Website Archive - September, 2006
Children
Spotlight on the First Day of School
This month’s website offers activities for getting through that first day at a new school.
Check out Sesame Street and the interactive story of Elmo’s First Day of School. The story begins with Elmo’s Mother getting him up for school, but you can then choose his clothes and help him get dressed. Elmo and his Mom go to school where you can help him sort toys and help him play with a new friend. When the story is finished, click on Sesame Solutions (at the beginning of the story) for information and advice on school topics.
Parents
Spotlight on Separation Anxiety
This month’s websites offer articles which will help parents understand what is meant by separation anxiety and what causes those first few days of jitters for children.
Preschoolers Today, celebrating ages 3, 4 & 5, a part of the iParenting.com network of internet communities’ sites for parents, has a number of articles dealing with separation anxiety. One of the articles “Mommy, Don’t Go! Handling Separation Anxiety” by Heather Johnson Durocher talks about the difficulties a 4 year old child had in going to preschool. The article also explains some solutions to make the separation easier.
A second article In Preschoolers Today “What About Mom and Dad? Preparing Parents for Preschool” by Gail Johnson gives some tips for parents to prepare for the first day of school.
Teachers
Spotlight on Separation Anxiety and Back to School
This month’s websites offer activities in dealing with separation anxiety and going to school through The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn, a story about a little raccoon named Chester who would rather stay home with his mother than go to school. To reassure him, his mother shares a “family secret” with him, the Kissing Hand. This is a cute story for children and in particular, for any child who needs that extra assurance.
The Virtual Vine is a resource site for early childhood teachers that is filled with lots of activitiesand ideas for literacy, math, and fine motor skills, bulletin boards, and teacher tips.
Check out all of the activities for The Kissing Hand on this website. The best part is that these activities can also be easily adapted for any project.
Education World, the Educator's Complete Resource Guide to the Internet, offers education professionals, parents, students, and administrators a place where they can start each day to find the lesson plans and research materials they need. This site is updated daily with fresh new lesson plans and curriculum ideas, articles on issues that are of interest to educators, parents, and students, and much more.
Check out the lesson plan for a First-Day-of-School Activity: The Kissing Hand
Vicki Blackwell’s Internet Guide for Educators has 5+ pages of resource links dealing with back to school ideas and activities. It has links for bulletin boards, first day of school activities, classroom management tips, templates, and much more.
[Posted on September 7, 2006]
