The Speckled Bees: A Celebration of Childhood
Lucy Ritter and Spencer-Grace Hiday
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E31: PART 1 This Episode is LIT! -eriture, reading, and writing
The Speckled Bees: A Celebration of Childhood
03/10/22 • 51 min
Don't forget to leave us a review! Today, we are talking about maybe the most common and comfortable curriculum area: literacy centers. While this seems very straightforward, we wanted to break it down more so we can better focus our energies and not go into the ‘push-down curriculum' zone.
We had SO much to cover that we had to split this episode into two parts! In part one, we go over the NAEYC's position statement and then we tackle the continuum of reading and writing development.
Spencer shouts out the Planet Word Museum in DC ( https://planetwordmuseum.org/ ) and we play a super nerdy but super cool game where we try to guess the definition of some of the top rarest words! Do you know them?
Buzzsprout Affiliate Link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1783088
https://www.amazon.com/Pterodactyl-Worst-Alphabet-Book-Ever/dp/1492674311/ref=pd_bxgy_img_1/131-0869157-7909015?pd_rd_w=InNfq&pf_rd_p=6b3eefea-7b16-43e9-bc45-2e332cbf99da&pf_rd_r=4NAZFYEWMJWS17ZPNHN3&pd_rd_r=0cb2ff6a-b1fc-44a6-ac33-d491d6728729&pd_rd_wg=nhrL6&pd_rd_i=1492674311&psc=1https://www.naeyc.org/our-work/families/everyday-steps-reading-and-writing
http://literacy.nationaldb.org/index.php/literacy-development-continuum/
https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/yc/nov2017/emergent-writing
https://www.naeyc.org/our-work/families/read-together-support-early-literacy
http://monocolibraries.org/files/6%20early%20literacy%20skills.pdf
https://www.readingrockets.org/article/early-literacy-policy-and-practice-preschool-years
E26: Mathtastic
The Speckled Bees: A Celebration of Childhood
02/03/22 • 64 min
We are so excited to be back!!! We've missed our weekly discussions on childhood! We come in hot talking about curriculum areas and decided to cover a tricky one: MATH.
The bulk of this episode follows NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children) position statement on Early Childhood Mathematics: Promoting Good Beginnings which is a joint position statement of (NAEYC) and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM)
We talk about how to approach math skills and attitudes, cover math milestones, and give lots of ideas on how to incorporate math! What would you add to the list?
- Tangrams, mirrors, stencils, compasses, beads
- Rulers, calculators, clocks
- Board and card games, dice
- Cutting
- Blocks
- Cooking/Eating
- Music (patterns and symmetry, fractions
- Open-ended questions and Math Talk (https://www.naeyc.org/our-work/families/math-talk-infants-and-toddlers)
Books:
- A Very Hungry Caterpillar Eric Carle
- One Earth by Eileen Spinelli illustrated by Rogério Coelho
- Inch by Inch by Leo Lionni
- Mac Barnett Shape Series Illustrated by Jon Klassen (Triangle, Square, Circle)
- Perfect Square by Michael Hall
References and Resources:
https://www.naeyc.org/our-work/families/math-talk-infants-and-toddlers
http://www.ccs.fau.edu/hbbl3/wp-content/uploads/publications/KelsoFuchs2016_mobileconjugate.pdf
https://www.understood.org/articles/en/math-skills-what-to-expect-at-different-ages
https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/practiceguide/18
https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/Docs/practiceguide/early_math_pg_111313.pdf
https://inventorsoftomorrow.com/2018/02/26/math-development/
E9: Interview with an Early Interventionist FT. Lauren Barrick
The Speckled Bees: A Celebration of Childhood
09/02/21 • 49 min
Re-listening to this episode gave me chills because I am SO EXCITED to share such practical and important information with you! Lauren Barrick is one of the sweetest people I know and she is so knowledgeable and passionate! She is a mom as well as an early interventionist and is experienced on all sides of the equation.
What do you do if a child is behind typical developing peers? This can be overwhelming and so many of us parents and teachers don't even know where to begin, so we brought on Lauren to walk us through the process! We discuss what early intervention is and why it is important. We talk about what parents/teachers should looking for and what to do when a worry arises. She gives us some awesome resources that I will link below! We also talk about the stress of finding a quality early childhood program.
Lauren also lists some super great strategies to help aid in a child's development. We end with talking about the benefits of having people who think and look differently than us in our classrooms and homes.
Lauren Barrick
Instagram @lauren_barrick
Youtube: 2STEPS
Developmental Milestone
https://pathways.org/
Ages and Stages Questionnaires
https://agesandstagesresearch.com/en
Lauren sent me an awesome PDF with all of this information in it. Reach out to us over Instagram or Facebook if you'd like me to send it to you.
Google 'Infant and Toddler Early Intervention + your state' and that should give you the number to call!
E30: Full STEAM ahead
The Speckled Bees: A Celebration of Childhood
03/03/22 • 50 min
Is it the hot air from a rushing locomotive, or the vapor rising from a hot cup of coffee? No, todays we're talking about S.T.E.A.M- Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math. How does adding art to STEM learning and education bolster a childs learning? By adding an artistic approach to standard science and math based subjects, you are integrating these subject matters with meaningful ideas and imagery that might resonate better not JUST with the students, but with the teachers as well. Join us as we discuss the merits of ease of adding art to STEM fields.
Some easy and hands on STEAM activities you can try at home or in the classroom
- Chromatography Butterflies
- Coral Reef Scultpures
- Ice Painting
- Salt Crystal art
- Materials:
- 1 Cup of Epsom Salts
- 1 Cup of water
- 1 Tsp. of Liquid Watercolors
- Glass Jar
- Directions: Mix warm water with epsom salts and stir for one minute. Add the watercolors if desired. Put your concoction into the glass jar and put the jar in the back of the refrigerator. Let the jar sit over night and when it comes out in the morning you can study the crystal formation and the colors of light reflecting.
- Painting with Balls AND Gravity
Items to help you start STEAM
- The STRAWBEES Steam starter kit
- Fort building kit
- Magnet blocks
E44: Repetition, Repetition, and a Little Compulsion
The Speckled Bees: A Celebration of Childhood
06/16/22 • 56 min
This week, we are talking about Repetition! Repetition comes in many forms. This may include reading the same story one hundred times, learning extensions and games that repeat the same skill, peer tutoring, or passively observing a lesson or activity completed by another child. Repetition may also come from routine or the environment. Knowing what to expect, and having things happen in an ordered way, helps children to know what to expect and feel at ease. When the environment is predictable, a child feels safe and secure, which establishes the optimal environment for learning.
We go through a few studies and we talk about why repetition is an important part of learning and skill mastery! In children, these neural connections are only beginning to be formed. Repetition is a necessary building block that allows them to strengthen the connections in the brain that help them learn. "Deer paths to highways".
Repetition helps to strengthen the brain’s neural processors for learning, teaches children to practice, master and retain knowledge, provides the opportunity for practice and reinforcement, is needed for skill mastery and success. Children learn through repetition and memorization: self-discipline and critical reflection, coordination, differentiation of variations and differences in the world around them, confidence to progress, internalization of concepts, synthetization, analyzation and application. Research examining motor-skill acquisition suggests that early movements vary highly but become more stable as skill develops. As the progression from variable to stable movements would indicate the shift from novice to expert, it could help adults recognize if mastery has been achieved and when a child is ready to move on to the next activity.
We also discuss when repetitive behavior becomes a red flag. Check out E9: Interview with an Early Interventionist, E12: Interview with a Special Education and Autism Teacher, and E24: Interview with a Speech and Language Pathologist Ft. Kim Hiday to learn more about intervention!
We end with a conversation about supporting repetition though routines, free play, learning extensions, multi-sensory instruction, self-reflection, and PATIENCE!
While a child’s inclination towards repetition is not the most charming part of childhood (and is maybe even one of the top most annoying), it is an extremely important fundamental of child development! Tell that story again, sing that song again, play that game again. When we support the child’s need for repetition, we are trusting and respecting their nature. We are supporting their learning and their development. We are celebrating childhood. And that’s what we are all about here on the Speckled Bees.
https://montessoriacademy.com.au/repetition-child-development-montessori/
http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1234750.pdf
https://360behavioralhealth.com/how-to-know-when-a-childs-repetitive-behaviors-are-a-problem/
E22: The Season of Giving - Developing Empathy
The Speckled Bees: A Celebration of Childhood
12/02/21 • 64 min
****TW: We talk a small bit about abuse and consent in this episode****
It's the first week of December and the second day of Advent- YAY! This holiday season, I wanted to address the spirit of this season- the season of giving! As our young children develop into empathetic and kind humans, we want to aid this process along by providing them the tools to approach the world in a generous manner. Spencer gives us a fascinating history of our giving holidays then gives us some awesome tips! The key elements to teach themes of charity, empathy, and giving to our children is to model the behavior, talk about it often, and openly encourage it.
Books :
- The Giving Tree
- Strega Nona's Harvest
- Pass it On
- Have you filled a Bucket Today?
- Rainbow Fish
- Hats of Faith
- The Invisible Boy
Links, lists, and References
We have SO much awesome content this episode that we couldn't fit it all on the show notes! Go check out our Google doc for all of the clicks and lists!
E19: Secret Hideouts and Shelters
The Speckled Bees: A Celebration of Childhood
11/11/21 • 58 min
Did you have a secret hideout when you were a kid?
November is the time of that we seek out warmth, comfort, and security. It's the perfect time to build secret hide-outs with children! Creating secret forts, dens, hideouts, and playhouses isn’t just any random kind of play. Studying shelters gives the children an opportunity to explore the ideas of protection, safety, and structure.
We can find so much wonderful inspiration for these projects by familiarizing ourselves with our local tribes! For our project, we looked at the Doeg/Dogue Tribe and worked to build Yi-hakans (stick structures covered with woven mats). We then collaborated to make a sculpture inspired by western Native American houses called Wickiups. The children picked grass and dug dirt to add to water and then mixed it up to make a clay to build up on the stick structure.
There are many benefits to making and playing in forts. Many of them overlap with previous subjects (go back to E1: Messy Play, E2: Risky Play, E8: Real Tools and Woodworking), but children need repetition to strengthen those neural pathways. It encourages independence and confidence, problem solving skills, literacy skills, social skills, motor skills, and a love of the outdoors. We provide a list of ways to encourage this type of play in your homes and in your classrooms.
Don't forget to Leave Your Leaves this year!!
Picture Book List:
Shelter by Celine Claire
Once I was Very Scared by Chandra Ghosh Ippen
A House is a House For Me by Mary Ann Hoberman, Betty Fraser
Chapter Books:
Magic Tree House Books by Mary Pope Osborne
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
https://native-land.ca/
https://www.nwf.org/Home/Latest-News/Press-Releases/2019/09-25-19-Leave-the-Leaves
https://www.paulaspencerscott.com/single-post/kids-forts
https://phillywaldorf.com/building-forts-minds-importance-child-built-space/
https://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Houses_in_Early_Virginia_Indian_Society
https://www.journalofplay.org/sites/www.journalofplay.org/files/pdf-articles/10-2-Article4-role-playing-childrens-literature.pdf
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Z_vc7769QPludzCXU33MmkKOdQcLeX3f/view?usp=sharing
https://books.google.com/books?id=Lmg142dU3wQC&pg=PA8&lpg=PA8&dq=wickiups+covered+in+mud&source=bl&ots=X2FNNj3O9Z&sig=ACfU3U0UWV40XGBnyXFC-RGPMhyHlNWQag&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjNmrGlrcDqAhXumHIEHa4LDLAQ6AEwFHoECAsQAQ#v=onepage&q=wickiups%20covered%20in%20mud&f=false"Wholesome" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
E17: Lights, Shadows, HOLIDAYS
The Speckled Bees: A Celebration of Childhood
10/28/21 • 61 min
"The light is everywhere, but to “see it”, paradoxically, it must be turned on in the mind”
- Loris Malaguzzi
We were inspired by the Jack-o'-lantern for this week's episode. The extreme sensory experience of the lighted up pumpkin really sets the tone for the Halloween season. That launched us into a discussion on light focused holidays! We go through Halloween, The Autumn Festival (yum, moon cakes!), Día de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead), Diwali, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, New Years, Iemanja, Christmas, Lunar New Year, Ramadan and Eid Al-Fitr, and Saint Lucia Day. Light seems to be a universal way to bring emotion, tradition, and symbolism into holidays. We hope we were able to convey the respect we have for the different cultures we talked about.
We then talk about using light and shadow play as a really impactful tool. In fact, it is considered one of the Hundred Languages of Children in the Reggio Emilia inspired curriculum. It is an important way children explore, communicate, and learn about the world. It hits socioemotional by adding warmth, addressing sensory overload, and providing a platform to have conversations about fear; cognitive by letting children see things in a “new light”, introducing perspective and paradigms, promoting sense of self, and body awareness; STEM through introducing the scientific method and introducing shapes, density, color, size, and length; language by introducing new vocabulary like transparent, translucent, opaque, shadow, diffusing, transmitting, reflection, and patterns; and community by talking about routines, cultures, and traditions.
We also made a list of ways to bring light and shadow play into classrooms and homes:
1. Light Tables, Flashlights, Candles, battery operated tea lights, and string lights
2. Sidewalk shadow tracing
3. Build a Shadow Theater
4. Shadow Tag
5. Shadow Dancing, Glow Light Dance Party
6. Study Lights in Holidays
Spencer goes through an amazing project she oversaw as the atelierista where the children put on a whole light show inspired by artists: https://www.thecompassschool.com/locations/manassas/?keyword=the%20compass%20school%20manassas&gclid=Cj0KCQjw8eOLBhC1ARIsAOzx5cEeX_qCX6eW4vXXX8MrgSLcpRGRtZD_LWTcGI1sXmCHYp8Ddka3_G8aAuMoEALw_wcB
The bottom of that page shows some gorgeous pictures of it!
How do you use lights in your holiday celebrations? Do you use lanterns, candles, fireworks, twinkle lights? Did we miss any holidays that you think should be on the list?
References:
https://childcareeducationexpo.co.uk/learning-from-the-reggio-approach-light-and-reflection/
https://www.cosa.k12.or.us/sites/default/files/materials/events/8_big_ideas_cosa_feb_2016.pdf
https://www.msichicago.org/explore/whats-here/exhibits/christmas-around-the-world/traditions/holidays-of-light/
https://people.howstuffworks.com/culture-traditions/holidays-other/ramadan3.htm
http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/special/china_general_lunar.htm
https://www.mass.edu/stem/docum
SUMMER ANNOUNCEMENT
The Speckled Bees: A Celebration of Childhood
07/07/22 • 1 min
Hey all! We are having a busy summer, but we don't want to stop putting out episodes for you! So, we are switching to a bi-weekly podcast and will have episodes coming out every other week. Make sure you are subscribed so you can see when new episodes come up. We love you!
E41:Talking about Death, Grief, and Hard Topics
The Speckled Bees: A Celebration of Childhood
05/26/22 • 54 min
We make a list of steps including, sharing your feelings with your child, guiding the conversation, planning what you want to say, finding a quiet moment, listening, being direct and clear, admitting when we don't know something, and - above all - reassure. We also talk about the importance of taking care of yourself, maintaining routines, allowing spaces for processing and providing outlets for expression, and seeking out help for you or your child. A licensed mental health professional such as a psychologist can assist you in developing an appropriate strategy for moving forward.
Adults can’t take kids’ pain away, but they can help them cope in healthy ways.
We want so badly as parents and teachers to protect our children from all of the bad. But, not only is that not an option, it would get in the way of their growth. The hard moments in our life define us. They teach us empathy, compassion, and grit. They teach us how to move forward and they are often the moments that show us our life callings. Our job is not to block these from children. Our job is to support them and love them through so that the moment doesn’t succeed in pushing them down, but can lift them higher.
References and Resources:
APA.org
The Road to Resilience
SAMHSA.gov
https://www.apa.org/topics/journalism-facts/talking-children
https://childmind.org/article/helping-children-deal-grief/
https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/death.html
https://kidshelpline.com.au/parents/issues/supporting-child-through-grief-and-loss
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FAQ
How many episodes does The Speckled Bees: A Celebration of Childhood have?
The Speckled Bees: A Celebration of Childhood currently has 48 episodes available.
What topics does The Speckled Bees: A Celebration of Childhood cover?
The podcast is about Education For Kids, Early Childhood Education, Parenting, Kids & Family, Child Development, Motherhood, Play, Podcasts and Education.
What is the most popular episode on The Speckled Bees: A Celebration of Childhood?
The episode title 'E45: If at first you don’t succeed….. Routine and Perseverance with your child' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on The Speckled Bees: A Celebration of Childhood?
The average episode length on The Speckled Bees: A Celebration of Childhood is 53 minutes.
How often are episodes of The Speckled Bees: A Celebration of Childhood released?
Episodes of The Speckled Bees: A Celebration of Childhood are typically released every 7 days.
When was the first episode of The Speckled Bees: A Celebration of Childhood?
The first episode of The Speckled Bees: A Celebration of Childhood was released on Jun 29, 2021.
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