Beautiful

I find that this time of year brings out the best/worst in all of us.  I had a wonderful random act of kindness happen to me this weekend.  Where I work, I feel like a rock star! My kids think I'm great and they are so excited to see me whenever I go into a class or walk down the hall at "the big school".  I get smiles and hugs from children I may or may not remember from year to year.  They change so much from when they are three.  That being said, this weekend I was in our local Walmart, just browsing and using up time before I had to go to a meeting.  All of a sudden I heard "Ma'am, Ma'am."  I thought it might be a student or former student's parent.  When I turned around there was a charming little girl looking at my glittery red sweater.  Her mom said ,"Go ahead, tell her."  This was not one of my students, but she looked up at me and said "You're beautiful!"  I was so touched.  I thanked her and asked if I could give her a hug.  We hugged and I told her (and mom and dad) how much I appreciated her compliment and that she had made my week!

I don't know about you, but it's not often that someone stops me and tells me I'm beautiful.  I had such a warm, fuzzy feeling when I left the store for my meeting.  That feeling has remained and I continue to say thank you for that small child and her parents.  What a great way to feel when everything else around me is chaotic and hectic.  Just a kind word can make all the difference.  I hope that you find a way to feel "beautiful" this season.  Enjoy the warmth and the joy all around you.  Take some time to shut out the noise and relax, at least for a few minutes.

21 Days? Oh my...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!  Actually, it has looked a lot like Christmas in some places since September.  Now, however, it looks like that almost everywhere.  With that look comes the anticipation.  When my kids were little I thought it was great because I could use it as a "bargaining chip" of sorts.  "Better be good, Santa is watching."  Nowadays, not so much.

Here at Head Start my babies are excited about Christmas, but they are also passing around a large number of diseases.  Anything from colds to stomach viruses are spreading at an alarming rate. Considering the weather, it's not a big surprise. I haven't had a voice since Friday.  It is always challenging to read a story with little to no voice.  I find that the normal "voices" I am able to do, don't quite come out the way I want them to.  A gobble ends up like a squawk.  Oh well, I think they get the idea, it just makes it a little more challenging for me.

I find that even when I don't feel well, I still have to be on top of things.  This kiddos are ready for their story, ready for their routines, and most of all, ready for me to be my animated self.  So no matter what, "the show must go on," (unless of course, there is a fever involved)! We try to keep things as normal as possible during this time of year.  Actually, we try to keep things as normal as possible all year.  It is so beneficial for the children to have a routine and structure.  I call it "flexible" structure.

So I think I'm the one who is concerned about only 21 more days until Christmas and as long as I stay in my routines, just like the students, we will all do just fine!!

Choices

Back from a wonderful break and the children are in full swing.  They have lots of energy and are so happy to be back at school.  I find this time of year to be especially challenging for teachers and students.  It's kind of a "limbo" if you will.  We had a long week off and only four weeks until another long break.  It's difficult to keep the students in routine sometimes once they've gotten out of routine.  I find that using choices is most effective for me.  Giving the students real choices helps them to feel empowered.

I love this time of year, but the weather is constantly changing, children are really sick (a lot), and there is excitement everywhere.  Remembering to give my students choices helps them to feel in control and take ownership of their actions.  They are responsible for the choices they make.  As always, there are consequences, both good and not so good, but I think they realize that it's their choice that determines those consequences, not mine.  Even at this young age, choices are helpful.  I have to keep reminding myself that we still have school for these four weeks and routines are essential to thrive..

Thankful

This post is long overdue.  I kept waiting for some Community Helper pictures, but everyone is very busy.  I will post those when I get them.  What I did want to say is how Thankful I am for everyone here.  This is an amazing place to work.  From the Administration at Webb to the teachers and students at Head Start, I am ever so grateful each day.  The precious children at the center, our babies, are a joy in my life.  If I am ever feeling down all I have to do is go and talk with one of them.  Their joy and excitement are contagious.
This Thanksgiving I will be giving thanks for all the people in my life those who are my blood relatives and those who are my chosen family.  Thanksgiving marks the beginning of a very hectic time of year, but also a time of wonder and happiness.  I'm looking forward to spending these next few weeks appreciating all the happy energy around me.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

Routines

I read 4 different books, 1 each week,  for 4 weeks in each class.  In other words, we do a book a week and I rotate the books so that at the end of the 4 weeks each class has heard all 4 books.  I tell other stories as well, but I usually have a central "theme" that I use for the 4 weeks.  This time is one of my favorites: monsters.  Well, not really monsters, Jack & the Beanstalk, Abiyoyo, Go Away Big, Green Monster and The Very Busy Spider.  I love these stories.  Usually, I will read the story myself the first time I do it and then I will use
recordings, iPad apps, YouTube videos and such to tell the story in another way.

This year I couldn't find my copy of The Very Busy Spider, so I ended up telling the story from a book written in Spanish.  It was fun and frustrating to look at the words and try to figure out what they said, but I also knew the story well enough to tell it without the exact text.  I love it when I get to that place where I can just tell the story.  The same is true for the other books.  Go Away Big, Green Monster has an app that has the story in song form.  For Abiyoyo I have an iPod recording of Pete Seeger telling the story.  Jack & the Beanstalk is a different story.  I don't usually use a different version of this book.  The one that I have is simple enough and flows nicely.  It's one that we got with grant money many years ago.  I enjoy the Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum part the best because I get to sound like a giant and the kids are really engaged.

All in all, this is a great group of books and the children really enjoy them.  They are among the ones most requested when I see them in Pre-K.  

Building Boom at Navasota Head Start

Building Boom at Navasota Head Start

The first of our many family projects have started to come into the center.  As usual they are fabulous. Our "study" that we have been working on is Buildings.  We have been looking a different types of buildings, what they are made of and also who works in those buildings.  We sent a request home with the parents to make a building.  You can see the amazing projects that have come back to us.  A picture is worth a thousand words, so this blog is going to be mostly pictures for you to enjoy.

My friend Pete!

I have never seen anything like it.  My friend Pete the Cat can charm 3-year-olds like no one else.  Pete and I have been together for many years now.  It never fails, Pete shows up the first week of school, amid the tears and the defiance, the not knowing how to sit and listen to a story and the lost little ones who look like they have been left by the roadside.  All of a sudden when a small, blue cat appears over the back of a big book stand, everything is OK and all is right with the world.

I have to give you a little background on how I happened upon Pete the Cat by James Dean and Eric Litwin.  I was visiting my grandchildren and noticed this book in my granddaughter's room from one of the book fairs they had gone to at school.  I glanced through it and noticed it had colors in it, I thought "great a new color book I can use with my Head Start kids, I'll have to get one."   And that was that.  I got home, ordered the book and went on my merry way.  The book arrived from Scholastic and I actually read through most of it and was really upset.  It only had four colors, red, blue, brown and white.  What kind of color book was that?  I did notice that I could download the audiobook for free, so I did.  I also ordered the little doll that went with the book.  OK, enough background.

I took Pete into class with me and after I had read one of my big books I brought out Pete the Cat   I Love My White Shoes book.  I took out my iPod and started to share the story with the class.  I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed this story and how mesmerized the children were.  When we got to the end of the book, which was my first time to hear the end as well, I laughed out loud.  The children didn't understan


d why I was laughing, but it didn't matter.  Pete and I have been best friends ever since.  Pete can calm a room full of children quicker than anything I have ever seen.  He whispers in my ear and tells me about how wonderful it is to see all the children waiting to hear his stories.  He sits and watches as I "read" his books.  It's more like how I interact with the story.  We still listen to Eric Litwin tell the story on the iPod, but I'm right there with him, reacting to what's happening and interacting to what's going on.  Before long, so are all the children.

When the children move to Pre-K I usually try to get to each Pre-K class at the beginning of the year with Pete to check on them and let them know we are still here and still watching out for them.  Thanks to Pete, they know "It's all good".