What you need to know about Pre-Kindergarten!

Ask a kindergarten teacher what she wants from her new kindergarten student. She will tell you she wants a student who demonstrates a love for learning! A child with an endless questions inspires a natural curiosity to learn more about their world around them. Children who ask lots of questions have a wonderful tendency to want to problem-solve!  Problem solving is such a wonderful skill for a child to possess!  Kindergarten teachers also want their students to demonstrate solid oral-language skills. Children need a background knowledge of their world along with the words which belong to it. Kindergarten teachers also want a child who possess a desire to be independent! Teachers expect children to master the following:

• Get coats on and off and hang them up 
• Follow simple two-step instructions such as "take off your boots and put on your sneakers"
• Go to the bathroom and wash their hands 
• Blow their nose and cover their mouth when they cough 
• Fasten and unfasten simple buttons and snaps 
• Eat neatly and pour into a cup 
• Open up a juice box and get the straw in.

Our School and its Teachers prepare children for school success! Schedule an appointment to meet our team today and learn more about why so many school administrators and teachers choose to send their own children to our school!

On-the-go conversation games

Since my kids were small, we've played a handful of games in the car on the way to work, school, and on errands.  It's amazing how fun they still are after several years!  These games are often a great way to get my children to converse with me, and for me to connect with them, so I don't feel like just a chauffeur!  Our favorites are "guess this character" and reading half of a road sign so they can guess the other half.  Here's another idea that's great for on-the-go fun that will have you and your child talking!  Thanks to Family Fun magazine for this idea.

Alison Gopnik: What do babies think?

We stumbled across a great discussion from Alison Gopnik about how babies think.  Alison Gopnik is a professor of psychology and affiliate professor of philosophy at the University of California, Berkley.

Such a great presentation that every parent should see. Check it out!

Special thanks to TED for allowing our blog to share and get great discussion and thought going!

Music for Kids Summer Line-up

This is too good to pass up and who doesn't love free music! 

The Music Division and Austin Public Library have partnered to host Music for Kids. Music for Kids is a six-week summer concert series featuring local, live musical performances suited for kids and teen youth at library locations throughout Austin.

Performances are free and appropriate for the whole family. All are welcome and invited to attend.

Music for Kids Summer Line-up

Date	Musician	Time	Location
6/24/13	Lucas Miller	4 pm	Howson Branch
6/27/13	Neal Kassanoff	2 pm	Pleasant Hill Branch
6/28/13	Lucas Miller	2 pm	Terrazas Branch
6/28/13	Neal Kassanoff	2 pm	Faulk Central Branch
7/2/13	Lucas Miller	2 pm	Cepeda Branch
7/3/13	Gina Chavez	2 pm	Ruiz Branch
7/8/13	Gina Chavez	2 pm	Spicewood Springs Branch
7/9/13	Gina Chavez	4 pm	Twin Oaks Branch
7/10/13	Neal Kassanoff	2 pm	Windsor Park Branch
7/11/13	Neal Kassanoff	2 pm	Carver Branch
7/15/13	Neal Kassanoff	4 pm	Old Quarry Branch
7/16/13	Gina Chavez	2 pm	Southeast Austin Branch
7/17/13	Gina Chavez	2 pm	Little Walnut Branch
7/18/13	Neal Kassanoff	2 pm	University Hills Branch
7/24/13	Lucas Miller	2 pm	Hampton Branch at Oak Hill
7/24/13	Neal Kassanoff	4 pm	Manchaca Road Branch
7/25/13	Lucas Miller	4 pm	Milwood Branch

Who's Ready for Kindergarten?

   Pre-kindergarten graduation is bittersweet at The Children's Center of Austin. It's amazing to watch our children grow by leaps and bounds. It can be difficult for us to let go our of children as they embark on their new journey to kindergarten. We know that when our alumni students arrive to kindergarten, they are confident and ready!

The expectations of kindergarten go beyond being able to recognize the alphabet and numbers. Here's what our community kindergarten teachers want.

• An ability to listen. Can your child sit for a story or activity for a period of time? Something as simple as sitting down and listening to a captivating story promotes rich language, develops attention skills, and will help build your child's concentration. It's important to read to your child and ask questions about the storyline. Active listening is important to a child's learning process. 

• Socially and emotionally apt. Children need to learn and work together in a group setting. Even at kindergarten age, children can sometimes still be territorial about toys and friends. Children need to be given the opportunity to practice their problem solving and negotiating skills with other children in the way of taking turns, using their words to convey their feelings about people and situations. If you find that it's difficult to for your child to initiate problem solving, encourage them to convey their concerns about the situation and allow processing time for your child to come up with ways to resolve the situation. 

• Strong fine motor skills. Children need strong fine motor skills in order to cut, paste, and even hold a pencil. A way to strengthen the small muscles in your child's palm and fingers is by crafting. One of our favorite activities is stringing cereal on to string or pipe cleaners. Sorting beads by color is another fun solution for building fine motor development. 

• Self independence is key. Children need to learn how to button their coats, tie their own shoes, go to the bathroom and wash their hands, open and unwrap their lunch items. 

• Letter and number recognition. Children entering kindergarten should be able to distinguish upper and lower case letters. Children should also recognize and be able to show the value of numbers. 

If you are in the area and would like an visit a pre-kindergarten classroom, please call us at 512-266-6130. We would love to meet you and your child. 

Kid Friendly SXSW Events

SXSW isn't just for adults. SXSW also offers events for children and their families and we love that!  Here are some really great kid friendly activities for children and their families to enjoy. 

1. The Austin School of Rock's SXSW Showcase, Wednesday March 13, 2013 at Scholz Garten-1607 San Jacinto beginning at 1:00-6:00 p.m. The Austin School of Rock is presenting this day party where their student bands will play. All ages are invited and there is no cover charge (although donations are appreciated). There are a few parking garages around Scholtz’s Garden that are a short walk.

2. SXSW at Auditorium Shores, Wednesday, March 13, 2013, 1:30 p.m-dark. Great music, food, and drinks. 

3. A walk down South Congress-Wednesday, March 13, 2013, 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.  A stroll down South Congress will prove to be entertaining. Enjoy a meal, shop, and listen to a variety of bands who are eager to entertain you as they play live on South Congress (between Annie St. and Riverside)

4. KUT-Live Music at The Four Seasons-Wednesday, March 13th through Friday, March 16th, beginning at 7:00 a.m.  This year's line up includes Jimmy Cliff, Ruthie Foster and Ray Wylie Hubbard. There is a $10 charge for each adult and $5 for parking at the hotel, but the $10 is a fund raiser for the Seton Shivers Cancer Center AND it gets you live music, breakfast tacos and coffee. 

How Does Your Infant Learn?

We love our infant program! Our infant team is incredibly dedicated and highly knowledgeable about infant and toddler development. An infant's first form of communication is by crying. When an infant cries, he/she is only communicating their needs and interests. Parents and caregivers are the infant's first teacher and it is vital that we do our best to provide opportunities for our infants to explore what's around him/her.  So how do we give opportunities to our infants so that they can explore? Our curriculum coordinator, Nicole Chisolm recommends spending lots of "face time" with your infant. Talk to your infant as you would to an older child or adult. By talking to your infant, you are promoting language.  Be sure to point out objects and people to your infant within your environment as this will help your infant to associate the object with the name.

Infants love to put objects in their mouth. This is commonly known as mouthing. Mouthing helps your infant to feed a need to better know the world around them. By mouthing, infants are able to determine textures, shapes, sounds, and tastes.

By providing your infant opportunities to see, hear, taste, and touch, you are helping your infant to build his/her motor development as well as social and emotional development.

Sensory Play Ideas for Toddlers

We are always looking for ways to encourage sensory play for our toddlers.  Our toddler teachers, Ms. Sue and Ms. Beth incorporated our toddlers' love and curiosity of animals into sensory play. These sensory bags are very clever and super simple to make for your toddler.


Here is what you are going to need:

• Your toddler's favorite tempera paint color! 
• Animals. The CCOA teachers used animal shaped erasers. You could also use small pictures of animals too!
• Ziploc bags
• Clear packing tape

The teachers poured in just enough paint to coat the Ziploc bag and tossed a few animals in.  They sealed the bag and taped the bag down on to the table.  The children loved touching and squishing the bags. Ms. Sue and Ms. Beth encouraged the children to find and identify the animals.  The children had so much fun with the sensory bags. What I loved most about this activity was that there was no mess to clean up.

Ms. Sue used a light blue hair gel and placed a few penguin erasers in the bag. The sensory bag resembled water and ice. Ms. Sue explained to the children that penguins live in a cold and icy environment and that it looked similar to the sensory bag.