American River Montessori Preschool & Kindergarten

American River Montessori offers parents an assessment tool that will provide you with key information about family parenting style. Did you know that a study by Olson and Wilde shows there are five parenting styles, and that parenting style is linked with child behavior issues? The assessment helps you identify your style, provides a guide for handling your parenting style, helping to create harmony in the home. If your family is interested in receiving support, please reach out to us by phone or email.

In the average American household in 2020, at least one television is on for about six hours per day. As such a constant presence in our lives, it seems pretty important to understand the impact that can have, especially on the developing brains of young children. In When the Television is Always On: Heavy Television Exposure and Young Children’s Development, published by American Behavioral Scientist, the authors found that in a nationally representative sample of childre...n from birth to age six, 35% lived in a home where the television is on ‘always’ or ‘most of the time’, even if no one is watching." That’s what we are interested in thinking about today the times when the television is on in the background, with active attention being paid to it coming and going as content changes. Less attention has been paid to television as passive background noise, and so less is known about the impact it has on the developing brain. What we DO know is that foundational neurological skills like paying attention and discerning vital information are developed during birth to age six, and that the American Academy of Pediatrics (1999) has recommended that children under the age of two not be exposed to ANY screen media, and that older children be limited to no more than two hours a day. One outcome discovered by the authors is that preschool age children (three to six) from heavy-television households spent 25%-38% less time reading and being read to than children with a limited screen media viewing plan. Additionally, for proper brain development to occur in early childhood, it’s important for children to be involved in social interactions. A constantly emitting television may reduce those interactions. While a lot more research must be done to fully understand what this means to the developing brain, the author’s find at the very least, it seem reasonable to presume that having television on in the background is likely to distract children from other indoor activities that require concentration namely reading. And many are the parents who have observed themselves that television (in the forefront or background) is also likely to distract children from heading outside. But that’s for another post For more information about this study, read on here...

I was talking recently with a parent who was sharing her anxiety about how the onset of puberty was looming for her daughter in the not too far distant future, and I happened to mention that the possibility existed that it might come even earlier than she expected. While it's been understood that puberty could start as early as 8 years old (though not common) for quite some time, the goal post has moved a year further in. As early as seven years old, 15% of girls were underg...oing bodily development. Percentages went even higher for African American girls at 25%. I came by this information through an excellent book called The New Puberty: How to Navigate Early Development in Today's Girls by Louise Greenspan, M.D. and Julianna Deardorff, Ph.d. The statistics are eye-opening. The information they share about the consequences of early development, and what we can do as parents and teachers to limit certain environmental factors to help avoid it is vital. I highly recommend taking the time to read this important and enlightening book. See more

Spending a lot of time researching the impact of screen time. I remember in the 80's this was a hot topic, and I wrote a paper on the subject of screen time. Now, with so many type of technologies available to preschoolers we really need to understand the effects of screen time on toddlers and preschoolers development. Researchers believe there is a negative impact, no impact and mixed impact of screen time exposure on toddlers and preschoolers language development, and the... research conducted was mainly on television exposure. Because the amount of digital media is more prevalent researchers realize that we need to conduct more research regarding the impact of digital media on the young child's development. Until more clarity is provided about the impact of digital media is shared, we encourage parents to look at the website that supports parents in creating a media use plan. The media use plan can be found by listing in the google search bar media use plan. HealthyChildren.org has a nice program to aid parents in creating a media use plan for children of all ages. See more

We have great news for American River Montessori! The Family Child Care Environment Rating Scale (FCCERS), is an assessment tool used to evaluate schools like ours once a year in the following specific areas: Space and Furnishings (layout, seating, accessibility) Personal Care Routines (handwashing, snack times) Language & Books (literacy materials available and displayed)... Activities (accessibility and availability of jobs and materials) Interaction (child to child, teacher to child, teacher to parent) Program Structure (flow of schedule, curriculum, free time) In a preliminary evaluation by Child Action, Inc., aimed toward getting a preview of where we might land on the official FCCERS assessment for this year, I am happy to report that the preliminary information points to an improved score for the second year in a row! As teachers, we are always committed to evaluating ourselves with an improvement and growth mindset, and to making changes based on new information. I look forward to sharing the final results with you later this year!