Safety Tips for Children in Early Childhood Education from ChildCare Education Institute
According to the CDC, Unintentional injuries—such as those caused by burns, drowning, falls, poisoning and road traffic—are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality among children in the United States. Each year, among those 0 to 19 years of age, more than 12,000 people die from unintentional injuries and more than 9.2 million are treated in emergency departments for nonfatal injuries. Read the CDC report on Childhood Injuries.
Safety Prevention in the Classroom
ChildCare Education Institute (CCEI,) the industry leader for online professional development, offers over 55+ safety courses for ECE teachers. These high-quality and research-based courses provide early childhood educators with operating procedures and best practices for keeping children safe on and off school grounds. I highly recommend all ECE professionals explore CCEI’s vast online course catalog and enroll to take their safety courses today!
- CCEI112A: Child Abuse: Signs of Abuse and Reporting Requirements for Early Childhood Professionals identifies and defines the major categories of child abuse, explains the responsibilities of mandated reporters, lists methods of reporting, and emphasizes the importance of visual checks.
- HLTH110: Protecting Infants: Reducing the Risk of SIDS and Shaken Baby Syndrome introduces the risk reducing and preventative strategies designed to keep infants safe.
- CCEI110A: Indoor Safety in the Early Childhood Setting introduces early childhood professionals to indoor safety standards in an early childhood setting. Topics covered include toy safety, poison control, the development of appropriate play space, controlling high traffic areas in the center, and other safety standards.
- HLTH104: Basic Health and Hygiene Practices for the Early Childhood Setting provides basic information everyone should know about preventing the spread of infectious diseases in the child care setting.
- CCEI119: Food Allergies in the Early Care Setting provides an overview of food allergies and basic food allergy safety principles to employ in the early care setting.
ChildCare Education Institute offers professionals 150+ online child care training courses (in English and Spanish) to meet licensing, recognition program and Head Start requirements. It’s the perfect online training for busy early childhood teachers. Read our review on CCEI here: Continuing Online Study for Early Childhood Education. I highly recommend you try these safety courses today from CCEI, so you can create a safe environment for your students. The courses are easy to digest and easy to apply to your daily schedules.
- Cots/cribs are placed 3 ft apart or have barrier and assigned to a specific child or cleaned and sanitized after each use
- Furniture and equipment is in good repair (check for broken toys, accessories, wrinkled/disrepair rugs/carpet.)
- All chemicals are locked/out of reach of children.
- All entrances/exits are kept clear of clutter, snow, ice, etc.
- Tables and chairs are not stacked while children are present.
Looking for fun ideas and activities for preschoolers? Check out our Preschool Scavenger Hunt Group on Pinterest.
Free Printables, Free Royalty Free Clipart and Fonts? Yes, you can!
If you are looking for downloadable editable printables for the classroom check out TeacherSherpa. It is similar to Teachers Pay Teachers, but offers so much more. The printable curriculum is editable and fully customizable. Like TPT, there are free printable downloads available every month. Whether you are a teacher, a blogger, or a homeschool parent, you'll find awesome benefits on TeacherSherpa. The most amazing feature is that you can create your own printables to sell on TPT, earn royalties on TeacherSherpa, or even sell or giveaway on your own website. Enjoy!
At TeacherSherpa, you can make your own classroom materials and editable printables for free. |
5 Factors That Determine a Child’s Academic Success
If a child falls behind at school, some teachers might blame the student or their parents, while parents might blame the teachers. While each child’s educational experience is different, certain circumstances can determine their performance and grades, which might be beyond their control. Read about the five factors that can determine a child’s academic success.
Emotional Stability
Students with more emotional stability tend to perform better at school, as they can cope with pressure and adapt to an academic environment with ease. Plus, they tend to develop friendly, respectful, and relaxed behaviors.
However, children living with depression, anxiety, or aggression might struggle with behavioral issues and find it difficult to earn good grades. If your child has poor emotional stability, they could improve their mental well-being with therapy, group support, or prescription medication.
Classroom Respect
Disruptive behavior can interrupt lesson plans, negatively impact another student’s education, and result in poor grades and test scores. If a student doesn’t respect a teacher or a school, they are more likely to chat during class, talk back to an educator, or appear insubordinate.
Teachers can take back control of a disruptive class by adopting a tried and tested classroom management strategy, such as offering praise or using non-verbal communication. Also, parents must avoid making negative comments about a teacher or school to their children, as this can cause a lack of respect in the classroom.
Parental Imitation
Children will often observe and imitate a parent’s attitude and behavior. If a parent has a negative outlook on schools, education, or work ethic, their children might adopt the same mindset.
If you want your son or daughter to perform well in school, secure fantastic grades, and enter a rewarding career, you must lead by example. To do so, you must promote education, positive thinking, and a hard work ethic.
Educational Inequality
Children from poor backgrounds are often at a disadvantage. For example, many children from low-income families struggled with computer access or internet accessibility when self-isolating during the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, many will have fallen behind on their education, while students from higher-income families will have remained on track.
Also, all schools aren’t created equal. Some will receive more funding than others, which can lead to some educators struggling with a lack of textbooks, stationery, or financial resources for field trips and educational activities. The inequality can lead to poor grades, low test scores, and fewer career prospects.
Stressors
Children are not immune to worry or stress. Various external factors can affect their focus and performance in the classroom and shape their grades. For example, a child might become disengaged due to bullying, family problems, or a mental health condition.
It is both a parent’s and teacher’s responsibility to get to the root cause of a child’s poor grades and find an appropriate solution, such as therapy or suspending a bully. Common signs of stressors can include sleeping difficulties, angry outbursts, a lack of interest in hobbies, or changes in eating habits.
Valentine's Day Activities that are perfect for the classroom
Incorporating sensory play into learning and play activities is a great way to explore textures, scents, and so much more. The learning that comes from sensory play is vast! For children, sensory play builds language, self-esteem, and independence...all as they learn through the five senses.
Sensory play activity for Valentine's Day. |
We started with a bin of water and a half cup of pomegranate scented bath salts. Any scent would do for this activity. We loved the pink color of these salts and the smell was divine!
Mix the bath salts in the water until all of the salt dissolves. Depending on the amount of water you have, you may need more or less salt. Add a little at a time until all of the salt is dissolved.
Next, I drew a heart shaped bulls eye on our chalkboard easel. You could also do this activity on a white board. I added some small numbers for keeping score.
The Sugar Aunts are three sisters who blog about all things creative in motherhood. They love playful learning, creative kid's crafts, sensory and fine motor activities, kid's party themes, DIY, and so much more. Between the three Aunts, there are 6 cousins (with more on the way!) who are around each other so often, they are more like siblings than cousins! You can see the action at www.sugaraunts.com.
Recommended Reading:
Kids Creative Chaos Cooks: Kitchen Kids Series: Holiday Recipes*
Printable Clipart Hearts for Valentine's Day Cards
ADS DISCLOSURE: We've partnered with some wonderful advertisers who may sponsor blog posts or send us samples to test. Some companies pay us to review their products.
*We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Tapinfluence, Google Adsense, SoFab, and Izea ads here. Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)
French Lessons and Worksheets for Homeschool or Classroom
If you homeschool like we do, you're probably teaching several grade levels at once. For this France Country Study Lesson, we've found worksheets and activities that work for toddlers to tweens to teens. Scroll down for Videos on the French Revolution, French Word Search Printables, Famous Artists, Art Projects, and Games they play in France. School teachers, you'll find fun classroom activities and worksheets that work in a classroom setting too. Enjoy!
France Country Study with Worksheets. |
Learn to speak French for Free with the Duo Lingo App or these French Language lessons.
This French Flag bookmark craft project from, Start at 5, works for preschoolers to high school.
For Elementary and Middle School, Make a Passport like this one from De Su Mama.
Printable Passport Activity from De Su Mama. |
Make an Eiffel Tower with bits of colored straws like this one from Cutting Tiny Bites. While this craft activity is fun for elementary, it also aides preschoolers in fine motor skills.
Eiffel Tower Kids' Activity. |
French History Lesson
The French Revolution
The French Revolution on BrainPop. (Must have password.)
Online Educational Game: French Revolution Time Zone X Game
French Revolution Worksheet for Middle School and High School.
Choose a Famous French Scientist and write a Biography.
Games from France
Hopscotch: This game is played outdoors on a flat, paved surface, but you can paint an old sheet or use cardboard squares to play indoors. You can also purchase a hopscotch board for indoor or outdoor play. Each player needs a small item to toss onto the hopscotch squares. Rocks or quarters work well. Not sure how to play? Get the rules to hopscotch.
Petanque: How to Play Petanque
La Semaine or "The Week" is played with 1 or more children with chalk and a pebble (pennies work too). Use the chalk to draw seven squares in a row. Label each square with a day of the week.
Now, a player throws their pebble into the Monday box. If they miss, it is the next player's turn. If they hit it, they must jump on one foot to get to the stone, pick it up while still standing on one foot, and then jump back to the start.
Players repeat for each day of the week (seven times). Repeat the task every time a mistake is made. For example, they trip or hop on two feet. Game is won when one player covers all squares and makes it safely back start.
French Cricket You will need a Cricket bat or tennis racket and ball. Players stand in a circle. The first player stands with their feet together, defending the 'stumps,' which in French Cricket are the batman's legs below the knees. Now, the players in the circle take turns to bowl at the 'stumps' and the batsman must hit the ball away from them. The bowler gets clever to distract the batsman.
If the batman's legs are hit, he's out. He's also out if he moves his feet at any time from the original position. If the bowler, or any of the fielders around the circle, catch the ball before it hits the ground, the batsman is also out. Everyone takes a turn until the batsman is out. The bowler who 'stumps' the batsman takes his place.
Worksheets
Muguet du 1er Mai Elementary Coloring Worksheet (First of May)
Printable Language Arts French Quotes Project for Middle School and High School
Famous French Artists
Paint like Matisse with this Still Life Art Lesson for Kids.
After you've learned all about France, get a taste of their culture and celebrate by making French Recipes. Enjoy these French cooking lessons and recipes for kids.
Recommended:
French Word Search Books
Names for Black History Biography Project
When is Black History Month? February is Black History Month. Chances are, you're looking for famous African Americans for classroom projects. Whether you need names of famous black people for biography or history lessons, you'll find well-known and lesser known people, lesson plans, worksheets, and free classroom printables for Black History Month. Enjoy!Photo above by The Visibility Project, Claudette Colvin [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. |
January Calendar of Special Days and Holidays
We're always looking for obscure holidays to plan our blog ideas. Here is a list of January holidays to theme your classroom boards or craft activities. Scroll down for a free printable January calendar of holidays for the classroom. Enjoy!January Holidays and Special Days Calendar to plan activities to do with kids.
Click here to download: Free Printable January Calendar of Holidays.
Add some cool kids' books about snow to your winter activities curriculum. Well, that's all I've got. Want some February Special Days ideas? Oh. Try this page for companion coloring pages and free printables - that will help for now. See you back in month!
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February Calendar of Special Days and Holidays
Children's Book-a-Day Almanac*
January's Sparrow by Patricia Polacco*
Buy a Puzzle for National Puzzle Day:
Melissa and Doug Pattern Blocks and Boards Puzzle*
ADS DISCLOSURE: We've partnered with some wonderful advertisers who may sponsor blog posts or send us samples to test. Some companies pay us to review their products.
*We also use affiliate links, if you make a purchase we get a tiny commission. Kids Creative Chaos participates in the Amazon LLC Associates Program*, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a mean for blogs to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon properties, including, but not limited to, amazon.com, endless.com, myhabit.com, smallparts.com, or amazonwireless.com. We also offer Tapinfluence, Google Adsense, SoFab, and Izea ads here. Thanks so much for helping us keep the lights on! :)
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