Yellow Dog Project

I spoke with an old friend of mine who is a veterinarian. I asked her what she thought was an important topic for our little scientists to learn. She said that in her opinion understanding when a dog is anxious or when a dog could bite would be the most important concept to have a child remember. I think it’s far too often that we forget our pets at home don’t actually speak English. Sure they may know a word or two (sit, down…), but our ability to notice how they are feeling and respond accordingly is an important piece to the puzzle.

I felt that the information was so important that I decided it was worth noting in a public space. When a dog is anxious or uncomfortable in a situation, you may see them exhibiting some of the following behaviors:

1. Ears point back

2. Mouth is closed

3. Half moon eye (you can see the whites of their eyes

4. Licking nose or around their mouth

5. Panting

6. Tail is low, still or between their legs (A common misconception is that a dog is happy if their tail is wagging. If a tail wag is combined with other signs from this list, you may actually have a pup who is stressed on your hands!)

7. Yawning

8. Turning their head away

When your pet is exhibiting these behaviors, the right thing to do is to give them some space. Accidents happen when we aren’t aware of what our furry friends are trying to say. They can’t speak our language, and may not understand kisses and hugs like we do, so they tell you in subtle ways that they need help and would like some space. I think one of the most important things we can do is teach our children how to identify this body language so that we keep our pets and children safe.

Lastly, we may feel that we can read between the lines when it comes to our own pets, but someone else’s pet may react differently than you expect. One group, the Yellow Dog Project is asking that pet owners of anxious or reactive dogs, dogs that are in rehabilitation, those in training or with certain health issues are asking that you place a yellow ribbon on your pet’s leash. This yellow ribbon helps to notify others that your pet needs some space from other little friends and pets. So, if you see a neighbor walking with a yellow leash, please give the animal some space and if you don’t, but instead notice the above behaviors you’ll know just what to do.

It's Veterinary Medicine Month!

This month at Lunar Landing, we’re working on Veterinary Medicine. We have spent time discussing what may happen when you take a pet to the vet for a check-up. We’ve looked at similarities between our own appointments and theirs and talked about the differences in our bodies. After spending this time discussing, we set up our own veterinary pet clinic and they had an opportunity to give a pet a check up, from weighing them to checking their heart, eyes, ears, abdomen and even giving an injection.

I think that these are my favorite moments with the little scientists here. The moments where I can stand back and just watch them as they very carefully and meticulously give a check-up. Their faces are so focused, so interested in the task at hand. Watching them perform these tasks helps to solidify the concepts we learn from where to find a dog’s heart to where to give an injection. It even helps with identifying numbers as they weigh their pets on a scale!

I just love seeing their focus and enthusiasm. It’s inspiring and worth the reminder that sometimes, just standing back and letting your child be in their own element is okay too.

Brain Bucks

After having our second baby last month, our oldest discovered we were a bit more lenient with television than normal. With the holidays, a new baby and just getting the hang of life with two littles, we spent more time than normal cozied up with Doc McStuffins. While I do like that show, we quickly discovered that our oldest was growing more interested in watching TV than doing anything else (minus holding her new sister). I chatted with my husband about the ticket economy I had in my classroom and about implementing that with our daughter. After contemplating, we decided on the concept of Brain Bucks.

Brain Bucks are a fantastic tool to help your child develop positive associations with completing tasks that grow their knowledge base. For example, our oldest daughter loves geography. I have made up a number of songs and she sings them everywhere… and loudly. She recently received a large magnetic map of the states, for practicing her states and correctly placing them on the map, she earns a Brain Buck. She also gets multiples if the task is particularly difficult. So when she began the task of assembling her map, she may have earned two brain bucks, simply due to the amount of time and effort it would take, but now she’s able to do it much faster and may need to complete another task or complete her map twice to earn a single Brain Buck.

Brain Bucks can be utilized for any activity that exercises your brain, tasks that are challenging or are beneficial to learning a separate task. For example, it’d be really fantastic if she could sit and write the alphabet, but that task will appear to be too daunting, so instead we may work with her and draw images and challenge her to color them in a certain way (inside the lines, out of the lines, with particular colors). This task still encourages her to get in a lot of writing practice, but in a way that she enjoys.

Brain Bucks can be used just like normal currency. If you save them, you can buy more. If you spend them right away, you are stuck with only what is immediately available. Saving is a pretty tricky concept for preschool aged children, but it is one that they can learn if you make the prizes assessable. Let’s say your child enjoys going to the park. Have “park trip” cost one or two Brain Bucks. The zoo may cost three or four. 20 minutes of iPad time or a tv show may be one Buck or it may be more. Consider what is a large motivator for your child and build your marketplace from there.

A Note About Chores: Some folks like to use a home currency to encourage their children to help out within their house. In my own home, I am focused on having my daughters see completing chores not as something that they should be rewarded for, but as something that they should understand needs to be done for the good of the home. We talk a lot about certain characteristics and “teamwork” is one of the phrases that comes up frequently in our home. Our oldest daughter has a good understanding that for us to play games or have room to set up her Kipp Bar and balance beam, we need to work as a team to make sure that the floor is clean or if she would like to help in the kitchen, we need to work as a team to clear the counters and put dishes away.

Obstacle Courses

Obstacle courses are an ABSOLUTE BLAST! You can race through them, you can be timed, you can even use them for helping with academics. My daughter has begun the steps to learn to read. Her first mission was to memorize -AT words. So, we set up an obstacle course (one of her absolute favorite things) and stuck her -AT words all over it. She was reciting words and walking on the balance beam, jumping over words while reciting them, but more than anything, she was having fun and learning!

If you don’t have gymnastics equipment at home (typically people don’t), you can do this at a park or even with other things you do have at home! You can also make obstacle courses by setting up forts and using masking tape to create spots to jump on or over, even to create a balance beam! You can also use stuffed animals, toy cars or dolls as markers for racing from one point to another. Use pool noodles to jump over and you can even use crepe paper for a grand finale to break through! Place cards with questions throughout your course (or shout them out as your child is trying to get through each individual obstacle) and have fun!

*Make it more difficult by having your child return to the beginning for a wrong answer.

*Make it a family game by having siblings/cousins compete based on pop culture trivia.

American Sign Language (ASL) for Letter Sound Recall

One way that I like to teach reading concepts is actually through movement. I found that if you teach a student to sign the alphabet and when learning phonics, they will be able to recall each letter sound with a simple hand signal.

While it may not seem difficult to us, as adults, the ability to memorize each letter and their sound can be particularly difficult, never-mind actually sticking them together to form words. Using ASL, song and large movements has been a powerful tool in teaching something that may seem quite daunting.

With my preschool students, we begin circle time by singing the ABCs. When singing, we point to each individual letter. This helps the child to connect what the letter looks like to the letter’s name. Recently, I’ve gotten tricky with my older group and I will intentionally point to the wrong letter. They find this to be hilarious and INSTANTLY will yell for me to stop and will correct my mistake. Once we move past identifying the letters, I will ask them to identify a specific letter. When it is identified correctly, I will give them the hand sign for the letter and then we will make that hand sign with the corresponding sound it makes. We then try to think of a word that begins with that letter. Once we do, we will do a large body movement that acts out that word. For example, if our letter was T, they may have come up with the word train. At this point, everyone would stand up, arms at their side, moving them up and down to mimic the movement of a train. They will walk around the room like this, but instead of saying the typical “ch” sound that tends to go with a train, they will make the sound of the letter T. They can move fast and slow, but their T sound will need to correspond with their movement. This tends to be one of their favorite circle time activities. After completing one letter, we will review previous letters in the same fashion, simply spending less time because they have already memorized the hand signal, sound and are able to recall the large movement association from the weeks prior.

We also have phonics songs that we will sign to! To do these at home, check out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WP1blVh1ZQM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2frjzrC5Jg

Have a blast with phonics! :)