Ms. Amy's Blog @Child Central Station

The blog has moved back to blogger... and under construction. In the mean time, if you need to reach us, please email amyahola@hotmail.com Thanks!

We try very hard to pay attention to the interests of the children in our care. One of the children has been very interested in dinosaurs. He loves to read dinosaur books and to play with the toy dinosaurs that we have. I am not, nor do I claim to be a dinosaur expert. Although, with all of the hype about dinos at various points in my early childhood career, I know a bit about some of them. I do know, that many companies who make the dinosaurs often label them with the name on their stomachs or undersides. Today, one of the children ran up to me.... "What kind of dinosaur is this?" "I don't know, let me look to see. Hmmmn... It doesn't say" and I handed the toy back to the child. His prompt response was, "It is right here!" pointing to the letters on the dinosaur. I looked again and smiled. "That's not the dinosaur's name. It says MADE IN CHINA." With quick wit, and a smile..... He replied: "It's a Made ...

The research is out there.... If learning is not real and relevant to the child, it is pruned... almost immediately.    This means that efforts to drive children's learning with predetermined themes and teacher/societal driven ideas is futile. Our brains don't keep that information... so keeping weekly lesson plans or hooking onto monthly themes and teacher driven lessons is pointless and in most cases not developmentally appropriate. You can hear more about this from Dan Hodgins and I in the 7th episode of the Shakin' Bones podcast. Dan and I are not saying that planning goes completely out the window. What we are saying is that planning needs to happen daily, and careful observation of the learning that is taking place and conversations with the children will yield more developmentally appropriate planning and encourage classrooms to thrive based upon the needs of the children right now.

Every spring, out outdoor space needs to be evaluated. After the winter, many of our learning spaces need a bit of maintenance. Sometimes this is in the form of sanding or repairing... and sometimes they just need a little sprucing up with a fresh coat of paint! Some of the spaces in our outdoor classroom need regular upkeep do to the effects of the weather. The children are happy to jump in and assist with giving everything a fresh look with a coat of paint! If you are looking for the instructions or more information about our outdoor space and the various elements there, you may be interested in these posts: A Sand and Water Wall Making Music in the Yard (This is one of many posts on our outdoor music area) Our outdoor music area has evolved a bit from the beginning . The posts from our banging post station started to rot, so the post was removed and we attached some of the items to our fence instead. As nice as the post was, the fence works just as well an...

BUT, I SAID I WAS SORRY!!" after yelling this at me, she dashed off. Moments before, she pushed a child over and I was helping that child speak with her.  Was she sorry??? Of course not. Maybe she was sorry she got caught... but she definitely wasn't sorry that she knocked over the other child. She was too busy and too egocentric (which is clearly understandable and developmentally appropriate at 2 1/2 years old). She did learn quickly though... that if you say you're sorry then it is okay.... but really it is not okay.  But, for her saying sorry was like a "get out of jail free card." I have heard a lot of different people talk about the importance of teaching young children empathy. Although I highly agree that empathy is important and is something we strive to assist in developing. I find it highly discouraging that the idea is out there that empathy can be taught. In my experience and observation, empathy is a characteristic that is developed over time a...

I have been on the road a lot lately. Most often, I am either flying or the passenger in the van. (Mr Allan prefers to drive rather than be a passenger). When we travel for work, I am usually presenting and we have an opportunity to meet with and learn from other early childhood professionals. I know a lot of people have moved toward online versions of training and some people only attend conferences close to home, but I have found the greatest value to my professional development in traveling outside of my local area. Coming from a smaller area, local trainings tend to consist of the same people. Even if a different trainer is brought in, the audience tends to be similar. As a trainer, I know that even though the trainer coming in can be an important piece of the puzzle, the opportunity to meet and network with other early childhood professionals far outweighs anything I have to "teach." (I honestly prefer to consider myself a facilitator rather than a teacher, but t...

  Swinging on your belly! Flying like superman! Everyone wants to be a superhero! Here, at Child Central Station we embrace super hero play, and we define it broadly: Any powerful play where children pretend to be someone or something else. Heroes are everywhere, not just on the big screen or from television shows. Moms and dads are prime examples of powerful heroes and many of the children engage in playing house and taking care of the babies. Additionally, children often dress up and pretend to be doctors or fire fighters. These heroes are prevalent in our program as well, as children are often doing their best to "save the day!" Some of the powerful make believe play also revolves around "bad guys" and "super villians" and most often "monsters" and "witches." Children work through their world via play, so it only makes sense that they also bring the "bad guys" into the picture. It gives them an opportunity t...