the year of the tiger!

Hello everyone!It is Anusha again.
I'm only posting this after Chinese New Year due to being outstation and also not having internet connection for awhile.My sincere apologies.
Today I'll be posting about the most exciting celebration for me this year so far.
No.. it is not New Year's or Valentines, BUT...It's Chinese New Year!!!I may not be a Chinese but I sure know how to celebrate their New Years!

Then again, what is the point of celebrating when you don't know anything about the occasion?
So here are some interesting information on Chinese New Year that will be beneficial for your children.

CHINESE NEW YEAR

A celebration that is celebrated once a year. One of the most interesting things about this festival is that there is no fixed date. Every year, the date will be changed but it is usually around late January to early February. The Chinese New Year starts on a New Moon and ends on a full moon 15 days later. What a unique festival!15 days long! This year, it is the year of the Tiger.

During this festival, the married will give the singles "ang pao". The singles include children to adults who are not married. On the eve, the whole family will get together to have their family reunion. Everyone will be dressed up in red and in their traditional costumes such as the cheong sam for girls and samfu for boys.

That is a simple and interesting information for your children.You can prolong the lesson by asking them how they spent their Chinese New Year or what is their opinion on this festival.You are sure to get some interesting answers from those amazingly creative minds.

As an art lesson, you can teach them how to make a dragon toy. It will be in a form of a puppet.
The materials needed are:

Colored paper

Scissors

Crayons or markers

Glue, tape

2 wooden barbecue skewers (or 2 straws or disposable chopsticks)

Optional glitter, feathers

Steps:

1. Draw the head and the tail of a dragon on a piece of paper.

2.Cut the head and the tail out and decorate with bright colours.

3.Fold a piece of paper in half the long way. Cut along the folded line, making two long rectangles.

4.Fold each piece of paper up like an accordion. Glue or tape the two pieces together, forming one long piece that will be the animal's body.

5.Glue or tape one end of the body to the head. Glue or tape the other end of the body to the tail.

6.Tape one skewer (or straw) to the head and the other skewer (or straw) onto the tail.

You now have a dragon that can dance for Chinese New Year!

Your Dragon will end up looking something like this.Be creative and have fun!

autistic chilldren

Hie everyone!
Today I'm gonna tell you something about autistic children. Well to be honest, I've never seen an autistic child until this year. Last year where I was working in a different place, there are a few hyperactive children, and the teachers there claim the children as they are autistic. Well is not right for us teachers to judge a child whether are they special or not. Everything is based on doubt but without any confirmation. To confirm whether your child is special, just go to the doctor and there you get your confirmation.

This year I'm the head teacher of the class in my sunday school. Well I'm teaching the youngest class there which is 6 years old. The class has been started for 5 weeks. On the 3rd week of the class, there is a new student came into my class and the parents told me and my co-teachers that he is autistic. That was the first time I face an autistic child, and to be honest, he is really hard to control. So me and my co-teachers have discussed among each other and we make sure that one of us will have to stay with him all the time. I really do not know how to handle him, but I will just have to make sure that he is safety and can be able to sit in the class.

Here are some information about autistic children. This will help the parents or any teachers that has autistic child with them. Autism is a developmental disorder affecting children from birth or the early months of life. It results in delay in, and deviance from, the normal patterns of development. These occur in three areas of behaviour:

• Social relationships and interactions
• Language and communication
• Activities and interests

Autism is probably present from birth, or very soon after, its nature means that the specific disorders of developmental progression will not necessarily be apparent for many months or even years.Relationships, communication and activities are immature in all young babies. It is only when they become more sophisticated that delays and deviations from the usual may be evident. Diagnosis is complicated by the variations found in the mental ability of children with autism. About two-thirds have additional learning difficulties and their unusual behaviour patterns may be ascribed to an overall developmental delay. Conversely, autism may be overlooked in children with average and above-average mental ability. Any odd behaviours or abnormalities in development, especially in very young children, may be dismissed as mild or transient.

So far the cause of autism still remains unknown, but most likely hypothesis is damage to the brain, perhaps prenatally, though this has not been conclusively proved. Therefore, the factors responsible may include:

• Genetic or chromosomal abnormality
• Viral agents
• Metabolic disorders
• Immune intolerance
• Prenatal anoxia

Those are the basic information, to know more detail about autistic child please click HERE

How do you identify children with autism?

Varying widely, signs and symptoms in children with autism typically include:

• Impaired communication skills.
• Difficulty making eye contact.
• Repetitive behaviors and activities such as arm flapping, head banging, or twirling an object over and over.
• Rigid behavior and difficulty with change and transitions.
• Narrow range of interests and activities.

Well I believe that no parent is ever prepared to hear that a child is anything other than happy and healthy, and a diagnosis of autism can be particularly frightening. You may be unsure about how to best help your child. You may be confused by conflicting treatment advice. Or you may have been told that autism is an incurable, lifelong condition, leaving you concerned that nothing you do will make a difference.

While it is true that autism is not something a person simply "grows out of," there are many treatments that can help children learn new skills and overcome a wide variety of developmental challenges. From free government services to in-home behavioral therapy and school-based programs, assistance is available to meet your child's special needs. With the right treatment plan, and a lot of love and support, your child can learn, grow, and thrive.

As the parent of a child with autism or related developmental delays, the best thing you can do is to get your kid in treatment right away. Don't wait to see if your child will catch up later or outgrow the problem. Don't even wait for an official diagnosis. The earlier children with autism spectrum disorders get help, the greater their chance of treatment success. Early intervention is the most effective way to speed up your child's development and reduce the symptoms of autism.

Here's a table for parents to help an autistic child

*click on image to have a larger view*

You may click HERE to know more about choosing treatments for autistic child

As for teachers who are facing problems in handling autism children here are some useful links as your guide.
http://ezinearticles.com/?Some-Ideas-For-Teaching-Autistic-Children&id=643363
http://www.mugsy.org/pmh.htm

I hope these help you
Thanks for reading

Cheers,
Kelly

getting along!

hello everyone!

Anusha here! I was looking through some articles on the internet and came across one very interesting one. We all know that every child is unique and different. We as adults have to study these children in order to understand them and raise them up in the correct manner.

Here are some useful tips on how you adapt to your child's needs and character!

Why the harmonious flow in Bonnie Benson's house and the emotional roller coaster at Carla Clayborn's? Is it that Carl is a middle child? Or do her parents lack basic parenting skills? Or peer pressure or single-parenthood? Or unresolved issues from her parent's childhood? We have focused our study of family systems on the multi-faceted environment.

Parents in large families have always known that babies are different from the day they are born. The first modern professionals to acknowledge the tremendous effect of these inborn differences on family interaction were Drs. Stella Chess and Alexander Thomas. After training in traditional psychiatry, they pioneered 30 years of research, which has given us the vocabulary to work with inborn differences

Temperament, clearly visible by the age of four months, affects our lives well into adulthood. Babies differ along a continuum from low to high, on each of the following scales:

Activity Level - From the couch potato to the athlete - one finds it hard to exercise, and the other hard to sit still for long periods.

Sensitivity - From the low sensitivity child who doesn't notice bruises or ear infections, to the highly sensitive one who is miserable because of tags in clothing, or the taste of a different brand of baby food.

Regularity - From those who wake and eat according to an internal alarm clock to those whose body rhythms vary significantly according to interest, activity and emotional state.

Intensity - From the mellow being who smiles and whimpers, to the emotional dynamo, who screams with distress and squeals with delight.

Curiosity/Caution - From those who instantly reach out to explore with their fingers and feet to those who first watch - until a situation becomes thoroughly familiar.

Adaptability - From those who move readily through a routine day, to those who continually struggle with change. The latter not only need extra transition time both to and from waking, bathing, meals, home, daycare, but resent intrusion on their physical boundaries necessitated by diaper changes, car seats, etc. Given the effect of minor transitions, a new daycare or new sibling means.....

Frustration Tolerance - (or Persistence) - From those who naturally work for long periods (to reach a toy or get their shoes on) to those who back off or plead for help after a brief effort.

Distractibility - From those who are easily soothed out of distress by a cooing parent (or later to look up from toys because someone walks into the room), to those who remain focused on their original project, whether crying or playing. Mood - From those who are usually sunny, to those who are generally grouchy. There is some controversy about this last trait. Does it stand alone? Or does it reflect A) other traits - such as adaptability and frustration tolerance and B) how comfortable this baby is in its environment.

There is no such thing as a good or bad temperament. Babies (to say nothing of children and adults!) thrive with Goodness of Fit - that is, with a reasonable match between their temperament and their environment. However, any trait can become a hazard. For example, in this fast changing culture, we value high adaptability. But those of fast adapting temperament can get to the end of the day (or a decade) and realize they have adapted so readily to their surroundings that their own personal needs have slipped by unseen. On the other hand, those who by nature are slow to adapt, can either become overwhelmed by demands for change, or can become natural planners, who learn to respectfully pace the amount of change in their lives.

To live and work optimally with children, we need to integrate both nurture and nature; We need to adapt interaction to the inborn characteristic of each individual. Needless to say, this task will be more challenging to those of us who need extra time to adapt to change! Are you wondering about your child's temperament? A Family Resource provides inborn temperament assessment and consultation.

Helen F. Neville, B.S.R.N. has 15 years experience in parent education, pediatric advice, and teaching stress management. Helen co-leads the Temperament Program at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, California and is co-author of Temperament Tools: Working with your Child’s Inborn Temperament Traits.

Valentine's Easy Recipes to do with children

Hey everyone! Valentine's Day is coming, I know not all of you celebrate it, but there's something that I would like to share with you all. Well since this year's Valentine's clashes with the Chinese New Year, so to those that don't celebrate Chinese New Year and have nothing on for that day, you can try this at home with your child! Is easy and yummy~!

Well I have two different recipes that I think is really nice to share.


Love Potion Smoothie
1/2 cup frozen strawberries
1/2 cup frozen raspberries
1 small carton of yogurt
1/2 Cup ice cubes
1 cup apple juice
Place strawberries, raspberries and juice in blender. Blend several seconds. If you would like a thicker smoothie add more fruit or for a drinkable smoothie add 1/4 Cup more juice.

Cherry Crepes
4 Cup milk
5 eggs
½ teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon sugar
2 Cup flour
1 Tablespoon oil for frying
Lightly beat eggs. Stir in milk, sugar and salt. Add flour and mix well with an electric mixer. Let rest for 10 minutes. If necessary add more milk so batter is thin. Heat small fry pan to very hot. Add oil to coat pan. Reheat. Add batter to just cover bottom of pan. Turn to brown other side. Set on plate and cover with a towel. Reheat pan no need to add more oil. Stir batter before each crepe. This recipe makes a lot!!
Cherry filling
1/4 Cup sugar
1 Cup sour cream
1 jar canned sour cherries, or 2-3 Cups fresh pitted cherries mixed with 3/4 Cup-1 Cup sugar
Mix together sugar and sour cream until sugar is dissolved. Set aside. Set one crepe on a board, put a row of cherries across the crepe, in the lower ¼th. Roll the crepe from the bottom over the cherries and to the top. Drizzle with sugar/sour cream mixture.

try it out together with your children, just remember to look after their safety.
will try to post up some Chinese New Year recipes you can do it with your children.

Cheers,

-kelly-

click HERE to see the full link of the recipe
pictures credits to google

Welcome Everyone

Hi people, this is gonna be our first post, and I'm Kelly will introduce myself here first
I'm 20 this year, and I'm taking Diploma in Early Childhood Education in SEGi Subang Jaya College. I'm currently having my last semester of lectures before doing my practicum. I've started to teach the young chilren in my temple since 2008. Those children are 5-6 years old. I started to work since 2009 in a kindergarten and now currently working in a Montessori centre.

The reason why i would choose to be in this line is because I like small children. Well I know is easy for everyone to say that they like children, but it would be different when they need to get along with young children, teach them, or taking care of them. Well my passion came when I was one of the facilitator in children's camp which was organized by the youth group in my temple in 2005. Although those children are slightly older than in their early stage, but thats when I've got the interest in knowing more about young children. Besides, I believe that in Malaysia most of us were being thought with the traditional way when we're in our kindergarten or preschool where the teachers will just make sure that we follow the syllabus given. After i've started my course, I've learned that there are better ways to teach young children now. I find it really interesting, and fun to learn that way. Even I was having fun teaching that way. I find it easier for children to learn and they learn better and faster. With that my passion has increase and I really wanted to be a successful educator.

Well before this when I told most of my relatives that the course I'm taking now is related to teaching young children, and their first reaction was, "HAR?". To them being an early childhood educator is an easy job, and they find this is a job for people that are not so bright. Then they would ask "Why do you waste so much money to study this and just to become a kindergarten teacher?", then I told them that I might have my own centre in the future, and then they only thinks tat I'm successful. But to me, money isn't really the big matter, what matters is the young children. We being as the first teacher of the young children plays a big role in their life. We can actually guide them and change them to have a brighter future. To me doesn't mean you have to be a doctor, lawyer, engineer, accountant, business man to be professional. The professionalism occurs on each person's attitude, the responsibilties they take towards their job. Being an Early Childhood Educator I would say that is also a professional job. Not every1 can be really patient to young children, even I would have to admit that sometimes i tend to loose patient towards young children. Now if you asked me what is my goal? I would say out proudly that I want to be a professional Early Childhood Educator, and I won't feel embarassed at all telling any1 that I'm a preschool teacher even thou my salary might be lower than the rest, but we're doing it for the young children, we are the 1 to guide them to have a better future.

Other than that, I'm really inspired by some of the theorist after knowing how impressive they are. Well we have Maria Montessori where she designed the materials for children to be able to construct learning on their own and at their own pace. Loris Malaguzzi that founded the "Reggio Emilia" approach where it vieows children as being competend, resourceful, curious, imaginative, and possess a desire to interact and communicate with others. Then we also have Friedrich Froebel who is known as the 'father of kindergarten' where he is the one to open the first kindergarten which was in Germany. We have Howard Gardner too, that is best known for his theory of multiple intelligences, where we can know which way the children learn best according to their intelligences. And of course there's others such as Jean Piaget, Arnold Gessel, Parry Smith Hill and the rest. These people are the role models of ours that lead us to help children to grow and learn in a bettter environment. I will explain furthermore if you want to know more about the theorist, just leave a comment and either Anusha or I would try to provide as much informatioin as I can.

Well I guess i shall stop here, and I will continue on in my next post.
We will most probably sharing our experience or share some really helpful article especially about parenting, or even some interesting crafts and cooking lesson that you can do at home with your child.
Thanks for reading,

Cheers,

-kelly-