
Questions like this from a preschooler can feel tricky to answer. These scripts are helpful for those moments where you a fumbling for the “right” words! 🌈
The Eastern Ridge School is a progressive, nature- and arts-based preschool located in northern Virg
Operating as usual
Questions like this from a preschooler can feel tricky to answer. These scripts are helpful for those moments where you a fumbling for the “right” words! 🌈
Photos from Calm Parenting Podcast's post
Setting Limits With Toddlers - The Choices They Can't Make - Janet Lansbury ‘Respect’ is vital to parenting, but the word can confuse us, especially when it comes to setting limits with toddlers. Children need lots of opportunities to be autonomous and have their choices respected. At the same time, they also need to know they’re not in charge, and we demonstrate that...
Yes, it’s true that Kindergarten has transformed into First Grade. Yes, children will need to learn academics, listen and sit still. But that certainly doesn’t mean that these lessons should be straight-jacketed onto them in the toddler and preschool years. In fact, the funneling down of structured learning is all the more reason to let children play while they can. We must fiercely protect this precious, ever shrinking window of time for our children.
Play is enough. Play is enough. Play is enough. This should be our educational mantra for the first 5 years.
Don't let your preschoolers forget how to play —>
https://www.janetlansbury.com/2012/06/dont-let-your-preschoolers-forget-how-to-play/
Fabulous turnout for our annual Garden Awakening. We came together as a community and planted veggies, herbs, and pollinators; we planted fruit trees and evergreen seedlings. We tackled shoring up our sliding hill, we painted garden labels, we worked, played and got to know current, incoming and alumni students, parents and staff. What a special day! (Post 1 of 2)
Fabulous turnout for our annual Garden Awakening. We came together as a community and planted veggies, herbs, and pollinators; we planted fruit trees and evergreen seedlings. We tackled shoring up our sliding hill, we painted garden labels, we worked, played and got to know current, incoming and alumni students, parents and staff. What a special day! (Post 2 of 2)
Kicking off Earth Day a little early…
Loose parts are great for just chilling or for hanging out with the whole gang!
https://nextdoor.com/p/5tMdKLGzdGxj?utm_source=share&extras=MzY4OTc5MjE%3D
We are hiring! Local friends, please share!
The night sky has captivated the musings and imaginations of our 4-5 year old preschoolers. They loved learning about the constellations and some of the symbols represented from Greek mythology, and then theytapped into their own creativity, story- telling and fine and visual-motor skills by creating their own.
Check out how something as ubiquitous as a rainbow 🌈 in the month of March takes on new meaning and inspires multimodal learning via emergent curriculum and the project approach to learning in a nature based preschool setting.
7 Reasons Kids Need to Disagree - Janet Lansbury It can be our tendency as parents to avoid conflict with our children. But disagreements are a natural part of our parent/child relationship and a healthy (though seldom fun) interaction. The irony is that if we practice the art of respectful disagreement, our relationship will strengthen, deepen, a...
Are you getting ready for the Great Backyard Birdcount? Be sure to add some of these titles to your reading this week!
Thank you to Laura Rogers, nature preschool support teacher at Fenner Nature Preschool, for compiling this list!
Rinse and repeat.
"Spoil" your child with unconditional acceptance and love, with positive words of affirmation, with positive visions of the future, with encouragement and understanding when struggling, with belief in their dreams, with encouragement to explore and be curious and get muddy and dirty.
Do not spoil your child with things.
But do spoil them with experiences. Spoil your child with hugs and smiles. Spoil your child with patience. Lots of patience. And even more patience.
These things you will not regret.
Even Dr. Becky can use a tweak every once in a while. I Am sure she would accept/appreciate the constructive feedback. So here’s a follow up to an earlier post:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CoSUV0ivW9S/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CoTMk19BT6-/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
Dr. Becky Kennedy | Parenting on Instagram: "Have your kids jumped on the couch, used potty talk at the dinner table, or acted on another, not so appropriate urge? Does saying “Stop that right now!” do little or nothing to help? Well, if so, your 314 Likes, 3 Comments - Dr. Becky Kennedy | Parenting () on Instagram: "Have your kids jumped on the couch, used potty talk at the dinner table, or acted on another, not so appropriate urge? Does saying “Stop that right now!” do little or nothing to help? Well, if so, your ki...
Photos from The Eastern Ridge School's post
SUMMER CAMP ENROLLMENT IS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC!
Cold snap got you down? Never fear, dreams of summer fun are near! ERS Summer Camp has everything your young children need to have a summer filled with old-fashioned, outdoor, sun and water splashed, toes in the sand, hands in the soil, adventuresome spirits in the forest kind of summer. ERS Summer Camp is a summer full of joyful, playful, wonder-filled discovery, fun, and friendship for children ages 2-6 on three sprawling acres in Great Falls, VA. https://www.easternridgeschool.org/programs/summer-camp/
On the topic of process art vs product art.
“Product” art is like— doing a craft. There’s supposed to be a set result and everybody’s is supposed to look a set way. Sometimes I hear arguments for the positive side of product art in terms of teaching children specific fine motor skills; i.e., if everybody has to cut out their project in exactly the same way, then they work on cutting, or things like that. Sure, I can see an argument to be made there. I’m not saying crafts are evil. They’re fine. I loved crafts when I was a kid.
“Process” art is what young children (toddlers, preschoolers, early elementary) are drawn to if they’re not interfered with, though. They aren’t thinking about what the end result will look like when they set out—not if they haven’t been acted upon by an adult or other outside force! They might explore the way colors mix on the paper, they might pretend the pencil is a car zooming around the page, they might try to put stickers on the page and then take them back off to see what happens. They might mix materials in creative ways—stick stickers onto wet paint; squeeze out huge globs of liquid glue; try to color on the liquid glue with markers to see what happens. The focus is on the process.
I honestly find process art perfectly sufficient for learning new fine motor techniques too. Kids, in my experience, have just as much fun (if not more) and learn just as much (if not more) using the scissors to cut out whatever they’re imagining or processing or whatever weird material I’ve set in front of them — leaves from outside, wet noodles, dry noodles, straws, paper scraps — as they do cutting out a set craft material.
“What about waste?” people commonly ask me. “You say that you let kids learn how to glue by just squeezing out glue and not telling them any different, but isn’t that wasteful?”
Play is learning, and learning isn’t wasteful. It’s OK to preemptively only set out what materials you’re OK with them using all of. Put half the bottle of glue away, in a different container, to be returned to the white bottle after you’re done; or put only a bit of it out, in a cup with a paintbrush, or mix it with a bit of water or paint to stretch it, or involve the child in the exploring.
Ask yourself before entering into an art/play exploration: what would I be okay with them literally using one hundred percent of? Only give them access to that much of everything. Kids can be creative within limitations — some of the best art comes from working within boundaries!
[Image description: Six pieces of artwork, each made with what looks like watercolour paint but each one extremely different. One appears to show a butterfly, one shows something like the outline of an elephant, a few look like they have exploration of square-shaped stamps involved, and one looks like an exploration of color mixing. The caption says, “You know you’re doing it right when no two pieces of children’s work look the same.” The image was made by Cuddlebug Kids whose handle is also on the image. End description.]
These moments captured reminded me of the value of giving children both the time and the materials for open ended play, with teachers nearby but only intervening when necessary. This multi-age interaction involved children from all three classes ranging from our youngest to our oldest student, and every one of them was "in flow" with this elaborate play scheme that involved hibernating animals storing food. There were many more nuances to the play that I was not privy to, but the children each played a part and were fully immersed in this cooperative world they had created from their own imaginations and themes inspired by the natural world. The last picture was taken the next day, as the theme continued and was expanded to a new location with additional loose parts.
Monday morning song circle is a warm and welcoming start to the week. Our repertoire of beloved songs (and accompanying movements) is growing along with our enthusiasm for them!
Things sometimes get cozy like this by 4:45 on Fridays.
We have a rare mid-year opening for a 3.5-5 year old in our nature-based preschool program starting in January 2023. Email Julie at [email protected] to learn more!
Doesn’t this just beckon you to come play in the woods? I wish I had done more of this in my childhood. Thank goodness It’s never too late!
We are so proud of our Forest Preschool program right in the heart of Fairfax County (close to Tyson’s)!
Far Away Hill has a special magic, and the magic of our own little slice of forest comes to life when ignited by preschoolers imaginations. Nature gifts us with loose parts big and small, allowing for infinite possibilities for imaginative play, healthy risk taking, collaboration, problem solving and physical challenge.
Accepting applications now for 2023-2024 for 2-5 year olds.
Giving Tuesday is a great time to consider supporting the causes that are important to you. Help us plant seeds and nurture roots to grow children connected Self, other, and their place in the natural world. https://gofund.me/6b7a66ec
Gratitude lunch today! Thankful for our ERS family and a delicious lunch all together under blue skies, warm sunshine and accompanied by the singing birds. ☀️
This just may be the best, truest, and most right thing I have ever read about children.
There Is Nothing Cute About It Over the past decade or so, I’ve listened to a lot of early childhood experts. More often than not, I find myself nodding al...
Pumpkin "portrait" session with 3-4 year olds. It was a delight to facilitate this exercise with the children today. They were all keenly observant, focused, and invested in the process. By taking the time to slowly notice and talk about details like shape, texture, lines, bumps, and markings, the children were primed to really "see" the pumpkin and then draw what they saw. There are a range of ages and developmental levels in this diverse group, and different skills develop at different times in different children. Regardless of what you see in each child's art, this activity exercised/stimulated a range of neural pathways in each child’s brain! As always, our emphasis is on the process, not on the result being a prescribed product.
Exquisite pieces by 2-3 year olds made possible when a teacher understands the potential of materials and trusts the innate creativity of young children.
Great words to use when first introducing your child to the potty:
Dr. Becky Kennedy | Parenting on Instagram: "Potty. Training. Two words that pack a lot of punch. Potty training - or really I should call it potty *learning* - is about kids learning that they are in charge of their own body, that they can... Dr. Becky Kennedy | Parenting shared a post on Instagram: "Potty. Training. Two words that pack a lot of punch. Potty training - or really I should call it potty *learning* - is about kids learning that they are in charge of their own body, that they can recognize their body signals, that they are b...
A little slow in posting these photos from our annual Lantern Walk. It was an unusually balmy moonlit evening last Saturday, so no need for mittens and hats. In fact, we were in t-shirts and shorts while setting up! We had an amazing crew of volunteers who helped fill, place and light 500 paper bag luminaries to create a magical glowing path winding all around our property. As the children proceeded carrying the lanterns they had made, they encountered their teachers along the way who each had a hand made treasure to give them. Then we gathered for some delicious chili and cider songs around the bonfire. As always,it was a night to remember.
It was a perfect autumn day for preschoolers to spend the whole day in the woods, so that’s what they did. What a gift to have access to these natural resources so close to an urban area. We are very fortunate to be able to call this place ERS’s permanent home!
This is a great read and an inspiring story. The kid versions of “Grandma Gatewood’s Walk” would be great for our nature loving aspiring hikers! Lots of lessons about the healing power of nature, not to mention perseverance and resilience.
In 1955, at the age of 67, Emma Rowena Gatewood became the first woman to solo hike the entire 2,168 mile (3,489 km) Appalachian Trail -- wearing Keds sneakers and carrying an army blanket, a raincoat, a shower curtain, and a change of clothes in a homemade bag which she slung over one shoulder. A mother of 11 and grandmother of 23, Gatewood -- who was born on this day in 1887 -- is now considered a pioneer of ultra-light hiking. To read the incredible story of how Grandma Gatewood survived a brutal marriage of thirty years to become of the first high-profile ambassadors of the Appalachian Trail, visit https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=27153
Emma Gatewood's inspiring story is told in the award-winning biography for adult readers "Grandma Gatewood's Walk" at https://www.amightygirl.com/grandma-gatewood-s-walk -- or as an e-book at https://amzn.to/3utKf7r
For young readers, there are two inspiring picture books about Grandma Gatewood's story, both for ages 5 to 9: "When Grandma Gatewood Took a Hike" (https://www.amightygirl.com/when-grandma-gatewood-took-a-hike) and "Grandma Gatewood Hikes the Appalachian Trail" (https://www.amightygirl.com/grandma-gatewood-hikes-the-appalachian-trail)
For several beautifully illustrated picture books about Mighty Girls who love exploring nature, we highly recommend "Up the Mountain Path" (https://www.amightygirl.com/up-the-mountain-path), "Finding Wild" (https://www.amightygirl.com/finding-wild), and "Moon" (https://www.amightygirl.com/moon), all for ages 4 to 8
For many books for young readers about the wonders of outdoor discovery, visit our blog post, "Explore Your World: 30 Mighty Girl Books About Outdoor Discovery," at https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=11570
From The Poetry Pharmacy ❤️❤️
(Pinterest)
amzn.to/3fgC0pz
amzn.to/3qlnByG
No time like the present for a little hands on lesson in fire safety. And nothing is much better than a crisp autumn morning playing in the woods. 🍂
https://www.instagram.com/p/CihzsPXOFGH/?igshid=NmNmNjAwNzg=
Great evening to hang out in The Boro, eat delicious food from and raise funds for ERS! Thanks to all the ERS families who came out to the event which we all decided should be the first of many of its kind!
Monday | 8am - 5pm |
Tuesday | 8am - 5pm |
Wednesday | 8am - 5pm |
Thursday | 8am - 5pm |
Friday | 8am - 5pm |
This is the official page of ITFDC - Infant Toddler Family Day Care. Become Part of Our Fam
Smiley Kids Home is an In-House Day Care Center offering the best day care program in Fairfax VA. Fa
We believe that exposing children to early academic learning as well as encouraging learning through
MoEd is so much more than an afterschool solution. It is a place where children go to have fun!
Jovie of Fairfax offers outstanding in-home childcare to families — full-time, part-time, or whatever
We are Fairfax's best summer camp and After School Program. We have: • Karate classes! • Hip-Hop
FAST TRAIN CELEBRATED 23rd YEAR!!! Preparing educators to teach in international environments since
"Dreams can come true if you have the courage to pursue them." -- Walt Disney
Rise and Shine Daycare is a new preschool and child care center in Fairfax City VA. Visit us at http://www.riseandshineprek.com