Inexpensive Training Opportunity and News

Good Afternoon All!

We are please to announce several new adventures that have presented themselves.

1. We will present at the Chautauqua County Association for the Education of Young Children this fall. October 23 at SUNY Fredonia McEwen Hall. Topic- Character Education: What Is It? How Do You Do It? Why Is It Important?
As Early Childhood Educators we are faced with many challenges and charged with many duties, one of which is helping children to become successful citizens and life long learners. In this workshop we will define what character education is, give examples of activities and classroom learning centers to help cultivate character and why it is so important to include character education as part of your curriculum.

Cost is $10 for members and $15 for Non Members. I am checking on the times, but it is generally 8-1, with a keynote address and several sessions after the keynote.

2. A dear friend and great supporter of our work has joined our team, her name is Alyce Thorp. Alyce lives in Buffalo, has her masters in library science, and is a true believer in our cause. She will join us for trainings and workshops as her schedule allows.

3. At this time, I am in the process of opening a small school. As you may know, the Rainbow Farm School wasn't able to open and run at this time, however, the dream is still alive. Alyce plans to join me in opening a small Montessori based school. I am hoping to take the teacher certification program soon so that I have the knowledge and understanding to create a Montessori based school in the area. If you are interested in receiving more information or to be kept in the loop, please email taverna@moonandme.com. I hope to be open and running by 2012 at the latest.

Personally, I feel very blessed to part of such a wonderful organization. And as a group, I know I speak for the rest of the team when I say Thank You for your Support!

Meeting the Needs of Parents

In her popular Exchange book, How Does it Feel? Child Care from Families' Perspectives, Anne Stonehouse asks, "How would you feel if you believed that the professionals in the program were more knowledgeable and expert about your child than you were?

Parent support is much more appropriate than believing that you have a mandate to 'educate families.' The point is to support and empower families as the most important people in their child's life.

We must always be conscious of what message we are sending parents. We must build trust in relationships and meet the parent where they are at this moment.

Ready, Set, Happy

Good Afternoon,
Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend a training called Ready, Set, Happy by Denise Flora, one of the creators. (I apologize for not underlining the above title)

The Ready Set Happy curriculum is based on The 16 Guidlines.

The 16 Guidelines for Life are a set of practical and straightforward tools for developing happiness and meaning in everyday life. It is the first project of Essential Education, a non-profit organisation that aims to help people develop their natural capacity for compassion and wisdom. The 16 Guidelines are featured in a book, 16 Guidelines For Life: The Basics by Alison Murdoch and Dekyi-Lee Oldershaw, first published in 2005.

The 16 Guidelines are not a prescriptive doctrine or a set of commandments. They are offered as opportunities to explore one's own life experiences and to see whether the 16 Guidelines can help to improve the quality of that experience.

Ready Set Happy is based on the 16 guidelines are appropriate for children aged 7-12, but I would argue that the principles are appropriate for all children, and that the activities would need to be altered to be age appropriate.

The curriculum has specific activities to go along with each character trait, as well as songs, ideas and book suggestions.

If you are interested, A Starting Small Project, plans to develop additional ideas and lessons plans to follow this curriculum.

Please visit http://www.16guidelines.org/ as well as http://www.16guidelines.org/publications/29-ready-set-happy.

We also plan to develop activities and ideas for adults, so if you would like us to present this information along with our current workshops please contact us at
astartingsmallproject@gmail.com
or
taverna@moonandme.com

Relationships with Children

In Intellectual Emergencies: Some Reflections on Mothering and Teaching, Lilian Katz makes these two observations about teachers' relationships with children:

"Relationships cannot be developed in a vacuum; we have to relate to each other about something — something that matters to the participants in the relationship. The content of our relationship with children should not be mainly about rules, regulations, and conduct, but about their increasing knowledge and developing understandings of those things within and around them worth knowing more about and understanding more deeply, more fully, and more accurately."

"Cultivate the habit of speaking to children as people — people with minds — usually lively ones. Appeal to their good sense. It is not necessary to be sweet, silly, or sentime ntal at one extreme, or somber, grim, or harsh at the other end. Let us be genuine, direct, honest, serious, and warm with them, and about them — and sometimes humorous too."

Fundraiser for A Starting Small Project at the Fredonia Farmers Market

Hi Everyone,
I will be at the Fredonia Farmers Market tomorrow selling books and postcards. Please consider buying a postcard or book or placing an order for one of the many items available from Syracuse Cultural Workers. All the proceeds to benefit A Starting Small Project.

Thank You,

Karen

Jim Greeman

“It is a strange time. We live in an age when our children may know far more about bizarre people we care nothing about or a cartoon world than the workings of their own back yard — that marvelous ecosystem teeming with life. They may know more about, or rather have more information on, exotic zoo animals and farm animals than the snails, squirrels, birds, worms, and bugs that live outside their windows.”

Jim Greenman

Syracuse Cultural Worker's Products for Sale through A Starting SMall Project

Hey Friend,
Please help A Starting Small Project by purchasing a book, postcard or t-shirt from Syracuse Cultural Workers. You can place your order by contacting Karen at startingsmallproject@gmail.com- I can drop off a catalog or you can browse the website, but all orders must come through us or we won't get credit.


I will soon have a list of on-hand items and other information- check back soon!

Karen

So many resources

Here is another resource:

http://www.search-institute.org/about

I believe the institute met with local leaders on Friday. I would like to hear what was discussed and how we can be a part of the solution.

Check this out!

The Stick

From Everyday Exchange-
Sadly, I am sure there are some who don't value the power of a stick as a play tool.


Hall of Fame Stick
May 5, 2010

Midday sun is the remedy for a cold.
-Proverb from Hausa
The National Toy Hall of Fame has inducted 44 classic toys, including the stick. In discussing the stick, the Hall of Fame observes...

"The stick may be the world’s oldest toy. Animals play with sticks, and we use them to play fetch with our dogs. Children find sticks an endless source of make-believe fun. Sticks can turn into swords, magic wands, majorette batons, fishing poles, and light sabers. When children pretend with sticks, they cultivate their creativity and develop their imagination. They explore as they search outdoors for just the right one. Children build with sticks, bat balls with them, and walk with them. They are the original building blocks for creative play. Sticks also promote free play — the freedom to invent and discover. They encourage playing outside instead of inside. Sticks are all around us; they are natural and free. And playing with sticks isn’t just for children and animals. Adult artists, crafters, decorators, and architects all make use of sticks in sculptures, wreaths, furniture, and building design. Few adults or children can resist simple play with sticks — from drawing in the sand on the beach, to building a campfire and then toasting marshmallows. Sticks are not only possibly the oldest toy, they’re possibly the best!"

If we are looking only at the preschool years, what do you see as the classic toys? Share your recommendations in this week's Exchange Insta Poll, "Classic Toys for Young Children."

Representing A Starting Small at NYSAEYC

Good Evening! I am blogging from the New York State Association for the Education of Young Children Early Childhood Conference.
I am thankful to be able to have attended the following workshops- Eco Healthy Child Care and Infant and Toddler training, Lessons on Maternal Depression.
I will give you several links and will add some to our link section. These came from the eco-healthy workshop I attended. I do not vouch for these websites, except Healthy Toys, which I have looked at before.

ecologo.org
greenseal.org
healthytoys.org
www.mbayaq.org
earth911.org
www.acmineth.org

Website Updated with lots of information

Website is updated: www.astartingsmallproject.org

Would you like us to present at your school, church or community group?

Our workshops thus far:

Tools for Teaching Tolerance--Activity-based Discussion Centers. The workshop rotates through 4 self guided “centers”, Self Development, Wrappers, Skin Tone and Resources. Each center focuses on ways to develop a culture of tolerance. Members of a Starting Small Project help facilitate discussion and answer any questions as the students work for 15-20 minutes, playing with the materials and then moving onto the next center. The students then have specific guided questions to answer.

Putting Together a Teaching Tolerance Tool Kit for Your School, Classroom, or Community Group
Coming soon...

Child Havens: Creating Intentional Environments that Promote Positive Interactions, Open Communication and Respect for all Children

This workshop will explore ways to arrange your physical space and the materials needed to promote communication and collaboration among children. We will discuss the elements of creating intentional spaces and room arrangement.

Together We Can Create Communities of Support, Respect and Acceptance

Communities are essential resources for young children and their families. The schools in which children attend, the churches and synagogues where they worship can help to give the children a sense of identity, and of belonging. Today, we will explore the ways we can help the families in our community feel supported, respected and accepted.

Please contact Karen A Taverna for more information
taverna@moonandme.com

17 Ways to Murder an Idea

Another great article from Exchange Everyday-

A promotional booklet entitled "Imagine" put out by the consulting firm Synecrticsworld lists "17 Ways to Murder an Idea." Here are my favorities...

• See it coming and quickly change the subject.
• Ignore it. Dead silence intimidates all but the most enthusiastic.
• Feign interest but do nothing about it. This at least prevents the originator from taking it elsewhere.
• Laugh it off. "Ho, ho, ho, that's a good one, Joe. You must have been up all night thinking that up.
• Modify it out of existence...You seem to be helping the idea along, just changing it a bit here and there. By the time the originator realizes what's happening, the idea is dead.
• Drown it in cold water, as in "We don't have the staff to do it...the intangible risks would be too great...that's all well in theory, but in real life..."

I hope this will serve as a reminder to myself and others that listening and really hearing people and their ideas is extremely important.

Teens

You remember being a teen, right? Being a teen can be hard, they need our support, love and guidance. Check out this article from Mothering.com

Global Village School Book List, Check it Out!

Great book list courtesy of the Global Village School.

If you are local, A Starting Small Project has many of these books that you would be welcome to borrow for your reading pleasure. Just email taverna@moonandme.com to make a request.

Free Enewsletter to help with lesson planning

Sign up for the free Enewsletter with Teaching Tolerance.

Connecting people, actions and environment

Last Saturday, my family visited Washington D.C. during the height of the healthcare debate. While we decided not to take the girls to the rally, we did visit the National Archives. Isabella, my 8 year old, was very impressed with seeing the Constitution.
Children can build their understanding of history, and politics through such experiences but more important to this, is the opportunity for them to do social justice work.
I came across a link for Heifer International. We will begin using this to help us, "understand and appreciate the connections between people, their actions and the environment. Help your students discover that they have the power to change the world."

Exchang Article- Children as Designers

ExchangeEveryDay




Children as Designers
March 15, 2010

Our youth we can have but today, We may always find time to grow old.
-Chinese Proverb

In the Wonder newsletter that is included in the March 2010 issue of Exchange, Claire Warden, Scottish representative on the World Forum's Nature Action Collaborative for Children Leadership team, gives examples of the many ways you can work with young children in planning outdoor spaces. For example...

"Enclosure of space is another wonderful aspect of the work in creating landscapes with children. The physical size of young children changes their perspective all the time. The first thing we need to do is to put ourselves in the spaces that children show us that they love. Then we can begin to understand what their views are.

"Planning in a tangible way to enclose space can be done with rope, sand lines, pebbles, and other materials so children can move in and out of areas to show the ergonomics of a space. The way children use space will be very different from how adults use it. We need to consider if we are willing to have children change the design of a space. If not, then we should not ask the questions in the first place!

"Our new Centre for Excellence in Perthshire, Scotland, has created 15 landscape features with children as the designers. The documentation of the whole space celebrates children’s thinking. The children asked for a 'mountain 2 metres tall with a tree on top.' It had to have long, wavy grass to hide in and a path going up that had to stop at the top. When questioned about the idea of a pathway just stopping, the little girl of four years replied, 'Well, that is so you have to scramble and trip and find your own way down. It is more exciting that way.' How many times do we make our outdoor landscapes too easy or too simpl e so that all the play affordances of loose materials are removed and the thrill of adventure suppressed?"

Don't Let Disney Silence Children

"As described in today's New York Times, last fall’s successful campaign to get Disney to offer refunds on Baby Einstein videos came at a price. At the height of the media flurry about the refunds, representatives from Disney contacted JBCC, and our relationship with the Center was changed irrevocably. We were pressured to stop talking to the press about Baby Einstein. Questions were raised about whether CCFC’s mission was appropriate for a JBCC program. Finally, in January, we were told that we had to leave—quickly. And, for our remaining time under JBCC’s auspices, we were forbidden from conducting any advocacy aimed at a specific corporation or product. You may have noticed that you haven’t heard from us in a while."

Contact Judge Baker Children's Center
Board of Trustee's

Board of Trustees

Officers and Their Professional Affiliations:

• Kathryn E. Cade, Chair
• Edward E. Mullen, First Vice Chair
  Beacon Equity Partners, LLC
• Jay L. Webber, Second Vice Chair and Treasurer
  Tofias PC
• Verne W. Vance, Jr., Clerk
  Foley Hoag (retired)

Address-

Judge Baker Children's Center
53 Parker Hill Avenue
Boston, MA 02120-3225

Contact Disney

Robert A. Iger President and Chief Executive Officer, The Walt Disney Company Address: Walt Disney Company, 5005 Buena Vista Street, Burbank, California 91521-0001; http://disney.go.com/home/today/index.html. (I hope that the above is accurate, I couldn't find a better address.)

The Seven Sins of Forced Education

Interesting article. I have heard several parents mention that they wished their children got to vote the books, materials and coursework that they are expected to learn. I have heard children say that they wished they could take a day off when they are feeling stressed.

As the author of the article mentioned, I am not against public schools. Even if we get rid of NCLB, there is another act waiting to take the place of NCLB- Race to the Top, public schools are stuck under very bad acts and laws.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn/200909/seven-sins-our-system-forced-education

"4. Interference with the development of personal responsibility and self-direction."

Please Help Out and Fill in this Survey

Homeschool and Community Resource Center Survey

Click here to take survey

I appreciate your input into this matter.

Sincerely,
Karen

Learning Never Ends- Neither do Dreams

As some of you may know, we (Jessamine and I) attempted to open the Rainbow Farm School in the Fall of 2009. While the school is not officially in session, the dream has not died. Our dream of an alternative school for children is alive and well and in process, as I type.
The current plan involves creating a clear vision, mission statement, curriculum, and business plan. A Starting Small Project is part and parcel with the school as one of the main tenants will be "creating tools for building awareness and acceptance" within ourselves and the community in which we live.
At this juncture, the goal would be to open in the Fall of 2011 as a Homeschool and Community Resource Center. The Center would provide classes for families interested in homeschooling, helping families with the paperwork needed to become homeschoolers and classes based on topics of interest.
I know there has been some interest in extending the age range, as we were focused on K-6th before, and with this transition we would extend through high school.

To meet these very big, but very important goals, I will need input. In the coming months, I will survey the Chautauqua County community asking for input and ideas. I am also taking advantage of a very important resource, AERO, Alternative Education Resource Organization. They have been helping provide resources, support and information as to how the start and run an alternative school.

Roots of Empathy

"Roots of Empathy is a powerful idea whose time has come. An evidence-based classroom program, its mission is to build caring, peaceful, and civil societies – child by child – through the development of empathy in children."

A like minded mother gave me the link to Roots of Empathy.
When I have a free moment, I would like to read their book and research their program. From what I have read, this is a sensible and accessible way to teach empathy.

Poverty and Children

Marion Wright Edelman of the Children's Defense Fund

"When people talk about the "achievement gap" at-risk children face, they often think of it in terms that apply to school-age children -- but that gap can start much earlier than most people might guess. A recent report by the nonprofit, nonpartisan research group Child Trends showed that disparities actually begin appearing before children's first birthdays. The report, "Disparities in Early Learning and Development: Lessons from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study - Birth Cohort," was funded by the Council of Chief State School Officers. It found that gaps in children's development are already apparent when babies are just nine months old, and grow even larger by 24 months. These disparities in infants' and toddlers' development can be measured across cognitive, social, behavioral and health outcomes."

To see the whole article