliding the edge of a big spoon underneath.

5. While the soup is reheating, empty the bag of split peas into the colander and rinse them under running water. As you are turning them over with your hands, check to make sure there are no tiny stones. It’s rare to find one, but check just in case, because the machine that sorts the split peas can’t always catch them.

6. Add the split peas to the broth. You will cook these for about 1 hour or until the soup gets thick. The first part of the hour the soup will take care of itself, but as the peas cook they will begin to crumble and the soup will get thicker, so you will have to stir it more and more often to make sure it doesn’t burn. This is where the timer comes in.

7. Set the timer for 20 minutes and take it with you so you know when to come back to stir the soup. When you reset the timer, set it for 5 minutes less each time. At the end of the hour you should be stirring the soup about every 5 minutes, so don’t get involved in a game of Nintendo.

8. As the stock starts to get thick, spoon out a little, let it cool, then taste it. If the soup is too salty you can add a raw potato cut in quarters. The potato will soak up the salt. You can leave the potato in the soup or fish it out with a slotted spoon.

9. The soup will be finished when it is thick and creamy. If you are using tofu or setan for your protein, add it last and stir the soup until the tofu or setan is heated through.

Yield: Makes 12 to 14 servings.

 

 

Editor’s Note: You can serve the soup in a tureen or in individual bowls. Some cultures say that if you find the bay leaf in the bottom of your bowl you should expect a letter. Maybe we should update that to a text message.

We would like to know what you think? dan@youngchronicle.com

Source: Grandparents Spatulatta

Grade 1 English

By Alexis Burling
September 9, 2009

Grandchildren develop their mastery of reading and storytelling, as teachers make literacy fun.

   

The first priority for most first-graders in the fall is learning how to adjust to a longer school day. Early in the year, many teachers focus on hands-on group activities rather than individual projects, to keep minds engaged and bodies active. Since first-graders are still learning to master the most rudimentary elements of reading and writing, many classroom activities are done orally, and it’s not uncommon for first-grade teachers to use songs to involve students in a lesson or story. After students gain the ability to recognize and write all the letters of the alphabet in upper and lowercase forms, they learn to decipher words both by sounding them out phonetically and by using context clues. As children begin writing, sentence structures are kept simple, and students are encouraged to focus on organizing their thoughts in a clear, succinct manner before they put pencil to paper. In the second half of the year, they will move to more complex texts and begin writing paragraphs.

Lost Children. In first grade, there can be a wide gap between children who can read and/or write and those who haven’t yet mastered those skills. Teachers can get overwhelmed trying to address their students’ wide-ranging needs and can inadvertently gloss over crucial “how-to” lessons that struggling students need in order to accommodate those who are more advanced. School reading specialists can help, but many children run the risk of getting turned off by reading at this critical point and ending up left behind.

• One popular first-grade classroom activity is “Readers Theater,” in which students read aloud from scripts based on popular stories, myths, and fairy tales. Suzanne I. Barchers’s Readers Theatre for Beginning Readers (Teacher Ideas Press, 1993) is an excellent tool for increasing fluency and promoting creative expression, and you can have fun acting out the scenes at home.

• Did your grandchildren ever get in trouble for chewing on books when they were little? They’ve got nothing on Henry, a boy who gobbles up entire books! Kids will love Irish author and illustrator Oliver Jeffers’s ingenious picture book The Incredible Book-Eating Boy (Philomel, 2007), and you’ll appreciate the lesson that reading books is even better than eating them.

• Clifford the Big Red Dog is one of America’s most beloved pooches — and he has a knack for helping children develop their reading skills. For a great collection of literacy games and interactive stories for early readers, invite grandchildren to join you on a visit to Clifford’s website.

Pictures Speak Louder than Words. You can find plenty of gorgeous picture books on bookstore and library shelves. But there’s still room for a new one — one that you create with your grandchild. Gather the art supplies you’ll need to get their creative juices flowing (first-graders love glitter), help them come up with a simple, wordless story, and you’re ready to make publishing history. If coming up with a brand-new story idea is too challenging for kids, they can give a favorite book a new spin. When they’re done, children can sharpen their story-telling and literacy skills by “reading” their wordless book to others.

Cultivate a Cozy Corner. Learning to read isn’t always easy. But as you may be well aware, everything gets easier with the right amount of back support. Work with your grandchildren to create their very own reading nook in your house. Fill the space with beanbags, comfy pillows, and a throw blanket in case it gets chilly. Then make a rule that whenever they are in their nook, it’s reading time, and they aren’t to be disturbed — unless, of course, you’re bringing them a mug of hot chocolate.

To Be Continued. Anything you can do to boost your first-grader’s confidence makes a big difference. Show them that you value their imagination and voice by reversing roles and letting them tell you a bedtime story, one that continues every night you’re together. They can populate their tale with make-believe characters or members of the family. After they get the story going, suggest a cliff-hanger ending before lights out, leaving them with the challenge of picking up the narrative when next you meet. Then say, “To be continued,” give them a kiss and hug, and jot down the main points of the story so you can both revisit it another night.

Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think? dan@youngchronicle.com

Source Grandparants

Grandparents Day

by Rich Thomaselli
September 8, 2009

A look back at the history of Grandparents Day as the 30th annual celebration takes place on September 13

Check out our coverage of the 30th anniversary of National Grandparents Day 2009.

It all sounded so official in 1979, with words and phrases like “whereof”‘ and “hereunto” and “joint resolution.”

But when President Jimmy Carter signed the proclamation creating a National Grandparents Day, little did anyone know how it would grow. At the time, Carter said the holiday would recognize “the importance and worth of the 17 million grandparents in our nation.”

Barely a generation later, there are now more than 70 million grandparents in the United States.

That’s a lot of recognition.

And a lot of gifts, cards, and flowers, too.

On September 13, 2009, Grandparents Day will reach its 30th anniversary. Like Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, it’s a time for family celebration, and a chance to honor the important role grandparents play in children’s lives.

Marian Lucille Herndon McQuade, an Oak Hill, W. Va., housewife, founded the holiday. McQuade had worked with senior citizens for many years and her original idea for the holiday was not only to recognize grandparents but also to bring attention to the needs of people living in nursing homes.

She began her campaign locally in 1970, eventually drawing the attention of U.S. Senator Jennings Randolph (D., W. Va.), who was instrumental in lobbying Gov. Arch Moore to establish a statewide day for grandparents. Moore did just that in 1973, the same year that Randolph introduced a Grandparent Day resolution in Congress.

Randolph’s resolution bounced around both houses of Congress with no action for several years, until McQuade and her supporters turned to the media for help with their efforts. The added pressure paid off, and in 1978 Congress passed legislation declaring the first Sunday after Labor Day as National Grandparents Day. Carter signed his proclamation on September 6, 1979, and the first Grandparents Day was celebrated three days later.

In 1989, the U.S. Postal Service honored McQuade with a commemorative envelope bearing her likeness to acknowledge the tenth anniversary of the holiday. McQuade, sadly, passed away last year at the age of of 91. She was the mother of 15, the grandmother of 43, and the great-grandmother of 15.

In that original proclamation, Carter wrote that because grandparents “are usually free to love and guide and befriend the young without having to take daily responsibility for them, they can often reach out past pride and fear of failure and close the space between generations.”

Today, though, an increasing number of grandparents have actually assumed daily responsibility for their grandchildren. According to AARP, 4.5 million children are being raised in households headed by grandparents. For those kids and millions of others, grandparents create special relationships and impart lessons that last a lifetime. As Carter wrote, “Grandparents are our continuing tie to the near-past, to the events and beliefs and experiences that so strongly affect our lives and the world around us.”

Editor’s Note:We would like to know what you think? dan@youngchronicle.com

About the AuthorRich Thomaselli is an award-winning writer whose work has appeared in numerous newspapers and magazines. Find his musings on life, pop culture, news, and sports at richthomaselli.blogspot.com.

Source: Grandparents

Math Music with Young Children

By Eugene Geist
Kamile Geist
Sept. 9, 2009

The idea that literacy learning begins at birth is widely accepted in the field of early childhood. In fact, literacy programs are mandated by state and federal agencies in Head Start programs. What many people don’t realize, however, is that infants, toddlers and preschoolers are also learning math from everything around them – most importantly from music! From birth to the age of five, young children may not be able to add or subtract or use other formal mathematics the way an older child would, but their interaction with a stimulating environment leads them to build the basics of math even without direct teaching.  How can a child learn without being taught?  Well, it is the way the human mind is designed.  When a child uses their own ability to learn and think about their surroundings, they naturally begin to build an understanding of mathematics.

Math and Music

One of the best and most effective tools to promote this early mathematical thinking is through the use of music and musical activities in the classroom.  However, it is not necessary to use songs to teach specific skills such as counting or addition.  In fact, research suggests that these practices may even get in the way of the child’s own thinking process.  Instead, teachers need to look at how music affects children and how the basic elements of music, such as the beat, rhythm and patterns within the melody or words,  can stimulate mathematical growth in areas such as spatial reasoning, sequencing, counting, patterning, and one-to-one correspondence.

Take for example, the song “BINGO” (which contains a pretty elaborate patterning activity and even some counting).  Think about how children replace the letter of the name with a clap in each round of the song.  Think about the relationship that a child makes when they have to complete that simple task, and think about how music helps to scaffold that ability.  Additionally, music is an activity that children frequently will spontaneously and independently sing during free time.  We have seen children singing “BINGO” and counting their claps while playing on the playground.

Teachers, without realizing it, may already be using some of the elements of music in their everyday interactions with children.  For example, elements of rhythm are one of the ways to make predictable books, predictable.  Children can anticipate the rhythmic pattern and that helps them to remember the words to a familiar story.  Another example is patterning activities.  Preschools and Kindergartens are rife with manipulatives that support interaction with objects and patterning.  However, the very first patterning activity that a child encounters is musical.  When a parent or teacher comforts a crying child they may pat, rock or bounce the child using a steady beat or a rhythmic pattern.  They may even sing them a simple song while they do this.  A steady beat and rhythmic pattern are prime examples of patterning activities and a very early introduction to mathematical concepts.

Using a Steady Beat

Steady beat activities such as clapping or marching help the child understand numerical relationships such as one-to-one correspondence and even the concept of “more.” Toddlers may not yet know numbers, but they understand “more.”  For example, if you clap once and then you say, “Can you clap more than I clapped?” a toddler will most likely clap more than once.

Using Rhythm

Rhythm can help children to develop patterning abilities and make one-to-one correspondence relationships between the rhythm, beat and the words to the song. They can repeat, predict and extend rhythmic patterns easily. For example in “Old MacDonald Had A Farm” the teacher can sing “With a moo moo here” and the child can repeat and even extend the pattern of the song by singing “and a moo moo there” with little effort. (Editor’s Note: For an activity that helps make the connection between music and math, please see sidebar.)

Putting it Together

With a basic understanding of steady beat, rhythm, and melody teachers can incorporate these musical elements into their ‘normal’ teaching strategies for promoting emergent mathematics. Children can create, reproduce and extend patterns and explore one-to-one correspondence using steady beat, rhythm and melody.  These three components can be used alone or in combination to create both simple and complex patterns for children to explore and interact with in a developmentally appropriate manner.

With children under the age of five, our goal is not to teach formal mathematics or to teach children to memorize their numbers or “math facts,” and songs do not need to just be memory aides or a way to teach a child how to count to ten.  The goal for using music to support mathematics should be to provide infants, toddlers and preschoolers with a stimulating and interactive environment.  Next time you are looking for a way to engage children’s mathematical mind, try a song – any song, and then ask the children to talk about the beat, rhythm, tempo or melody.  We think the children will surprise you with what they already know about mathematics through music.

Materials needed: Felt board, Cut out felt ducks (1 big one and and at least nine small ones), hand drum (optional)

Procedures:

1. Sing the song to the tune of the “Adams Family” theme.
2. Keep a beat while singing by clapping your hands or beating on a drum.
3. Place the mother duck and her little ducks all around the felt board.  The number doesn’t matter.  Whatever you want to start with will be fine.
4. Sing the following song to the Adams Family theme. Where you see (Chant), have children say, rather than sing, the words/numbers.

(SING)
How many ducks? clap clap
How many ducks? clap clap
How many ducks? How many ducks? How many ducks? clap clap

(CHANT)
Let’s count
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

(SING)
How many ducks? (SEVEN ducks!)
How many ducks? (SEVEN ducks!)
How many ducks?  How many ducks?  How many ducks? (SEVEN ducks!)

(CHANT)
What does mother duck say to get them back in line?
Quack    Quack     Quack  Quack  Quack
(Keep repeating (Quack) until a child in the group places the ducks in a line behind the mother duck)

(SING a little slower to allow time for the students to fill in the blank)
How many ducks? (SEVEN ducks!)
How many ducks? ( SEVEN ducks!)
How many ducks?  How many ducks? How many ducks? (SEVEN ducks!)

(If all children can’t say the number, go back to the “let’s count” line)Repeat the song, placing different number of ducks on the feltboard.

Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think? dan@youngchronicle.com

Source: Scholastic News Online

Girls Grow Up Fast

By Deborah Swaney
September 10, 2009

When did 7 become the new 16? For today’s young girls, the pressure to look and act hot is greater than ever. Here’s help cooling things down.

The job description for parent says you prep yourself for the dicey stuff kids are likely to ask for. So I was ready for the day my daughter would beg for a fashion doll of notoriously unrealistic proportions, or even for one of those skimpily dressed Bratz dolls. Instead, last fall my 7-year-old freaked me out a whole different way-by begging for a bra. “Two girls in my class have them,” she argued.

Skeptical that she’d gotten her facts straight, I checked out a local children’s store. Yikes! They had a whole assortment of flirty bras and panties perfectly sized for second-graders. Staring at those crazy underthings, and at the body-glitter tubes on the counter, something creepy dawned on me. Today’s girls don’t just want to own a hot-looking doll, they want to be one.

Maybe I shouldn’t have been so shocked. After all, my daughter and her friends are more likely to worship teen heroes like Troy and Gabriella from the High School Musical movies than to expend energy adoring cuddly cartoon characters like the Care Bears. And these same kids are the ones shaking their little booties when the Pussycat Dolls come on the radio, singing, “Don’tcha wish your girlfriend was hot like me?”

Clearly, something’s going on, so much so that the American Psychological Association (APA) recently convened a task force on girls’ sexualization. “There’s a real syndrome happening, and it’s picking up speed,” says Eileen L. Zurbriggen, PhD, who chaired the APA group. “Even little girls are now feeling they should look and act alluring.” Her committee found that this is harmful to girls on several levels.

“The core issue is what they feel valued for,” Zurbriggen explains. “It’s as though factors like whether they’re smart or funny or kind or talented at something like sports or art get erased.” And their self-esteem suffers for it. “The images their idols present are so idealized, most girls can’t attain them. That makes them feel bad about their own bodies, and this can eventually lead to anxiety and depression,” Zurbriggen says. Preoccupation with their “hot-o-meter” score can even hurt their school performance. “A girl’s mind becomes literally so full of worries about how she looks and what other people are thinking, she doesn’t have enough energy left to focus on learning,” says Zurbriggen.

How did things get that way, and what can parents do to counteract the situation? For answers, we have to look beyond the kiddie lingerie aisle.

Editor’s Note: We want to know what you think? dan@youngchronicle.com

Source Parents

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