The Language Grove Preschool

In celebration of Earth Month, the children are learning about taking care of our planet. One of our parents visited us and showed us what a watershed is and how the water flows from the mountain to the ocean. After learning about it, he showed the children the consequences of throwing trash in our neighborhood, which eventually will lead to the ocean. Our children have taken a pledge to take care of our water and have become environmental defenders!

Did you know that going to the farmer’s market may improve the food preferences of your children? This happens over time by helping them become more familiar with a variety of foods. What Your Children Will Learn at the Market What local food is: ... understanding where their food comes from can teach them to appreciate their meals. Have your children talk to the farmers and find out where their farm is located. You can also start to teach them the importance of supporting locally grown products. How food from the farm gets to the table: Teach your children about food preparation and recipes by having them help pick out ingredients for a recipe while at the market. How seasons impact food: Explain to your children how different seasons determine what food is grown and how the weather impacts their food. Depending on the type of year, you will find very different items at a market. What different types of produce look like: If your children have never been exposed to a food item, they probably don’t know what it looks like. Walk through the market and show them new produce so they can identify it. Often markets will carry produce that isn’t a standard part of most family’s meals. How to Involve Your Children in the Market Experience Allow them to sample produce: Many farm stands will give away samples of fruits and vegetables. Let your children try them! Children are more likely to try something after then learn what it is. Let them pick out items: Bring re-useable bags with you to the market and let your kids pick out some items and carry them in their bag. Cook a meal together: Use items purchased from the market to prepare a meal together and eat it at the table as a family. Engage children in conversation about their trip to the market. Ask them what they enjoyed most and what their favorite item was they tried. Make trips to the market a routine: The more times children go to the market the more familiar they will be with local food and the more exposure they will get to new items. At The Language Grove, it is our tradition to have a few farmer’s markets per year for the children. These markets are put together by the children, for the children, and run by the children. They are also the customers. They enjoy shopping at their child size markets with their "LG Bucks" and collect and sample all types of produces. Have you taken your children to the market?

Want to know more about The Language Grove Preschool? Then join us for a tour in May! Please call to RSVP.

Hard work pays off! After almost two months, the radishes are fully grown. The children got to work carefully, removing the radishes from the soil and placing them in the basket. They are going straight to their Farmer's Market this Friday. They are excited. Stay tuned to hear their opinion on the radishes, as they are excited to try them!

Katniss, our school ambassador, truly knows how to enjoy a sunny Friday afternoon in sunny California!

Many of our plants are growing! The Redwood children suggested transplanting the bean plants from a small flowerpot to the raised bed to see if they will continue to grow. They wored together to move the plants to the new location. Stay tuned to see how much more they can grow!

We concluded this month by celebrating Women History Month. We celebrated those women that change our society for the better. We also celebrated the women who made an impact on our planet. However, we celebrated big time those who made a great impact in our lives! Thank you to those women who made a big difference in our history.

We officially have a confirmed date for April tour! Contact us to RSVP.

Our woodwork group met again this morning and worked on trying to nail in some extra wood to our pallets. We have already designed our project, sanded the pallets down, reviewed safety rules and equipment needed. We have now began the next phase of our project which is attaching extra pieces of wood to support the plants we will be planting. In addition, we are working to plan a trip to Lowe’s or Home Depot to purchase our paint. Stay tuned for more updates!

"Teaching children about the natural world should be treated as one of the most important events in their lives." -Thomas Berry

Friends don't let friends do silly things alone! Happy Friday!

Our children are working hard on their vertical pallet garden project. They learned the importance of safety while working with materials, like hammers, nails, screws, etc. They also discussed the importance of having a tool belt and why it is important to wear one while working with tools and wearing goggles to protect their eyes. They have sand down and reinforce the pallets by adding new nails. Stay tuned to see the final results.

A short 40 years ago, a good father was a male who was first, a good husband, and second, a good provider. The amount of time he spent with his children was lar...gely irrelevant to the consideration. Contrary to the myth, he wasn't remote, just busy. He was involved with his work and involved with his wife, and together, they were involved with their friends and activities. When his children needed him, he was there; not immediately, perhaps, but nonetheless in a reasonable time. In short, a father's effectiveness as a role model was accorded more importance than the amount of attention given his children. Thus, the maxim: "The greatest thing a father can do for his children is love their mother with all his heart.'' Gradually, all that changed. Today, the "good'' in "good father'' is a matter of how much "quality'' time he spends with his children. The result of this renewed focus on fatherhood is that marriages become that much further displaced in America's families. It's bad enough that parenting professionals have for 30 years encouraged women to believe that their primary role was that of mother; now, we have the media telling men that fathering is where it's at. The fatherer, the better, or something like that. In the first place, children should not have adults of either gender overly involved in their lives. Adults should interact primarily with other adults, children primarily with other children. There is a time and a place for the twain to meet, but God did not intend the twain to be every evening and through the weekends. That's why marriage vows read " 'til death do us part'' and not " 'til children do us part.'' My advice to married parents: As often as you can, arrange for a sitter so the two of you can spend time together, on dates or otherwise. After all, there's nothing that makes children feel more secure than knowing their parents are taking good care of one another.

I was recently with friends and their seven-year-old son. I was startled by how frequently they told their son he was Awesome!", " The Best!", "Incredible! An...d everything he did was, Amaaaazing!", "Perfect!", and "Completely Wonderful! Spattered in between all the compliments was a constant reminder to this child that they loved him and, of course, the endless high-fives. Don’t get me wrong. A well-deserved compliment is a great thing to give our children. There is a world of difference, though, between an occasional compliment after achieving a difficult goal and the non-stop monologue of trying to boost a child’s self confidence for him. That is exactly why parents need to be encouraged to stop this practice. They are creating a system where the child will need to be constantly reassured of his or her worth from an outside person or source. When we don’t allow a child time to create their own positive self-talk, they may always be looking for an outside voice to reassure them of their worth.

Can you teach good character, and if so, how? The answers are (a) yes, you can teach character, and (b) you do so primarily by teaching good manners. Good chara...cter is about paying attention to others and looking for opportunities to serve others. Good manners are demonstrations of paying attention to others and looking for opportunities to serve others. Good character is about respect for others. Good manners are demonstrations of respect for others. It's quite simple, really. If you truly want to raise a child of good character, then teach manners.

The "Three R's" of Respect, Responsibility, and Resourcefulness are "where it's at," not IQ. Properly developed, they are the essence of true self-esteem and th...e elixir of success, whether academic, social, spiritual, emotional, vocational, avocational, marital, or... have I left anything out? The "Three R's" define the truly educable child. A child who has learned to respect his parents will transfer that respect to teachers. A responsible child, one who comes from a home environment in which he is held responsible not just for his own behavior but also for the daily routine of chores (contributed, not paid for), will come to school that much more willing to accept assignment from his teachers and do his best. A resourceful child, one who has learned to do a lot with but a little, will come to school prepared to try and try again until he succeeds, to persevere in the face of frustration. The "Three R's" add up to learning, folks. Without the "Three R's," a high IQ adds up to nothing.

"No parenting decision is difficult to make," I tell my audiences, "if you tune the decision to that long-term vision of the adult you are raising. That approac...h will keep you moving steadily and in a more-or-less direct path toward that goal. When you find yourself especially troubled by a certain child-rearing situation, confused about what decision to make, take a deep breath and focus on that vision. Your confusion will clear, and the right decision will become apparent." Concerning any child-rearing issue, nearsightedness results in one parenting behavior while farsightedness results in quite another. Nearsighted parenting is synonymous with parenting that is often frantic and, therefore, exhausting. That's because nearsighted parents are micromanagers. They are always frantic and exhausted. Parents who are in constant short-term mode tend to zigzag all over the parenting "map" like a ship without a compass. This makes raising a child far more arduous and stressful than it otherwise would be, no matter how inherently "difficult" one's child may be. By contrast, parents who stay focused on a long-range childrearing vision are able to move themselves and their child steadily and in a "straight line" from early childhood to adulthood with the least amount of effort, using the least amount of energy. In any parenting decision, they give primary consideration to the long-range vision - the person they want their child to be when he or she is an adult rather than some arbitrary short-term goal. As a result, they experience the raising of children as being relatively easy and almost always rewarding. They will have their share of difficulties along the way. All parents do. But for parents of this description, child rearing is not difficult and arduous in and of itself.

Enjoying the garden tomatoes, while thinking about the forthcoming weekend like...

Saying good riddance to the summer heat and hello to friendship and community! We love to see it!

Children are so smart and capable of achieving a lot more than we allow them to do.

Getting in touch with our critter friends!