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December 2007 e-newsletter
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December 2007
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MindNurture News
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| The Holiday Dilemma: Finding Cultural Balance Throughout the Year |
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Holiday hoopla seems to start earlier and earlier every
year. In early childhood programs all over the United
States, hot debates emerge about including holidays
in the curriculum. With the retail blitz starting with
Halloween and continuing throughout the winter
holidays, we are faced with many decisions about
whether and how to include holiday observances in
our programs. Classroom practices range from a "no
holiday celebrations" policy to a holiday-centered,
thematic approach that focuses a good portion of the
school day on holiday activities. Public school
educators must realize which traditions are
associated with religious practices and be very careful
about the way they are approached in the classroom.
Educators in religious schools also try to untangle
religious traditions from secular customs. As always,
teachers also need to remember the importance of
maintaining the routines and predictable schedules
on which young children rely.
Read more...
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| Introducing A New Version of LearningGames® |
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The Creative Curriculum®
LearningGames® is hot off the
press! Teaching Strategies, our parent company, has
just published this new version of MindNurture's
LearningGames® series. This
new version, like
previous versions, is validated on research beginning
with the landmark Abecedarian Project, started in the
1970s at the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill.
How is The Creative Curriculum LearningGames
different from LearningGames? The new
version is
integral to The Creative Curriculum System and
guides teachers and practitioners in partnering with
and involving parents. The amount of text on each
page has been reduced, rewritten, and reformatted for
easier reading and comprehension. The five books
are designed for the parents to use independently at
home. A sample
activity from the new version is available online.
Home visitors and teachers can guide families with
the help of two other new resources from Teaching
Strategies: A Home Visitor's Guide to The Creative
Curriculum® LearningGames® , and Using The Creative
Curriculum® LearningGames® With Families: A
Teacher's Guide.
Find all of these books from The Creative
Curriculum LearningGames, plus the 5-book set,
in the Teaching Strategies
bookstore:
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| Sample Activity of the Month |
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This month's sample activity from
LearningGames®
is activity number 49, "Singing Together." It doesn't
matter if you can't carry a tune! Your baby can't either!
During her second year of life, she will have a ball
singing with you on any occasion. You can use tunes
that you already know and sing your own words to the
notes. For example, "Row, row, row your boat..." can
become "Wash, wash, wash your hands..." It can be
fun for both you and your baby to add music to the
basic routines of her day. It is an easy way to address
developmental themes of oral language, early literacy,
sharing and cooperation, and family and culture. The
back and forth of vocal play soon becomes shared
sound play as you literally add rhythm to the rhythms
of her life!
View the
entire activity (PDF)
This activity comes from LearningGames: 12-24
months. For more information or to order this
book, please visit the MindNurture Web
site.
You can see the new version of this activity in The
Creative Curriculum LearningGames: 12-24
months. For more information or to order this
book, please visit the
Teaching Strategies Bookshop.
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Contact Information
phone:
888-833-8435
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Forward email
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MindNurture | 500 Millstone Drive | Suite 101 | Hillsborough | NC | 27278
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