Celebrating Earth Day at YSA is always filled with so many learning opportunities that really grab the kiddos attention. We celebrate at YSA by centering a curriculum theme around Earth Day and what it means to take care of the planet. The children really love learning about Earth, recycling, and taking care of the planet. Here are a few things that you can do at home with your child during the month of April to raise even more interest about our awesome planet.

Preschoolers love to be in charge, am I right?! So, when we talk about how they can be in charge of keeping their planet safe, they are all for it! Like so much that my own preschooler will say in utter disgust “There is some litter again mom! Why do people not take care of the Earth! Its so sad, right?!” This is a constant conversation we have anytime he sees trash outside. When we can, we do try to pick up trash while using caution. This is such a great conversation to have with your preschooler. Make them take ownership of taking care of their planet. Talking with them on how to handle their own trash is so important. When you are at the park having lunch, make it a point to talk about keeping track of their trash so they do not litter, teach them how to tell people if they accidently drop trash, talk about recycling! Even some parks have separate trash cans for recycling. Giving them some control and purpose can really encourage them to leave places better than they found them.

A fun art project you can do with your preschooler is to use recyclables to create art masterpieces. Here is another opportunity to discuss recycling with your preschooler. After separating those materials out together, you can then have your child use some handy glue to assemble a recycled art sculpture. We are working on these throughout the building this month so I know some will be raving about how much fun they had doing this in class! Why not do it at home as well!

Another favorite preschooler art project is to make a coffee filter Earth. You take a dry, unused coffee filter and have your child use blue and green markers to color their very own Earth. After they have colored in the land and water, they then take a spray bottle filled with water and slowly soak the coffee filter. This allows for the blue and green colors to mold together, creating some really neat and colorful Earths. After allowing the work of art to dry, these are great to hang in a window!

Preschoolers with a passion can take over the world! Teaching them at home about taking care of the planet is important and can be done in such a fun way. They really do love learning about how Earth works, its properties, and how to keep it healthy! So, this year please take a minute to chat with your preschooler on how you as a family can take care of the planet and make a difference.

Ms. Whitney
Lead Pre-Kindergarten Teacher
Curriculum Coordinator

If you were not aware, April is child abuse prevention month. As parents, I think it is very beneficial for us to be fully aware of the signs and symptoms of child abuse, how to prevent child abuse, and what we should do if we suspect child abuse. First and foremost, we should discuss the different forms of child abuse. The most common forms of abuse are physical, sexual, emotional, medical, and neglect. Physical abuse occurs when a child is purposely injured or put at risk of harm by another person. Sexual abuse is any sexual activity with a child. Emotional abuse is injuring a child’s self-esteem or emotional well-being. Medical abuse occurs when someone gives false information about an illness that requires medical attention. Neglect is failure to provide adequate food, shelter, affection, supervision, education, or medical care. Now that we have a better idea of what child abuse is, lets see how we can notice possible signs of the abuse. Without getting into the specific forms of child abuse and their specific symptoms, the general signs/symptoms are withdrawal from friends or their normal activities, changes in behavior, depression/anxiety/unusual fears, apparent lack of supervision, frequent absences from school, reluctance to leave school activities (child doesn’t want to go home), attempts at running away, rebellious or defiant behaviors, and self-harm/suicide attempts. If a child shows one or more of these types of issues, research specifics and see if this increases your concerns for this child’s well-being.

Next, we can get into how to prevent child abuse. The best ways of preventing child abuse are to make sure you are doing the following as a parent: Offer your child love and affection (nurture your child, listen and be involved to develop trust and good communication), don’t respond in anger (if you feel overwhelmed, take a break before losing your temper), think supervision (keep a close eye on him/her, do not leave them alone in public places), know your child’s caregivers (check references, make unannounced visits etc.), emphasize when to say no (make sure they understand it’s OK for them to say NO in uncomfortable situations), teach your child how to stay safe online (make sure you can monitor you children’s time and content), and reach out to neighborhood supports (parents, neighbors).

Now we can get into the steps that should be taken if we have no doubt that a child is suffering from abuse. If you’re concerned that you might abuse your own child, or another child is showing signs/symptoms, seek help immediately. There are plenty of organizations that will provide information and referrals. To name two, we have Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline (1-800-4-A-Child, or 1-800-422-4453), and Prevent Child Abuse America (1-800-CHILDREN, or 1-800-244-5373).

Ms. Morgan
Lead Toddler Wrangler
Parent Connection Coordinator

With a light at the end of the tunnel there are a few things that COVID-19 has brought to the fore front. One being we are social beings, and it is essential that we are incorporating social emotional curriculum into our children’s overall curriculum. 95% of our pathways developed by the time we are five years old. That not only shows the importance for social emotional curriculum but for early learning as well. Here are 4 reasons that you should make sure that your child’s academic curriculum should also include social emotional curriculum as well.

1. Social emotional curriculums help young children develop positive peer and adult relationships. Children’s emotional well-being during their early years has a powerful impact. Children who are emotionally healthy are better able to establish and maintain positive relationships with adults and peers.
2. Children who have a foundation with social emotional curriculum can self-regulate and have a toolbox of resources to turn to when big emotions are taking place. When a social emotional foundation is established children are very quickly able to observe the situation and discover the proper way to handle an emotionally charge scenario.
3. Children are better able to demonstrate and show empathy when introduced to emotions and self-regulation at an early age. Empathy is an essential skill needed to make connections and build relationships.
4. Children feel understood when they can express their emotions and discuss how to respond to those emotions. By giving the tools and teaching social emotional curriculum to children we are empowering them to be in control of themselves and bond with others.
   Feelings and emotions change frequently, sometimes from one moment to the next. It is essential that we guide children on ways to cope and respond to emotions. However, they can not do that with out a foundation of identifying emotions and learning to self-regulate so it is our job as parents and educators to provide a social emotional education to our children and students.

Ms. Michaela
Social Emotional Coordinator