This morning I was tinkering around the house putting odds and ends into place, when my orchid blossoms that I had stuck into a thick catalogue for pressing fell to the floor. At the exact time, I was also thinking about the workshop I was planning for the upcoming NAEYC conference. My workshop is about Read the full article…
A colleague of mine has this quote as part of her email signature: “As we become more conscious of our reactions to conflict, we can choose a different response.” ~ Dr. Becky Bailey My response to this quote: I do not like the word ‘conflict’. It immediately manifests a situation into a problem. If we Read the full article…
Tim, my Tai Chi teacher, instructed us to hold our bodies up straight with our gaze directed straight ahead, so that we might have a wider view of ourselves in relationship to where we stand. He demonstrated how little we see when we look down, seemingly to see where we are going. I think this Read the full article…
Dear Readers and friends of Growing Wonder, I am currently working on creating a book with a colleague, Ester Leutenberg for Wholeperson Press. Ester has written 41 books to date to help people lead a more balanced life. In the hopes of reaching many individuals, beyond early childhood educators, we have decided to ask individuals Read the full article…
I am currently reading a book titled Beyond Quality in Early Childhood Education and Care by Gunilla Dahlberg, Peter Moss, and Alan Pence (2013). For me, it is a very stimulating book, filled with new ideas. The focus of the book, as I have gathered in my few pages of reading, is that it is primarily a discussion Read the full article…
Our country is so amazingly diverse. I just drove through the concrete jungles of Manhattan to the green hills of Vermont. I left my husband off to do workshops on technology and research while I drove off to offer a workshop on nature and spirituality. Two worlds, two ways of thinking, all converge on us Read the full article…
I just returned from California, where I delivered a keynote address to several hundred Jewish early childhood educators at the BJE BEBE Feuerstein Simon Early Childhood Institute. The Institute was titled “Full JSTEAM Ahead.” The term JSTEAM stands for science, technology, engineering, art, and math through a Jewish lens. Before I even arrived to deliver Read the full article…
The updated, expanded edition of Mary Rivkin’s book, The Great Outdoors: Advocating for Natural Spaces for Young Children, is out! This is the book that introduces my doctoral work on spiritual development. It’s quite something to see my name on the cover! The Great Outdoors has also become a complimentary book for NAEYC members as a perk Read the full article…
Many thanks to the Natural Start Alliance for the opportunity to be featured in their newsletter. A project of the North American Association for Environmental Education, Natural Start Alliance is a coalition of educators, parents, organizations, and others who want to help young children connect with nature and care for the environment. Their basic philosophy: “In early childhood, Read the full article…
A recent UCLA on women’s friendships reflects similar findings to my own on early childhood educators’ perceptions of spiritual development of young children. The quality of relationships is so fundamental to our spiritual needs. The UCLA study actually acknowledges that “friendship makes our lives manageable, fulfilling, and spiritually and emotionally healthy, which means we are better able to Read the full article…