Myth

School Readiness Myths:

It is not unusual to hear school readiness “myths” in the broader culture. These typically are not based on sound educational theory. Here are a few common school readiness myths and the accompanying correct information:

Myth #1: Learning the ABCs/alphabet is crucial to school readiness. The Truth: Learning the ABCs/alphabet is a memorization skill. While it is important, and will help children understand the idea of alphabetical order in the future, learning to recognize and name letters and identify their sounds is even more important.

Myth #2: Children need to know how to count to 50 before going to first grade/primary school. The Truth: Similar to learning the ABCs/alphabet, counting to 10, 50, or 100 is a rote memorization skill. Again, while it helps children understand that there is an order to numbers, far more important is understanding the idea of 1-to-1 correspondence (that each number you count has a corresponding object, person, year, etc. to go with it) and understanding quantity (i.e., that “three” means “three objects”).

Myth #3: The more “teacher-directed” the learning, the better. In other words, if a teacher is directly telling children something, that will increase their learning. The Truth: Actually, we know that children internalize concepts more fully when they are doing things – when they are digging, building, balancing, jumping, writing, counting, etc. vs. being told by someone else.

Myth #4: The more a program looks like the “school” we remember as children (desks, teacher up in front of the classroom, etc.), the more the children will learn. The Truth: Young children learn best in an environment that allows them to make choices (builds decision-making skills and independence); to select their own learning materials for at least part of the day (children are inherently motivated to learn); and empowers them to try new things with a teacher who guides the learning (children learn through active engagement with the people and materials in their environment).

Myth #5: Children need quiet to learn. The Truth: Actually, children need a language-rich environment where caring adults provide responsive language interactions (your child makes a sound; you respond); where children’s language is expanded (your child points to a cat and says “cat”; you say – “Yes, that striped cat is getting ready to climb the tree”); and where new vocabulary is regularly introduced.

Myth #6: Learning to write is all about letter formation. The Truth: While letter formation is one part of learning to write, equally, or even more important, is understanding the idea of recording one’s ideas on paper. When a child makes some scribbles and says “This is my daddy,” write your child’s words on the picture and she will begin to make the connection between the spoken and written word. Regularly record what your child says. Longer dictated stories can become illustrated “books” which can be laminated to read again and again.

Learning some “school skills” like lining up and raising hands before transitioning to school will certainly make the transition to formal schooling easier. However, what is most important is giving children the chance to fully explore and experiment in an environment with caring adults who guide, support, and extend their learning.

 Source: http://www.brighthorizons.com/

Open

Knock it off.

I refuse to write by pussyfooting around other people's potentially hurt feelings.  If something I have written has hurt your feelings, take a step back and realize: I probably didn't mean it that way!  I haven't set this blog as one that requires permission to read, but today I contemplated it.  However, then I would find myself pussyfooting because I would know my exact audience.  I write with the assumption that anyone in my life could read this.  When I'm writing about someone in particular I keep in mind that that exact someone could read it, and ask myself if I would be OK with their reaction to it.  I'm vague in some cases for a reason, don't read into it thinking you know what it is that I'm trying to say.  If you're curious about what I'm really talking about in some cases, please, PLEASE just ask me.  Believe it or not, I'll probably tell you exactly what's up.  Or if I'm not comfortable disclosing it, I'll thank you for your interest and let you know that I'm not in a place to explain further, for example things in regard to my work since a lot of it is confidential.

Anyhow, I hope to continue leaving this blog as open to all.  My previous blog (on MySpace) was nice because I could set some posts to a specific audience and some for everyone.  I miss that option greatly, but haven't found another blog like it.  Until then I will continue writing, and I will not pussyfoot around your potentially hurt feelings.

Oh and in case you're wondering, yes, this is written towards a specific person who decided to interpret my words into something else entirely, and instead of coming to me directly they sobbed about it to someone else.

KNOCK.  IT.  OFF.

Heal

The incisions are healing.  I Googled laparascopic appendectomy and came across this awesome video of what it looks like.  I wish I would have known they could create a DVD, then I would have totally asked for one.  I'll ask tomorrow, I imagine they have to keep record of it, whether or not they could make a DVD of it post-op I'm not sure.  Here's a link to the video on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4s69S1u5YdA
I think the video is sooo cool to watch, I wish I would have found it prior to the surgery to know even more what to expect.


I took the bandages off today.  Which hurt, not so much the skin, but the actual muscle that was being pulled beneath the skin.  Strange feeling.  Made me slightly nauseated, strange feeling.  I cried a bit at first when I saw them, because the stretch marks from having Bear were bad enough.  Then I cleaned the area and the incision in the middle isn't bad at all, won't even be noticeable once fully healed, just as the doctor said.  My belly button looks different, but that's not too big of a deal since everybody has a different looking belly button.  Once I saw that the lowest incision required the most stitches I understood why it hurt more than the others, that's probably the exit area since the tool used at the end to take the chunk of appendix out of the body is larger.

Everyone keeps asking why they cut in the middle, since the appendix is on the right side.  Since it was a laparoscopic appendectomy, which means they put a camera in one incision, and two tools in the other holes to cut it out, they can do the incision from a different location, for example the middle on me.  They inflated me like a balloon to make everything easier to see and access everything. Sometimes they put the other holes closer to the appendix, but the doctor was kind enough to make sure the lowest one could be covered up with a bikini bottom.  I also think that they did it in the middle because they thought that maybe the appendix had burst, (CT scan showed that it hadn't, but surgery was 5 hours later so things could have changed) which would have required access to a broader area.

It really does feel like I'm missing something internally.  Such a bizarre feeling.  After I gave birth to Bear, it made sense that I would have that empty feeling.  However, the appendix is so insanely small that I didn't think it was going to feel any different.  I still have internal pain where it was located, which after watching the video it makes sense, since it was cut and burned out of me.


All in all I think everything is going fairly well.  Yesterday I was able to do the dishes and get some laundry done, but I think I over did it, I was in a lot more pain this morning.  I was able to sit on the floor for a bit, which I need to get my body use to for work.  I find out tomorrow when I get to go back to work.