Planning a Trip? How to Include Your Child and Develop Literacy Skills at the same time!
Spring break is almost here, and whether you're embarking on a family trip or staying local, it's a great opportunity to involve your child in planning while also boosting their literacy skills. Here are some tips and resources to make trip planning an exciting and educational experience for your family. Create a Schedule Together: Sit down with your child and create a schedule for your trip. Use a visual table with time indicators, words, and pictures to help them understand the plan. Let them choose activities they're excited about and anticipate what comes next during your advent...
Encouraging Emergent Writing
For young children, art and early writing skills go hand in hand. At first, your child will start experimenting with crayons and the cool things that they can do. Children often start to develop early writing skills through creating art, such as scribbles and begin to imitate the act of writing by symbolic marking and drawings that express their thoughts and ideas. These early writing skills are called emergent writing. Emergent writing is your child’s first attempt at the writing process. The development of emergent writing skills, such as writing their own name are important for setting...
Raising a Reader: Starting with Infants
From the moment you are expecting your first child, you are overwhelmed with information and advice about the importance of reading. There are good reasons for this as it is important to instill good reading habits and skills in your child from infancy and as they go into adulthood. The benefits of reading at every stage of a child’s development are well documented. Some of these benefits include, sparking your child’s imagination, stimulating curiosity, social and communication skills. Raising a reader is fun, rewarding and relatively easy. Here are some ways that you can help your ...
1.4 million words
Astounding new research estimates that young children who have been read to multiple times a day from infancy until they reach school age have heard an average of 1.4 million more words than their peers who have never been read to. Even if a child has only heard one book a day, she has still heard 290,000 more words by the time she reaches kindergarten. (Grabmeier, 2019) The language in books, unlike conversational language, introduces children to more complex vocabulary words not always heard in day to day conversation. Therefore, well-read children enjoy a rich vocabulary, improved...
Welcoming a New Sibling
After almost nine months of preparation, most parents feel prepared to welcome a new child into the family. But when the new child is a second or third child, how do parents prepare the soon to be older siblings? Various doctors and child psychologists have made several of the following suggestions: Make them friends before birth. Help your older child get acquainted with the new baby before birth by showing sonogram pictures of how the baby is growing. Let your child pat your belly, feel the new baby kick, and talk to the baby. Tell your older child stories about when you were ...
Building a Foundation in Writing
Wrapping his tiny toddler fingers tightly around a large crayon, two-year-old Bentley stands over a piece of paper making firm strokes across his page and states then with excitement, “I write!” Considering her picture from different angles, Mila adds a few letter-shapes - a couple pointy marks reminiscent of M’s and repeating lines like L’s. After adding eyes and whiskers to his drawing, Jamie thinks intently. Very carefully he adds a wobbly “c” and then excitedly shows his teacher, “I wrote, Cat!” Early writing skills develop following the same sequence of stage...
Developing Integrity at Every Age
Each month, Stepping Stone School classroom teachers focus on specific activities to teach character development in an age-appropriate manner through our custom-created Kindness and Empathy™curriculum which is part of our Platinum Learning for Life™curriculum. Our focus for the month of October is the character trait of integrity. Integrity means following through with what you say you will do, doing what is expected of you no matter who is watching, and demonstrating consistency in both your words and actions. Experts have suggested the following to teach integrity to child...
How to Help Your Child Learn to Cooperate
I recently came across a cooperative board game in which three or four players work together to complete a task to win the game before they run out of time. Interested, I tried the game out with my own children and here is what I found: While playing a cooperative game versus a traditional “single winner” game There was less arguing and whining between children, More laughing and encouragement of one another, and A quicker recovery time when the group lost the game. Working together, cooperating, provides an opportunity to come together for a common goal. Whether pl...
The Value of Drawing
Starting with Scribbles Handing a child a crayon for the first time is a game of chance often ending with the removal of crayon wax from his mouth. However, once he is taught to use crayons with paper rather than as a teething toy, he soon notices the cause and effect relationship between his hand movements and the colorful marks on a paper. The realization causes exhilaration: “I have control.” Scribbles progress becoming more purposeful as he develops motor control. Around three and a half, children begin to connect the two ends of a line to form enclosed shapes. At this sta...
Kindergarten Readiness at Stepping Stone School
This month, many of the children whom we have watched grow from infancy will be donning their cap and gown as they walk across the stage to receive their prekindergarten diploma. Our end of the year programs celebrate the accomplishments of our advanced prekindergarten classes over the past school year. It is always a bittersweet moment: a mixture of the overwhelming sense of accomplishment and the uncertainty which comes when starting the next chapter in one’s life. Engaging with our Platinum Learning for Life™ Curriculum, these children have come to identify many letters a...
Developmentally Appropriate Chores for Children
Spring is in the air! Which also means spring cleaning is just around the corner. This year, consider including your children in this annual home ritual. Through age-appropriate tasks, children acquire important social skills as they continue to learn what it means to be a part of a family. Children learn responsibility, how to care for materials and pets at home, and how to work cooperatively with family members to get things accomplished. The 2015 Texas prekindergarten guidelines suggest that right around the time a child turns four, he or she begins to recognize personal role...
Kindness Matters
February 17th is National Random Acts of Kindness Day, to celebrate, Stepping Stone School is teaching children about kindness through daily interactions by focusing on acting friendly, giving generously, and being considerate of others. Acting Friendly Exchanging Pleasantries Encouraging children to smile or wave is a small act of kindness in which even our youngest children can participate. As they get older, teaching children to use polite phrases like, “Nice to meet you” and “Have a nice day” provides kind and friendly interactions in everyday situations. Inv...
The Importance of Classic Literature
Research demonstrates that the single activity with the greatest impact on a child’s reading readiness is being read to on a regular basis. Each day, the children at Stepping Stone School listen to read-alouds, observe environmental print, delve into the classroom library, interact with our classic children’s literature collection and explore other books and printed material. These activities benefit children of all ages and support numerous pre-reading skills. Daily Reading As Stepping Stone School, teachers read to the children in their classrooms and employ a number of st...
Self-Regulation Tips for Toddlers
At Stepping Stone School, we strive to support our families through the many ups and downs of early childhood. The toddler years are a pivotal time in the life of a child. No longer infants, toddlers are transitioning, developing communication skills, and gaining independence. This developmental stage is both exciting and challenging as we share in the joy of discovery, but also the frustration of toddler tantrums. Fortunately, experts provide several ideas to reduce the number of tantrums: Give Positive Attention. In a toddler’s mind, attention is attention, whether it is p...
The Importance of Reading Aloud
It was just like every other afternoon in fifth grade, Mr. Huff gathered my classmates and me together to read a chapter aloud from a book. This particular afternoon, we had set aside a few extra minutes to finish reading Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls. A coming of age story about a boy, Billy, and the two dogs he loved dearly: Little Ann and Old Dan. After just a few short weeks of following Billy and his dogs through the woods chasing racoons, we came to the saddest part of the story and there wasn’t a dry eye in the entire classroom. That school year as we sat at our...
The Benefit of After School Programs
Parents often enroll their child in Early Childcare at Stepping Stone School because they recognize the benefits of preparing him or her for Kindergarten through hands-on learning and academic preparation. But, what happens when that same child goes on to elementary school? Do the benefits of outside programs cease? After school care is as important as early childcare to continue to build and support a child’s development. Research and study spanning over ten years by a team of specialists from the Harvard Family Research Project (HFRP) confirm that “children and youth who participate ...
5 Things to Do with Your Children Before School Starts
My soon-to-be kindergartener asks regularly, “Do I get to go to Kindergarten today?” We’ve marked the calendar, purchased school supplies, met with other up-and-coming Kindergarteners, but, the day is not coming soon enough for my excited five-year-old. Whether your child is entering elementary school for the first time or returning for another year, here are five things you can do to help your child prepare mentally for the challenging rigors of the upcoming school year: Get Reading. Beginning in infancy, reading together builds language acquisition and literacy skills. A ...
Teaching Ownership
In early elementary school, I started playing The Blame Game. My parents would confront me about a situation and I would blame someone else or something else for my choices. My dad’s solution - a song he made up and would sing with enthusiasm: “No more excuses, excuses are useless!” Too embarrassed to stick around, I often missed Dad’s choreographed dance moves. Through my dad’s refusal to accept excuses and his “delightful” little song, I learned to take ownership of my attitude and actions. As children grow, they often go through periods when they assume shifting b...
What is Respect?
What is respect? According to four-year-old Julia, respect is “being nice to other people.” Pressing further, I asked “What does being nice mean?” She delightfully answered, “it means you give someone chocolate or a kiss!” As young as she is, this child recognizes that respect is the way you choose to treat another person. “Being nice” as she puts it, is how one acts when demonstrating respect. How does one teach respect to young children? Demonstrate respectful behavior. Children often watch their caregivers looking for clues defining the expectations. If they ...
September Character Development: Cooperation
Two opposing teams stand on the cusp of a pit of mud. A single rope with a flag tied to its center snakes through the ranks as the teams face off. Tensions mount as each individual anxiously awaits the dreaded whistle blow which will announce the start to a summer camp favorite: the Tug of War! The goal: Work as a team, pulling as hard as you can so you all don’t end up in the pit of mud. That “work as a team” part is key. Unfortunately, many of us land in the proverbial “mud” before we realize that working together, cooperating, is key to many of life’s successes. Tra...
The Benefits of Handwriting for Young Children
This past school year my kindergartener spent several hours a week learning keyboarding and document processing right alongside reading and writing. As an up and coming first grader, he has been begging for access to my computer all summer long. Beyond the games he can play, he has stated his joy at being able to write quickly while using the keyboard. It is the same reason many adults enjoy using a computer versus writing with pen and paper: in the words of my six year old, writing by hand “Takes FOREVER!” But, the formation of letters through the sequence of hand strokes prov...
School Readiness
Will my child be on the same academic level as his classmates? Will he be able to make new friends? Will he know how to let his teacher know what he needs? Parents with perspective kindergarteners have many concerns as their child embarks on his first year of formal schooling. In the stress and rigor of modern education, parents often wonder if their child is prepared for kindergarten. What determines School Readiness for an up and coming student? An earlier generation defined school readiness as whether or not a child is five years old. In recent years, however, stat...
School to Home Connection Folders
Stepping Stone School is excited to announce a wonderful addition to our Platinum Learning for Life Curriculum™ for our Advanced Pre-Kindergarten classes: School to Home Connection Folders! The addition of these at-home learning and communication tools is supported by research which states, “Meaningful family engagement in children’s early learning supports school readiness and later academic success. Parental involvement is a critical element of high-quality early care and education” (Snow, 2012). School to Home Connection folders provide an educational link between learning whi...
The Emergent Writing Philosophy of Stepping Stone School
At Stepping Stone School we are laying the foundation for success in literacy by providing children with early writing opportunities. Children begin demonstrating pre-writing skills as toddlers and these abilities continue to develop through the prekindergarten years. The Progression of Writing The first stage of writing development emerges between 15 and 30 months of age when children begin scribbling. Between 2 . and 3 . years, children incorporate circles and repeating lines into their artwork. These letter-like symbols may appear in a line or randomly on the page. At this age, most c...
The Importance of Vocabulary Development
Vocabulary development begins in infancy and is the foundation on which children’s language and literacy skills are built. Research shows that the size of a child’s vocabulary is a strong indicator of future school success. At Stepping Stone School, your children develop vocabulary through developmentally appropriate planning, interactions and instruction from their teachers. Infants & Young Toddlers: The very youngest are spoken to in soft, high tones that draw attention. Their teachers ensure that the children see their mouths while talking and that their actions correspon...
Raising a Resourceful Child
“Resourcefulness, the ability to meet challenges in a variety of ways, is a by-product of creative intelligence. “As children develop resourcefulness, they learn to trust their instincts and unique abilities. They acquire a positive attitude toward problem-solving. Resourceful children mature into confident and industrious people. Just as important, they tap into the multitude of joys life has to offer.” This was the beginning of Karen Stephen’s article, “20 Ways to Encourage Children’s Resourcefulness and Creativity.” Following are her helpful suggestions for increas...
The Benefits of Signing with Young Children
Our curriculum incorporates American Sign Language into all of our classrooms. We know that children build confidence as they increase their ability to communicate in signs. This leads to a greater confidence in oral communication as well. And, as in learning any language, it fosters a greater understanding and appreciation for the culture of that language. Signing is a kinetic act that stimulates activity in both the right brain, which is responsible for visual-spatial reasoning and long-term memory, and the left brain, which is responsible for processing language. When we sign wi...
Raising a Reader: Tips for Parents
How can you help your child be ready to read and ready to learn? Talk to your infant and toddler to help him learn to speak and understand the meaning of words. Point to objects that are near and describe them as you play and do daily activities together. Having a large vocabulary gives a child a great start when entering school. Read to your baby every day starting at 6 months or earlier. Reading and playing with books is a wonderful way to spend special time with her. Hearing words over and over helps her become familiar with them. Reading to your baby is one of the best ways to...
Smooth Sailing to Kindergarten
Ensuring your children acquire the knowledge and skills to be ready for kindergarten is the highest priority in our advanced pre-K classrooms. Our Early Achievers Program blends into our Kindergarten Readiness Academy not only the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines criteria, but kindergarten-level activities as described in the Kindergarten Standards of the Texas Education Code. We have purposefully designed our curriculum to target the skills your children will need to succeed as they move into elementary school. For example, the kindergarten standards for language arts and reading req...
Raising an Empathetic Child
When we empathize with children, they learn from us the following: Their feelings are valid Recognition and acceptance of emotions Ability to label feelings with appropriate words Knowledge that emotions can be expressed to others Self-awareness Self-control Understanding that feelings influence behavior Realization that relationships are based on mutual esteem and communication Dr. Becky Bailey writes in Easy to Love, Difficult to Discipline, “I cannot stress enough the importance of empathy. Empathy is not weak-kneed permissiveness, nor is it passive...