Establish a GTT in Your Area

Grandparents Teach, Too is a nonprofit volunteer group of retired educators founded in 2008. Their mission is to help families prepare young children for success in school, a lifelong love of learning, and reduce the stress of raising children. There is a very special time uo to the age of 5 years when children learn the fastest and easiest. This window of opportunity only happens exactly like this once in a lifetime. You can share and spread this love of learning too. Here's some ideas: In Your Family Families can use some basic principles to combine play activities with learning skills needed for reading, math, science, economics and all other subjects, plus social/ emotional skills to get along with others. Most materials for activities are already available in the home and neighborhood. This learning can also take place while doing family responsibilities like sorting clothes and cleaning. Even if children are in a professional day care or preschool, nothing can take the place of family fun time with a learning component during evenings, weekends, and summer. Grandparents Teach, Too teaches these principles to families so they can learn to make the most of this special time. It is not reasonable to rely solely on people outside the family to teach young children. Teachers try, but they are not miracle workers. Informed families are the key to children who love to learn. Families are under a great deal of economic and emotional stress for many reasons. They are plagued by drug abuse, mental illness, alcoholism, unemployment, multiple part time jobs, physical abuse, and incarceration. Many families are just plain exhausted. Around the country 34 percent of retirees are stepping forward to help raise grandchildren. Notice how many grandparents are picking up children from school and providing childcare. Grandparents have many years of experience and practice with skills to share. However, after 20 years many are finding they need a little refresher before they tackle providing childcare for this new generation of preschool children. They are searching for help, too, so they aren't exhausted. What does GTT do? Grandparents Teach, Too provides columns in 62 newspapers, thewww.grandparentsteachtoo.org website with pod casts, videos, and blog, two books "Learning Through the Seasons" in English and Spanish available at UP Children's Museum, Public Radio 90, and the web site. Proceeds go to the Upper Peninsula Children's Museum. Live informative broad casts are available on WNMUFM Tuesdays at 4:30pm and Saturdays at 8:35 am. GTT also provides parenting to men at the Marquette County Detention Center bi-monthly. Little did these retired educators realize there would be such an interest and great need. Now there are requests for workshops at churches, childcare centers, organizations, detention centers, fathers' meetings, and schools--more than they can handle. Start your own GTT Retired teachers can work through a church, Great Start organization, and other local organizations to form a small group of retirees who use GTT principles to help create their own hometown version of GTT. Contact GTT at grandparentsteach@gmail.com for free information. Photos by Fran Darling: fdarling fotos Ideas and Activities See the authors’ book “Learning Through the Seasons” at area bookstores and grandparentsteachtoo.org. For more help to prepare young children for success in school see the authors’ web site: www.grandparentsteachtoo.org. Also check our audio Podcasts WNMU Radio 90; Youtube video activities; and join us on Pinterest.

Making Waterfalls -- Indoors

fdarling fotos How do families encourage children to become scientists? They do it by playing with science from a very early age and carrying on conversations. Science discovery takes very little time and can use materials around the house. Have fun making and discussing indoor waterfalls on a rainy day to help add to the three million words children need to hear before kindergarten according the Great Start. Materials: Water, chopping board, kitchen bowls and a colander. What to do: Explain that you're making indoor waterfalls before you go to see some real ones in your county. An easy definition is an area of a river or stream where the water flows fast over and around rocks or drops over a ledge. There are many kinds and they can be viewed on Google images. Explain that you need help finding things in the kitchen to make a tower and pour water over it like a waterfall. Look for non-breakable plates, bowls, cutting boards, and a colander used to drain vegetables or spaghetti. Experiment making the tallest tower. Start with a cake pan to catch the water. Then layer cutting boards, various sizes of upside down bowls, and plates. The flat materials will help prevent the towers from tipping, sometimes. Place a colander on top, if available. Now pour a pitcher of water gently over the tower. The most important part of the process is talking about how the bowls and plates slow down the water much like hard rocks slow down and divert water in a river. Place a sheet of rolled up paper towel between layers of the tower. Does it change the flow of water? Perhaps it does for a short time, but then it will crumble much like very soft sandstone will crumble after years of flow. Notice how the water flows over the cutting board like a ledge waterfall. These waterfalls can be created in the tub or sink indoors with warm water. They can be created outdoors on hot days with a hose or built at the beach. Some families like to add food coloring in different pitchers and let colors mix in the cake pan pool at the bottom. Others like to recycle the clean water in the cake pan pool and use the water to nourish plants after clean up. No matter what you decide to do, the most important part is conversation. Talk while planning the activity, gathering materials, trying different ways to make the tower, laughing when it falls and reconstructing. All this talking teaches social skills and dealing with emotions. Let the activity guide the quiet conversation. Photo: Fran Darling fdarling fotos More Ideas and Activities For more ways to encourage music and expend energy on long winter days see the authors’ book “Learning Through the Seasons” at area bookstores and grandparentsteachtoo.org. For more help to prepare young children for success in school see the authors’ web site: www.grandparentsteachtoo.org. Also check our audio Podcasts WNMU Radio 90; Youtube video activities; and join us on Pinterest.

More Gems for Social Learning

Dr. Kersey quotes J. L. Hymes, "Discipline is a slow, bit by bit, time-consuming task of helping children to see the sense in acting certain way."      Here are more selections to help you through...  Demonstrate Respect Principle - Treat the child the same way you treat other important people in your life - the way you want him to treat you - and others. (How would I want them to say that to me?) - Make a Big Deal Principle - Make a big deal over responsible, considerate, appropriate behavior - with attention (your eyeballs), thanks, praise, thumbs-up, recognition, hugs, special privileges, incentives (not food). - Incompatible Alternative Principle - Give the child something to do that is incompatible with the inappropriate behavior. "Help me pick out six oranges" (instead of running around the grocery store). - Choice Principle - Give the child two choices, both of which are positive and acceptable to you. "Would you rather tiptoe or hop upstairs to bed?" ("You choose or I'll choose.") - Timer Says it's Time Principle - Set a timer to help children make transitions. "When the timer goes off, you will need to put away your books." It is also a good idea to give the child a chance to choose how long he needs to pull himself together. "It's OK to be upset, how long do you need?" Then allow him to remove himself from the group and set the timer. You may offer the child a choice (and set the timer) when it's necessary for him to do something he doesn't want to do. "Do you want to pick up your toys/let Susan have the toy/take your bath in one minute or two?" - Allow Imperfection Principle - Don't demand perfection. Remember no one likes the "perfect" child, parent or teacher. With perfection as the goal, we are all losers. - Anticipation Principle - Think ahead about whether or not the child is capable of handling the situation. If not, don't take him (an expensive restaurant, long church services with out a special room, shopping, or movies). - Apology Principle - Apologize easily when you goof or "lose it." ("I wish I could erase what I just said." "You must have been scared by my reaction." "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings." "I was wrong." "I'm sorry.") Apologize for your child ("I'm sorry he knocked you down"), but don't make your child apologize. (You might be making him lie or think that wrong-doings can be rectified with an apology.) Babysitter Principle - Get one. More Ideas and Activities For more ways to encourage music and expend energy on long winter days see the authors’ book “Learning Through the Seasons” at area bookstores and grandparentsteachtoo.org. For more help to prepare young children for success in school see the authors’ web site www.grandparentsteachtoo.org. Also check our audio Podcasts WNMU Radio 90; Youtube video activities; and join us on Pinterest. Photos by Francine Darling, fdarling foto