Benefits of Baby Sign Language

Here at The Academy, we love offering Baby Sign Language in our infant and toddler classrooms. We feel that it is an important part of their daily life here at school; let's see the reasons why Baby Sign Language is a great addition to our curriculum! 

Before a child can properly vocalize their wants and needs, they must master very complex actions of the muscles in their face:

• Placement of tongue 
• Formation of lips
• Shaping of nasal passage
• Controlling of vocal cords 
• Breathing regulation, etc. 

There are so many benefits for a baby utilizing Baby Sign Language, it is hard to understand why all parents are not using it! Everyone has had moments in their lives when they could not communicate their needs in a way that others could understand. The result is a level of frustration beyond compare. Babies are the same as adults in this regard. Wanting something and being unable to explain what exactly is wanted frequently results in loud crying, utter frustration, and tantrums. So the first benefit of using Baby Sign Language is it gives your baby the ability to express his or her important needs and thoughts. Other benefits include:

• Promotes the development of language skills 
• Reinforces the language skills already developed 
• Reduces frustration at not being able to express needs 
• Increases speed of spatial reasoning development 
• Develops understanding of language for communication of emotions 
• Creates feelings of satisfaction and accomplishment!
• May increase IQ 
• Increases creative thinking 
• Teaches a 2nd language that is formally and nationally recognized (ASL)
• Reduces unexplainable emotional outbursts 
• Increases early literacy skills 
• Teaches baby how to start (and participate in) a conversation. 

Sign language for infants gives babies a way to communicate what they are truly thinking, feeling and/or needing. Because they learn to communicate early, Baby's mind develops a rapid interest in increasing communication ability. Thanks to early learning of Baby Sign Language, infants learn quickly to match particular shapes or items with a particular gesture. When your baby begins to speak, the same skills are used. One gesture means one thing in infant sign language. One word means one concept in baby talk. This enhances spatial relationships and reasoning, and cognitive skills development. This is creative thinking and is a skill that is often not taught well once the child reaches school age.

 Anything that improves creative thinking skills is advantageous. Some parents encourage a child to continue practicing American Sign Language (ASL) even after they begin speaking. ASL is the third most used language in the United States. By practicing and developing ASL as a second language, your child can benefit from having this language skill later in life. Being able to express yourself is a basic human need. Even babies are more contented when it is not a constant struggle to convey a need. Even more crucial, your infant will be able to communicate important problems like being in pain. How many times have parents been stymied about why their child won't stop crying, only to find out that something hurt? As this page has stated, Baby Signing has multiple benefits for your infant- and for parents too! 

To learn more about this topic, please visit: www.babies-and-sign-language.com/baby-sign-benefits.html

For more information about our program here at The Academy, please visit: academychilddevelopment.com

Indoor Fun!

With it being rainy outside, we wanted to do something special for our Academy's children! Rain or shine, children here at The Academy of Gateway are still able to have their gross motor play time! This morning, I got to walk around and see our friends playing with our bounce house, our big parachute, and practicing their listening skills with the exciting Red Light, Green Light game! Let's take a look and see how it went:

 "That was fun! Let's go play with the 

parachute!"

 "Come on guys!"

 So exciting!

 "Alright guys, 1,2..."

 "...3..."

 "...up we go!"

 Good job friends!

Having fun in the bounce house!

 Jump, jump!

 "Shh, let's pretend like we're sleeping!"

 "Wake up everybody! Rise and Shine!"

 Hi friends!

 "Look how high I can jump!"

 "Ready, set..."

 "Green light!"

 "Red light!"

"Green light!"

We had a blast in our enrichment room today! I heard so many laughs and giggles!

For more information about our program, please visit: academychilddevelopment.com

Here Comes the Sun!

Today at The Academy of Gateway, our children were all excited to be playing outside and enjoying some fresh air! We had children riding bikes, sliding down the slides, climbing up the steps and playing fun games with their teachers. Let's take a look and see how much fun they had:

 Hi, would you like to play with me? :)

 Yes, let's play!

 Just riding along :)

 Steer us home captain! :)

 Peek-a-boo!

 You can't catch me! :)

 Gotcha says Ms. Jo! :)

Watch me go down! :)

 We are all smiles this morning!

 Ready, set, go! 

Watch me go super fast! :)

Thank you for stopping by The Academy of Gateway! 

For more information about our program, please visit: academychilddevelopment.com

Stay Warm Murfreesboro!

How To Stay Warm In Cold Weather

It's that time of year where the weather is getting colder, and bundling up becomes very important! Children have a harder time regulating their body temperature, so being extra cautious is a must when being outside! Follow these easy tips for staying warm when being outside!

• Bundle Up: The most important thing is to keep your child properly dressed. Bundle them in warm layers and make sure they wear a hat, scarf, gloves, or some other combination to keep their hands, neck, and head warm. The body gets cold faster in wet clothing, so keep little hands and feet dry. Check clothes and gloves periodically to make sure they are still dry, and change any wet clothes immediately.
• Set Limits: Keep tabs on how long your child plays outdoors while it's cold. A few hours spent outside is fine, but if it is very winy or cold, the chance of overexposure and consequent conditions like frostbite can increase. Bring your child inside every 30-60 minutes to warm them up with hot apple cider or hot chocolate. 
• Beware Frostnip and Frostbite: Frostnip is like a warning sign for frostbite, and occurs when cold temperatures damage the skin and blood vessels. Frostbite is literally the freezing of the body, from the skin in. 
• Come In And Warm Up: If you suspect frostnip, remove any circulation-restricting or wet clothing right away! Tell your child to wiggle his fingers and toes to increase circulation. Place their hand and foot in very warm water (just over 100 degrees), until the area flushes and turns pink. For other areas, place warm towels on them or cover them with blankets and let them cozy up. If they have frostbite, don't warm them by the fire or with really hot water bottles, or heating pads, as frostbitten skin is easily burned. Don't pop any blisters, and if there are lots of blisters, or if any blister is bigger than a nickel, call your pediatrician right away.

For more information on this topic, please visit, http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=10204

For more information about our program, please visit: academychilddevelopment.com 

Animal Yoga Fun

Last Friday, at The Academy of Gateway, we hosted a fun animal yoga class. Ms. Kayla, our Pre-K 2 Teacher volunteered to be our instructor, and she did amazing! The children had a blast acting out the different animals; their favorite was the lion, they loved to roar!

Here is what Ms. Kayla used to 

instruct our children. She did all 

of the poses with them! Way to go! 

Let's take a look and see how it went: 

Let's start by doing the butterfly! 

Can you flap your wings? Flap, Flap

Good job Friends!

Now lets do the monkey pose! 

Ms. Kayla showing us how to do the turtle.

 Our friends had a blast roaring

 like a lion. This was their 

favorite pose of the day!

Our enrichment room was full of roars!

 Here we are reaching up like giraffes!

 Touching our toes to start the cat pose.

 Now swing those arms back 

and forth! Great job everybody!

We had a blast doing yoga! Come back again to see what this Friday's fitness activity will be! 

Thank you for choosing The Academy!

For more information about our program please visit: academychilddevelopment.com 

Reading is Fundamental

Here at The Academy, we love reading with our children. We have many books from our Bright Baby, Frogstreet, and Get Set for School curriculum that will help your children grow in language and listening development!

According to Reading Is Fundamental, "...At just a few months of age, an infant can look at pictures, listen to your voice, and point to objects on cardboard pages. By drawing attention to pictures and associating words with both pictures and real-world objects, your child will learn the importance of language." (U.S. Department of Education)

Listed below is a fun list of books for Infants up through Pre-K children! 
 

Infants

Baby Faces by DK Books

Baby Faces by Jane Wattenberg

Belly Button Book! by Sandra Boynton

Good Night Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?

by Dr. Seuss

Pat the Bunny by Dorothy Kunhardt

 

Toes, Ears, & Nose! by Marion Dane Bauer

 "Children learn to love the sound of language before they even notice the existence of printed words on a page. Reading books aloud to children stimulates their imagination and expands their understanding of the world. It helps them develop language and listening skills and prepares them to understand the written word. When the rhythm and melody of language become a part of a child's life, learning to read will be as natural as learning to walk and talk." (U.S. Department of Education)

Toddlers

Hank Has a Dream by Rebecca Duoley

What's Your Favorite Animal? by

Eric Carle and Friends

Gaston by Kelly DiPuccio

Help! We Need a Title! by Herve Tullet

Goatilocks by Erica S Perl

The Nappy House by Audrey Wood

We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen

and Helen Oxenbury

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

Pre-K and Up!

Fireman Small Fire Down Below! by 

Wong Herbert Yee

The Little Engine that Could by Watty Piper

Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems

Lilly's Purse Plastic Purse by

Kevin Henkes

Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by

William Steig

Make Way for Ducklings by 

Robert McCloskey

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good,

Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst

"Even after children learn to read by themselves, it's still important for you to read aloud together. By reading stories that are on their interest level, but beyond their reading level, you can stretch young readers' understanding and motivate them to improve their skills." (U.S. Department of Education)

(List of books came from Parents)

Thank you for stopping by The Academy of Gateway's blog!

For more information about Reading is Fundamental please visit: www.rif.org

For more information on our program, please visit:

academychilddevelopment.com