The Seven Essential Life Skills Every Child Needs
By Ellen Galinsky
Facilitator: Dr. Greg Nelson
Lemonade Stands
This term resonated with the group.Share some of the passions you have seen children evidence, and describe how their lemonade stands have served to focus and enhance their development ( and feel free to use yourself as an example!).
21 comments:
Donna Uminski
said...
Lemonade stands I have a 2 yr old toddler "D" whose dad is an excavator. "D" loves anything to do with Diggers, Cement trucks, Excavators etc. We will leave an Excavator book on the table and as soon as its noticed its reading time. Excavator puzzles are done with a renewed focus.Outdoor play is of course dirt and diggers. "D" can name every part of each machine in detail and tell you how it works and what it is used for.I have given all my toddlers old cellphones and "D" holds his on his shoulder while pretending to talk to "worker guys" on the site about various jobs I love to watch his imagination as he attempts to have a job conversation with a pretty clear understanding of what excavating entails. I have purchased "Digger" t Shirts for all of us to wear on the pretend job-sites. Shapes , colors, sounds are all more interesting to "D" if they evolve around Diesel engines.
This struck a chord with me. I have many discussions with staff and grad students about keeping alive innate senses of depth of play. Children don't need to be taught this skill, it evolves with their age. It involves not just playing, but organizing and focusing the energy of a project. I have seen kids use the block area build large structures and even at 4 or five, they understand they can ask me to save a project/building until the next day. As teachers we need to respect and identify the "mental work" that is going on here (my term) and allow their work to continue if possible. I have seen also the different levels of persistance exhibited by girls and boys, in these tasks. My daughter can have these projects that last for a day or more, whereas my son tires more quickly. I wonder and think often as I read, if this has been studied? We know that learning is different for boys and girls, but do the stages of acquisition of the executive functions follow this pattern as well? Do boys tend to lag behind? I wonder.
The image of a lemonade stands conjurs up lazy summer days, posters filled with inventive spelling (think prizes for prices :)), watery juice and sticky fingers. I had such fun with the neighborhood kids creating our own stands and flagging down customers on a hot day. I think just the experience of having "kids in the neighborhood" to play with in self-directed manner is something I am thankful for. My daughter has been fortunate that she has two girlfriends living close by whose days are not filled to capacity with activities. My daughter and her friends had a "duck tape" stand. They worked together to created wallets, bracelets, bags etc. They kept it up for several days, which allowed them to extend their play. They had to work and learn from eachother and figure out what worked and what didn't. All three have what I would call strong personalities so they really ahd to work out the tasks they performed. They had a little help from the Moms, but not much as we thought it was more important for them to figure it out. What a great experience it was for them, she still talks about having another sale next summer!! (I should buy stock in the duck tape company!!)
In response to Amy's comment, I have seen projects last for several months in my pre - K classroom that is Reggio inspired. I think the length of a project depends on how basic the inquiry is. If your 4 year olds are focused on monsters, and they explore masks and costumes, stories, set building, and related games, it could go on indefinitly! My class was really into Santa Claus and his reindeer from Thanksgiving to New Years, and for the month of December everybody kept a home - made red nose and a set of chenile stick antlers in their cubbies so that they could participate in the block play more quickly each day. Halfway through January the noses and antlers disappeared. Because I happen to have a HUGE amount of Leggos, I am able to let children keep their Leggo structures on a shelf from day to day, which allows builders to add to their structures every day, so that their ability to build with Leggos gets more and more elaborate as time goes on. I don't keep block structures up (although they do in Reggio Emilia - using recycled materials with the blocks), but I do take pictures of their buildings which I display so that they can be reminded of past structures and rebuild them. The stepping back and reflecting piece seems to me to be the last part of executive function to develop, which is why being able to discuss what was learned in the past, and plan the next steps of a project with a teacher or parent is so important. I haven't thought that there was a big difference between boys and girls in this ability to sustain a project. It has seemed to me that the topic, and the adult support has been what makes the difference.
I think many early childhood teachers have had the experience of seeing how excited children get when they plant seeds and then see them start to grow. At our center, each spring/summer we plant a garden right next to our playground. The children take part in this activity from start to finish. We first we introduce the topic of gardening and then the children get involved with planting seeds and seedlings into the garden area. As the days/weeks pass, they help to weed the garden and water the plants on a regular basis. They make careful observations on what plants are growing and the stages in which they grow. They learn that when a vegetable plant flowers, that means the vegetable will soon be growing. They also learn that the vegetable needs to grow to a certain size and turn a certain color before it is ripe and ready to pick. When the vegetable are ready to be harvested, the children then go into the garden and help pick them off the plants. These vegetables are then used for our snack. Once the cold weather begins to arrive, they help put the garden to bed so that we can begin the process again next spring. Throughout this gardening process, other discoveries are made as well such as there are worms in the soil, bugs and insects on the plants and missing vegetables that animals have gotten a hold of and eaten. Yet more “lemonade stands” to foster!
Promote your child's “lemonade stands,” or passions of the moment. This corresponds to the "Focus" blog I posted on "K". K is a special little girl whom I have some concerns. K has taken to my 26 yr old daughters treasured play doll "Nicholas" I have allowed her to have this doll on a daily basis. Her mom reports that upon waking she wants to come and get Nickolas. When K arrives at 6:30 AM she immediately snuggles and gets tucked in on the couch with Nick for a 45 minute nap. If this routine is broken ( example I cannot find Nick , which puts me in terrors!) she would incessantly ask for the doll until Nick is placed in her arms. I now make sure Nick is placed on the couch with K's blanket before I go to bed. K will play pretend ALONE with Nick, feeding , cradling, and seems to be her only dedicated interest and one true friend.
When I was reading about the "lemonade stand" and I got to the part about Antonio it reminded me of a new child that just started in my classroom. This child is one years old and has been diagnosed with a speech delay. I have only met him twice so far but I was given a ton of paperwork from Early Intervention and other therapists on him. From what mom tells me, along with all this paperwork, the only thing this child is interested in is electronics. He spends his days on mom's ipad and iphone playing games and watching videos. This has told me that he has a pretty good attention span but no social skills. From what I have seen so far he has no interest in other children. The other problem is the same goes for toys. If it is not electronic he wants nothing to do with it at the age of 1 1/2! While reading about the lemonade stand I kept thinking if I can just find that one toy that captures his attention maybe we can ween him off the electronics and get him interested in playing with toys and eventually other children. This would hopefully also help with his speech delay.
A suggestion to Kelly, maybe you could find an older child(ren) to pair up with your little electronics wizard to still foster his interest but also encourage social interaction. As far as ‘lemonade stands’ goes, I remember my own lemonade stands as a child with my cousin Brian. We not only had roadside lemonade stands, we also picked raspberries and sold them, and at one point started a neighborhood newspaper which we tried to sell door to door! My aunt always encouraged these endeavors. I look back and see how this really showed us that we could follow our interests no matter what they were. This is what I tried to instill in my own children and continue to try to do with my grandchildren and in the children in my school.
I would love see a classroom that allows blocks and lego projects that can stay together for a long period of time like Nora’s. It must be great to watch children be able to return to a project and see how it develops over time. I see lemonade stands in two ways. First, having a lemonade stand is such an important aspect of life at any age. At home, my teenage son played sports for years but did not make the high school team and is struggling to find a way to fit in. Unfortunately, suggestions from his mother don’t seem to help at this age. The other aspect that I’ve seen first hand is when parents and teachers are able to build on learning based on children’s interests. Last year, as a student teacher, I had a four year old that was challenging. He always seemed to be drawn to one area of the classroom and was often disruptive in class. Once I started to get to know him, I learned that he was very interested in dinosaurs. By placing dinosaurs in different areas of the school, like play dough, at different times, he started exploring the school, engaging in more productive play and interacting with other children.
At four years old my sweet, quiet, somewhat shy granddaughter (I’ll call her Mary.) loved to dance. Wanting her to have experience beyond home and Sunday School, and building on her love to dance,my daughter enrolled Mary in a local dancing school, unknowingly launching her “Lemonade Stand” – the performing arts. Of course, children’s lives are complicated. Mary had some learning challenges, spending two years in kindergarten. She was still lagging behind in language skills (reading, spelling, even speech) at the end of third grade, when my daughter decided to home school Mary and her two older brothers. The scheduling flexibility offered by homeschooling plus the effort my daughter put into tailoring the curriculum and her teaching methods to Mary’s personality, interests and abilities allowed the Lemonade Stand to develop. The dancing school teachers as well as my daughter encouraged and nurtured Mary’s work ethic, effort and individuality. At fourteen Mary asked if she could help teach a preschool dancing class. Clearly her self-confidence was growing. That year she received her ten-year trophy, ten-year perfect attendance recognition and a special “good citizenship” award. Her Lemonade Stand was ready for serious business! That summer she and some homeschool friends attended a theater workshop held at another local dancing school. In September she volunteered to teach her preschool class again and took dancing lessons at both locations. Even though the new school focused on classic technique and the other on showmanship, she was able to make the connections between them and realized great development in her skills. It is also testimony to her perspective-taking skills that she utilized the different approaches of the two schools as complementary, not conflicting. After the somewhat disastrous but interesting drama experience of the previous summer, she auditioned for a role in GODSPELL! with a local performing arts school (Along the way she had taken some voice lessons.) and gave a hugely successful performance. At sixteen her life was transformed into that of a singer/ dancer/ actress! Her Lemonade Stand was established! She will soon be eighteen and is a junior in high school, her high school requirements being fitted around her paid position and personal lessons at the original dancing school and various theatrical lessons and play rehearsals at the performance arts school. Curious about the high school drama club, she investigated, auditioned and earned roles in both a dramatic and a musical production this spring. (By the way, she says that the public school kids were “very welcoming.”) Today she is self-confident in new situations, willing to try new things such as singing in church and leading vacation Bible school. Her diction is perfect. She has a good sense of humor and expresses her opinions clearly. She has unusual self-acceptance. Although she can memorize scripts once she is familiar with the words and she tests well on multiple choice, she still has trouble with “cold” reading, but just laughs and asks what a word is. Whenever possible she utilizes Spellcheck to be sure her writing is accurate. She is a large girl who embraces her ability to wear flashy clothes and jewelry and to belt out a song. She wants to attend college, majoring in a field related to the performing arts and will take one or two courses at a community college in the fall as a step in that direction. That’s passion!
Lemonade stands: I happen to be one of those late bloomers so I did not have my lemonade stand until I was in my 20’s. I had left college with only one paper to complete which stood in the way of my graduation. I had a real problem with deadlines and the pressure they put on me. It took me 10 years to finish that paper and get my undergraduate degree. In the interim, I was working at a camera store and they needed someone to do custom black and white film developing and printing. I had taken many classes in college and after college and I loved taking photos. I decided to take on the challenge of becoming my own small (very small) business. Suddenly I needed to complete projects on time again. Because I needed to face these customers personally, I was very invested in the quality of the work and the timeliness of the work. I learned that I could complete tasks on time, that I could work under a bit of pressure and that I am a hard worker. My lemonade stand taught me valuable lessons about myself and gave me a kind of confidence that I was never able to cultivate in school. It also gave me the confidence to go to graduate school and complete that degree in a timely fashion. But first I finished that paper.
I've had many experiences over the years to confirm the theory that a single area of passion and interest can be linked with other skills and be life changing. I have a 4 yr old grandaughter that has been reluctant to show an interest in letters and numbers and one might assume her academic readiness skills are not quite there. Yet you talk about any bird and she is bursting with enthusiam. She can identify all the locals and her favorite is the Bald Eagle. Now the whole class is involved in finding Bald Eagles.They see them in books, on top of flag staffs, on the mailtruck. Her excitement is contagious and offers a teachable moment for us to expand on in class.Everyone is now a bird watcher! Throughout this experience I can't help but returning to Howard Gardner's book "Multiple Intelligences" Isn't this the "Naturalist Intelligence?" I love his theory of multiple intelligences and how he gives us a new model of intelligence that allows us to celebrate different kinds of minds with different strengths and gifts. If you haven't visited this theory in awhile, do the research. The original 7 intelligences are now 10! Fascinating stuff!
The kids in recent months have shown such an interest in writing and recognizing letters that appear in their name on the wall, in books on their cubbies, on our walks. Their trying to write on everything and with everything. I thought why not make an alphabet book. We find a picture together of the word of the day. They color it, try to write the beginning letter of the word, both upper and lower case,having talked about the meaning of upper and lover case, their name, etc. They look forward to the picture of the day and also want to help get the next day ready. In looking at other blogs it also give me idea for future lemonade stands.
We had a family with a dad going on an eighteen week work cruise. It was creating a lot of stress for the children--- and the mom! That is a long time to be gone. His daughter, our student, became very interested in packing bags: our two play suitcases, and any other receptacle she could find. At clean up she would not want them unpacked unless the stuff could be kept intact in a larger tote. Then, next day, she would repack, often changing up items. The other children began to assist with suggestions of their own. One child made her a passport which started a flurry of important office stations where important papers were created and issued to classmates. Photos were taken---at first completely make believe but soon a real camera and digital prints became necessary. Inevitably, papers went missing and a detective agency popped up. A child whose passion was magnifying glasses became the class sleuth looking for clues to the papers' whereabouts. Mr. Nobody was apparently the culprit and was spotted all around the room. Elaborate traps were prepared to snare him. He became a character in a story I was telling....This eighteen week cruise had about a sixteen week life in our room. And around when Dad returned it slowly died down. The magnifying glass was put to purposes other than clue- finding. The suitcases rarely came out. Office play turned to themes other bureaucratic agencies with waiting lines for important papers. Later, the parents told me that the trip went smoothly and Skype was a wonder for keeping people feeling connected. Another trip was in the works but Dad's passport was missing......a reliable tip led to its recovery in a bag in the daughter's closet! She had learned you can't go anywhere without important papers!
When I read Galinsky’s description of the Lemonade Stand, I immediately thought of a 2 ½ year old boy that I care for name Brian. Most of the time, you will find Brian standing at the train table. Most other 2 year olds are running around bouncing from 1 activity to another. Brian can become so focused and obsessed with Thomas the Train that he can tune out many of the movements in the classroom. He does not want to transition or join in the other activities with his peers. When other kids approach the table he gets frustrated and does not want them to play with him. I was very concerned about his behaviors and had mentioned my concerns to his mom. I would engage with Brian on a regular basis and try to play trains with him. He initially was reluctant but then let me join in on his play. I then invited select peers to join in. Eventually, it turned into the kids trying to make the longest train tracks which he is very involved in. I brought in a 20 piece train puzzle which made him leave his comfort area where the trains are kept and then I brought in a Thomas memory game and other objects for peers to play with together.
I know that my example is not exactly what Galinsky meant by Lemonade Stand but I was able to build a relationship with a child using his passion for trains that I was very concerned about. I still have some concerns for this kiddo. However, he has made some much progress from where he first started. He now will join us for Letter Box, Parachute and other activities. He will resist the initial transition but once he is with us, he stays and participates. He has initiated some play with other kids but not consistently but he will join in with others if they are dancing, playing with cars or trains, etc.
I think we have to be really careful about what we consider "Lemonade stands". What some of us are describing, especially with respect to Antonio and K, are comfort measures for children who may have deeper more serious issues and needs. The Lemonade stands are areas of interests that should be allowed to flourish and enhance a learning experience. But when the focus becomes a rountine that can't be broken, or a specific type of play that can't be strayed from, I think we need to re-evaluate the global view of the child. While some of Galinsky's ideas and studies are very helpful, but we need to keep in context that these studies all suggested the participant were all "typical" children with no special needs or issues. In the case of K, I think what you are describing is a global need, rather than a lemonade stand. A child with a propensity toward dolls will play elaborately with dolls, in different contexts and with clear plots etc. K can't function without the doll, which leads me to believe there is something social hindering her. The same with Antonio, he needs the electronics, and part of that may be parent education, children are way to tech savy, but if he can't focus on anything like social contexts and imaginative play, and only responds to electronics when playing, there is more socially in the way. Its not just an interest. Interests can be good, but children still should maintain a level of distractablity through which they can change gears and focus on other kinds of tasks.
Passion definitely ignites focus in any person. When I has in middle school my friend and I made a television show in my bedroom. It was called "Lunch Time Laughs". We would make ourselves lunch and bring it into my bedroom for our skit. We would involve daily news using the news paper to talk about current topics. We would also talk about what went on at school; ie friend and teachers. After lunch we tried to and exercises bit and also singing. We would copy exercises we had seen our mothers do. We were very engaged and focus on our endeavor.
The process of learning a second language was always fascinating me. Be that an adult or be that a child a miracle that happens in our brain is still unrevealed. This is my “Lemonade Stand”! It was surprisingly pleasant for me to read in the book Mind in the Making that English language “is one of the world’s most difficult written languages” p. 136. I’ve learned (and still learning) that this is true the hard way - by meticulously immersing myself in reading, writing out, translating, and memorizing new words from English literature. Every new book for me is a new struggle in the battle for proficiency. I am not just sitting and relaxing reading the book I am having a pencil and folded paper sheet as my bookmarks and I am ready for writing down unknown words. In the book Mind in the Making there is a notion that adults are actually learning second language with some advantage (p.138) which I dare to question by being that adult learner and having first hand experience. My learning steps are: - seeing/hearing a new word; - writing it out with the transcription; - making up several sentences in order to understand how it’s being used - hearing the word in conversation or seeing it in literature and being able to understand / interpret the meaning or - feeling the need to use it in my speech and being able to retrieve it from my memory. Two last steps are incredibly difficult and sometimes it takes me years to master. Not to forget that speech requires fluency and correct pronunciation. Now let’s look at the learning steps of the child I have now in my classroom. He is Indian boy (3+ y.o.) who came to my class in January and had never been exposed to English language (no children’s TV, books, and all family conversations are in Hindu): - he hears the word and sees a picture of it if possible; - he reproduces that word several times (I am asking him) in order to memorize and understand the meaning; - he is saying it or following the given direction properly where I am using it! After almost two months in my classroom the boy understands and follows all classroom daily routines steps (vocabulary of approximately 100 words) and is able to say about 10 words by himself! I wish I would have that speed… Another observation from my personal experience contradicts statement from the book (p.139) about loosing first language. The second language learner child is capable to save his first language as far as he is practicing it regularly! My point is that there is much more to the learning of second language process. It lies in the secrets of our brain capacity and unfortunately is not studied by scientists with the attention it deserves…
I just want to incorporate a suggestion on how to expand children’s lemonade stands by using some technology. Recently, we did a study of “Space” in our classroom that involved learning about the planets, astronauts, etc., Many of the children became passionate about the process of learning from our books and the activities we did - but what also really helped them along was seeing actual images. I brought in my laptop to the group time and showed the children video clips (which I had watched first before showing) of astronauts floating in zero gravity. It was after seeing this that children started to say how they would like to become astronauts and how interesting it would be to be in zero gravity. They could not get enough of this video! It gave them a concrete visual on which to dream! Also I had a clip of what a “shooting star” looks like (because few at this age have seen one) and then we made guess about the color it was when it hit the ground. Then I found photos of what a shooting start actually looks like when it does hit the ground. On another topic, I had shown the children a clip of an octopus as it used a coconut shell as a sled to scoot itself across the sea floor and hide under it. This gave them a whole new perspective on octopuses! I think those video clips are some of my most remembered lessons and I still get requests for them! My point is, lemonade stands can be given fuel by us and by using technology to help further the passion in ways that just words cannot. I guess you could say that exploration of technology being used in the classroom is one of my lemonade stands!
As a parent, I have a 17 year old who is searching for his passion. He says he does not want to do what his father does...which is consulting...and yet his test scores show his interest lies within the business world. He just started a business class and is pouring himself into creating a stock portfolio. It seems he is checking his stocks every two minutes to the point I have told him the market is closed. Not only is he checking his stocks but he is researching what he wants to purchase which is a wonderful way to study different businesses. He has an emotional interest along with a social engagement (competition with his classmates),and cognitive work (p. 326). This experience is sure to to be meaningful and purposeful!
There is a four year old A in my class who loves everything about garbage and recycling. I thought at first it was just the truck but he loves everything about trash! He would come in every Tuesday a little late because he had to watch the garbage men take the trash, he then practices throwing the trash barrels. A explains to everyone at lunch time what is recyclable (because of the symbol) and shows the children how you can tell. This is great when being green has become so important he jump starts great discussions. I have also found this is a way to redirect him especially when he begins to miss mom. He helps me take out the trash and put new trash bags in. You can see his face light up and how important he feels!
21 comments:
Lemonade stands
I have a 2 yr old toddler "D" whose dad is an excavator. "D" loves anything to do with Diggers, Cement trucks, Excavators etc. We will leave an Excavator book on the table and as soon as its noticed its reading time. Excavator puzzles are done with a renewed focus.Outdoor play is of course dirt and diggers. "D" can name every part of each machine in detail and tell you how it works and what it is used for.I have given all my toddlers old cellphones and "D" holds his on his shoulder while pretending to talk to "worker guys" on the site about various jobs I love to watch his imagination as he attempts to have a job conversation with a pretty clear understanding of what excavating entails. I have purchased "Digger" t Shirts for all of us to wear on the pretend job-sites. Shapes , colors, sounds are all more interesting to "D" if they evolve around Diesel engines.
This struck a chord with me. I have many discussions with staff and grad students about keeping alive innate senses of depth of play. Children don't need to be taught this skill, it evolves with their age. It involves not just playing, but organizing and focusing the energy of a project. I have seen kids use the block area build large structures and even at 4 or five, they understand they can ask me to save a project/building until the next day. As teachers we need to respect and identify the "mental work" that is going on here (my term) and allow their work to continue if possible. I have seen also the different levels of persistance exhibited by girls and boys, in these tasks. My daughter can have these projects that last for a day or more, whereas my son tires more quickly. I wonder and think often as I read, if this has been studied? We know that learning is different for boys and girls, but do the stages of acquisition of the executive functions follow this pattern as well? Do boys tend to lag behind? I wonder.
The image of a lemonade stands conjurs up lazy summer days, posters filled with inventive spelling (think prizes for prices :)), watery juice and sticky fingers. I had such fun with the neighborhood kids creating our own stands and flagging down customers on a hot day. I think just the experience of having "kids in the neighborhood" to play with in self-directed manner is something I am thankful for. My daughter has been fortunate that she has two girlfriends living close by whose days are not filled to capacity with activities. My daughter and her friends had a "duck tape" stand. They worked together to created wallets, bracelets, bags etc. They kept it up for several days, which allowed them to extend their play. They had to work and learn from eachother and figure out what worked and what didn't. All three have what I would call strong personalities so they really ahd to work out the tasks they performed. They had a little help from the Moms, but not much as we thought it was more important for them to figure it out. What a great experience it was for them, she still talks about having another sale next summer!! (I should buy stock in the duck tape company!!)
In response to Amy's comment, I have seen projects last for several months in my pre - K classroom that is Reggio inspired. I think the length of a project depends on how basic the inquiry is. If your 4 year olds are focused on monsters, and they explore masks and costumes, stories, set building, and related games, it could go on indefinitly! My class was really into Santa Claus and his reindeer from Thanksgiving to New Years, and for the month of December everybody kept a home - made red nose and a set of chenile stick antlers in their cubbies so that they could participate in the block play more quickly each day. Halfway through January the noses and antlers disappeared. Because I happen to have a HUGE amount of Leggos, I am able to let children keep their Leggo structures on a shelf from day to day, which allows builders to add to their structures every day, so that their ability to build with Leggos gets more and more elaborate as time goes on. I don't keep block structures up (although they do in Reggio Emilia - using recycled materials with the blocks), but I do take pictures of their buildings which I display so that they can be reminded of past structures and rebuild them. The stepping back and reflecting piece seems to me to be the last part of executive function to develop, which is why being able to discuss what was learned in the past, and plan the next steps of a project with a teacher or parent is so important. I haven't thought that there was a big difference between boys and girls in this ability to sustain a project. It has seemed to me that the topic, and the adult support has been what makes the difference.
I think many early childhood teachers have had the experience of seeing how excited children get when they plant seeds and then see them start to grow. At our center, each spring/summer we plant a garden right next to our playground. The children take part in this activity from start to finish. We first we introduce the topic of gardening and then the children get involved with planting seeds and seedlings into the garden area. As the days/weeks pass, they help to weed the garden and water the plants on a regular basis. They make careful observations on what plants are growing and the stages in which they grow. They learn that when a vegetable plant flowers, that means the vegetable will soon be growing. They also learn that the vegetable needs to grow to a certain size and turn a certain color before it is ripe and ready to pick. When the vegetable are ready to be harvested, the children then go into the garden and help pick them off the plants. These vegetables are then used for our snack. Once the cold weather begins to arrive, they help put the garden to bed so that we can begin the process again next spring. Throughout this gardening process, other discoveries are made as well such as there are worms in the soil, bugs and insects on the plants and missing vegetables that animals have gotten a hold of and eaten. Yet more “lemonade stands” to foster!
Promote your child's “lemonade stands,” or passions of the moment.
This corresponds to the "Focus" blog I posted on "K".
K is a special little girl whom I have some concerns. K has taken to my 26 yr old daughters treasured play doll "Nicholas" I have allowed her to have this doll on a daily basis. Her mom reports that upon waking she wants to come and get Nickolas. When K arrives at 6:30 AM she immediately snuggles and gets tucked in on the couch with Nick for a 45 minute nap. If this routine is broken ( example I cannot find Nick , which puts me in terrors!) she would incessantly ask for the doll until Nick is placed in her arms. I now make sure Nick is placed on the couch with K's blanket before I go to bed.
K will play pretend ALONE with Nick, feeding , cradling, and seems to be her only dedicated interest and one true friend.
When I was reading about the "lemonade stand" and I got to the part about Antonio it reminded me of a new child that just started in my classroom. This child is one years old and has been diagnosed with a speech delay. I have only met him twice so far but I was given a ton of paperwork from Early Intervention and other therapists on him. From what mom tells me, along with all this paperwork, the only thing this child is interested in is electronics. He spends his days on mom's ipad and iphone playing games and watching videos. This has told me that he has a pretty good attention span but no social skills. From what I have seen so far he has no interest in other children. The other problem is the same goes for toys. If it is not electronic he wants nothing to do with it at the age of 1 1/2! While reading about the lemonade stand I kept thinking if I can just find that one toy that captures his attention maybe we can ween him off the electronics and get him interested in playing with toys and eventually other children. This would hopefully also help with his speech delay.
A suggestion to Kelly, maybe you could find an older child(ren) to pair up with your little electronics wizard to still foster his interest but also encourage social interaction.
As far as ‘lemonade stands’ goes, I remember my own lemonade stands as a child with my cousin Brian. We not only had roadside lemonade stands, we also picked raspberries and sold them, and at one point started a neighborhood newspaper which we tried to sell door to door! My aunt always encouraged these endeavors. I look back and see how this really showed us that we could follow our interests no matter what they were. This is what I tried to instill in my own children and continue to try to do with my grandchildren and in the children in my school.
I would love see a classroom that allows blocks and lego projects that can stay together for a long period of time like Nora’s. It must be great to watch children be able to return to a project and see how it develops over time. I see lemonade stands in two ways. First, having a lemonade stand is such an important aspect of life at any age. At home, my teenage son played sports for years but did not make the high school team and is struggling to find a way to fit in. Unfortunately, suggestions from his mother don’t seem to help at this age.
The other aspect that I’ve seen first hand is when parents and teachers are able to build on learning based on children’s interests. Last year, as a student teacher, I had a four year old that was challenging. He always seemed to be drawn to one area of the classroom and was often disruptive in class. Once I started to get to know him, I learned that he was very interested in dinosaurs. By placing dinosaurs in different areas of the school, like play dough, at different times, he started exploring the school, engaging in more productive play and interacting with other children.
At four years old my sweet, quiet, somewhat shy granddaughter (I’ll call her Mary.) loved to dance. Wanting her to have experience beyond home and Sunday School, and building on her love to dance,my daughter enrolled Mary in a local dancing school, unknowingly launching her “Lemonade Stand” – the performing arts.
Of course, children’s lives are complicated. Mary had some learning challenges, spending two years in kindergarten. She was still lagging behind in language skills (reading, spelling, even speech) at the end of third grade, when my daughter decided to home school Mary and her two older brothers. The scheduling flexibility offered by homeschooling plus the effort my daughter put into tailoring the curriculum and her teaching methods to Mary’s personality, interests and abilities allowed the Lemonade Stand to develop.
The dancing school teachers as well as my daughter encouraged and nurtured Mary’s work ethic, effort and individuality. At fourteen Mary asked if she could help teach a preschool dancing class. Clearly her self-confidence was growing. That year she received her ten-year trophy, ten-year perfect attendance recognition and a special “good citizenship” award. Her Lemonade Stand was ready for serious business!
That summer she and some homeschool friends attended a theater workshop held at another local dancing school. In September she volunteered to teach her preschool class again and took dancing lessons at both locations. Even though the new school focused on classic technique and the other on showmanship, she was able to make the connections between them and realized great development in her skills. It is also testimony to her perspective-taking skills that she utilized the different approaches of the two schools as complementary, not conflicting.
After the somewhat disastrous but interesting drama experience of the previous summer, she auditioned for a role in GODSPELL! with a local performing arts school (Along the way she had taken some voice lessons.) and gave a hugely successful performance. At sixteen her life was transformed into that of a singer/ dancer/ actress! Her Lemonade Stand was established! She will soon be eighteen and is a junior in high school, her high school requirements being fitted around her paid position and personal lessons at the original dancing school and various theatrical lessons and play rehearsals at the performance arts school. Curious about the high school drama club, she investigated, auditioned and earned roles in both a dramatic and a musical production this spring. (By the way, she says that the public school kids were “very welcoming.”)
Today she is self-confident in new situations, willing to try new things such as singing in church and leading vacation Bible school. Her diction is perfect. She has a good sense of humor and expresses her opinions clearly. She has unusual self-acceptance. Although she can memorize scripts once she is familiar with the words and she tests well on multiple choice, she still has trouble with “cold” reading, but just laughs and asks what a word is. Whenever possible she utilizes Spellcheck to be sure her writing is accurate. She is a large girl who embraces her ability to wear flashy clothes and jewelry and to belt out a song. She wants to attend college, majoring in a field related to the performing arts and will take one or two courses at a community college in the fall as a step in that direction. That’s passion!
Lemonade stands:
I happen to be one of those late bloomers so I did not have my lemonade stand until I was in my 20’s. I had left college with only one paper to complete which stood in the way of my graduation. I had a real problem with deadlines and the pressure they put on me. It took me 10 years to finish that paper and get my undergraduate degree. In the interim, I was working at a camera store and they needed someone to do custom black and white film developing and printing. I had taken many classes in college and after college and I loved taking photos. I decided to take on the challenge of becoming my own small (very small) business. Suddenly I needed to complete projects on time again. Because I needed to face these customers personally, I was very invested in the quality of the work and the timeliness of the work. I learned that I could complete tasks on time, that I could work under a bit of pressure and that I am a hard worker. My lemonade stand taught me valuable lessons about myself and gave me a kind of confidence that I was never able to cultivate in school. It also gave me the confidence to go to graduate school and complete that degree in a timely fashion. But first I finished that paper.
I've had many experiences over the years to confirm the theory that a single area of passion and interest can be linked with other skills and be life changing. I have a 4 yr old grandaughter that has been reluctant to show an interest in letters and numbers and one might assume her academic readiness skills are not quite there. Yet you talk about any bird and she is bursting with enthusiam. She can identify all the locals and her favorite is the Bald Eagle. Now the whole class is involved in finding Bald Eagles.They see them in books, on top of flag staffs, on the mailtruck. Her excitement is contagious and offers a teachable moment for us to expand on in class.Everyone is now a bird watcher! Throughout this experience I can't help but returning to Howard Gardner's book "Multiple Intelligences" Isn't this the "Naturalist Intelligence?" I love his theory of multiple intelligences and how he gives us a new model of intelligence that allows us to celebrate different kinds of minds with different strengths and gifts. If you haven't visited this theory in awhile, do the research. The original 7 intelligences are now 10! Fascinating stuff!
The kids in recent months have shown such an interest in writing and recognizing letters that appear in their name on the wall, in books on their cubbies, on our walks. Their trying to write on everything and with everything. I thought why not make an alphabet book. We find a picture together of the word of the day. They color it, try to write the beginning letter of the word, both upper and lower case,having talked about the meaning of upper and lover case, their name, etc. They look forward to the picture of the day and also want to help get the next day ready. In looking at other blogs it also give me idea for future lemonade stands.
We had a family with a dad going on an eighteen week work cruise. It was creating a lot of stress for the children--- and the mom! That is a long time to be gone. His daughter, our student, became very interested in packing bags: our two play suitcases, and any other receptacle she could find. At clean up she would not want them unpacked unless the stuff could be kept intact in a larger tote. Then, next day, she would repack, often changing up items. The other children began to assist with suggestions of their own. One child made her a passport which started a flurry of important office stations where important papers were created and issued to classmates. Photos were taken---at first completely make believe but soon a real camera and digital prints became necessary. Inevitably, papers went missing and a detective agency popped up. A child whose passion was magnifying glasses became the class sleuth looking for clues to the papers' whereabouts. Mr. Nobody was apparently the culprit and was spotted all around the room. Elaborate traps were prepared to snare him. He became a character in a story I was telling....This eighteen week cruise had about a sixteen week life in our room. And around when Dad returned it slowly died down. The magnifying glass was put to purposes other than clue- finding. The suitcases rarely came out. Office play turned to themes other bureaucratic agencies with waiting lines for important papers. Later, the parents told me that the trip went smoothly and Skype was a wonder for keeping people feeling connected. Another trip was in the works but Dad's passport was missing......a reliable tip led to its recovery in a bag in the daughter's closet! She had learned you can't go anywhere without important papers!
When I read Galinsky’s description of the Lemonade Stand, I immediately thought of a 2 ½ year old boy that I care for name Brian. Most of the time, you will find Brian standing at the train table. Most other 2 year olds are running around bouncing from 1 activity to another. Brian can become so focused and obsessed with Thomas the Train that he can tune out many of the movements in the classroom. He does not want to transition or join in the other activities with his peers. When other kids approach the table he gets frustrated and does not want them to play with him. I was very concerned about his behaviors and had mentioned my concerns to his mom. I would engage with Brian on a regular basis and try to play trains with him. He initially was reluctant but then let me join in on his play. I then invited select peers to join in. Eventually, it turned into the kids trying to make the longest train tracks which he is very involved in. I brought in a 20 piece train puzzle which made him leave his comfort area where the trains are kept and then I brought in a Thomas memory game and other objects for peers to play with together.
I know that my example is not exactly what Galinsky meant by Lemonade Stand but I was able to build a relationship with a child using his passion for trains that I was very concerned about. I still have some concerns for this kiddo. However, he has made some much progress from where he first started. He now will join us for Letter Box, Parachute and other activities. He will resist the initial transition but once he is with us, he stays and participates. He has initiated some play with other kids but not consistently but he will join in with others if they are dancing, playing with cars or trains, etc.
I think we have to be really careful about what we consider "Lemonade stands". What some of us are describing, especially with respect to Antonio and K, are comfort measures for children who may have deeper more serious issues and needs. The Lemonade stands are areas of interests that should be allowed to flourish and enhance a learning experience. But when the focus becomes a rountine that can't be broken, or a specific type of play that can't be strayed from, I think we need to re-evaluate the global view of the child. While some of Galinsky's ideas and studies are very helpful, but we need to keep in context that these studies all suggested the participant were all "typical" children with no special needs or issues. In the case of K, I think what you are describing is a global need, rather than a lemonade stand. A child with a propensity toward dolls will play elaborately with dolls, in different contexts and with clear plots etc. K can't function without the doll, which leads me to believe there is something social hindering her. The same with Antonio, he needs the electronics, and part of that may be parent education, children are way to tech savy, but if he can't focus on anything like social contexts and imaginative play, and only responds to electronics when playing, there is more socially in the way. Its not just an interest. Interests can be good, but children still should maintain a level of distractablity through which they can change gears and focus on other kinds of tasks.
Passion definitely ignites focus in any person. When I has in middle school my friend and I made a television show in my bedroom. It was called "Lunch Time Laughs". We would make ourselves lunch and bring it into my bedroom for our skit. We would involve daily news using the news paper to talk about current topics. We would also talk about what went on at school; ie friend and teachers. After lunch we tried to and exercises bit and also singing. We would copy exercises we had seen our mothers do. We were very engaged and focus on our endeavor.
The process of learning a second language was always fascinating me. Be that an adult or be that a child a miracle that happens in our brain is still unrevealed. This is my “Lemonade Stand”!
It was surprisingly pleasant for me to read in the book Mind in the Making that English language “is one of the world’s most difficult written languages” p. 136. I’ve learned (and still learning) that this is true the hard way - by meticulously immersing myself in reading, writing out, translating, and memorizing new words from English literature. Every new book for me is a new struggle in the battle for proficiency. I am not just sitting and relaxing reading the book I am having a pencil and folded paper sheet as my bookmarks and I am ready for writing down unknown words.
In the book Mind in the Making there is a notion that adults are actually learning second language with some advantage (p.138) which I dare to question by being that adult learner and having first hand experience. My learning steps are:
- seeing/hearing a new word;
- writing it out with the transcription;
- making up several sentences in order to understand how it’s being used
- hearing the word in conversation or seeing it in literature and being able to understand / interpret the meaning or
- feeling the need to use it in my speech and being able to retrieve it from my memory.
Two last steps are incredibly difficult and sometimes it takes me years to master. Not to forget that speech requires fluency and correct pronunciation.
Now let’s look at the learning steps of the child I have now in my classroom. He is Indian boy (3+ y.o.) who came to my class in January and had never been exposed to English language (no children’s TV, books, and all family conversations are in Hindu):
- he hears the word and sees a picture of it if possible;
- he reproduces that word several times (I am asking him) in order to memorize and understand the meaning;
- he is saying it or following the given direction properly where I am using it!
After almost two months in my classroom the boy understands and follows all classroom daily routines steps (vocabulary of approximately 100 words) and is able to say about 10 words by himself! I wish I would have that speed…
Another observation from my personal experience contradicts statement from the book (p.139) about loosing first language. The second language learner child is capable to save his first language as far as he is practicing it regularly!
My point is that there is much more to the learning of second language process. It lies in the secrets of our brain capacity and unfortunately is not studied by scientists with the attention it deserves…
I just want to incorporate a suggestion on how to expand children’s lemonade stands by using some technology. Recently, we did a study of “Space” in our classroom that involved learning about the planets, astronauts, etc., Many of the children became passionate about the process of learning from our books and the activities we did - but what also really helped them along was seeing actual images. I brought in my laptop to the group time and showed the children video clips (which I had watched first before showing) of astronauts floating in zero gravity. It was after seeing this that children started to say how they would like to become astronauts and how interesting it would be to be in zero gravity. They could not get enough of this video! It gave them a concrete visual on which to dream! Also I had a clip of what a “shooting star” looks like (because few at this age have seen one) and then we made guess about the color it was when it hit the ground. Then I found photos of what a shooting start actually looks like when it does hit the ground. On another topic, I had shown the children a clip of an octopus as it used a coconut shell as a sled to scoot itself across the sea floor and hide under it. This gave them a whole new perspective on octopuses! I think those video clips are some of my most remembered lessons and I still get requests for them! My point is, lemonade stands can be given fuel by us and by using technology to help further the passion in ways that just words cannot. I guess you could say that exploration of technology being used in the classroom is one of my lemonade stands!
As a parent, I have a 17 year old who is searching for his passion. He says he does not want to do what his father does...which is consulting...and yet his test scores show his interest lies within the business world. He just started a business class and is pouring himself into creating a stock portfolio. It seems he is checking his stocks every two minutes to the point I have told him the market is closed. Not only is he checking his stocks but he is researching what he wants to purchase which is a wonderful way to study different businesses. He has an emotional interest along with a social engagement (competition with his classmates),and cognitive work (p. 326). This experience is sure to to be meaningful and purposeful!
There is a four year old A in my class who loves everything about garbage and recycling. I thought at first it was just the truck but he loves everything about trash! He would come in every Tuesday a little late because he had to watch the garbage men take the trash, he then practices throwing the trash barrels. A explains to everyone at lunch time what is recyclable (because of the symbol) and shows the children how you can tell. This is great when being green has become so important he jump starts great discussions. I have also found this is a way to redirect him especially when he begins to miss mom. He helps me take out the trash and put new trash bags in. You can see his face light up and how important he feels!
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