Last Friday Iflew into Albany and I arrived early enough to do a free concert. (Katie read about my offer on my blogand took me up on it.)
WOW! Was I impressed with the Balston SpaSchool District! They have moregreat projects and programs going on for children than I’ve ever seen! One thing that really amazed me was howwell behaved the children were. They are doing something called PBIS (Positive Behavior Intervention andSupport) and it’s working! Idon’t usually promote commercial programs, but if your school has issues withclassroom management and behavior you might want to check it out.
You know, itreally bothers me when I hear reporters trashing teachers or when I readarticles about the faults of our educational system. Those people need to visit a school and see just how HARDall of you teachers are working! And the children are doing their very best as well! Nobody is slacking off! Everybody is hard at work – with their“heart” at work. Teachers come inearly to help struggling students – teachers shampoo the hair of children whohave lice – teachers ask relatives to give bikes to children in the classroominstead of buying them a present – teachers buy shoes or snacks for children…. Every single day there is a teacher whois making a positive difference in the life of a child! So instead of finding fault, startlooking for the GOOD and THANK A TEACHER!
Saturday I waslucky enough to present at the Capitol District Child Care Conference. The teachers were wonderful and sharedthese ideas:
Our Hands onOurselves (Rhonda Haynes,Albany YMCA Child Care Center)
(Tune: “Think Boxer”)
Our hands onourselves
That’s what wesee.
We keep our hands
On our ownbodies.
Own bodies, ownbodies,
That’s the bestplace
To keep everyonesafe!
Chicka ChickaBoom Boom! (Melissa Allen,Albany, NY)
Chick, chicka,boom, boom,
Look who’s in ourroom…
Tear brown paperfor the trunk of a tree. Usefingerprints or handprints for the palm leaves. Cut circles out of brown construction paper and adhereVelcro to the back. Write theletters in each child’s name on the coconuts. Letters are removable and can be arranged to make eachchild’s name in the room.
Authostrator (Terrie Perkins)
Terrie wasreading to a group of children one day and they were discussing the author andillustrator of the book. Ithappened that was the same person, so a little boy came up with a new word –AUTHOSTRATOR! Don’t you love it?
Terrie alsoshared this Halloween chant where the children add the “Woo, woo, wooooo,”after each verse.
There was an oldwoman of skin and bones.
Woowoo woooooo!
She lived down bythe old graveyard.
Woowoo woooooo!
One day shethought she’d take a walk.
Woowoo woooooo!
She walked downby the old graveyard.
Woowoo woooooo!
She say the bonesall laying around.
Woowoo woooooo!
She went to thecloset to get a broom.
Woowoo woooooo!
She opened thedoor and
BOOOOOO!
I Like Myself(Rachelle at TOAST Albany City Schools)
After reading abook called I LIKE MYSELF each child picks out a favorite body part andRachelle takes a super close up picture of that body part. On an 8” x 10” piece of paper write “Ilike my ____” on each picture. Laminate and hang together to make a quilt or class book. Children learn to track print and aremotivated to learn to read words.
Clean Up Song (Amy Bielinski)
Put ‘em away.
Put ‘em away.
Put your thingsaway.
Clean it up.
Clean it up
So the next timethat
You play you canfind them.
Clean itup…(Continue singing until children have finished cleaning up.)
