Dear Our Time Parent:
“Who learns by finding out, has seven fold the skill of him who learned by being told.” (Arthur Gutterman) I enjoyed watching the children play with the hoops today! So many play ideas emerged as each child explored and as you and the other parents interacted with the children.
In previous weeks, we experienced exploration of instruments in which your interaction with your child was of utmost importance. Interaction in today’s exploration of a prop was equally important. Children learn through their own exploration, but a parent’s guidance to help stretch and vary a child’s ideas provides challenges to lead to new levels of learning. Enjoy this experience with your child every day!
I look forward to seeing you next week!
_____________________________________________
Kindermusik’s Foundations of Learning - some of the benefits your child received from today’s activities are:
Conversational Skills: The echoing in this vocl play begins as imitation but can develop through improvisation on the part of the teacher or the children. The exchange, whether imitative or improvised, allows children to experience the give and take of conversation. This is vital to the development of conversation skills, which is an important element of social development.
Praise the Accomplishment: In acknowledging a child’s choice to participate it is important to praise the accomplishment rather than to make a global comment such as “Good girl!” or “Good boy!” When the latter type of praise is used frequently, there is the danger that the child might interpret the absence of such praise to mean, “I’m a bad boy,” or “I’m not good enough.” Examples of appropriate praise include the following:
“Great job. You played the drum!”
“You’re good at that.”
“You did it!”
-Dr. Becky Bailey, Ten Principles of Positive Discipline audio cassette, Loving Guidance, 1993
