Stepping Stone School
Supporting Families & Learning at Home
August 10th
At Stepping Stone School, our mission is to offer exceptional nurturing and education for our students, and extraordinary support and care for all parents and families! Many families are finding new and creative ways to engage and educate their children while at home. We compiled a list of fun and educational activities and resources for you to use with your family.
WE ARE HERE TO SUPPORT YOU!
Community & Cultural Awareness
NATURE SHAPE SCAVENGER HUNT
A Star in My Orange is a great way to reinforce shape recognition with your child. They might also want to run outside for their very own shapes scavenger hunt in nature!

A Star in My Orange
A Star in My Orange by Dana Meachen Rau explores in simple text and beautiful photographs the natural occurrences of shapes in nature.

Did you know there is a star inside of an orange? What shapes can you recognize on a turtle shell or in a fallen pine cone? Nature is full of stars, branches, spirals and repeated shapes or patterns. Have you ever stopped to look close enough to see them?

Nature Shape Scavenger Hunt
After picking out shapes in photographs of nature, your child can head outside and search for shapes themselves. Brainstorm a list of shapes, and send them outdoors for a Nature Shape Scavenger Hunt.
Animals offer a host of shape recognition opportunities.
  • What shapes do you see in a feather?
  • How many shapes can you find in a butterfly’s wings?

Nature’s shapes don’t end with animals. Plants are full of shapes as well.
  • Do you see a star in blueberries? What other shapes do you recognize?
  • What shapes do you see in garden leaves?

Little Scientists, Big Observations
When left to open ended explorations, you will be amazed at the observations young scientists will make. They will recognize intricate shapes and patterns in the veins of leaves. They will pick out and treasure uniquely shaped rocks they recognize outside. And they will find stars in their lunch box and on their next trip to the grocery store!
Encourage your child to continue to recognize shapes everywhere!
Parent & Child Time: Acts of Kindness That Go a Long Way

Have you ever heard the quote 'You are who you spend time with'? This is especially true for children.
Young people learn a lasting set of morals and values from their families, especially from their parents. Their naturally curious nature should be fed with a lot of attention and positive interactions. 
Here’s why spending quality time with your children is so important.
It develops positive behaviors - Family time is important because it creates an opportunity for children’s behavior to either be corrected or applauded. If you’re around children all the time, monitoring their actions won’t be difficult. Additionally, children who spend more time with their parents are more inclined to be well-rounded. 
It forges strong relationships - Quality time with children is important not just to ensure that they are behaving well, but also to cultivate a more open relationship at home. The atmosphere present when you are around your child is as important as how often you are around them. Having relaxed, positive, and uplifting encounters will encourage your child to spend more time with you, which in turn will develop your bond. Parenting NI shared the findings of several studies which indicate families who enjoy group activities together tend to share a stronger emotional bond. This is a key ingredient in building trust and openness between you and your child, as well as fostering the ability to adapt well to situations as a family.
It builds self-esteem in children - An active participation in your child's life also increases their feelings of self-worth. Spending time and engaging with your children make them feel valued by their parents and more positive about themselves. Sheryl Sandberg emphasizes, saying, "We can start by showing children that they matter." 
It creates happy memories - Giving your children the gift of memorable moments spent with you is priceless. The lasting effects of this can be applied in so many situations. It will give them motivation and good days to look back on during trying times, and it will encourage them to build a beautiful childhood for their children in the future as well. This doesn't just stop once your children have become adults—family time is one of the most invaluable things children at any age will surely treasure.
It’s important that you set aside quality time with your child. Simply spending time together and being present with your children can do a world of good. Indeed, family activities don't have to be elaborate or expensive to count. The important part is just being together and enjoying each other's company.

Spending time with your children will help you better understand who they are. It will give you the opportunity to imbibe the value of kindness and instill good deeds at a young age, as well as build them up to be a well-rounded person overall. At the end of the day, it's up to parents to help their children grow into well-adjusted individuals, and it can be easily done by spending quality time together!
Art & Creative Expression
THE SHAPE OF THINGS CHALK DRAWINGS
Shapes are found, identified, and drawn everywhere! Discovering just how often circles, squares, and triangles occur in our everyday life make them relevant to children. When a concept is applicable to the learner, it is easier to retain the knowledge.

The Shape of Things
The Shape of Things by Dayle Ann Dodds presents two-dimensional shapes with bright illustrations and repeated rhyming phrases. The repetitive pattern of this book allows children to become active participants in the reading. Shapes are identified, then turned into art as details are added in an inspiring creative way. This provides the perfect opportunity for an invitation for children to create with shapes, too!
Explore Shapes
You will need:

After reading The Shape of Things with your child, take them outside to discover shapes that an adult has drawn with sidewalk chalk. Take a walk around the shapes identifying them by name as you go. You can even assess your child's knowledge by inviting them to participate in gross motor play on the shapes. “Can you hop on a circle? Great! Now tiptoe to the closest triangle.”

Remind children how the illustrator in The Shape of Things turned regular two-dimensional shapes into beautiful art by adding details. Choose one shape and demonstrate this creative exercise. “What could a triangle become? I’ll turn this triangle into an ice cream cone by drawing a scoop on top! Yum!”

Transform Shapes into Pictures
Hand out the chalk and invite children to turn the shapes into their own creations! You can turn a rectangle into a office, an oval into an elephant’s body, or a circle into a pizza. If your child needs prompting, you can name categories that they might remember from the book or be inspired to create themselves.
  • Can you think of a food that is a circle?
  • What about something that travels from place to place?
  • A place that you like to visit?
  • Can you draw an animal with that shape?
Be sure to invite children to look back at the book for even more inspiration!
Shape Collage
For this activity you will need to provide pre-cut shapes, paper, and a glue stick! Then have your child create a collage with a variety of shapes!
For beginners, provide a lot of pre-cut shapes for children to use to make a picture. Ask them to talk about or describe the shapes they used. More advanced children can trace shapes onto construction paper, cut them out, and glue them onto another piece of paper!
For this activity you can use any type of cardboard tube cut into similar lengths.
Carefully bend and fold each one to represent 6 different shapes; circle, square, rectangle, triangle , heart and star. The star is quite tricky!
Then you can add 6 different colors of paint, then they can dip one shape into each color placing the shapre stamps on to large pieces of white paper.
Long tubes like this make great print-making devices as they are easy for little hands to grip and don’t slide around in the paint like flat printing materials are prone to do.

It is also good for simple problem solving skills, such as “which part of this needs to be pressed onto the paper to make the shape appear?” , “what if I push it on sideways, what will happen?” , “can I do two at once?"
Printing with two hands simultaneously is great for cross-lateral connections, a very important part of development in early childhood.

What they are learning as they play:
Math: naming 2D shapes, talking about the basic properties of shapes e.g. round/ pointy/ straight edges etc, counting
Physical: gross motor coordination, rotating objects, pressing and printing, fine motor control
Creativity: naming colours, making patterns; overlapping shapes; exploring paint with hands, brushes and print-making materials
Writing and Literacy Readiness
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
Written by Laura Numeroff and Illustrated by Felicia Bond
Young children sometimes do not understand that one action leads to another, but this book can help them gain that insight. In short phrases accompanied by whimsical drawings, the author illustrates how one event can have unexpected consequences.
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie: Word Search
After reading If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff use this printable and interactive Word Search puzzle to extend student learning. Find and circle words across, down, and diagonally.
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie...You Teach Cause and Effect
“Everything that you say or do, every one of your actions causes a reaction. And that reaction can be good or bad, positive or negative."
Understanding cause and effect helps children recognize relationships between two events, and that each of our behaviors and actions has an effect, not only on ourselves, but also on the people in our lives and our environment.

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, by Laura Joffe Numeroff where a little boy gives a hungry mouse a cookie. The story begins:
If you give a mouse a cookie, he's going to ask for a glass of milk.
When you give him the milk, he'll probably ask you for a straw.
The story continues with each of the mouse’s requests leading to another related and consequential request (cause and effect) in a circular sequence that leads all the way back around to a glass of milk and another cookie!

Have fun finding the cause and the effect for each request as you read If You Give a Mouse a Cookie with your child. You might also ask:
  • If you were the boy, would you give the mouse each of the things he asks for?
  • Do you think the mouse was polite or used good manners?
  • How do you think the boy is feeling at the end of the story? Why do you think he feels this way? 
  • Can you think of another example of cause and effect? You might prompt your child with a thought starter such as, “If I go outside when it’s raining without an umbrella, then…,” if they are having a hard time thinking of another example.
Finish off by asking what your child thinks would happen next if the story kept going!
  • The Greedy Triangle by Marilyn Burns
  • Mouse Shapes by Ellen Stoll Walsh
  • So Many Circles, So Many Squares by Tana Hoban
  • Shapes, Shapes, Shapes by Tana Hoban 
  • Color Zoo by Lois Ehlert
  • Color Farm by Lois Ehlert
  • Flip-a Shape: Go! by SAMi
  • When a Line Bends . . . A Shape Begins by Rhonda Gowler Greene
  • Round is a Mooncake: A Book of Shapes by Roseanne Thong
  • A Star in My Orange: Looking for Nature’s Shapes by Dana Meachen Rau
  • A Circle Here, A Square There: My Shapes Book by David Diehl
  • Shape by Shape by Suse MacDonald
  • Captain Invincible and the Space Shapes by Stuart J. Murphy
  • If You Were a Polygon by Marcie Aboff
  • Ship Shapes by Stella Blackstone
Mathematical & Scientific Concepts
CRAFT STICK SHAPES BUILDING ACTIVITY
Building shapes with craft sticks is a fun and inexpensive learning activity your children will love. They will be building important emergent math skills while playing having fun.
Pair this activity with the book Shapes, Shapes, Shapes by Tana Hoban and you’ve got the perfect shapes activity! 

Craft Stick Shapes
Here’s what you’ll need to set-up this activity at home:

Building Shapes with Craft Sticks
To get started with the craft stick shapes activity, print the mats or cards on cardstock.
Show the shape mat or card to your child and name the shape, and have them repeat the name of the shape.
Give your child the mat or card you just showed them, say the name of the shape again, and ask them to repeat the name of the shape as they use the craft sticks to make the shapes. This process has proven to be a highly-effective way of helping young children retain information in their long term memory.

Making 2D Shapes with Craft Sticks
The craft stick shape cards include the following 2D shapes:
  • Square
  • Circle
  • Triangle
  • Rectangle
  • Rhombus
  • Hexagon
  • Pentagon
  • Oval
  • Trapezoid
  • Star
  • Heart
You can pick and choose the shapes to use with your child. If you don’t have access to mini craft sticks you can cut regular sticks in half, or just use the shape cards or mats that use full-size sticks.

Why is Teaching Shapes Important?
Learning to recognize shapes is a precursor to learning to identify letters of the alphabet. The first step in learning to identify letters of the alphabet is to understand that letters are shapes and those shapes have names. Shapes also play an important role in the development of early math and writing skills. 
When young children are using craft sticks to make shapes on their mats, they are developing very important pre-reading skills.
Seeing the shapes on the mats or cards and naming them helps prepare young children to identify both letters and numbers, and then to name them, and eventually to write them.
Play dough mats are very simple to prepare. Just print and laminate. You can slide them into a page protector and they will work that way too!
The play dough mats are great for building fine-motor skills while your child rolls out the dough to trace around the shapes.
You can also have them fill the shape with a chunk of play dough for a different type of exercise.
When the child is ready for writing, there are two versions of the play dough mats included. One with traditional printing and one with D’Nealien print.
They can use a dry erase crayon to trace the name of the shape to add a little bit of handwriting practice in addition to this fun play dough activity.

Extend the activity by trying out different textures of play dough for a whole new experience each time!
Character Development
COVID-19: Five Helpful Responses for Families 
March 18, 2020 by Becky Bailey 
Children don’t say, “Beloved parent, I’m having difficulty in my daily life. I don’t fully understand what’s happening, I miss my friends, I’m afraid someone I know is going to die and it feels like life will never be normal again.” Instead, they throw tantrums, become clingy, sulk, backtalk, refuse to do anything you ask, wet the bed, pick fights with siblings and suddenly forget how to do basic tasks they mastered years ago.
Let’s step back, take a few deep breaths and learn a little about your child’s brain: Safety is the brain’s most basic need, followed closely by connection. When we feel unsafe or disconnected, our brains downshift from the higher centers responsible for learning and problem solving, to the lower reactionary centers. That’s why all those challenging behaviors are popping up, and why a minor frustration is now Titanic in size.
We can help children (and ourselves) by creating a sense of safety, connecting, and cultivating a new sense of normal with these five tips:
1. Young children co-regulate with trusted adults and older children feed off our internal states.Our calm nurtures their calm. Our distress increases their distress. Check in with yourself. How are you faring? Practice active calming by taking three deep breaths when you feel yourself becoming frustrated, fearful, angry or desperate. Seek out activities and call people who calm you. Limit your news intake, social media and other sources of stress. Be a Safe Place for your child.
Acknowledge your feelings and your children’s. Know that children’s fits and meltdowns aren’t just about the momentary point of frustration that triggered them; they’re about the underlying state of uncertainty they’re experiencing. Offer them calm, comfort and reassurance with deep breathing and phrases like, “You’re safe. You can handle this. We’ll get through this together.” Encourage them to name and manage their feelings. And forgive yourself when you’re the one who’s had the fit or meltdown.

2. Focus on safety and connection. The brain functions optimally when it feels both safe and connected. Children need to know that life is going to be different and that you will find a new normal together. Make safety and connection your top priority, especially in the first days; you can always add academics, chores and such later.
If you don’t already practice active calming, start! Conscious Discipline uses S.T.A.R., Balloon, Drain and Pretzel breathing, and there are dozens of other websites with helpful breathing games and yoga for kids.
Build extra togetherness into your day. For young children, this might look like extra reading or playing blocks together. For older children, it might be doing a puzzle or playing a favorite video game together. Notice whatever your child is doing and join in their play. Go outside and play. Get down on the floor and play. Wrestle. Giggle. Snuggle. Hug, high five and enjoy. Connection isn’t just good for your mood, it builds neural connections in your child’s brain and increases cooperation (and who couldn’t use a little of that right now?).
Age-appropriate information increases safety; “You’re fine” does not. Information will help reassure and soothe children’s fears, but it’s important to know when enough is enough. Explain to children why life is different using the simplest terms possible. Answer their questions honestly, without offering too much detail or overwhelming them with information. Watch the news in private rather than having it running in the background all day. Limit social media for your children and yourself. Focus on statements like, “You’re safe. You can handle this. We will get through this together,” instead of dismissing with comments like, “Everything’s okay,” or “It’s not something you need to worry about.”

3. Create your new normal. The brain thrives on predictable patterns. Our daily and weekly patterns have been turned upside down without warning. Creating a new normal begins with a new daily routine. Families with older children can work together to co-create your new daily schedule (co-creating gives children a way to exert some control over the situation), while parents of younger children will create the schedule for them. Plan it, draw it, label it, post it somewhere obvious and refer to it often so children know what to expect.
A successful daily schedule might be: Wake up, get dressed, eat breakfast, project time, outside time, lunch, free play, rest time, family time, dinner, wash/brush, PJs, read, bed. The activities during “project time” could vary between creative play (art, dress up, building blocks), academics, gardening, household projects, or exploring online resources like museum tours, dance classes or storytelling sites. Be certain your schedule has ample opportunities for play. Creating a rhythm to your days and knowing what to expect next cultivates a sense of safety.

4. Give children ways to contribute. Contribution lights up the reward centers of the brain and releases feel-good chemicals like dopamine and serotonin. Verbally highlight the way your family is helping your community and hospitals by staying home. Draw pictures and make cards to mail, leave on friends’ and neighbors’ doorsteps, or drop off at a nursing home.
Provide lots of little ways for children to be helpful at home and offer authentic praise for their helpfulness. The contribution needs to be voluntary, not coerced, in order to release those feel-good brain chemicals. Ask, “Do you want to make my coffee this morning?” If the answer is, “No,” let it go. If the answer is, “Yes,” show them how to make coffee and then rave about how helpful it was for them to brew it.

5. Shift toward seeing the best. Notice your inner and outer speech. Are you “stuck at home” with your kids, or do you have an opportunity to connect with family and keep the community safe while you work from home? Are you “stuck at work,” or are you helping to keep the community running by staffing hospitals, grocery stores and other important functions in spite of the risks? Are selfish people hoarding things, or are frightened people trying to make sure their families have enough? Are government officials doing too much/not enough/stupid things, or are they doing the best they can with constantly changing information about an unexpected, unprecedented threat? Should those idiots know better than to go out, or are there millions of individuals who are helping each other by staying home to slow the spread of the virus?
It’s easy to get caught up in what’s going wrong. Instead, make an effort to consciously shift toward helpfulness. Use your words as a spotlight to illuminate the behaviors you want to see more of and aspects you find helpful amidst the fear. The more positive aspects you discuss around your children, the more they are able to see the best in the situation. The more you notice and verbalize children’s helpful actions, the more helpful they will become. Shifting your perspective from what you don’t want to what you do want paves the way for a healthier internal state for you and your children.
Physical Development
Trace the Shape
This trace the shapes activity was a fun way to combine learning about shapes with art and fine motor skills development.
On a tray, have the following:
  • An example for the children to look at
  • Blank paper for them to create their own trace the shapes art project
  • A container of markers
  • Cookie cutters or shapes to trace
You can give your child a lesson on how make their own trace the shapes art project. Show them how to select one of the shapes at a time, lay it on the paper, and trace it using the black marker. After tracing several shapes and overlapping them, then the children could select some of the spaces to color in.
When they finished, you can talk about all the different shapes they used, to reinforce the names of some of the shapes they are less familiar with.
Shape Hopscotch
Draw several shapes in a line; the same as you would do for a regular hopscotch game.
Used simple shapes as a review for my 3-year old, but you could make things even harder by using octagons, polygons, and any number of shapes
Find a couple of rocks, grab the kids, and start playing!

You can mix this game up as much as you want
If you’re playing with toddlers, just have them jump (or run) to each shape and then name the shapes as they stand in them.
Or, call out a shape and have your children run to that shape.
Practice your gross motor skills by hopping, standing on one foot, skipping, etc.The possibilities are endless.
The best part is, it gets you outside and gets your children moving!
How To Make Soft Pretzels
Discover how to make delicious soft pretzels at home with your children!
Ingredients
  • 2 tsp dry active yeast
  • 1 tbsp granulated sugar
  • 1 cup warm water
  • 2 1/2 cup all purpose flour may need up to 3 cups
  • * to make whole wheat pretzels use 1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour and 1 1/4 cup white all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp vegetable oil
  • 1/4 cup baking soda
  • 8 cups water
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tbsp water
  • 1/4 cup bagel salt or, kosher salt/sea salt
Instructions
  • Combine yeast, sugar and warm water in the bowl of an electric mixer or in a large bowl. Let sit for 5 minutes. Watch for little bubbles to pop onto the surface of the water. After 5 minutes, stir the water to dissolve the yeast.
  • Stir in the flour and salt. Knead the dough on low for 5 minutes in a stand mixer, or knead by hand for 5-7 minutes. After kneading for 2 minutes, if the dough is very sticky add a bit more flour (1 tbsp at a time). 
  • In the end, the dough will be smooth and will form a ball that pulls away from the sides of the bowl. 
  • Remove the dough from the bowl. Clean the bowl and grease the bowl with 1 tsp of vegetable oil. Place the ball of dough inside the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and set aside to rise - at least 1 hour. We set our bowl on top of our dishwasher, that had just finished running. The surface was nice and warm. Place your bowl in a warm location; top of the fridge, top of the stove, top shelf in the kitchen. 
  • Once the dough has doubled in size (after an hour) remove the dough from the bowl and cut it into 8 portions. 
  • Roll each portion into a snake of dough, about 20 inches long. If the dough springs back when you roll it out, let it sit for a moment and then try again.
  • Once you have your dough snake, it's time to make the pretzel shape. Make a "U" shape, then cross the two ends over each other.
  • Fold the two ends back over the bottom of the "U". Done. Place the completed pretzels on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for another 20 minutes.
  • In the meantime, bring a high sided pot filled with 8 cups of water to a boil. Once the water boils, turn it down to a soft boil and add the baking soda. ** Watch out! As soon as you add the baking soda to the boiling water, the water will bubble and potentially boil over - I know, this is exactly what happened to us - use a stock pot for the boiling of the pretzels **
  • Drop the pretzels into the boiling water, don't over fill the pot with pretzels. Let them boil for 30 seconds then turn them over and boil for another 30 seconds. Remove from the water with a slotted spoon and place back on the parchment paper lined baking sheet.
  • Make the egg wash by whisking together the egg and water. Brush boiled pretzels with egg wash and sprinkle with bagel salt.
  • Bake in 450°F oven for 12-15 minutes, until golden brown.
  • Transfer to a cooling rack. Serve while warm.
Cognitive & Phonological Development
Memory Game
Put three shapes on a tray, cover them with a cloth, and take one away. Uncover it and children guess which shape is missing. Another way to play is to have the children show what they saw using their own set of attribute block shapes or draw what they saw.
Preschool STEM: Building Shapes with Marshmallows and Toothpicks
Build 2D shapes out of marshmallows and toothpicks!

WHAT YOU’LL NEED
  • Printable Shapes (Click the link to download the shape template.)
  • Marshmallows
  • Toothpicks

DIRECTIONS
The first thing you can do is go over all the shapes with your child. Your child can name each shape and talk about what makes each shape different.
You don't have to show your child how to make the shapes with the toothpicks and marshmallows. Depending on their age they can try and figure it out!

WHAT THEY ARELEARNING DURING THIS ACTIVITY
  • Shape recognition
  • Matching the shape to the one she was building
  • 2D shape attributes
  • Fine motor skills
  • Following directions

EXTENDING THIS ACTIVITY
  • There are so many things that can be done to extend this fun and easy activity.
  • You could have your child build 3D shapes
  • You could ask your child to build a structure and see if they can figure out how.
Emotional & Social Development
What Are Social-Emotional Skills?
Social-emotional skills are essential for connecting with others! They help us manage our emotions, build healthy relationships, and feel empathy.
Some examples of social-emotional skills in use are:
  • Recognizing if someone is sad, and asking if they’re ok
  • Expressing yourself with your friends in a different way than with your parents
  • Understanding your thoughts and feelings, and being able to relate to others
While these skills may sound complex, social and emotional development begins at a very young age.
Social-Emotional Basics
When does social and emotional development begin?
Babies start learning these skills from birth! As soon as they begin interacting with the people who care for them, they begin to understand and recognize thoughts and feelings.
How do parents impact social emotional development?
Parents help to nurture social-emotional skills so children develop healthy relationships with friends and family members. Even as a baby, your little one is picking up on how you respond to their social and emotional needs. They notice how safe they feel at home and in your presence. They learn how to feel empathy, recognize emotions and say “I’m sorry” by following your lead.

Children with healthy social-emotional skills are more likely succeed in school, work, and life. Social-emotional skills help children:
  • Make friends and keep friendships
  • Gain confidence
  • Resolve conflicts
  • Manage stress and anxiety
  • Learn social norms
  • Make appropriate decisions
  • Resist negative social pressure
  • Learn strengths and weaknesses
  • Gain awareness of what others are feeling
How long does it take to develop social-emotional skills?
Social-emotional growth takes time and even continues throughout adulthood. Early experiences with family, caregivers, and peers greatly impact social and emotional development, but throughout our lives we will continue to be shaped by our experiences! These experiences can include meeting new people who have a great impact on your life, overcoming difficult situations, or even raising children.
Ways to Work on Social-Emotional Development Every Day
  • Be a model of the emotions and behaviors you want your child to show. You are your child’s first teacher and they look up to you as a role model.
  • Be responsive to your child’s emotions and behaviors. Responding will help to develop trust between you and your child.
  • Ask open-ended questions, such as “What would you do?” to help develop problem-solving skills.
  • Use stories to talk to your child about different social situations and how each person might be feeling.
  • Encourage kids to try new things and learn how much they can do.
  • Play games to teach kids how to take turns, win and lose, share, and negotiate.
  • Ask your child questions when they are upset. These questions can be about why they are upset, or offering alternatives to understand the root of their unhappiness. For example, “Would you like to brush your teeth or take a bath first?”
  • Sit with your child when using a screen (not recommended before 18 months) and make it a social activity, e.g. asking them questions or playing turn-taking games.
  • How to Help Your Child in Social Situations
  • It’s not uncommon for children to experience anxiety or fear in new situations! Help them understand and work through their emotions.