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April 2013

Volume 10 Issue 6

CROW Comments
2 3 4 5

Inside this issue:

Providers Page Literacy Page Parenting Page Parenting Page

Songs/fingerplays 6 Playgroups Workshops 7 8

Earth Day is April 22. There is a role for everyone in addressing our environmental challenges. Each of us has a fundamental responsibility to do our part to create healthy communities where our children and families, friends and neighbours can flourish. Spending time in nature has many health benefits such as feeling more relaxed, breathing better and feeling happier. You will also see things that make you feel the wonder and awe of nature. Check out the following link to see the top 10 actions to reduce our impact on the environment http://www.earthday.ca/pub/resources/top10.php Mom To Mom Sales Saturday, April 13 from 9a.m.-1p.m. Co-operative Nursery School of Almonte Admission $2. For more information, email [email protected] Saturday, April 13 from 8a.m-12 noon. Rideau Vista Public School Hwy 42 Westport. Stepping Stones and Step Into Kindergarten programs: Regretfully these programs will not be offered this summer in Lanark County. We encourage people to attend the Welcome to Kindergarten workshops at the school where your child will be attending. Call your school for more information. Annual General Meeting & Volunteer Appreciation: 2013 marks CROWs 25th anniversary since incorporation in 1988. Come and join us on Wednesday, April 24 at 7p.m at Childrens Resources on Wheels, Suite 118, 91 Cornelia Street, Smiths Falls. Please RSVP if you will be attending by April 17 to Linda at 613-283-0095 ext 300. Child Poverty in Lanark County: After recently attending an excellent workshop on Child and Family Poverty, I thought I would report back some statistics on Lanark County. According to document Portrait of Families and Children and Youth in Eastern Ontario by the Social Planning Council of Ottawa: 2,590 children aged 0-17 are living in low income families (2009). 18.9%(2009) of all children in Lanark County aged 0-17 are living in poverty. Poverty rates of families with children 0-17 before tax: couple families 10.7%, lone parent families 49.7% all families 18.9%.
(information provided by Emily Cassell, Data Analysis Coordinator)

www.crowoeyc.com

Childrens Resources on Wheels (CROW) programs include : Ontario Early Years Centre Licensed Home Child Care CROW is dedicated to supporting and strengthening childcare, family life, child development and community links in Lanark County We Believe: That programs and services for families should be open to everyone

Alternatives to Saying, Youre a Good Girl/Boy

What a good girl! You completed the puzzle, good boy! Youre eating a good lunch. What a good line youre making. The weather is good today. This is a good class. Please listen real good as I read a story, okay? While conducting research in a childcare centre recently, I heard a teacher use the word good 27 times in one hour. If this continues in an eight-hour span, children could hear it approximately 216 times daily, 1080 time weekly. Imagine how many times children hear the word good in a year! Hearing the spoken word is one way children learn language. Children who are exposed to a diverse vocabulary develops higher level of thinking and speaking. An early child psychologist from Stanford University who supported this theory was Albert Bandura. According to Bandura, young children acquire language by observing and imitating adults. Parents and chidcare providers say words, phrases, and sentences that children may imitate. In some instances, adults may expand childrens own utterances, thus encouraging more creative words in their own language production. But often they do not. Jean Piaget, a Swiss psychologist known for his studies of child development, wrote about accommodation. Accommodation occurs when children change a thought pattern to fit an unexplained piece of data. Children must revise or adapt their thinking when new information does not fit into the old. Children who are deprived of many first-hand learning experiences may never receive enough challenge to existing thought patterns to produce new ideas. When children are not challenged, they are deprived of the joy and excitement of intellectual activity. Confusion happens when caregivers respond to a childs behaviour as goodthen use the same good to praise a child for completing a task. Instead of using words that baffle young children, consider alternative ways to distinguish between a behaviour and a skill. adapted from www.earlychidhoodnews.com

Children hear the word good many times in their day.

Instead of This

Try This Joey, I think you will enjoy this book about farm animals. The weather is sunny and warm. Its a perfect day to play outside! Children, this lunch looks delicious! Lets try one bite from each food item. Alyce, youve used many beautiful colours for your painting. Roberto, it was very kind of you to share your toys. Thank you for listening when I read. I like the way Juan is walking. Thank you Paul for helping your friends. Susan, you used many different types of blocks to build a very tall building.

Joey, this is a good book for you. The weather is good today, so we will play outside Children, please eat this good lunch. Alyce, your painting is good! Roberto, you are a good boy. Be good while I tell you a story. I wish you boys would be good! Susan, your block structure is good.

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Literacy Page
Fun Writing Letters and Words
Learning to read begins before children start school. Help your children develop early literacy skills now; this makes it easier for children to learn to read once they begin school. and the end of the story. Have your child dictate the story to you and create captions for the pictures. Name Games Jack Be Nimble Many activities that young children enjoy are terrific for developing the fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination, which they need for writing. Encourage your child to cut paper with child-friendly scissors, place beads on a string (or past shapes on a shoelace), play with blocks, and do simple jigsaw puzzles. Punch a basic designa letter, a boat, a flowerin a piece of cardboard. Your child can lace a shoelace or string through the holes in the design. Even pinching spring-loaded clothespins can help build the muscles your child will use for writing.

Find as many ways as you can Five of the best ways to help think of to play with the sounds your child get ready to read are: and letters of your childs name. Help your child find the letters of Talking his/her name in print around your Singing house or when you go to the Reading store. Help your child write each letter and repeat the sound it Writing makes. Playing Write It Down Learn how to help your child get ready to read with simple activi- Help your child understand that ties such as the ones suggested written words stand for spoken words and that writing has a purhere. pose. Use a chalkboard or mag- adapted from Scribble, Scribble netic letters on the refrigerator to www.everychildreadytoread.org Help your child experiment with write family messages. Create a writing using pencils, crayons, menu of meals for the week and markers, and chalk on different ask your child to write or draw kinds of paper and cardboard. what he/she would like to eat. Encourage him/her to make Ask your child to add to a groscribbles like the strokes used cery or to-do list. As you find a later to form letters: straight grocery item or finish a chore, lines, curves, and circles. Sug- ask your child to check it off the gest drawing a story. This can list. be as simple as three pictures: one for the beginning, the middle

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Parenting Page
Toddler Tantrums
When you are a parent of a toddler it is like being on a emotional rollercoaster. We delight in their sense of wonder and then exhale in frustration as they once again go into full meltdown mode. We are encouraged by each new achievement and despair at yet another temper tantrum. Theres good news and bad news here. The good news is all these things, as well as hitting, saying No! to everything, and refusing to share, are completely normal, age appropriate behaviours. We often take these behaviours personally or see them as an act of rebellion. Theres another way to look at this. Why do toddlers misbehave? We know toddler coping skills are poor and become even worse when they are tired, hungry or frustrated. Lets take a look and see whats going on developmentally at this age to get some clues. Curiosity: We need curiosity to learn. It urges us forward to explore the world. At this age curiosity can often translate into bad behaviour. What happens if I pull this cord? The cat howled when I pulled her tail. Will she do it again? Miscommunication: Communication is tough for toddlers. As they struggle with learning language, its easier to kick over the tower of blocks than say Im not ready to head for a nap, or to hurl a toy at a friend than to say I dont want my playdate to end. Immaturity: Little impulse control coupled with lagging skills (coordination, self help, language) leads to lots of frustration. Emotions flood out in the form of tantrums, meltdowns and anger. Desire for independence: Toddlers need to try to do things on their own. Getting dressed, pouring milk, climbing, are often accompanied by I do it myself! Newly developing skills means they cant always get the job done, leading to more frustration. Not to mention that its time consuming for us when it takes 10 times longer. When we have an understanding of why behaviours happen, it helps us keep our cool and discipline appropriately. Toddler discipline is all about teaching good behavior (in fact, discipline is Latin for to teach). Rather than punishing bad behaviour, we need to help teach the needed skills. We teach boundaries, You can pull the skipping rope but not the cats tail. We teach communication Youre angry. You can say, Im mad, but no hitting. We allow more time and support for developing skills, How about I start the zipper and you pull it up? Toddlers learn through play, so pouring skills happen in the bathtub, at playgroup, and feeding the dog, in safe appropriate places. When spills happen, we focus on the problem. Heres a cloth. Lets clean up the milk. Because toddlers dont understand concepts like danger, we often have to use distraction. Whoa, thats hot. How about we play with playdough instead? Discipline helps toddlers develop self-control, learn to respect others' belongings and feelings, and provide a sense of security (your child actually feels safer knowing someone older and wiser is running the show, even though hes itching for more independence). Learning to live with limits is also critical training for the real world (whether it's the playground, classroom, soccer team, or workplace), where throwing blocks, hurling insults, and trashing other people's things just won't fly.
Adapted from www.whattoexpect.com/ toddler

Toddler coping skills are poor and become even worse when they are tired, hungry or frustrated.

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by Jane Paul, Parent Education Coordinator

Parenting Page
Discipline: When Siblings Need Different Approaches
When siblings have different temperaments, or theres a significant age gap, it can be hard to discipline effectively while maintaining a semblance of fairness. Sarah Kibblewhite, clinical psychologist at the Hincks-Dellcrest Centre, says its OK if the degree of discipline is not always equal. If one child needs more attention or more discipline, let go of the guilt. Youre doing whats best for their individual needs. As children grow older, however, their ability to compare rules and notice any perceived injustices increases. So how do you deal with the inevitable cries of its not fair? Kibblewhite tells parents to acknowledge some things arent fair, then explain the rules are different for a reason. For example, when a younger sibling whines over not being able to use moms laptop, just say, when youre older, you can use the laptop, too. If you see a tantrum brewing, be ready to distract with an age-appropriate toy. When possible, avoid such situations altogether with careful planning. To diffuse an its not fair! situation have your child try some new task on his/her own and praise them for accomplishing it. With preschoolers, it can be as simple as allowing them to pour their own juice or fold their clothes. If one child is getting disciplined more often, give compliments when that childs behaviour is good. Never compare siblings to each other with phrases like, your sister always follows the rules so well. Why cant you? Child and family therapist Jennifer Kolari, says its perfectly OK, and usually necessary to tailor discipline methods to an individual kids temperament. Some children are joyous and funny but have trouble settling down or knowing when enough is enough. With this personality, Kolari says its best to stay calm. If you yell, you give them a nice shot of adrenaline. Give them a perceived choice. Say, you can have this consequence or that one. If you cant decide, I will. Its Ok to be softer with children who are pleasers, or very sensitive to their environment. Try we need to talk about what to do. What do you think would be a good consequence? Kids often come up with harsher punishments than their parents would. A time out can be helpful for reactive children. For a laidback child a gentle reminder or using a stern tone might work. Age can also dictate which approach to use. Younger kids need immediate consequences, while an older child will get misbehaving in the morning means a privilege can still be taken away after dinner. Positive reinforcement tends to work for most children. Another technique that works for all temperaments is mirroringshowing your child you see the situation from his point of view. This can be hard in the heat of the moment, or when youre in a hurry, and requires practice. No matter what, Kibblewhite reminds parents to support their child and his/her unique personality. If you have a wilful child, let him/her choose what to wear to school, as opposed to fighting about it every day. If you have an energetic child, dont expect them to sit in a restaurant for two hours and then punish them, if they cant. Dont punish your child for their personality.
adapted from todaysparent.com

What do you do when different siblings require opposite approaches to discipline?

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Songs, fingerplays and crafts

Submitted by Leanne Dwyer Wormy Apple Help kids slice apples into thirds and remove seeds from the center. Then reassemble the apple with peanut butter or cream cheese, and gummy worms between each layer. Worms should be hanging out from apples
ORMY Help kids and remove They reasAPPLE... slice apples into thirds seeds from the center. semble the apple with

A poem about trees! Take children outside and show them how to make a tree bark rubbings. (Hold a paper against the bark for child and show how to rub crayon (without the wrapper) sideways across paper until pattern comes through!) Magic!

Happy Earth Day on April 22.

Happy Earth Day (to the tune of " Happy Birthday" ) Happy Earth Day to one. Happy Earth Day to all. We live here together. On this planet so fair.
April 22nd is Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day to one Happy Earth Day to all. Let's work hand in hand To care for our home.

A great way to use up all those plastic Easter eggs. Lacing the eggs on the string is great eye-hand co-ordination for children to learn! You could expand this activity by going out into the dirt and digging for worms. Observe the worms in a box with some dirt. Give your child a chance to see the worm up close with a magnifying glass. P.S. If you are grossed out by picking up the worms, let your child do itthey will most likely enjoy it! (Just remember to not scare them by showing YOUR fear.)

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Playgroups
We will be CLOSED April 1 for Easter Monday.
Day
Monday Monday Monday Monday Monday Tuesday Tuesday Tuesday Tuesday Tuesday Tuesday Wednesday Wednesday Wednesday Wednesday Wednesday Wednesday Wednesday Thursday Thursday Thursday Thursday Thursday Friday

Location
Almonte - Holy Name of Mary School morning Almonte - Holy Name of Mary School afternoon Carleton PlaceCarambeck Community Centre Smith Falls - Duncan J. Schoular School PerthDance Studio Almonte - Holy Name of Mary School morning Almonte - Holy Name of Mary School evening Carleton Place - Arena, 75 Neelin Street Montague Rosedale Hall LanarkMaple Grove School Smith Falls - OEYC Almonte - Holy Name of Mary School morning Almonte - Holy Name of Mary School afternoon Carleton Place - Carambeck Community Centre LanarkMaple Grove School PerthPerth Library Smiths Falls - Trinity United Church Smiths FallsOEYC Almonte - Holy Name of Mary School morning Almonte - Holy Name of Mary School afternoon Carleton Place - Arena Perth - Perth Library Smiths Falls - Trinity United Church Smiths Falls - OEYC

Time
9:30-11:30 am 1:303 pm 10:0011:30 am 9:3011:30 am 9:3011:00 am 9:30-11:30 am 67 pm 10:00 - 11:30 am 9:30 - 11:00 am 9:30-11:00 am 9:00-12:00 noon 9:30-11:30 am 1:30-3 pm 10:00 - 11:30 am 9:3011:00 am 10:0011:30 am 9:30 - 11:30 am 9:00 - 11:00 am 9:3011:30 am 1:30-3 pm 10:00 - 11:30 am 10:00 - 11:30 am 9:30 - 11:30 am 9:0011:00 am

Staff
Linda Linda Issie Andrea Leanne Linda Linda Issie Leanne Andrea Lori Linda Linda Issie Andrea Leanne Lori Parent run Linda Linda Issie Leanne Lori Parent Run

Dates
April 8, 15, 22, 29 April 8, 15, 22, 29 April 8, 15, 22, 29 April 8, 15, 22, 29 April 8, 15, 22, 29 April 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 April 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 April 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 April 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 April 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 April 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 April 3, 10, 17, 24 April 3, 10, 17, 24 April 3, 10, 17, 24 April 3, 10, 17, 24 April 3, 10, 17, 24 April 3, 10, 17, 24 April 3, 10, 17, 24 April 4, 11, 18, 25 April 4, 11, 18, 25 April 4, 11, 18, 25 April 4, 11, 18, 25 April 4, 11, 18, 25 April 5, 12, 19, 26

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Workshops
WorkshopPre-registration is necessary call OEYC ext 300
How To Talk So Kids Will Listen. Positive Parenting Family Science3 session workshop

Date
April 3, 10, 17 April 4

Time
6:30-8:30 p.m. 6:30-8:30 p.m.

Location
Arklan School, Carleton Place Sacred Heart School, Lanark St. Gregory School, Carleton Place

Apr. 29, May 6, 13 67 p.m.

Staff Directory
Ontario Early Years Centre
Diane Bennett, Executive Assistant Kathy Boelsma, Early Literacy Specialist Emily Cassell, Data Analysis Coordinator Sue Cavanagh, Executive Director Linda Cybulski, Playgroup Facilitator Leanne Dwyer, Playgroup Facilitator Janet Wheeler Lackey, Resource Jan Forsythe, Finance Manager Linda Lalonde, Reception/Office Manager Issie Mullen, Playgroup Facilitator Jane Paul, Parent Education Coordinator Andrea Snyder, Playgroup Facilitator Lori Wintle, Playgroup Facilitator

Ext
313 312 316 303 304 318 311 302 300 311 305 307 310

Licensed Home Child Care

Kelli Cassidy, Director Sherry Harder, Accounting & Admin Support Janice LePage, Home Visitor

Ext
309 301 306

Lanark County Child Care Programs Licensed Home Child Care offers home based care throughout Lanark County for children 6 weeks - 12 years. Caregivers Needed We are currently taking applications throughout Lanark County. Contact us for more information http://
www.crowoeyc.com/childcare/providerpage.html

Childrens Resources on Wheels (CROW) 91 Cornelia Street West, Smiths Falls, ON K7A 5L3 Phone 613-283-0095 or 1-800-267-9252 Fax 613-283-3324 Website www.crowoeyc.com