December News from Especially for Children

DECEMBER 2022

Greetings!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Here are some helpful tips that we hope will make your Holiday Season more enjoyable, fun and memorable for everyone in your family:

Remember to keep a normal sleeping schedule to ensure that your child doesn’t get overly tired.
Keep a regular diet. Limit the amount of sweets and rich foods.
Don’t be surprised or disappointed if your child does not want to sit on Santa’s lap. Children have been taught to be aware of strangers.
Don’t expect a young child to participate in all the rituals during the holiday season. His/her short attention span may only be able handle a few minutes of tree decorating or cookie making.
Make gift giving simple. When so many gifts are opened at once, so much is lost in the excitement of new toys.

Remember to have fun! You are making memories that last a lifetime and traditions that will be passed down from generation to generation.

Have a happy and safe holiday season!

From all of us at Especially for Children

CENTER HAPPENINGS

TOYS FOR JOYS

We will be a collection site for Toys for Joys. We will be accepting unwrapped toys, food, and money donations. Please have your donations here by December 14. Thank you for making a child’s holiday season brighter.

PARENT REMINDERS

HOLIDAY CLOSURES

Especially for Children will be closed on Monday, December 26, for Christmas day, and Monday January 2, for New Year’s Day. We understand that families may have plans for some time off over the holiday weeks. Please let us know your child’s attendance by signing the sheets on the classroom doors no later than Wednesday, December 14. This will help us staff our classrooms correctly and be able to give our staff some well-deserved time off! Thank you!

SNOW EMERGENCIES

If Especially for Children cannot open due to inclement weather or other emergency conditions, the center closing will be announced on WCCO radio, TV and website in the morning. We will also send messages via Daily Connect. If weather conditions during the day make it necessary to close before our regularly scheduled time, we will reach each of you at your workplaces. Please remember to keep an eye on road conditions & weather, and plan to arrive by 6 PM so our staff can get home safely.

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

CELEBRATIONS AROUND THE WORLD

We thought everyone would enjoy learning about celebrations that are happening around the world during the month of December. In addition, we recognize many of the children and families at EFC have stories to share about their own important traditions which we would like to honor throughout the entire year. We invite you to share more about your holidays and celebrations with us, or within your child’s classroom!

St. Barbara's Day-Dec. 4: In this Syrian Legend, St. Barbara's miserly father didn't approve of her giving to the poor. However, she still made sacrifices to help those in need. It is celebrated in a feast day like that of Halloween.

St. Nicholas Day-Dec. 6: In the Netherlands, children put shoes out as a sign to St. Nicholas that they are safe in bed. They awake on St. Nicholas Day to see if sweets or toys have been placed in their shoes.

Mother’s Day, Panama- Dec. 8: Like American Mother’s Day in May, in Panama this is a day to celebrate and appreciate moms. Families gather for feasts and parties. Often dads and children oversee cooking so that moms can rest and enjoy the day.

St. Lucia's Day-Dec. 13: In Sweden, a young girl, usually the oldest daughter, dresses in a long white dress with a red sash and places a crown of evergreens adorned with glowing candles on her head. Her task is to serve coffee and special twisted buns with raisins, called lussekatter, at daybreak. This celebration is for the return of light after the darkest time of the year, and the beginning of the Christmas season.

Las Posadas-Dec. 16-Dec. 24: Las Posadas (literally lodging) is celebrated by Spanish-Mexican Americans. It is the re-enactment of Joseph & Mary's trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem to find lodging.

Hanukkah-Sundown Dec. 18-Dec. 26: Jewish people celebrate this eight-day "Festival of Lights." A very special part of the celebration is the lighting of candles in a holder called a Menorah.: The last Hanukkah was this early was in 1888 and, according to one calculation, and won’t happen again for another 77,798 years: the convergence of Thanksgiving and Hanukkah.

Winter Solstice-Dec. 21: The winter solstice, also known as midwinter, is the day with the shortest day and the longest night of the year. All over the world, people have celebrated the solstice as a signal of rebirth, the changing of the seasons, etc.

Christmas-Dec.25: Each year, on December 25, Christians around the world celebrate the birth of Jesus, the central figure of Christianity. To celebrate this day, Christmas Trees are set up in many homes around the world. In addition, gift giving and singing carols have become important traditions for the holiday, which celebrates generosity and a sense of unity among all.

Boxing Day-Dec. 26: Celebrated in Great Britain, South Africa, Canada, Australia, and other countries. People give “gift boxes” of money or presents to those in the community who provide service in the community and who may have had to work on Christmas so that other people could celebrate with their families. It is a time to thank people who do the important jobs that keep our communities running.

Kwanzaa-Dec. 26-Jan. 1: Kwanzaa means "First fruits." The 7 principles reflected upon are unity, self-determination, collective work & responsibility, cooperative purpose, creativity, and faith.

We hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season!

ESPECIALLY FOR PARENTS

MATH, AND CHILDREN, ARE AMAZING

By Angie Williams

“We can encourage mathematical exploration and knowing in kids when we allow them to merge with the physical world and immerse their full selves in it.”

- Wendy L. Ostroff, Exchange Magazine

You have likely seen the recent headlines regarding learning loss among elementary and middle school students during the pandemic. One theory to emerge from the studies around these results is that math scores fell further than reading because it is easier and more natural for parents and caregivers to support reading skills at home. Reading books together is a ritual many families begin at birth (or before!) and continue for years. Understanding how to support math skills as part of a family’s regular routine can feel a bit more challenging.

Fortunately, as with many areas of child development, children’s brains are wired for learning math; it is up to caring adults to offer opportunities and experiences that build mathematical connections simply by allowing children to do what they love, asking questions, and encouraging exploration.

In a recent Exchange Magazine article, The Embodied Nature of Mathematical Learning, Wendy L. Ostroff argues that their outcomes improve when children use their whole bodies to learn and develop mathematical thinking. She discusses how finger counting, movement accompanied by rhythms and sounds, and gesturing all contribute to greater understanding of mathematical concepts and improved problem-solving skills.

For example,

“Brain studies using fMRI have shown that children who are taught to solve math problems using gestures (instead of verbal explanations alone), are more likely to recruit the motor regions of the brain when solving future problems.”

So how can we incorporate supportive practices into our daily routines at various stages of our children’s development? We can sing with children and use our bodies while we are doing so. We can spend time with our children outside, engaging with natural objects whose properties teach children about math and physics. We can encourage children to count with their fingers—or their whole bodies! We can ask children questions while they are playing with their toys: which one is bigger? What happens if you put this one on top? How could you sort these objects?

As an adult, it is sometimes easy for me to think about math as something I conduct in an Excel worksheet—a practice fairly limited in scope. But when I consider the ways in which children learn about math, I am reminded how amazing mathematical concepts are in helping us understand and describe the world, and how children’s brains and bodies are already made to fully engage with math in a three-dimensional way, with support from the adults around them:

“If we instead configure kids’ mathematical experiences and lessons as situated, whole-body endeavors, we embrace the beauty and depth, elegance and nuance, from which their cognitive skills have already evolved and developed.”

- Wendy L. Ostroff, Exchange Magazine

https://www.childcareexchange.com/268-author-articles/ostroff/