(Part 3) Top products from r/ECEProfessionals

This Psychology Today article summarizes these three studies. The three studies look at different types of preschool programs and their long-term impacts on development and adult outcomes. This document looks specifically at reading skills for young children, but the message of the importance of developmentally appropriate practice is applicable to all aspects of early learning.

In terms of programs that fit this philosophy, there are a few that have decided to publically share what they do. Play Counts is one of them. Like I said earlier, Denita runs a fantastic preschool program and is very articulate about how her approaches set children up for success down the road. Teacher Tom writes a blog about his play-based co-operative early learning program, and again is very articulate about how his program sets children up for success. Both teachers are very reflective, and run programs that are responsive to the specific children in their care.

Not every playful program will look the same, and that is exactly the beauty of them. Each group of children is unique, and a truly playful program will adapt to meet the needs of the children in the space.

As a last note, I want to encourage you to be wary of any program with a specific "teaching philosophy" such as Montessori or Reggio. There's absolutely nothing wrong with these philosophies, and there are many excellent schools that run under these names. There are also a lot of schools who charge exorbitant tuition fees because they have a fancy title, but don't actually follow the philosophy they claim to be inspired by. There is no restriction to who can use the term "Montessori" or "Reggio-inspired", and I've actually met teachers working in "Reggio-inspired" preschools who talked about Reggio Emilia as if it were a person, and not a city.

I love what /u/weebles_wobbles said about finding a program that makes you comfortable because you know she will be happy and encouraged to grow as a whole child. At the end of the day, that's what you need - a place with teachers that you trust to love and support your child while providing her with experiences that will bring her joy.

We are not "dead." When someone posts, it might take a day or so to get a few replies, but we get relevant posts and replies pretty darn often for having shy of a thousand subscribers. We have many valued contributors which I have awarded flair so everyone knows who they are (and if anyone ever sees anything super-awesome, just send me a message pointing it out, and I will either put it in the sidebar or award them "active member" flair).

Also: Moms are certainly welcome here, and I like to think that we will have more resources and knowledge about developmentally appropriate activities than the average parent (and that's not to say that parents can't know, just that usually they are going by their own experiences (not based in science) and are biased towards their own ideology).

Anyways, It sounds like you have a really curious three-year-old and in addition to the other good suggestions, I have some ideas.

My First Atlas is a really good book for any child ready for the information, which it sounds like you little one is, already.

There's also a really cool demonstration you can do with him to demonstrate axial tilt.

You could also take him out to some different local landscapes and build them with him using paper mache, and help him name the land-forms. . .

And I also have to say that this is really mature subject matter for a three-year-old. It's a big concept. I personally never let that stop me from trying to explain things (with lots of analogies, visuals, and hands-on activities). He might not get everything exactly but that's OK. Later when he hears the information, he'll have a foundation on which to build it on. :)

Hope this helps, too. And if I think of more, I'll come back and edit.

You're right I did :)
I'm going to address this in three parts: home cooking, time saving, and content of meals

In terms of home cooking, I am an ardent advocate of whole foods with little to no processing. You can nearly guarantee that the children will be eating pretty healthy. Check out [Brazil's new food guidelines] (https://ca.shine.yahoo.com/blogs/shine-on/brazil-food-guide-takes-practical-approach-fighting-obesity-152211906.html), which emphasize home cooking and eating together - you're halfway there!

Obviously, home cooking takes time, but nutrition is SUCH an important part of children's lives and habits for their future that I don't think you should compromise. Check out things like once a month cooking and google 'cooking in bulk' to save you time. Something like a vegetable heavy lasagne can meet all your nutritional requirements in one fell swoop. Other tricks, like a 'prep day', example 1 example 2, can also save you time and stress when you're with the kiddos. Great things to prepare ahead of time that last: spiced nuts, homemade gummies, jerky, or fruit leather. I loved the rice cooker idea above, and you can kill several birds with one stone and get a [6-in-1] (http://www.hippressurecooking.com/pressure-cooker-review-instant-pot-6-in-1-electric-very-good/) so that you can cook meat faster as well, and do some slow cooking (you can make a great beef vegetable barley soup, served with a slice of bread and milk, and you're done). Things like a bread maker are great fun at daycare - my kids used to help me make a cinnamon bread, and when they woke up from their nap the smell would permeate the daycare. It was so pleasant and homey. I also find that the more kids help in making things, the more willing they are to eat it.

I took this course last year and it changed the way I cook and ate. Its referred to as the traditional food movement and if you're interested, check out the [Weston A. Price foundation] (http://www.westonaprice.org/about-the-foundation/about-the-foundation) and [Sally Fallon's] (http://www.amazon.ca/Nourishing-Traditions-Challenges-Politically-Dictocrats/dp/0967089735) book for more info - SO COOL.

In terms of the content of your meals, walk the permitter of your grocery store. That's where you live; meat, cheese, produce, and whole grains. Grains, nuts and seeds are easier to digest and more nutritious when soaked/sprouted.

Hope some of this helps. I love talking about children's nutrition and how it impacts their lives and education. Sorry to get all carried away.

I worked at an outdoor preschool for about a year. It's certainly a concept I love so much, unfortunately the owner sold to someone who didn't want to keep it an outdoor preschool(she felt the two classes couldn't handle being outside together and they'd get sick being out there in all weather)

​

1. We would spend time outside if it was slightly rainy but if it was anymore than that we came inside. The school was new that year so many parents didn't know how to dress properly for the weather.
   
2. We basically stayed in the outdoor classroom directly behind the building but we'd explore the wooded area above which wasn't that large.
   
3. We would offer different materials. We had these built by the first owners husband: http://shop.natureexplore.org/s.nl/sc.1/category.2283/.f We basically offer anything we want in these. We also had a mud kitchen, garden and a acrylic art easel: http://shop.natureexplore.org/Art-Panel/
   
4. We had rakes, shovels, buckets, water etc. that we would let the kids explore with.
   
5. The owners idea was to take the typical classroom and keep it outside. So we ran centers with the discovery tables and did an art project on the easel.
   
6. We basically spent from 9-11:45 outside. Then inside from 11:45-3 for lunch, nap, snack and outside from 3-6.
   
7. I don't see any challenges at all. I find the outdoor model to be very helpful to kids. They have the rest of their schooling to spend inside in a classroom, so let them explore and be kids.
   
8. https://natureexplore.org/ has some great ideas. Most of which can be recreated for half the cost. Also check out Cedarsong on Vashon Island in Washington. Erin Kenny founded it(she recently passed away from cancer though) and she's founded one of the first nature schools. It's modeled after the German model. They still run training's at her school and she has a whole home study thing you can purchase which has a book, curriculum ideas, and a dvd. The book is amazing. I considered buying this to do nature studies with but we didn't have access to any water for the pond studies: https://raisinglittleshoots.com/buy-exploring-nature-with-children/ It comes with everything you'd need for a nature walk a week and you can print out the journal for each child. There's a few facebook groups that are awesome. Wildschooling is super helpful, it's a bunch of moms who do homeschool but outdoors. So like forest schools but for kids in elementary and middle school. Nature Preschool Ideas & Community is another great one as well. https://www.amazon.com/Outdoor-Classroom-Practice-month-month/dp/041572905X/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=erin+kenny&qid=1554420826&s=gateway&sr=8-5 Also I'm not sure where your located but Antioch University in New Hampshire actually has a masters type program specifically on Forest Kindergarten type learning. It's run by David Sobel who has some great books out on learning in nature.
   
   Something I suggest you do that I never got a chance to was visit other nature schools to get ideas on how they do things. If you have any other questions PM me! I'm super passionate about this type of learning.

😊😊✏️😊😊 They might like this new resource: https://www.amazon.com/Little-Pencil-Finds-Forever-Friends/dp/0999522027/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1518037477&sr=8-1&keywords=little+pencil+finds+his+forever+friends

Some of my very favorites:

ELL/Immigrant:

The Name Jar

My Name is Yoon

My Name is Sangoel

Ability:

Jessica's Box

My Brother, Charlie

ZOOM!

My Three Best Friends and Me, Zulay

LGBTQ+:

And Tango Makes Three

Worm Loves Worm

Introducing Teddy

My Princess Boy

Things are definitely not over and you can turn this around. I am a college professor
Who trains student teachers so I know what you're going through. I've written a book for new preschool teachers called the Positive Preschool: http://www.amazon.com/The-Positive-Preschool-Hands-Smooth-Running/dp/0988276623 This books goes step by step in getting your classroom to run smoothly and how to work with challenging behavior.

I agree with the other responses here. Also you can turn things around with your TA. Be sure to ask for her advice and give her positive feedback when she does appropriate things. Kill her with kindness and show her you can be worthy of her respect.

The kids in my class loved the Little School Bus. It has rhymes, sequencing, and a whole sub-story in the illustrations about a fox stealing a pig's wig which sparked lots of interest and conversation in my kids.

I also suggest Spoon and Chopsticks by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. It's about being proud of who you are and encourages kids to think about what makes them special. You could also do all kinds of things with different kitchen utensils to go along with it - maybe bring in some unfamiliar ones so the kids can guess what they are, use them to paint or with play-dough, make patterns (i.e. spoon, fork, spoon, fork), sort, etc.

Todd Parr's The Feelings Book would be perfect for this! Little Monkey Calms Down would be another great one to include, and also comes in board book format.

Suzanne Collins has the Underland Chronicles. They're labeled for teens but are pretty simple. Here's the first one on Amazon so you can look through a couple pages if you want.

The Importance of Being Little and The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog.

Black on White is a cute book for little ones.

I've "read" (there are no words) this book with a toddler class and then we used glue and pre-cut black construction paper to make shapes on white paper (like very simple tangrams).