Back to Daycare

It was our gradual entry morning at daycare today. Our plan for gradual entry was pretty informal this year as we have all returning families.  I just need to adapt my plans for the children's new interests, and modify our sleep and bathroom routines a little from when they were last here in June.

I was painting the daycare walls, and giving the house a good clean yesterday as I set-up the play space. It got me thinking about why I love providing family daycare in my home (as opposed to a purpose built space, such as a basement area):

• In a subtle way it elevates the value I place on children and their right to the best of what I have to offer.  When I ran daycare before it was in a basement suite - it was darker, more enclosed.  Looking back it sent a message that there was prime real estate upstairs which the children couldn't access.

• I love that my child care and homemaking blend so nicely.  I can make someone a late breakfast in the kitchen, or throw some messy play clothes in the laundry while interacting with the kids. In the past I had thought that my home would remain clean and tidy when I ran daycare in the basement. The opposite was true! The space I spend my time in (play space) remains tidy - homemaking when running daycare in a seperate space did not happen:)

• Having the daycare in our living room requires that the daycare environment be home-like, clutter-free, and attractive.  I do 'take-down' the daycare stuff at the end of the week, but we live with it for a considerable amount of time. I don't want to look at broken, plastic, untidy toys - and I'm sure the kids don't either.

Here's our space as we kick-off the new school year.  I changed the Eboo Cards - they are my decorating inspiration.  Last year's were the alphabet ones and this year's are the number ones.

Navy Beans in the sensory table.

A new IKEA tent creates some seclusion.

I moved the reading chair into the living room for a while.

Joyfully surrounded by children,
Caz.

Beautiful Math Moment Reflections

I was re-reading an old post of my sister's on a beautiful math moment and it got me thinking...

It highlights for me the needed balance between exploratory learning and direct instruction.  Without exposing our children to the beauty and rules that govern mathematics they can't apply the principles in their play and feel the excitement and joy that math is!

When I think back on my memorable math moments they combined these two elements. One example that stands out was the summer our family built a barn. I can remember enjoying the process of applying geometry in a meaningful way.  It wasn't simple math - it required considerable thought and written work, plus a sense of urgency that we solve the problem correctly.  But geometry came alive for me that summer.

A great read on learning to liberate your math instruction is Paul Lockhart's A Mathematician's Lament: How School Cheats us of our Most Fascinating and Imaginative Art Form. I read the first couple of chapters to George and Muffin Mouse last year and it made an impression. Lockhark starts by declaring that students think math class is boring and stupid - and they're right!  I'm sure the kids don't think that about my math classes, right!?

Joyfully mathematical,
Caz.

Writing Curriculum

I think I have just about everything prepped for the start of the school year.  We're camping for a couple more weeks in August and I dedicate the final week before school starts to daycare prep - so having the school stuff ready to go early creates peace of mind.

Our school district advances a portion of the 2012/13 budget in the summer to help cover the costs of school supplies and books - such a bonus!

Now, I must admit, I did not put a ton of research into choosing a curriculum provider.  My sister is a dynamite researcher and did a lot of the ground work for me.  She helped me narrow it down to Evan-Moore and then I reviewed the curriculum to find a good fit for our goals this year.  One of the pluses of the Evan-Moore curriculum is that there is continuity in format across the grades which helps when teaching multi-grades. Also, the programs are generally set-up with a "daily M-F" format building in practice.

Banana Bread - PreK

My preschool program during daycare hours is primarily experience and  play-based. My goal is to provide responsive, reciprocal, respectful care.

As she is showing a readiness to learn to read and write I plan to spend about 20 minutes per day (while the older kids are doing independent work & the daycare kids are napping) teaching Banana Bread to read and write.

We will be using the Evan-Moore Everyday Literacy: Reading & Writing.  This program does a great job of presenting letter recognition and phonics in a unified approach.

I've also photocopied reading books for her.  The books are levelled with the Reading Recovery Program - a well-researched reading intervention program for students in early grades.

George & Muffin Mouse - Gr 6 and Gr 7

I'm so excited about the Evan-Moore Daily 6-Trait Writing Program.  It combines all the elements I am looking for: practice, grammar & conventions, editing, and organizing. 

It covers the following lessons:

Ideas
Choosing a Strong Idea; Writing Topic Sentences and Supporting Details; Developing Character, Setting, and Plot Ideas; Elaborating on Ideas and Details; Maintaining Your Focus
Organization
Sequencing; Organizing Information Logically; Organizing Information to Compare and Contrast; Organizing to Persuade; Choosing Which Way to Organize Your Writing
Word Choice
Writing Precise Descriptions; Writing About Action; Using Figurative Language; Choosing the Right Words for Your Audience; Getting the Reader's Attention
Sentence Fluency
Combining Sentences with Conjunctions; Writing Complex Sentences; Parallel Structure Within a Sentence; Beginning Sentences in Different Ways; Writing a Smooth Paragraph
Voice
Identifying Different Writing Voices; Using Different Voices for Different Purposes; Using Voice in Poetry; Writing from Different Points of View; Using Voice in Persuasive Writing.

Each day has the lesson objectives laid-out.

The weekly format builds on a skill and concludes with a writing assignment.  The assignments vary, and include:

• Editorials for a paper
• Book reports
• Short stories
• Descriptive paragraphs
• Letters
• Personal narratives
• Compare and contrast articles
• Speeches
• Formal reports
• Biographies
• Reviews
• Responses
• Poetry
• How-to paragraphs
• Persuasive paragraphs.
  

It would be a lie to say I can't wait to get started - I'm still in holiday mode:) But, I am looking forward to a successful year!

Joyfully prepared,

Caz.

Raising Writers

Yay!  It's one of my favourite times of the year... curriculum planning:) 

I think there is something powerful about having an overarching goal each year - it makes the progress focused and measurable.

We really focused on reading last year and it paid off.  By the end of George's Grade 5 year he assessed at a Grade 7.2 reading level, and Muffin Mouse assessed at Grade 8.8 at the end of her Grade 6 year.  

So my focused goal this year is writing skills - in particular non-fiction writing.

My summer reading on this topic was William Zinsser's On Writing Well.  It is outstanding.  Zinsser is a writer, editor, and teacher - He taught writing at Yale and Columbia universities.  Based on Zinsser's recommendations, my writing curriculum will have the following principles:

• You learn to write by writing. It's a truism, but what makes it a truism is that it's true.  The only way to learn to write is to force yourself to produce a certain number of words on a regular basis. (Zinsser, 2006, p.49)

With this principle in mind we'll write daily.  I don't think it will be hard to get going as we have established daily reading in our routine and seen the benefits - this should be an easy sell.

• Rewriting is the essence of writing well: it's where the game is won or lost. The idea is hard to accept. We all have an emotional equity in our first draft; we can't believe it wasn't born perfect. But the odds are close to 100 percent that it wasn't. (p.83)

 I've chosen a writing curriculum that has a strong foundation in writing conventions and grammar.  These skills will help with the editing process.

• Clutter is the disease of American writing. The secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components. (p.6-7) Few people realize how badly they write. Nobody has shown them how much excess or murkiness has crept into the or style and how it obstructs what they are trying to say. If you give me an eight page article and I tell you to cut it to four pages, you'll howl and say it can't be done. Then you'll go home and do it, and it will be much better. After that comes the hard part: cutting it to three. (p.17)

 Each week we'll include an exercise in editing a piece of writing. We'll also edit each others writing.

• You will never make your mark as a writer unless you develop a respect for words and a curiosity about their shades of meaning that is almost obsessive. (p.32)

This will be interesting - finding a balance between everyday language (such as texting language) and developing a love of the English language. I think we'll focus on reading good work and not allow too much everyday language to creep into our writing - at least to start.

• You are writing for yourself.  Don't try to visualize the great mass audience. There is no such audience - every reader is a different person.  You are writing primarily to please yourself, and if you go about it with enjoyment you will also entertain the readers who are worth writing for. (p.24)

The writing curriculum I chose builds through-out the week. We finish the week with a writing assignment. I think we'll do this assignment in our journals to help reinforce the sense that we are writing for ourselves. 


I'll post later this week with details on each child's curriculum so you can get a sense of how this will look in our day.  I'm also completing the curriculum this year with the kids and will blog my writing assignments - sure to thrill!

Joyfully writing,
Caz.

A life full with grace

Thoughts on cultivating inner calm


I don’t wish for a life of ease and monotony. Well, not most of the time, anyway.

I do wish for a life full of experiences, honesty, challenge, and beauty. But how do I balance this desire for a full life without becoming the frantic, uptight version of myself?

A few years ago I asked two of my friends this exact question. These women embrace a full life with grace. They have demanding jobs, family commitments, volunteer positions, and homes to maintain. Yet, the increasing demands on them are met with joy, humour, efficiency, and a sense of inner calm.

Each of them shared a practical strategy they used to develop this sense of inner harmony. Now, as I consider these ideas, I realize that although their tactics are different, they both nurture self-discipline.

Read more…