Ahhh……Holiday season is almost upon us….. and with it comes the bombardment of marketing media touting this year’s hottest gifts.  So easy to get caught up in it all! Young children are especially vulnerable to all the advertising and as parents, we don’t want to disappoint. We adults understand that “Tis better to give than to receive”, but how do we teach this to our children?  Here are some tips to keep the spirit of giving alive and to keep the holidays in perspective:

1. Keep the gift giving low key. It is an exciting enough time without going crazy!
2. Focus on the giving part. Involve your child in the selection and wrapping of the PJ/Book gifts for our school drive for New Circles.
3. Try and keep your children rested so that everyone can enjoy the holidays! Racing around is hard on little bodies!
4. Take the time to enjoy the holiday season with friends and family!

Finally, as the whirlwind of shopping and entertaining unfolds, be selective about what you take on, to minimize stress and maximize the joy. Easier said than done, but we can try!!

All the very best for the holiday season!
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Jennifer and Kirsten       

Tis the time of year to adjust our sleep patterns no matter how old we are! Now that fall is here, the days are shorter and we are losing the daylight more and more each day! This coming weekend we will change our clocks back one hour. Here are a few tips to make this transition easier at home:
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Control the light
Stick to a routine
Be sympathetic

Children will have a successful sleep if the evening follows a routine. After dinner; a good warm bath, cozy PJ’s, a stuffed animal and a good book will help set children up for a restful night of sleep. One of the nicest times of the day is to cuddle up with a young one and share a story together. This is good quality time together plus reading to your child is the most important thing you can do as it will help to foster a long love for reading. This gaining an hour of sleep on Saturday night can sometimes take a few nights for children to adapt even though it is only one hour. Be patient and give it a few nights! If your child is tired and still asleep in the morning, let him/her sleep, if you can! It does take their little bodies a few days to adjust and lose that sleepy feeling in the morning!

“Let him sleep, for when he wakes he will move mountains."
 -Napolean

October is the month to ponder and ask ourselves what we are grateful and thankful for in our lives. Given the recent tragedies in this world, we need to live each day to the fullest and be thankful for what we have and more importantly for all the wonderful people in our lives! Enjoy your beautiful children every day as we are thankful to have them here at LPS!

“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom!”
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We wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving. Gobble Gobble!
Jennifer and Kirsten

We would like to welcome you all to our Lawrence Park School Family! Thank you for entrusting us with your beautiful children for this school year! We are excited to get to know each and every child who is under our care!
Our goal is to work together as parents and educators to give your children the best possible start in all areas of development. Please look at the weekly blogs as they showcase all the wonderful learning that takes place each week plus there are often extensions for learning at home!
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Here’s to a fun, happy successful year full of learning, exploration and growth!

Kirsten and Jennifer
 
“Everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you are climbing it!”  (by Andy Rooney)

June always gives me pause to reflect – another school year coming to a close. A time to celebrate our children’s accomplishments and acknowledge their personal growth and special friendships.

In my weekly visits to the school, I am regularly astounded by the gains the children are making – physically, cognitively, academically and socially. More than anything, I notice their level of confidence as they approach new tasks. I think as teachers, this is our greatest responsibility. It is such a delicate balance to provide children with the right mixture of challenge and success such that they learn to persevere, to keep trying. And that mistakes are more than OK – they are an opportunity to learn. This goes for everything from a word misread to spilt milk. The teachers at LPS are truly gifted in this process and it is pure joy to watch them at work with the children!
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Many of you will be moving on from here and we wish you all the very best. Know that you can come and visit any time! I hope that summer provides an opportunity for a change in routine and lots of outdoor play!

Fondly…….Leslie

Ahhhh……Spring! What a wonderful time to explore the senses!  We all love to get outside at this time of year and for children, the more time outside the better.  They can listen to all the sounds of spring – the birds, the rain…..They can smell the flowers, feel the mud and sand and the warmth of the sun. They can even feel a thunderstorm coming! Children can see the world become more lush and green and watch the buds turn to leaves. They can feel their bodies moving and the exhilaration that simple running can give.
Getting outside not only helps children grow and experience things physically.  It is an important part of their intellectual and social development as they explore the outdoors and using inquiry, imaginative play and expressive language.

We get a lot of rainy days in the spring and while we may not appreciate them, children LOVE them! I grew up in Winnipeg where, despite the cold winters, we were outside all the time.  My mother said there was no such thing as bad weather – only bad clothing!  So, we dressed for it.  We can dress for the rain and enjoy puddle hopping, catching raindrops on our tongues, collecting water. There is nothing like the smell of wet growing things in the spring!

Enjoy……….Leslie
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PS:  Recommended spring book…..”Big Sarah’s Little Boots”

It’s time for dinner, or it’s time for school, or it’s time for swimming – whatever the reason, you need your child to stop playing and come with you. “Just a minute” is the response.  Not what you need when the clock is ticking. 
Numerous strategies can help children transition from one activity to the next and certainly school is a great place for children to learn how to follow routines. While you may not wish to sing our “Tidy Up” song, some of these strategies can be adapted to the home front.

First however, we need to understand something. Imagine you are working on an important project or e-mail and you are right at a critical point. Along comes your spouse saying “Time for dinner”. I might be annoyed enough to say something less polite than “Just a minute”.  However, if I was reminded half an hour earlier that we needed to eat by a certain time in order for our son to make it to hockey, I would be more understanding.

Play is a child’s “work”. It is what they are meant to do and they do it with their hearts and souls. Having to stop suddenly will never seem fair to them. We know that preparing a child for a transition is important but sometimes we forget or get distracted. Any kind of timer can be helpful here and you can teach your child how to watch for when it gets close to ringing. Let your child know that when play time is over, it will sound like this. Plan ahead where to put the activity so that it can be resumed at a certain time and decide when that time will be. Be clear and specific (ie tomorrow after breakfast you can finish the lego).

If the activity is an iPad or other electronic device, set the limit ahead of time (one game or level is a natural break). Agree on when a good place to stop will be and hold to it. If you waver even once, your child will test you constantly, hoping that this will be the one time you give in, just like a gambler at a slot machine.
The good news is that with Spring coming, we can all enjoy being out of doors more often and rely less on electronics!
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Until next time……Leslie

When I first became involved with this school as a parent (1990!) I was blown away by the quality of the care and instruction in the classes. There were no report cards but I was comfortable with the feedback I received at drop off and pick up and as a teacher myself, this was important. Our daughter was the first of four to go through this school and each year I was more impressed with the level of ongoing communication.

Years later, back at the school as Director (2007) it became clear that more communication was required, especially for working parents. However, I was reluctant to start report cards for a number of reasons.  First, I didn’t want to take the time away from teaching/loving/guiding in order to document progress. Secondly, where a child scores on Monday could be very different by Friday, so by the time a parent received the report card, so many things could have changed. Not to mention the fact that children develop in very different ways at this age, so to put checkmarks in boxes seemed unfair.

But here we are – all preschools are issuing report cards and the Ministry requires that we document progress. Parents are now kept apprised of their child's social, intellectual and physical development on paper. May I offer some suggestions for interpretation?

1. Keep in mind that your child’s teachers consider the documentation process, including report cards, as tools in planning lessons for their students at each level of their education. As such, they are not so much an evaluation as a road map.
2. The checkmarks may give you an indication of where your child’s skills are just now, but this may change by tomorrow!
3. We have enriched goals for your children, so they may not have achieved them by February – be patient as many skills are still emerging at this time of year.
4. Do not hesitate for an instant to contact the school regarding ANY questions you may have.  I cannot emphasize this enough.  Your teachers are ready and willing to talk to you at any time so take advantage of that.
5. The extent of effort and engagement in the learning process has a big impact on later learning, so pay more attention to the personal comments, particularly those reflecting effort. This is the most important quality that you can encourage with your child. If effort is up there, how wonderful is that? If it is not, what a great goal!

As you may know, I am at the school Thursday mornings working individually with the Kindergarten students. They are amazing! I then visit the other classrooms and am still totally blown away by the quality of care and instruction. We are blessed.
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I hope you all enjoy a wonderful March break when it happens….Leslie

Let’s face it, February can be a dreary month. Parents often say how difficult it is to keep their children engaged. And nobody likes to admit to allowing more screen time than what is recommended for young children. Even with iPads and such, (and perhaps because of them!) children complain of being bored. What is a parent to do?
NOTHING!  You heard me…..researchers are saying that we should not rush in with solutions. They say that boredom provides an inner quiet that helps children with self awareness.  Dr. Vanessa LaPointe adds that children need to sit in their own boredom for the world to become quiet enough for them to hear themselves.

My Mother used to say that she left us kids to our own devices for a reason (she called it “creative neglect”). Now I see that she was teaching us to become resourceful. Trust me – as long as there are creative outlets around (lego, markers, cushions….) kids will come up with something, given enough time.

Anthony Robbins talks about how young adults blame lack of work on a shortage of resources (time, education, connections…) but in truth, it is the lack of resourcefulness holding them back. We have a chance to fix that if we just shift our perspective. Boredom is not a problem but an opportunity for our children to develop resourcefulness.  After all, how can a child become resourceful if they are never left to their own resources?  So…..let’s let our children be bored on occasion.  We will be doing them a favour.

Until next time…….Leslie