by Angie Williams We are honored to share with our EFC families that Gail Serbesku from EFC Eden Prairie is the winner of the first annual Alli Zomer Tribute Award. Gail received the award at our recent Spring Professional Development Day. We introduced this award to...
by Alli Zomer I have a confession to make…I don’t always enjoy playing with my kids. I know that makes me sound like a terrible parent, so let me explain (and try to defend myself a little!). Play is important for kids – more than important,...
by Angie Williams My daughter’s 5th grade teacher is a huge baseball fan (instead of taking the lovely Minnesota summers off, she works at the Twins stadium to be close to the action). As she sets the tone for her classroom each year, she highlights Jackie...
by Angie Williams A growth mindset is one characterized by the view that intelligence and skill can be obtained and increased through effort. In a growth mindset, the brain is rightly understood to be malleable, and mistakes and challenges are a natural and healthy part of...
by Alli Zomer It doesn’t seem to matter whether you have school age kids, the rhythm of the school calendar is ingrained in all of us. September always feels like a time that we are supposed to regroup. It may be arbitrary, but it is hard...
by Angie Williams “Even though they don’t realize it, kids need us to make the space for them to be drawn in by the world around them. If we never let them get bored, they never discover how interesting the world really is.” -- Suzanne Bouffard I...
by Angie Williams “We can encourage mathematical exploration and knowing in kids when we allow them to merge with the physical world and immerse their full selves in it.” -- Wendy L. Ostroff, Exchange Magazine You have likely seen the recent headlines regarding learning loss among elementary...
by Angie Williams On Earth Day, EFC’s administrative team had the opportunity to attend a training at Dodge Nature Preschool. The purpose of the training was to explore the ways in which the program at Dodge engages children (no matter what the weather!) in learning through...
by Angie Williams Dr. Carla Gull, an expert on outdoor classrooms and nature play, hosts a podcast called Loose Parts Nature Play (https://loosepartsnatureplay.libsyn.com/) in which she discusses how loose parts play fosters creativity, curiosity, and fun! With spring upon us and April being the month of...
by Angie Williams One of the main emotional developmental goals we support at Especially for Children is self-regulation, or the ability for children to understand and manage their own behavior and reactions to feelings and experiences taking place around them. We recently shared the article Regulation...
by Alli Zomer This summer our family had the amazing opportunity to travel to Denver and reconnect with dear friends. It involved a long road trip, some roadside rest stops, and lots of audiobooks. Luckily, the drive was easier than we feared, and the end result...
by Angie Williams One of the ways in which caregivers and families can enrich literacy experiences for young children in through the see-show-say method of reading. This method involves a back-and-forth conversation (both verbal or nonverbal) between the child and the reader. See: The reader can point to...
by Angie Williams As we begin the fall program at Especially for Children, we wanted to share with families some of the guiding principles for our classrooms and interactions. The Six Positive Messages below come from Teaching Strategies, author of The Creative Curriculum®, and for the...
A CELEBRATION OF COMMUNITY AND WHAT KEEPS US LEARNING AND GROWING Over 45 years, thousands of children, staff, and parents/caregivers have been connected to the Especially for Children community. In honor of EFC’s 45th Anniversary, we want to learn about, celebrate, and share the passions of...
The end of the school year brings so many special traditions to our schools. In a now-familiar refrain, while things still look at bit different as we move through (and closer to the end!) of the pandemic, we hope you and your children will enjoy...