Healthy Mind & Body Family Festival March 7th

February at the Children’s School has been a chance to explore our senses, brains, emotions, and bodies, as well as begin to develop lifelong habits for self-care, nourishment, exercise, and rest. We hope all of the Children’s School families will come celebrate and share our learning on Thursday, March 7th from 4:30 – 6:30 pm during our Family Festival. Come ready to explore your senses,

enjoy nutritious snacks from all the food groups, exercise your mind and body, experiment to see how well your handwashing eliminates germs, learn toothbrushing techniques from pediatric dental students, make calming pinwheels and sensory bottles to take home, etc. Be ready to photograph your family’s healthy fun. We hope to see you strengthening your minds and bodies next Thursday!

Summer Camp Enrollment: Water!!

Enclosed with this newsletter is a brochure about the Children’s School Summer Camp, which is a mixed-age, four-week program that runs weekdays in June from 9 am to 1 pm with as much outdoor time as weather permits. This year, Mrs. Bird, Miss Dzina, Mrs. Mack, Mrs. Opferman, Mr. Salinetro, and Miss Zhao will engage the children in a study of “Water”. Exploring water during June will help us stay cool outdoors in our wading pools and sprinklers, while we also read fiction and non-fiction books and offer related art, cooking, sensory, and manipulative activities to enhance the thematic study. We provide a daily snack, and children bring their own healthy lunch. Register soon because space is limited! March Dates:

Friday, March 1st Forms & Deposits DUE for 2019-2020 Kindergarten

Thursday, March 7th, 4:30-6:30 pm, HEALTHY MIND & BODY Family Festival

Friday, March 8th, Educator Professional Development Day (NO SCHOOL) Sunday, March 10th Daylight Saving Time so SPRING FORWARD 1 Hour

SPRING BREAK Monday, March 11th - Friday, March 15th (NO SCHOOL)

March 20th – 22nd Mrs. Bird, Mrs. Myers and Dr. Carver attending the annual conference of the International Association of Laboratory Schools (IALS) March 28th – 30th Dr. Carver & Mrs. Rosenblum will be attending the annual conference of the National Coalition for Campus Children’s Centers (N4C)

Friday, March 29th NO SCHOOL for children Conference Preparation Day for Educators

Children’s School March 2019

100 Day Celebration On Friday, February 15th, the Preschool 4’s and Kindergarten classes celebrated the 100th day of school with many activities to help them understand the magnitude of 100 (such as stacking 100 cups or testing whether 100 licks will finish a lollipop) and the concept of 100 as ten groups of 10.

Community Service Project – Soles 4 Souls During the month of March, The Children’s School will be participating in a Soles4Souls Shoe Drive. Please bring your gently used shoes of ANY KIND to The Children's School. If shoes have laces, please use the laces to tie pairs together. Shoes without laces can be put together using a rubber band if you have one or just sent as is. Thank you for your support!

Statistics show that on average people in the United States throw away 70 lbs. of textiles per year! Only 15% is said to be donated or recycled. It’s also estimated that 1.5 billion shoes lay idle in American closets. Don’t waste a good opportunity! Put your unused shoes to good use and help create real economic change in developing nations. Soles4Souls utilizes gently used shoes as a resource to help entrepreneurs in developing nations with an opportunity to start and sustain a small business (a micro-enterprise) of their own. Because you donate the shoes you no longer need, Soles4Souls is able to provide a constant quality supply of product to entrepreneurs. Because of you, they can now lift themselves and their families out of poverty. For more information of Soles4Souls, visit their website at https://soles4souls.org. The shoe drive is a great opportunity to talk with your children about the value of being a giver and helping others, as well as the importance of protecting the Earth by keeping shoes out of landfills. You can explain to your child that by giving away your family’s old shoes, you are both helping the planet and also helping a family because they will be able to sell the shoes so that they can buy food, clothes, and other things their family might need. There are some great children’s books that you can use to help support a conversation about charity and conservation. Here are a few recommendations: The Giving Box by Fred Rogers

The Spiffiest Giant in Town by Julia Donaldson Four Feet, Two Sandals by Karen Lynn Williams & Khadra Mohammed Reach Out and Give by Cheri J. Meiners 10 Things I Can Do To Help My World by Melanie Walsh Recycle Everyday by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace

Children’s School March 2019

FSO Opportunity in March Although there is no school on Friday March 8th, the FSO committee has planned a special event at The Heinz History Museum 10:30 AM - Noon to celebrate our favorite neighbor, Mister Rogers, and be creative with puppets. The cost is $8 per person. Please RSVP to Beth Gusenoff (bgusenoff@gmail.com).

FSO Fun in February

Friends and their families had immersive experiences of Chinese New Year when they gathered in the Children’s School on February 2nd, just two days ahead of the lunar new year’s eve, to sing and dance and to make crafts. Chinese dumpling making highlighted the event. Friends applied their adept playdough skills and placed fillings into dumpling wrappers and sealed dumplings. For those patient ones, they waited until the very end to taste their own final products. The three-hour cultural event attracted more than 17 families, making the Red Room and Discovery Area alive. Miss Zhao, Associate Kindergarten Teacher, and also one of the event organizers said, “This is the feeling of Chinese New Year celebration,

with cheerful bustle and a sense of warmth.” Chinese New Year, also called Spring Festival, welcomes the start of the Year of the Pig, according to the Chinese 12-year animal zodiac calendar. Pig, in Chinese culture, stands for wealth, sincerity and generosity. The FSO had a great time at Ton Pottery on February 10th. The friends squished clay to mold it into a small bowl. After adding detail, the bowl turned into a mouse! The children added creative details making each bowl unique. Many friends were quietly focused on their project for a long time. Parents talked and were happy to attend an engaging activity! We can’t wait to see the finished product!

On Sunday, February 17th, Children's School families had a wonderful time at Gymkhana. There were lots of activities for healthy bodies and minds! Stretching on the mat, walking on the balance beam, and swinging on the rings, plus a zip line finale!

Children’s School March 2019

Self-Care for Parents of Young Children Ever heard the analogy of self-care to putting your oxygen mask on first in an airplane emergency? How often are we reminded, as caregivers of young children, to proactively plan time to take care of ourselves? Maybe not quite enough times to make it a healthy, consistent habit? As parents and caregivers, we focus on ensuring that children are well fed, get exercise, rest, etc., but we often sacrifice our own self-care while busy providing for others. If you are raising young children, you know how to prioritize, so the key is to in some meaningful way, prioritize yourself. Parents and caregivers are only as reliable, loving, supportive, strength-filled, unbreakable, and unflappable as we can be every waking moment of our children’s day. If you put yourself at the top of your daily “TO DO” list, you will find that your self-care time energizes you to care for others. Besides the obvious eat, exercise and sleep, here are a few ideas for good self-care: • Breathe! Your preschooler may be able to teach you ‘elevator’ and ‘flower’ breaths! • Laugh often! • Savor one element of your day: a cup of tea, a shower, a walk, a song, or a moment in the sun. • At each meal or at the end of each day, identify three things for which you are grateful. • Aim for balance, not perfection. • Keep your mind active by reading, doing a crossword or sudoku, listening to podcasts, etc. • Call a friend for encouragement. Be willing to ask for help when you need it.

Photographs & Internet Security

Photographs offer a wonderful opportunity to document events for children and families, which is especially helpful in early childhood when children’s limited understanding of time constrains their encoding of episodic memories. Our internet security consultant and former Children’s School parent, Dr. Lorrie Cranor (https://www.cmu.edu/epp/people/faculty/lorrie-faith-cranor.html) recommends that parents use extreme caution when posting photographs of their children online and suggests that they never tag a photograph with a child’s full name in order to reduce the likelihood that a current or future photo search would locate the image. For that reason, all families enrolling children at the Children’s School are required to sign an internet security pledge to respect the privacy and confidentiality of Children’s School staff, undergraduates, children and families by refraining from electronically sharing photographs in which they are pictured. This promise applies to all photographs taken in Children’s School spaces and at Children’s School or FSO sponsored events and to all venues for digital posting of photographs in any language.

Children’s School educators post classroom photos in a password-protected blog site so parents can easily view them with their children to facilitate communication about their activities. Our classroom and school newsletters are posted publicly in .pdf format without full name labels as a way of sharing

our excellent program with prospective families and educational colleagues. Parents also have the option of signing a photo / video consent for children’s images to be used in media stories about the Children’s School, textbooks or other professional publications, etc. Please contact an Administrative Team member if you have any questions or concerns about our policies.

Children’s School March 2019

Family Spotlight: The Nomads

Vaazhthukal! Namaskaram! Namaste! Salamat pagi! Hello!

Having moved almost every three to five years throughout our childhood and our adult lives, both Rajesh and I (Shillika) are blessed to have met amazing people along the way that have become family to us across the world. Our paths crossed in Jakarta, Indonesia when both our fathers were posted there for their respective careers. Our families became close friends, and we attended the same music classes - and it is there that our, or at least my, love story began. As it were though, our families moved on from Indonesia to other exciting destinations. The families kept in touch and it resulted in Rajesh and I reconnecting several years later. There was an instant spark when we did meet again, and after years of transcontinental courtship, we got married in 2013 while Rajesh was doing his general surgery residency in Richmond, Virginia.

We lived together in Richmond for four years and are now in Pittsburgh where Rajesh is finishing his fellowship at UPMC in surgical oncology. While Rajesh doggedly continues his 13-year and counting pursuit of medicine, I have continued to change professions and pursuits depending on the position of the moon. After previous lives as a cinematographer, graphic designer, and adjunct professor, I am now finding immense happiness in being a stay-at-home mom for the past few years with my daughters Medha (3) and Sandhya (7 months). This change has allowed me to bond with my children while exploring nature with like-minded families through Hike-It Baby and Tinkergarten.

Growing up, I was very fortunate to have attended two schools founded on the principles of Jiddu Krishnamurti, a philosopher who believed in a non-competitive environment to nurture education and truly allow each child to draw upon themselves the drive to learn and grow. When our elder daughter Medha was born, we had many conversations about the type of schooling we wanted to give our daughter (now daughters), and how to instill a love for learning. As fate would have it, we stumbled upon the Children's School while on an outdoor adventure in Beechwood Farms one morning in late August. We met a mom of a Children's School alumnus who told us of this fantastic school that sounded magical and too good to be true. It had all those principles that we had been abstractly talking about. We called that day, there was a space, and we registered that afternoon! It has given us immense joy to see Medha being able to start her first school experience here. There is not a single day when she hasn’t enjoyed attending and I haven’t wished to relive my childhood at school

with her. In school, Medha has found a second mother in Mrs. Armbruster, who lights up the halls she walks! Because Medha is a non-English speaker at home, we nervously sent her to school with a cheat-sheet of translations for Mrs. Armbruster. Our fears were unfounded, as Medha has picked up the English language (with an American accent), correcting me and my British tongue ever so often!

Hailing from a nomadic family though, you can’t really take root in one place. You just have to keep moving. So off we go after this school year, when Rajesh completes his fellowship, to new adventures, new places and new friends. Over the course of this year, we have seen Medha grow in many ways and are indebted to the school and its entire staff for everything they do and their unconditional loving nature. We have unofficially adopted many of you into our ever-growing family. We wish you all a wonderful spring break and hope to live on in the Children’s School through you!

Children’s School March 2019

Undergraduate Spotlight • Enza Potter

Hi! My name is Enza Potter, and I am a Freshman here at Carnegie Mellon University. I am a developmental psychology major with an interest in education. I am from a small town in the Bay Area of California: Los Gatos. I have always found great fulfillment in working with children. I have volunteered as a summer camp counselor and as an assistant for developmentally and physically disabled youth. I also have been lucky enough to study children and psychology at Stanford University and Georgetown University during high school. Additionally, I am on the Tartan Track and Field team and pole vault proudly for CMU. I have always loved the passion, drive, and motivation that sports have given me. In being recruited for the team, I was lucky enough to visit Carnegie Mellon for the weekend. While I was here, I was able to see the Children’s School, and I was immediately sold on CMU. When I enrolled at CMU this past fall, I immediately sought how I could be part of this amazing world of research, learning, and fun. I volunteered a few hours a week last semester and learned so much about how children think, engage, and work with others. This spring semester, I am lucky enough to work a few days a week, and every day I learn more about children, our interactions, and myself.

Coming to the Children’s School between my classes throughout the week is the perfect escape from the rigor of classes and life. I am honored to be able to watch these children grow, adapt, and learn. I find myself leaving the school in awe every day of how a three-year-old can seamlessly

speak in French to me and then change to English when asked a question by a friend, or how I get swept away in the imaginary world of building castles. The joy that the children find in painting cacti or learning about buildings encourages me to make the most of my education. I often find that I learn more about life from my time at the Children’s School than I do in most of my classes, but I wouldn’t want it any other way!

Varsity Swimmers & Divers Offer Lessons

It is the time of year again for the Tartan Swim & Dive Lesson Fundraiser! This spring, we will be offering eight lesson dates for interested swimmers 3 years old and up. Our lessons are taught by members of the Carnegie Mellon University Varsity Swimming & Diving Team, and we welcome all ability levels. Information regarding dates, prices, and times is included below:

• Dates: 4/15 - 4/18 (Monday - Thursday) and 4/22 - 4/25 (Monday - Thursday)

• Times: 4:30 - 5:00 pm 5:00 - 5:30pm 5:30 - 6:00pm 6:00 - 6:30pm

• Pricing: 1-4 lessons - $25 per lesson 5-8 lessons - $20 per lesson

If you are interested in registering for lessons, please e-mail Alicia Gorman (aliciag@andrew.cmu.edu) with the dates and times you would like, as well as the name of the swimmer(s), age(s), and a brief description of their ability level. Alicia will reply to confirm your spot and give you additional information regarding your lesson(s). You will also need to complete a waiver form and return it prior to your first lesson. Alicia is happy to answer any questions you may have through e-mail or phone 412-268-2627). Thanks, and we look forward to seeing you on the pool deck! Go Tartans!! Alicia Gorman, Director of Aquatics

Children’s School March 2019

Research Spotlight Attention & Storybook Reading Duksung Women’s University’s Dr. Byungho Lee was a visiting scholar during the 2017-18 academic year. He conducted research at the Children’s School to examine children’s visual attention level during a story reading activity. He recorded children’s eye movements as they watched two story reading videos, one with a teacher (Mrs. Bird) reading a traditional paper-based “big book” and one with a teacher reading a screen-based eBook, to compare the direction and duration of their focus. In addition, he asked comprehension questions to compare their understanding of the stories’ content after the reading. The goal of the research was to determine the ways in which digital media supports and/or detracts from teachers’ efforts to engage children’s attention in storybook reading sessions. 24 Kindergartners and 7 AM Preschool 4’s participated in the study. The “heat maps” shown below indicate the average visual attention during the story reading videos, which they watched on the computer screen with the eye tracking device. The children hearing the paper book read focus on the book itself more often and remain focused for longer times compared to when they

are hearing the screen book read. The prevalence of digital media in children’s lives is growing rapidly, so understanding how to support children’s attention is key.

Pittsburgh Alliance of University Schools Under the leadership of Maggie Rosenblum in 2016, the Children’s School initiated the founding of the Pittsburgh Alliance of University Schools (PAUS) with four partners: The Carlow University Campus School, CMU’s Cyert Center for Early Education (which now has two sites), The Fanny Edel Falk School at the University of Pittsburgh, and Pitt’s University Child Development Center. We collaborate to expand the professional development opportunities we offer to the nearly 200 educators across our five centers. On Saturday, February 9th, we held the second annual PAUS conference, which we purposely scheduled while the practicum students from Duksung Women’s University were in Pittsburgh so they could experience high quality professional development. The keynote presentation, panel discussions, and research presentations focused on “Supporting Emotional & Mental Well Being” from birth to adolescence.

Children’s School March 2019

Director’s Corner: Critical Thinking

According to Ellen Galinsky in Mind in the Making, the fifth of “seven essential life skills every child needs” is critical thinking. Galinsky defines critical thinking as, “the ongoing search for valid and reliable knowledge to guide our beliefs and actions” (p. 204). Critical thinking depends on the first four essential skills because one needs focus and self-control to keep the essential elements of the situation in view while avoiding defensiveness and easy answers in the search for solutions to our dilemmas, making connections while seeking alternate solutions, perspective-taking to consider how our alternatives might affect others, and communication when seeking information and working with others in the decision-making process. At the same time, critical thinking goes literally above and beyond these foundational skills because it requires “‘thinking about our thinking’ by reflecting, analyzing, reasoning, planning, and evaluating” (p. 204). So-called “metacognitive” processes are essential for discerning which people and what messages to believe. This skill is evident most clearly in the Children’s School developmental objectives for discovery and exploration, which includes the positive, proactive and resourceful approaches to learning, together with the basic scientific method of questioning, predicting, observing, and explaining how the world works. By providing broad opportunities for exploration in life, earth, and physical science contexts, as well as in the social sciences and arts, plus occasions for more in-depth studies of interesting themes, we engage children’s natural motivation to learn. Children begin very early in life by noticing patterns of evidence and using them to explain non-obvious causal relationships, such as what makes people happy or sad or what makes a worm move or a machine work. Fortunately, in terms of “naïve psychology”, children have innate biases that prepare them to pay attention to people’s intentions and goals, so they quickly learn to cooperate with cooperative people and to ask for help from those who have been knowledgeable and helpful in the past. Research shows that even preschoolers categorize expertise such that they ask for help with people issues from those who they’ve seen to be good with people and for help with mechanical objects from those who have previously demonstrated knowledge of tools, vehicles, etc. Young children also know that people can make mistakes or might not know certain facts, but it takes longer for children to understand that people may have biased perspectives or be intentionally deceitful. Preschoolers are naturally more curious and will spend more time exploring situations with nonobvious mechanisms, which can lead them to learn critical thinking skills IF adults interacting with them respect their Why? questions. In these situations, both parents and educators can intentionally promote critical thinking by modeling effective inquiry processes as we help them find answers. Because of attention and memory constraints, young children need our help to focus on the most important features of the evidence, to try varying just one aspect of the situation to gather new evidence, and to then interpret the pattern of evidence. At the same time, remember to let the child’s interest lead and to gently guide with questions, such as, “What do you think would happen if …?” You can also start helping children evaluate information quality, such as with rumors vs. reality or in product advertising, by asking, “How can we discover if this information is true?” Here again, modeling your own decision-making processes in the context of child-appropriate dilemmas, such as meal, gift, or activity choices, you’ll help them learn that for most decisions there is more than one “right” answer, so there’s value in weighing alternatives and considering their consequences. After pursuing the final choice, be sure to reflect on the outcome to improve future decisions.

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2019-20 Kindergarten Re-Enrollment Forms Due

2

3

4

5

6

7 4:30-6:30PM Healthy Mind and Body Family Festival

8 NO SCHOOL Educator Professional Development Day

10:30AM FSO Event at The Heinz History Center

9

10 Daylight Saving Time Begins Turn Your Clock Ahead 1 Hour

11 NO SCHOOL Spring Vacation

12 NO SCHOOL Spring Vacation

13 NO SCHOOL Spring Vacation

14 NO SCHOOL Spring Vacation

15 NO SCHOOL Spring Vacation

16

17 Preschool Theme: How Things Work Kindergarten Theme: China

18

March Safety Week

19

20 Dr. Carver, Mrs. Bird and Mrs. Myers @ IALS Conference at Texas Christian University

21 Music w/ Mrs. Hraber

22

23

24 31

25

26

27

28 Dr. Carver & Mrs. Rosenblum @ NCCCC Conference in Hilton Head, NC

29 NO SCHOOL Conference Preparation Day

30

2019

March

Children’s School CMUChSch@andrew.cmu.edu www.cmu.edu/dietrich/psychology/cs/index.html

412-268-2199

The Children’s School Snack Menu

Subject to change based on birthdays & special events Gluten and dairy free options available

March 2019

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday 1

Rice Krispies

Milk/Water 4 5 6 7 8

Goldfish Crackers

Milk/Water

Bananas &

Vanilla Wafers

Milk/Water

Peppers w/ Ranch

Dip & Tortilla Chips

Milk/Water

Raisin Bread & Apple Butter

Milk/Water

No School

Educator Professional

Development Day

11 12 13 14 15

No School Spring

Vacation

No School

Spring Vacation

No School

Spring Vacation

No School

Spring Vacation

No School

Spring Vacation

18 19 20 21 22

Animal Crackers

Milk/Water

Tortilla Chips & Guacamole

Milk/Water

Mini Bagels &

Sunbutter

Milk/Water

Applesauce &

Graham Crackers

Milk/Water

Baby Carrrots &

Hummus

Milk/Water 25 26 27 28 29

Wheat Bread &

Butter

Milk/Water

Apples &

String Cheese

Milk/Water

Pretzels &

Guacamole

Milk/Water

Snap Peas w/ Ranch Dip &

Sun Chips

Milk/Water

No School Conference

Preparation Day

THIS RELEASE MUST BE COMPLETED BEFORE LESSONS START.

Carnegie Mellon University GENERAL RELEASE – SWIMMIMG & DIVING LESSONS

(FOR ADULTS - 18 AND OVER)

I want to take swimming & diving lessons ("Lessons") at Carnegie Mellon University ("CMU"). I understand that the Lessons are physically strenuous and that there are risks (including but not limited to, cuts, bruises, concussions, and more serious injuries up to and including disability and death) as well as benefits, associated with the Lessons. I voluntarily assume any and all risks. In consideration of the benefits, I, hereby, on behalf of myself and those acting on my behalf, irrevocably and unconditionally release, waive, and promise not to sue CMV and those acting on its behalf, from/for any and all liabilities, losses, injuries, damages, claims, actions and/or causes of action arising from or connected with the Lessons, including securing of or failure to secure medical treatment. I give CMV permission to provide medical treatment if it's required in CMU's judgment. The laws of Pennsylvania shall apply to this release. If any of its provisions are declared illegal or unenforceable, they shall be deemed severable, and all other provisions shall remain valid and binding. I'm an adult (18 years old or older). I'm signing this release voluntarily, having read and understood it and intending to be legally bound by it.

Signature Date

Print Name Date of Birth

Camegie Mellon University GENERAL RELEASE- SWIMMIMG & DI VI NG LESSONS

(FOR MINORS- UNDER 18)

I want my minor child to take swimming and diving lessons ("Lessons") at Carnegie Mellon University ("CMU"). I understand the Lessons are physically strenuous and there are risks (including but not limited to, cuts, bruises, concussions, and more serious injuries up to and including disability and death) as well as benefits, associated with the Lessons. I voluntarily assume any and all risks on behalf of my child. In consideration of the benefits, I, hereby, on behalf of myself, my child, and those acting on our behalf, irrevocably and unconditionally release, waive, and promise not to sue CMU and those acting on its behalf, from/for any and all liabilities, losses, injuries, damages, claims, actions and/or causes of action arising from or connected with the Lessons, including securing of or failure to secure medical treatment. I give CMU permission to provide medical treatment for my child if it's required in CMU's judgment. The laws of Pennsylvania shall apply to this release. If any of its provisions are declared illegal, or unenforceable, they shall be deemed severable, and all other provisions shall remain valid and binding. I'm an adult. I'm signing this release voluntarily, having read and understood it and intending to be legally bound by it.

Signature Date

Print Name Print Child's Name

Rev. 2 /27/17