For many of us, a great teacher made all the difference. The gifted guide made the complex simple and therefore we made it up to the next rung on the math ladder.  I wish I’d had a few more of those teachers to keep me going because as we mature, we discover that the math we snubbed really does have a lot to do with our real, everyday lives.

If you scratch below the surface of most any subject you find math.  Music is based on math. 8 notes in a scale.  If you flat the 3^rd, you get a minor key—every time. The first, third and fifth notes make a major chord and so on.  Basic cooking is all about fractions.  Sewing has measurement at the core.  Knitting is for those who love to count. Knit one, perl two…  Math is about relationships between things:  Hot/cold, Long/Short, Big/Little.

Why all this philosophizing about math? This winter, I’m teaching a unit on math for K-4^th graders.  My goal is to help the kids up that ladder a rung or two. 

Peggy Kaye, a seasoned educator, wrote a classic book on math games called Games for Math that I’ve used for my class. Games are a great way to make the complex more simple. I think it worked.  The kids proclaimed it the best class ever. I successfully tricked them into thinking that they were just playing games, not having learning about math!

Although she wrote the book for her work with Kindergartners through 3rd graders, many of them are easily adjusted for fun with the preschool crowd.

Here are a few games from Peggy’s book that you might like to try today:

The How Many Game: 
While “doing life” you can play this game anywhere.  Ask your child to count all the people who are standing up, or sitting down, wearing hats, walking dogs, carrying purses, etc.  At the park, in the mall, or on a bus, or in a lobby waiting for sister’s gym class to get out, this game can fill in the spaces. It teaches your child to scan a group and sort categories, make distinctions and count.  Let them tell you what to count too.

Number Collage:
This activity is designed to clear up confusion young children often have regarding one-to-one relationships between numbers and the objects being counted.  First, the child chooses a number and writes it in the middle of a 14” by 17” sheet of paper.  Then with the parents help, the child searches through magazines for pictures that she likes. If she chose a number 5, then she picks out 5 magazine pictures and cuts them out to paste on her page.  Finally, alongside each picture a number is written:  1-2-3-4-5.  The concept of 1 number per picture is reinforced as well as giving her fine motor practice in cutting and pasting. 

Kitchen Calculus:
Sorting is a skill that can be reinforced while having fun when you work with your child to put away the groceries. The child makes the decision as to where the food should be put away. You help by asking clarifying questions as needed, “Is it hot or cold? Is it in a box or a can?  Is it a vegetable or meat?”  They feel so grown up as you let them decide what goes where and allow them to put the things away independently. 

Number Ladder:
In this easy game, the parent draws a ladder with 10 rungs on a piece of paper with one number on each rung, not in order:  For example 4,7,2,8,1,9,3,5,6,10.  The child rolls a die and climbs the ladder by adding the number on the face of the die to number on the ladder.  If he rolls a 6, he adds 4 + 6.  If he gets the correct answer, he has “climbed” that rung and may go again—7 + 6. If he misses, he “tumbles down” to the bottom and rolls again.  As the parent takes a turn, it is the child’s job to catch the parent making a mistake.  If he does, the parent “tumbles down.” Kids love the success of climbing to the top, and are thrilled to catch a parent making a mistake.

Peggy Kaye concludes the introduction of her book with some good advice on teaching our kids math. 

“The best advice on how you should play (math) games is…relax.  Relaxing might mean changing the rules at the spur of the moment to better suit your child’s personality. It might mean forgetting about a game halfway through because it stopped being fun. Relaxing means not worrying if your child seems to have trouble playing a particular game. Give the child a chance. Don’t worry about the stumbles. Your child will learn to add and subtract and do all the other procedures in good time. Relax—all will be well.”

Playing math games was certainly the most relaxed teaching I’ve done in awhile.  We all had fun and came through it smiling.  What a great strategy for learning math!  I want my kids to make friends with math early in life and enjoy all the various expressions of it they’ll undoubtedly encounter throughout their lives.

-posted by Donna Detweiler, who has a secret desire to study physics someday.

In order to develop balance and stability, babies age 1-2 should practice walking in different directions and in different patterns. Non-walkers begin to develop the sense of balance by experiencing varied movements in a grown up’s arms.
 

For your walker, pull the car out of your garage. Take some sidewalk chalk and draw all sorts of different kinds of lines on the floor. Play follow the leader and have fun walking, running, jumping and tiptoeing on the lines. Be sure to change leaders, and let your child lead when he or she has the hang of the game. You’ll be surprised at how quickly your child will catch on.

-posted by Miss Analiisa, whose middle child Rob had a very clear preference to be held and rocked upside down when he was a baby. No small wonder he now is loving being a gymnast! 

Books offer a wonderful source for children to hear our language in action. There are lots of things you can do with a book besides reading it: count things, identify objects and colors, find opposites and matches. But the text is the heart and soul of a book and together with the illustrations, they create another reality for your child to visit, rhymes to discover and characters to fall in love with. 

Your Kindermusik Literature Books aren’t related to the toyshop plotline of this class. As Jack and Hans travel around in the “trips” portion of the plotline, they meet storytellers everywhere they go – and reading is an integral part of the Kindermusik classroom experience. (A lot of parents wonder if the books should “match” the curriculum, but it’s really all about good literature and the specific developmental purpose the books serve.)

Story time in class is a social experience. Yes, it’s about the book and the language, but it is also about the jostle in the circle, making sure everyone can see, learning to wait your turn to contribute to the conversation about the book, using words to solve the social difficulties that happen whenever more than one child is on the same physical space.   

The reading you do with your child at home serves an entirely different purpose – you can focus more on the text, illustrations, and content. A book read at home can be twice as long as a book in class. A child will sit in your lap for much longer than in a crowded circle on the floor. The emotional grounding that full body contact provides gives you the opportunity to really delve into a book. 

Here’s a really fun thing to do, even if you don’t have Tippity, Tippity, Too: You are going to read the lines in a slightly different order than written in the book.

Read: Tippity tippity too. Who are you? Tippity, tippity tat. I am a ­­­_____. Your child will see the visual cue on the page and fill in the word “cat”.

Do this for each page. The last page has a whole bunch of animals on it, so all you need to do is repeat this same pattern, adding a “t” in place of the first sound or blend of the word. Like “tamel” for camel, or “tion” for lion.

Now use this same pattern for items in the room (you might need to point at the object if your child needs a hint): Tippity tippity too. Who are you? Tippity, tippity tireplace. I am a ­­­_____.  (fireplace)

Finally, use this for names of people your child knows, even if they aren’t in the room. This is sure to produce lots of giggles! Tippity tippity too. Who are you? Tippity, tippity Tindy. I am ­­­Aunt _____! (Cindy)

-posted by Miss Allison, who encourages you to have fun with words wherever you go!

But, when you get home, I want you to punch out the play set pieces for your child and put them in a container that is easily accessed.  (The zipper pouch they come in is a great place to store the pieces, and the set background can go in their backpack.) The play set is a wonderful way for your child to re-create the story from class, and to create their own story variations.  

Your child’s play set is a doorway into a world of their own making. The play set opens to a universe that has been carefully crafted to encourage language development.

When your child gets the play set out and begins the process of acting out the characters, he is practicing communication skills. He is figuring out how people talk to each other and the play set allows him to do this with pretend characters, and to try out new words and ideas, without fear off mistakes or social errors with “real” people. 

Conversation is a complex process, and requires a great deal of practice.  Children need a safe place to figure out how to put words together to communicate an idea.  Pretend play gives children the necessary space for practicing. So, whether he is playing Super Heroes or house with his friends or playing alone with his Kindermusik play set, he is learning how to master the complexities of our language and the nuances of words. 

Children learn a great deal of what they need to know from conversing with adults, but they need these forays into the imaginary world for rehearsing what they’ve learned.

-posted by Miss Allison, who loves all the funny and clever and imaginative conversations your children have every week in class!

As a mom, I’ve bought dozens of shoes in the past eleven years.  Being a veteran of 5 knee surgeries, 6 years of physical therapy and several pairs of custom-made orthotics, it’s important to me that my children’s shoes are well-made and well fit. (Give me the clothes on sale or from consignment stores!) Going to a high-quality shoe store doesn’t leave a lot of money for anything but “practical” on a relatively tight budget.

However, my third baby was a GIRL. And being a shoe lover myself, you can imagine what visions went through my head. When I went to Nordstrom, I was seriously disappointed in the girl’s shoes “cute factor”. So I did what any internet-savvy mom would do – went online.

I found the most adorable line of shoes (from Italy!) called “Jumpin Jacks” and went on a hunt for them. In the process I discovered The Shoe Zoo. The Shoe Zoo is by far my FAVORITE shoe store ever. They only carry shoes for children – from Vans to Geox, and See Kai Run to Stride Rite. And the prices – about the same as Nordstrom.

But the best thing of all – I’ve needed to buy far fewer pairs of shoes from The Shoe Zoo. The owners are so good at fitting my children (they’ll even make shoe suggestions based on the shape of their feet), that the shoes we buy fit longer than I was used to.

I’ve even gone intending to buy new shoes, and instead of taking the opportunity to sell me new ones, they’ve said, “These still fit. Come back in April.”

As for the Sparkly Red Shoes… Natalie had been eyeing them at The Shoe Zoo for about 2 years, and remembering my long-awaited impractical white go-go boots, I finally bought them. And the look on her face made it totally worth it.

But the thing I love? The owner of the store said, “Buy them a size big, and we’ll put special inserts in them for now to make them smaller, and then take them out when her foot grows. You’ll have the shoes longer that way.”

Wow! What great customer service.

-posted by a nostalgic Miss Analiisa, who recommends you to The Shoe Zoo, located at 2920 NE Blakely Street in Seattle. It’ll be worth the trip.

For example, the other day I just couldn’t find my purse, so I started sing “Where oh where did I put my purse? Where oh where did I put my purse?”  All of sudden, I remembered that I’d left it in the car, and I happily went out there singing “Found it, found it, here is my purse!”  Luckily, not too many neighbors were home at the time and they all know what I do for a living, so when I break out into song it doesn’t really faze them!

I love hearing that my Our Time classes have already started to enjoy this game at home too!  Even on the first day of class, one mommy came running back into class saying that her child was jingling her keys as they were leaving! 

Singing with your child not only helps build self-confidence, but it is a wonderful way to bond as well.  Just as in story reading, singing directly exposes the singers to patterns of language, including rhythm, speech sounds, syntax and rhyme.

For your older child, try singing a song and allowing your child to fill in the blanks. (“Twinkle, twinkle, little ________”.)  By doing this, you are developing her sense of inner hearing as related to pitch and melody. 

Singing a song in your mind is akin to thinking up a story or making a plan without speaking out loud.  Remembering the sequence adds an additional level of complexity.  All these are vital life skills.

-posted by Miss Beth, who happily sings at any chance she gets…..including the grocery store when looking for the bread!

As I gained experience, my expectations became more realistic and my confidence grew.  I even had a few memorable breakthroughs. One day, I was attending the hospital’s baby-parent class with other nervous new parents. I was trying in vain to keep my fussy infant happy while a seasoned mom answered our questions, her contented baby snoozing in her baby sling. I looked around, suddenly noticing there was not one mom under the age of 35 in that room. Where were they? I mused. Out enjoying their babies; not in here stressing about how to be a perfect parent came the answer. I left and never went back!

Is there any way for well-meaning, committed parents to fully escape the grasp of unrealistic expectations?  I honestly don’t know. The hounds of unrealistic expectations continue to nip at my heels to this day!  Perhaps it’s harder for those of us who tend naturally toward idealism.  We’re hard-wired to shoot high.

Nevertheless, I believe it is possible to temper expectations with truth. Try this exercise:

When you feel some disequilibrium, write out your expectations.
I should always know what to do.
I need uninterrupted sleep every night or I can’t have a good day.
I’m a better mom if I give birth naturally.
Good parents are never upset with their kids.

 The power of unrealistic expectations often lies in their hidden nature.  When we put light on them, whether on paper or talking with a friend, we see them more objectively. We often realize how ridiculous they are.

The next step is to rewrite realistic expectations:
I have plenty of time and resources to find out what to do.  There’s no rush or shame in that process.
I can be tired and have a good day.
My goal is to deliver a healthy baby.  It’s not really about me as a mother.
As a human being, I have permission to be human.  When I blow it, I can model to my kids how to ask for forgiveness, a life skill they will need to possess.

Expectations have a powerful influence on our parenting experience.  If we can get a handle on troublesome unrealistic expectations and replace them with realistic expectations, we’ll find lots of emotional energy diverted from stressing out to enjoying to the fullest the amazing gift of being a parent.  And that is a goal worthy of any idealist!

-posted by Donna Detweiler who was happy to ditch some of her silly expectations after seeing them on paper.

Expectations are preconceived ideas about how something should or will happen.  When I visit the dentist, I expect some discomfort and I’m usually right. When I schedule a hair appointment, I expect Karin to be there and she usually is. 

Expectations can be realistic or unrealistic.  It is realistic to expect Karin and the dentist to be there.  If I knew Karin always ran late, I would either adjust my expectations or go somewhere else! 

Unrealistic expectations can be more troublesome.  I still remember going to the orthodontist at age 16, expecting this to be the long-awaited day he would remove my braces. I was sorely disappointed when they had to be on another 4 weeks.  No, I was spitting mad! When I got married, I expected my husband to wash all the family cars like my Dad did.  This too has proven to be an unrealistic expectation!

Whether our expectations are realistic or unrealistic, we experience disequilibrium when they go unmet.  Disequilibrium is a feeling of discomfort that can range from no big deal to mildly annoyed to full blown anger and frustration.  Our response to the disequilibrium depends on our personality, maturity and how invested we are in that expectation.

As a 30-something, later-married, post-professional career, new-stay-at-home mom, I was doomed to have high expectations from the start.  Over the years of waiting to be a parent, I’d developed a mental composite of the ideal parent I wanted to be.

To make matters worse, I’d been working with college students, a mostly babyless crowd for the past years.  I had way too much theory and way too little experience.  It was a perfect recipe for disequilibrium.  And boy, did it come when I finally had my own real baby in my arms.

Here was my new-mom list:
I expected to be able to nurse effortlessly.
I expected to get sleep.
I expected to have a magic touch when he cried.
I expected to be calm and confident all of the time.
I didn’t expect to feel lonely.
I didn’t expect to feel so afraid to make a mistake.
I didn’t expect to feel so much pressure to make his life wonderful.

I suspect these might sound familiar to a few of you.

-posted by Donna Detweiler, who encourages you to write down your parenting expectations before you read the rest of the story tomorrow.

Every time children and caregivers in Our Time come into the classroom, they are greeted with their peers and a fun activity at Gathering Time. Maybe it’s puzzles, blocks, or builders. When the teacher sings the toys away, the children know that when the sticks come out, it’s time to sing hello. They’ll get to tap, thunk, scrape, click, and roll hello to each other. Then they’ll sing about their day with the bars, bounce on their grown-ups laps, play instruments, dance, and in my classes, we always end with a snuggle.

This is a part of a routine that children learn and look forward to every week. But why do we work so hard in Kindermusik to build this routine?

 In short, optimal learning for a child happens in a classroom where he feels most comfortable. Think back to one of your best educational experiences. It could be a wacky funny teacher you had in high school, or a fun environment at work with people you enjoy being with.  Do you remember how comfortable it felt to be in that place on a regular basis? How much did you learn when you were there? 

For me, it was my course at UW in early childhood social/emotional behavior. Every time I walked into that classroom, I was greeted warmly by my professor, Gail Joseph, and was delighted to see what sort of snacks she brought for us. It was “food for thought”. J I always knew what to expect and that made me feel comfortable and happy to be there. Looking back on that experience, I realized that I retained more from that class than almost any other at UW. And now I use what I learned there in my professional life every day.

In Our Time, children develop this same comfort when they learn a good sense of self-esteem from the familiarity of their environment.  They know that after the sticks are put away, they get out the bars. When the bars come out, the teacher sings to them what will happen in class. The best part is, when we sing about cars, jingle bells, and snuggling, we actually do those activities in class. That may sound like a simple concept, but try and think about all those checklists you’ve made, either mental or on paper, and how good it feels to check those items off when you complete them. Children get to make their checklist when they sing with the bars every day in Our Time.

You may have your own way of building a routine at home with your child. Maybe you both sit down at breakfast and go over what will happen in your day. Maybe you and your child draw a picture together to go over the fun things you did. The more ways you can discuss and recap a routine with your child, the better.  Not only does this bring them immense joy and self-esteem to know that their expectations are being fulfilled, but it helps them to build memory retention.

 Quite often, a toddler will look out the window and see that it’s raining. Then they’ll go outside, feel the rain, and go back in and say “Mommy, I need a coat.” She won’t see the rain and connect that she needs a coat right away until she builds a temporal sense of cause and effect. Routines are one of the best ways to build this skill.

This developing sense of routine is one of the many reasons why Kindermusik is so beneficial for a child’s development. And it’s important to provide for our children a consistent learning environment. In fact, some children are still developing their sense of the classroom routine in the second or third semester.  So every day when you come in with your child and bounce, sing, dance, and play, know that it is just another vital component to your child’s learning.

-posted by Teacher Aaron, who looks forward to his routine everyday!

And it’s not just about jigsaw puzzles. Puzzle Day includes crosswords, number puzzles (like Sudoko), brainteasers and word searches.

Puzzles promote teamwork (so do them with a friend!). They are also thought to help reduce stress, and are a great way to exercise your brain. For children, puzzling promotes reasoning skills, visual discrimination and social interaction.

All that aside, puzzles are just plain fun.

-posted by Miss Analiisa, who is going to play Bananagrams (kind of like a free-for-all Scrabble) with her kids this afternoon.