Preschool on Shine

Teaching Children Gratitude

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Halloween’s hedonistic greediness is past (has the candy “gone bad” and disappeared at your house yet?), and the Thanksgiving season is upon us. For those of us with young children who tend to mark the passage of time according to holidays and seasons, this new phase of the year offers a chance to focus a bit on gratitude. Many preschoolers, of course, would be glad to skip straight to the December holidays, but when they ask us what season it is now, we’ll be telling them that November is the season of thankfulness.

Friendship Bricks and Friendship Smacks

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To help them both understand, I made up a thing called "friendship bricks" and "friendship smacks." If you say, "I made this picture," and someone responds, "I can make a better one," or "I don't really like it," that's a friendship smack. It undermines a relationship. If you say, "Good job!" or "It's beautiful!" or even, "Tell me what's happening in this picture," that's a friendship brick. It's a brick in the wall of a friendship.

Choosing Between Different Preschool Schedules

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Of the many dilemmas that come with choosing a preschool, the question of schedules is one of the most vexing. You may know what kind of philosophy or community you prefer, and everyone has an ideal location in mind, but schedule? What is the optimal preschool schedule for a two-year-old, a three-year-old, a pre-kindergartner? And what is the ideal schedule for their parents? No one seems to agree on any of this.

A series of adventures

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Book series seem tailor-made for stories of adventure. Once we’ve had a fantastic adventure with an author, we’re always ready to saddle up for another one. We know we’re in good hands and in for a great ride. Our preschoolers feel the same way. There are certain characters and authors they would follow anywhere. The series below take them on thrilling adventures around the world, or sometimes just around the corner. Either way, they’re hooked, and so are we.

Specializing in the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood learning-The Learningden Preschool in Santa Barbara stands out.

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The Learningden Preschool We offer an exclusive environment for your child with affordable rates. Inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education, you will notice that The Learningden Preschool serves as an extension of your child’s home. Our…

Preschool Tours: Making the Most of Your Visit

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Preschool tours offer wonderful opportunities to learn about prospective preschools. Often you can meet the director of the school, see classes in progress, and meet members of the parent community. But, as is the case with so many things in life, what you see may not be what you get. So, think of the tour as an opportunity to scratch below the surface -- to get a true feel of the school. You can best do that by coming prepared with questions that will help you determine whether the school is the type of environment that will be a good fit for you and your child. While not every parent has the same set of concerns, there are a few key issues that can help you distinguish among schools and, hopefully, identify the school that is right for your family. Here are some factors to consider:

The Magic of Hard-Hats and Bulldozers: Construction Sites and Why Our Kids Love Them

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There's nothing like a construction site -- the mounds of dirt; the bright, yellow bulldozers; the cranes -- to capture a certain kind of toddler's attention. And if you live with this certain kind of toddler, the kind of toddler who, say, spends more time building miniature roads and modeling hard-hats than eating, you've probably wondered what it is about the nature of construction that gets your little one so fired-up. Though really, when you think about it, there is something pretty amazing about making something from nothing, about taking a heap of bricks and steel and lumber and turning it into a grocery store or a house. When we, in our jaded adulthood, look at a highway or a shopping center, maybe all we see is the way to work or the place where we buy our toilet paper and orange juice. But the construction-loving toddler, so curious about everything's origins, looks for the girders, for the graders, for the why and how and where of every structure he sees.

Milestones: When Kids go off to School

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This post was originally published on FitPregnancy.com's Baby on Board blog. Read more of it

Making Your Preschool Application Stand Out

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Let’s start by acknowledging that in many places, the very idea of a “preschool application” is a foreign concept. You find out about a couple of good preschools nearby, give a call or drop by, get your child signed up, and there you have it. Doesn’t that sound great? Sadly, such a simple process could not be farther from the reality in many urban areas. In cities across the country, vast numbers of small children apply for too few spots at popular preschool programs. We all wish it were not so, but we must cope with the fact that the wonderful nursery school down the street may be flooded with more applications than its staff has time to read. What is a Savvy parent to do?

Colorful Children's Picture Book

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Ladybug Baby Bug is a colorful picture book featuring an easy-read story of family love and support. Makes a perfect bedtime story for all ages or an anytime easy-reader for those emerging in their skills. Half of the sales are donated to the Mid-Ohio Foodback. A children's…