Recognizing Young Shining Stars
To celebrate 10 years of Keystone STARS, Pennsylvania is collecting success stories from families and children who have participated in a Keystone STARS program (such as LVCC).
Click Here to Learn How to Nominate a Child
Once you have made your nomination by March 9, 2012, click here to tell us:
- The child's name
- The LVCC location attended
- When did your child attend LVCC?
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We have all heard this problem before. Two children quietly play together, until suddenly... screams break out, "That's my toy! You can't have it!" A tug of war episode ensues. Sometimes the fight escalates physically with little hands slapping, scratching, pushing or pulling hair until mommy or daddy need to intervene, ending in tears all around.
How do you stop the madness?
Sharing is not an innate concept; sharing is learned, mostly by example. LVCC teachers "share" their tips and advice on starting children from as early as infancy to become sharing, unselfish young adults. | |
Infants
Conflicts over toys can begin with children as early as seven to nine months - once crawling begins. Babies will grab objects from each other's hands. Using "sharing language" at an early age with your infant helps to instill the foundation for sharing.
"In the classroom, we use phrasing such as 'we need to take turns,' or 'let's share,'" says Leah Chichester, the assistant infant teacher for LVCC at St. Luke's. "Announcing 'let's play with this together' works much better and has a more calming effect than trying to take the toy away." |
 ToddlersToddlers are in a stage of development where they imitate everything mom and dad do or say. Make this a learning opportunity to show your child how you share.
Claudia Bautista, the head teacher for the young toddler classroom at LVCC's Campus Center, uses books that tell stories about sharing. "During circle time, we read a book and then use puppets that talk about how to share a toy," explains Claudia. She gives the children a chance to demonstrate their sharing abilities by passing the book around. "I tell them that this is a nice book, and we are going to take turns holding the book. We will give it to Carlos to hold. Now it is time to share and let Julia hold the book. It's very important for children to know that taking turns is also a form of sharing."
When your toddler attempts to share, praise her efforts. This will reinforce positive behavior. |
 Pre-School
When asked what sharing is, preschoolers may give you a deer-in-the-headlights look, as Deann Kahler, the head teacher in the older preschool class at LVCC's Judith Chase Early Learning Center, found. "They couldn't define sharing, but they could give examples of how they shared toys and food with their friends, siblings, and parents."
To describe the fun in sharing, Deann's class made a chart of ways to share. They divided the chart into three groups.
1. Play together.
2. Take turns playing.
3. Divide it up.
"I put pictures of different toys on the chart and the class decided together which of these three sharing categories the toy would fall into," explained Deann. "The class decided the markers and crayons could be divided, whereas they would need to take turns playing with a basketball. Some items could fit into two categories, like books. They can read together or the children can take turns reading it." |
 School-Age
Friendships are extremely important to school-age children. They are at a stage where they want to please others and share more personal items. Children are allowed to bring toys from home at some LVCC school-age locations. "Many times the child will only want to share his toy with a best friend or closest friend," states Amy Morgan, the center director for LVCC at Truman School. "We often need to remind the students that if they share with one classmate, then they must share with all or else they must put the toy away."
During the early school-age years, children learn to tell time, so setting timers helps promote taking turns. "Children respond well to a time limit," says Amy. "Often they need prompting such as 'you have two more minutes before your time is up.'" When the timers go off, the children rotate to a different play area. The computers, pool table, train set, and dramatic play are favorites. "They all want the blue choo-choo train, but there is only one," Amy explains. " You always have to be fair to everyone and remain consistent." |
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