As the Preschool years come to an end

It's hard, I'm sure, to believe that your 4 or 5-year-old child is finito with preschoolo! Well congrats! You have survived as a parent and I'm sure you've done an amazing job. {I mean look, your on a website looking for products to better your child's education & growth - high fives to you!} Get ready for a graduation party where your child will be completely overwhelmed and I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this but s/he will now expect every end of the year to be a celebration like this one!


This part of the year is an emotional roller coaster for all but that's why I have compiled a list of books for you to use to get your child ready for the big K stay! Yup - here it is, a list of books about Kindergarten that you can spend no money on through the wonderful forgotten place called the library! 


{If you have multiple children you might want to invest and then give them as gifts when they are through with them...but how many times is your LBB going to want to read about kindergarten once their off and running to the first and second grades!?}


Kindergarten Book List:

• Look Out Kindergarten Here I Come! by Nancy Carlson
• Polka-dot Fixes Kindergarten by Catherine Urdahl
• Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten by Natasha Wing
• The Night Before Kindergarten by Natasha Wing
• Countdown to Kindergarten by Allison McGhee
• Wemberly Worried by Kevin Henkes
• Panda Goes to School by Tara Jayesh Morrow

  

If you have other favorites that you would recommend please leave them in the comment section to share with others. Thank you!  - BBny

Child Mind Institute

Through my work as a special educator, I've had the chance to meet and learn about many great organizations. And over the past few years, one such organization that I've had a continued association with has been the Child Mind Institute. Located in Manhattan, their focus is studying children with a variety of disorders, and offering extensive services to accommodate each individual.

I recently went to their Adam Jeffrey Katz Memorial Lecture with hot-shot producer, Brian Grazer {A Beautiful Mind, Apollo 13, Frost/Nixon, & Splash} who openly spoke about growing up with Dyslexia. It was really interesting to hear what he had to say and how he copes with it. 

If you are a special education teacher or a parent with children with special needs, I highly recommend you getting involved with organizations like The Child Mind Institute. They are full of information and help is always readily available. 

Click here to learn more about The Child Mind Institute

It's Okay to be Different

Book Review

Topic: Differences

One of these days I have would LOVE to meet Todd Parr. His books are absolutely outstanding! Being a teacher, I'm always looking for short books with a great messages that can be read 100 times over. Kids love repetition, and I could read any of Parr's books on a continuous loop and still not get sick of them. If you don't own any yet, you need to change that right now. He is a unique illustrator, but also has the ability to get his point across by simplifying the message. 

In It's Okay to Be Different, Parr touches on an abundance of differences, allowing readers to find at least one that they can relate to. 

Check out a full list of Parr's work here.

SENSORY GYMS: NEW YORK CITY

Are you looking for a sensory gym in the New York Area? 

Look no further! Just click the names below. 

Making Milestones

Sage

Special Programs in Occupational Therapy {SPOTS}

Support By Design 

Sensation

{Busy Bee Tips: 1. If you see a place you like now that happens to be right around the corner CALL NOW even to see if anyone is available in your Little Busy Bee's schedule. 2.Visit the gyms, you might decide that you don't like it for one reason or another. 3. Some gyms, might not give tours however by just walking through the door can give you a good feel of the place.}

When Sophie Gets

Topic: Anger

It's hard to be a Little Busy Bee at times, especially when mom forces you to share and when grabbing is involved. Sophie is a little girl who becomes extremely mad when things don't go her way. She deals with her feelings and recovers in her own time. A great book to use to address a certain someones unacceptable way of dealing with their anger. Have a conversation about how your Little Busy Bee deals with theirs and feel free to use your self as an example also. 


Invite Sophie to your house by purchasing her here

Yes, No, Maybe So

Topic: Manners & For Fun

Little Busy Bees LOVE this book. These two monkey brother characters, are just that. Each page shoes 3 options, a yes, a no and a maybe so. It depends on individual families of what is really allowed but children love to discuss the options on each page. It's also fun to hear from a teacher's perspective on what each child is allowed to do at home. For example: one page has brothers sharing pants when they obviously don't fit so NO and the yes is the brothers sharing socks. A very cute book. Includes meal, bath and bed time habits. Enjoy! 
Get Yes, No, Maybe so here

MIND YOUR MANNERS CARDS

These are great conversation starters, good for story telling practice and for have simple visual examples of what we all should be doing on a daily basis. The curriculum on manners almost doesn't exist, which is so sad. Even adults could use a few 1:1 support with me and come of the items from my Mary Poppin's size bag of tricks! You get 40 cards with 2 different senerios to chose from. Get your Little Busy Bee talking about the differences between sides A and B. Give them clues if they can't tell what is happening and ask them to relate it to themselves. "Do you eat steak with your hands?" or "Do you walk in the door with muddy shoes on?" Great for children who are visual and concrete learners. A great gift idea too. 
Purchase them here

How to Lose All Your Friends

Topic: Friends & Manners

A Backwards look at what to do if you really want to lose your best pals. This book uses simple language and illustrations to show what not to do. Little Busy Bees that I've read it to get a kick out of it every time. Does your Busy Bee do a good job of losing friends? Maybe it's time they need a little peek into see what it all looks like from the outside. 

Buy How to Lose All Your Friends here!

Playing Card Holder

What a great invention! Yes, any Busy Bee could make one  of these at home  {flip over an egg carton and cut slits into it} but let's get serious, A. who has the time to eat all 12 or 24 eggs, remember to save the box and get out the box cutter? and B.  Little Bees prefer well made products so they don't get destroyed. If your Poker-faced, card shark, Little Busy Bee beats little Mickey, that wonderful homemade art project of yours, may get crushed as fast as it will take you to order one by clicking here.


It's clean and clear and enables your Little Busy Bee to focus on the game rather than constantly having to re-organize their cards.  


{BUSY BEE Tip: If you do get the pleasure of owning one, label it with your child's name, or else other Little Bees will be making bets for it during a poker game on your date night.} 

1,2,3 Magic

Behave or else...

This super-duper book teaches parents how to set limits and discipline their Little Busy Bees in clear and concise ways. You literally count 1, 2, 3, giving your LBB {Little Busy Bee} a chance to clean up their act before you know what happens. However, in order to do all this right, you will need to figure out what behaviors are not allowed and what their consequences will be, prior to implementing this into your child's life. A conversation needs to be had with your Little Busy Bee before the count down begins. 

Click here to purchase

{Busy Bee Tip: Use visuals and post them up in the home of rules that are allowed (having fun, laughing, high fives, sitting during meals, clean up toys, inside voices, etc.) & a visual for those that are not (hitting, kicking, yelling, running, etc.). Get creative - stick figures, pictures from magazines, anything that will help remind everyone using these rules, even guests!}

Wash Your Hands

Topics: Manners & Health

This adorable book is about a princess who learns to wash her hands and reminds others to do so as well. Could your Busy Little Princess Bee use some fun reminding? Or do you know someone who does? Then I would highly recommend this book. Great for Busy Bees who are learning the routines of hand washing at home and at school or for those who adore a good princess story.  


Wash your hands with the Princess. {Click here to purchase}

the dot

Topic: Self Esteem

An unsure Little Busy Bee has no idea what he's doing when painting. With some encouragement from a teacher, he is able to let go and create. He decides to use the skills he has and ends up helping a friend. Very cute book for beginning artists and great for building self-esteem. 

Buy it here

Expression Stamps

Perfect for Little Busy Bees to use as a tool to encourage communication about these different faces/feelings and learning that that it's acceptable to have different feelings. You could do so many activities with these: stick figure people with these as heads, include these in an alphabet book {A is for Angry}, a child dictates a story and uses the stamps to show how his character feels, etc. Possibilities are endless. Great even to just use as a simple stamp activity prior to talking about their "feelings". Have fun and stamp away!


Purchase your stamps here

The Time Timer

A simple and easy to use timer that shows children the amount of time left. Brilliant! It has no scary sounds and it great to use when showing a child how much time they have to play or finish an activity.


Purchase the timer here

My Friend Isabelle

Topic: Down Syndrome

What an amazing book to teach differences! This is a sweet book that I have read many times over and used in different classrooms with a variety of ages. The main character, her friend, tells the story about Isabelle, who can still have fun even though she does things differently. However, it's never mentioned that she is diagnosed with Down Syndrome. It doesn't matter what a diagnosis is, it matters how we treat people. {I find myself using this sentence way too much when in conversations with adults. (gasp) I know!} This is highly recommended to read with any child to teach about differences. We are all different but we can all still have fun and enjoy life together.   

Meet Isabelle

Temple Grandin Visits New York City

I very recently had the pleasure of meeting one of my favorite authors, who happens to be an adult with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Temple Grandin is one of the most interesting public figures who has used her "disorder" as a way to advocate for animals and Autism Awareness. 


Temple accompanied Sy Montgomery to promote their new book written for children {9+} based on the story of Temple Grandin's life. 

Ms. Grandin was one of the first people to get appropriate help and use her visual thinking, as a positive attribute and become a famous public figure with special needs. She is such an amazing role model. We can all learn from her through any of her books.

Temple's Advice for children:

{from my notes}

- Don't say no to children, give them instructions. 

- Use iPads & Tablets

- It's a mistake if you're not working with your own child. Take them out to do stuff. 

- It's not the question of Private School vs. Public School, you need to look at specific situations separately but also ask the most important question - "Is my child progressing?"

- Little kids need as much interaction with all kinds of children but as they grow older inclusion is not always the best route to take especially when pairing high functioning children with lower functioning children. 
- "Stretch Children", If you don't stretch them they won't develop
-Too many children are locked into video games. We have to start saying "What can they do when they grow up?"

"There are a ton of ASPY people in silicone valley. I have met them. I just can't say any names." - Temple Grandin

- 

MINE-O-SAUR

Children's Book Review

Topic: Sharing

In a class of all dinosaurs there is one that needs a 1:1 lesson on sharing. He learns the hard way and loses friends, becomes lonely and decides to take matters into his own hands. This cute book can lead to interesting converations with children. Ask them what they would do if they were the mine-o-saur, what they think the teacher should do, what the other dinos can say...The possibilities are endless. You could even act it out, make the scenery, etc. Okay, that is pushing it a little, but a great book to touch upon the topic of taking turns with friends.  

To purchase this book click here.