Posts made in January, 2012
Creative Thinking in Young Children
Today I am entering my first blog on the topic of creativity in young children. For many years I have read everything that has come out on the amazing abilities of young children. One of their most astounding skills is their creative thinking. E.P. Torrance concluded that we are most creative when we are “4 ” years old. This might be discouraging for some of us who are older than 4, but if we work with young children, we see examples of their creative abilities every day. The child who invents a new word, or a child painting with a feather, or a child composing and singing a new song are all examples of creative children in action. Today it seems that many...
Read MoreThe Language Explosion: How to Ignite the Blast
The first five years of a child’s life are a critical time for nurturing language development. How can language experiences be integrated that are both developmentally appropriate and fascinatingly stimulating? Discover the power a story can generate whether read or told. Investigate techniques that will help community meetings promote group and individual language learning. Identify meaning ways to builds children’s confidence in speaking. Look inside Learning Centers to see how they can provide opportunities with oral language, print and writing. Discover exciting new ways to ignite language learning and literacy in the early years.
Read MoreExtreme Makeovers in “Real” Early Childhood Classrooms
This training is based on Dr.Isbell’s extensive work with early childhood teachers- helping them improve their learning environments. What things do early childhood teachers want to change? What learning do they want to occur? Where to start? What are the steps involved in the process? How can low cost and selected materials be used to make dramatic changes that work? Getting assistance to implement the project and help with the work. Investigate the visuals of the before, during, and after of preschool, Pre-K, and Kindergarten classrooms transformation. Discuss how these improvements changed the space and impacted children’s learning. Listen to what the...
Read MoreDeveloping Responsible Behaviors in an Irresponsible World
How many times have we heard, “Children are just not like they use to be”? Children need guidance in learning how to be a contributing member of their classroom. What are the social skills that children need to be successful? What strategies will promote life skills? How can we provide the opportunities to practice these skills in meaningful ways in the classroom? This workshop will focus on helping young children feel confident, appreciating others uniqueness, communicating ideas, being dependable, persisting on difficult tasks and solving problems with others. Developing an environment where children are partners and work with others to create a supportive...
Read MoreTell Stories that will Last a Lifetime
Stories that are told expand vocabulary, encourage expressive language, build visual literacy, and improve story comprehension. But too often teachers say, “I can’t tell a story”. This workshop will help teachers recognize they can be storytellers. All the basics of effective storytelling will investigated and will be demonstrated. Participates will discover which stories are powerful enough to work without pictures? How to prepare children for their listening? What approaches and tools can be used to draw young children to actively participate in the story? An important benefit of using storytelling is that children will want to tell and write their own...
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