We are about to embark upon three weeks of family fun and possible reunions with friends and loved ones in far off places. If you are heading off beyond Aberdeen/Aberdeenshire this holiday, I wish you safe (and uncomplicated) travels. The Preschool and Elementary School team - as well as the entire ISA family - wish you joy, laughter and good health during the holiday period.
It has been a very exciting first half of the school year, full of learning, challenges and accomplishments. Our second quarter isn’t quite finished; there are two more weeks of school in January before report cards are written. These will be posted onto PowerSchool on Friday, January 26, 2024.
Over the course of the next three weeks, your children will doubtless be looking for ways to occupy themselves. As a child, I was never allowed to say, “I’m bored.” In fact, in my house it was treated as seriously as a swear word. My parents, and my mother in particular, thought that if you were bored, it was nobody's fault but your own. As a result, my brothers and I had to devise plans for keeping ourselves interested in something. So, we created our own Winter Olympics; we wrote and acted in our own movies; we made stop-motion short silent films using our Star Wars figures; we made up and played card games; we played backyard baseball - whatever we could do to engage our minds and bodies. Now, as an adult, parent and educator, I can only agree with my own parents’ motivations in this regard.
Unfortunately, this generation of young people has the extra challenge of being surrounded by sources of immediate gratification and passive consumption - namely, tablets, streaming platforms, smartphones and more. As an antidote, even if temporary, I would recommend that families encourage reading, creating (e.g., writing or drawing), building (e.g, LEGO), designing, and baking/cooking. Lots of time exploring or playing outdoors is always a good shout, too.
I would also highly recommend board games and card games. Not only are these natural sources of quality family interactions, they support children’s cognitive, social and emotional development in a range of ways, from turn-taking to learning to win (or, just as importantly, lose) gracefully. Board games and card games also emphasise communication, teamwork and strategising or predicting within the context of rules.
That said, there are a number of creative digital tools that you can feel positive about, too. For example, Minecraft is both wildly popular and full of potential for open-ended creativity. Similarly, children in some grades have started units of study and projects involving coding/programming and might want to continue their investigations into this skill (e.g., Scratch or Code.org). For those looking for advice when sorting through what’s on offer for children, the website Common Sense Media is a great resource for parents and educators looking for insightful reviews of current media, such as films, TV shows, video games, apps, websites, social media platforms, books and more.
Stay safe and healthy - and have the most wonderful of holidays! See everyone for more learning and excitement in 2024!
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