NUACHTÁN KINDER | November 2021
The school lunch as a fundamental part in the nutrition of children
By Ana Paola Gerdingh | Coordination of Student Activities
An adequate lunch both in quality and quantity contributes to maintaining optimal growth in your children, as well as helping them to have a better school and physical performance, to prevent diseases and to promote a good mood.
Eating habits are formed from childhood so it is very important to get children used to eating healthy and natural foods.
Numerous investigations showed that there are certain components of food that help children to concentrate more in school, promoting learning. This ability of certain foods would be linked to the possibility of stimulating brain neurotransmitters.
There are certain components of food that can help us improve our mood, induce sleep, cause greater joy and well-being, relieve symptoms of sadness and anguish.
Some of the nutrients that stimulate neurotransmitters are:
• TRYPTOPHAN: reduces tension and anxiety, has a calming effect. Found in: Red and white meats, dairy, eggs, nuts, almonds, kiwi, banana, brewer’s yeast.
• CHOLINE: acts on memory, concentration, focus and muscle coordination. Present in: egg, chicken, salmon, organ meats (liver), soybeans, quinoa, beans, wheat germ, oat bran, cauliflower, broccoli, almonds and walnuts.
• THROSINE AND PHENYLALANINE: its deficit is associated with depression, discomfort, anxiety, overweight and obesity. Source foods: meat, eggs, dairy.
• VITAMIN C: acts in stressful situations, when anxiety increases and the heart rate accelerates. Present in: citrus fruits, vegetables such as: cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, and strawberries, kiwi, mango, chili pepper, green leaves.
For a lunch to be adequate, it must include foods from all groups: fruits, vegetables, cereals and products of animal origin; in addition to providing the amount of energy necessary to carry out daily activities.
A healthy lunch should not be boring, with a little creativity it can be fun, varied and delicious. Buying him a fun lunch box with a character that your son likes and involving him in the preparation and selection of his snack are some tips that can help you so that your son eats his lunch with pleasure.
We leave you some ideas for lunch:
- Vegetable salad with pasta
- Broccoli, cherry tomatoes, cold elbow pasta, avocado, lemon to taste
- Fruit
- Carrot and celery with jocoque
- Carrot sticks, celery, jocoque + crackers or natural popcorn
- Skewers (can be fruit, vegetables or meat)
- Turkey breast (thick cut), diced panela cheese
- Small pita bread, Oaxaca cheese, mushrooms to taste, tomato sauce
- Blueberries, almonds, whole wheat bread, chicken, avocado, lettuce and tomato in the sandwich
Respect
By Montserrat Flores | Assistant Director
Respect is a fundamental value that makes us have consideration, appreciation and recognition towards someone or something, taking into account their interests, limitations, fears, condition and feelings. It can be considered as the mother of all virtues, since it constitutes the fundamental attitude that all of them presuppose.
Respect is not only manifested in the actions of people or their compliance with the laws, but also towards authority, as happens with students and their teachers, children and their parents or subordinates and their bosses. It is also applicable to relationships between groups of people, between countries and organizations of various kinds. It is not simply the consideration or difference, but it implies a true non-selfish interest in the other, beyond the explicit obligations that may exist. Respect allows society to live in peace and healthy coexistence. It implies recognizing in oneself and in others the rights and obligations, which is why it is usually synthesized in the phrase: “Do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you.”
It makes a total differentiation between the person and what he thinks or says at a given moment. It encourages the human being to accept his personal differences, remembering that everyone has the right to be who they are.
Dirección de Comunicación Corporativa. (NA). EL RESPETO. 22/09/2021, de ICE
Commitment when learning a second language
By Iliana Brien | English Coordination
What is student engagement?
Student engagement is a measure that reflects the quantity and quality of a student’s participation in your courses and in any other aspect of your educational program.
In addition, it echoes the interaction and cooperation of a student with her classmates and teachers. In other words, student engagement is the measure of a potentially successful learning experience for everyone involved.
Achieving this in kindergarten children when they are learning a second language is a challenge, so we teachers will be observing that students present the following characteristics:
● Active in their learning
● Eager to participate
● Willing to put in effort
● Motivated
● Inspired
But how does all this manifest itself in practice? In short, if all students complete their tasks on time, they produce trying to use their knowledge of English and participate in collaborative spaces, such as activities in which they contribute orally, without apprehension when it comes to expressing themselves in the second language.
If a student is having fun, does it mean that he is engaged?
You may have noticed that “entertaining” is not among the characteristics listed in the definition of student engagement. It is often taken for granted that the answer to the question “what is student engagement?” it is “having fun”. While it is true that learning can be fun, that is by no means an accurate or useful definition of learner involvement.
In English class we use a lot of fun graphics, flashy settings and funny videos that can increase the “fun quotient”, but do not necessarily affect the level of engagement. Students who are only on board for funny videos experience engagement on a superficial level.
In contrast, students who are truly engaged not only enjoy these fun features, but also feel more motivated to acquire vocabulary and attentive to grammatical structure, trying to use them in and out of class.
During the Kindergarten stage, commitment on an emotional level begins to develop when, during training, someone feels connected with others (as well as with the training context itself), feels committed to training and experiences low levels of anxiety. That is where the important work of the teacher comes in by establishing strong bonds and allowing a relaxed and enjoyable environment.
This is why the English teaching team is constantly attentive to the emotional development of the student, in addition to providing all the tools and the necessary environment for the little one to develop this commitment to the subject.
Source : https://www.talentlms.com/ebook/learner-engagement/definition
Why do children bite at an early age?
By Ana Laura Arias | Day Care Coordination
The bite of a small child is an event that instantly attracts the eyes of adults, provoking all kinds of comments, advice, interpretations and even “remedies” to attack this behavior, sometimes harshly judged. We are talking about a situation that both parents and caregivers find worrying.
Various factors can cause a child to bite, however, these incidents can be prevented, decreased, and even eradicated. For this, it is necessary to start from the knowledge and understanding of the child, the environment and the interactions that she establishes with others.
The child
In the first years of life, he is not mature enough to communicate her needs, regulate his behavior and express his wishes in words; therefore, when the child experiences intense emotions such as frustration, anger, anxiety, or fear, he may react impulsively by biting or hurting others.
You must be attentive to her physiological or emotional needs to prevent her from feeling overwhelmed, unprotected or stressed. The key is to get to know the child, provide close accompaniment, help him recognize her feelings and show him healthy alternatives to vent without hurting others.
The environment
Children need stability, structure and routine. They are sensitive to changes in their environment, when there are sudden changes in their schedule, diet or sleep they can feel stressed and even more if the changes are significant, such as attending a day-care for the first time, the arrival of a brother or moving house. In situations like this, the child may occasionally draw on to biting to express her anxiety.
Also consider other environmental factors that can be irritating, for example, loud sounds, many people or in general excess of stimuli. Biting may be a way of saying that they need rest or that someone is invading their space. Remember that it is important to respect the needs of each child, ensure loving transitions, and at all times provide them with a quiet space and a trustworthy presence.
Interactions
The presence of an adult must represent safety for the child, so when being in relationship with him avoid games that involve shaking, throwing or lifting him sharply since he could feel defenseless in the face of stimuli that he cannot control and, therefore, treat to protect themselves by biting.
Likewise, it is important to observe at all times the interactions that are generated between children, sometimes too much proximity or a very intense coexistence can provoke defense reactions by claiming their own space and triggering a situation in which biting is an immediate resource.
When the urge to bite arises in children, what can we do? Find out by putting the following recommendations into practice.
What do you need?
Pay attention to the characteristics of the environment and not lose sight of the child’s reactions. If a child bites, proceed quickly and firmly to stop the situation, remain calm, immediately assist to the physical pain of the child who was bitten, and help them express their frustration by allowing them to cry and comfort them.
The child who bit will need space, take him to a quiet place and allow him to vent safely; he may hit a pillow, throw a ball hard, cry, or he may just need to be contained with a hug.
Help him detect what he feels by putting words to what he expressed by biting and validate his emotions “I know you feel angry because your friend took your toy, but it is not worth biting because it hurts.”
Avoid the following actions:
- Hurting him.
- Alarming him with yelling, scolding, and threats.
- Ignoring him or taking him away from you.
- Labelling him by saying: “you are a bad boy”, “you are rude”. “You like to hurt others.”
- Excluding him or applying the famous “time out”.
‘Emphasis can be placed on teaching biting children to develop and use their expressive communication skills rather than biting, so that they can learn to ‘use their words’ to communicate their feelings’. (Marion, 1998, p. 3).
References
Initial education, Carlos Slim foundation. Moreno, M. D. (2009). Intervention program to address biting behaviors directed at teachers. Innovation and educational experiences. (16), 1-13.
Learn to read and write from the own name through a constructive context.
By Iliana Romero | Academic coordination
What is constructivism?
Constructivism is a pedagogical trend created by Ernst Van Glaserfeld, which postulates the need to provide the student with tools that allow him to create his own procedures to solve a problem situation, which implies that his ideas are modified and continue learning.
The constructivist method, starts from a premise:
“Make the child the protagonist of her learning, that he builds his learning by himself through meaningful learning”
HOW TO UNDERSTAND THE LITERACY PROCESS?
Reading: is looking for the meaning of the signs
Writing: is transforming meaning and sound into spellings.
For the child to acquire this process in an adequate way, it is necessary to make a diagnosis in the student that allows knowing her abilities. For this reason, the following aspects must be taken to learn to read and write from the proper name.
- Be sure that the construction of knowledge is a child’s own process, therefore, we must respect the rhythm and acquisitions that the child has.
- Reading is not spelling and writing is not copying.
- Learning to write is closely related to learning to read.
- The child can begin to read if it is loaded with meaning to him.
In order for the child to achieve having meaningful learning, the following is promoted: living knowledge that is functional, useful, fun, dynamic, that creates a challenge, that attends to the possibilities of the subject, that has a WHAT FOR. In this way, generating a challenge provides a balancing process. The proper name is the first significant model for the child, and they begin by recognizing their name, what sounds it has and its spelling, they understand that the sounds of their name are also found and repeated in other names and they discover that names other than their own have also other sounds that are new to them and that they want to learn.
How To Develop Safety In Children
By Paulina Cisneros | Dept. of Psychopedagogy Kínder
From the moment they are born, children learn new skills at breakneck speed. And along with those new skills, they also gain the confidence to use them.
As children grow, that confidence can be as important as the skills themselves. To progress, children need to trust their own abilities, and at the same time, they need to know that they can handle the situation in the event that they are unsuccessful at something. When children experience that they are good at something and that they can bounce back from failure, they develop healthy self-confidence.
Here are 12 ways you can prepare children to feel capable and to make the most of their abilities and talents.
1. Be an example of self-confidence: Seeing you tackle new tasks with optimism and lots of preparation is a great example for children. That does not mean that you should pretend to be perfect. Acknowledge your anxiety, but don’t focus on it – focus on the positive things you are doing to prepare.
2. Don’t be upset by mistakes: Help children see that we all make mistakes and that the important thing is to learn from them, not stop at them. Confident people don’t let fear of failure get in their way (not because they’re sure they’ll never fail, but because they know how to take setbacks in stride).
3. Encourage them to try new things: Instead of concentrating all their energy on what they already excel at, it is good for children to diversify. Acquiring new skills makes them feel capable and confident that they can tackle anything that comes their way.
4. Allow children to fail: It is natural to want to protect your child from failure, but children learn by trial and error, and missing a goal helps them realize that it is not fatal. It can also push them to try harder, which will also help them as adults.
5. Praise perseverance: Learning not to give up at the first frustration or to back down after a setback is an important life skill. Confidence is not about being successful at everything, all the time, but about being resilient enough to keep trying, and not freaking out if you can’t be your best.
6. Help children find their passion: Exploring their own interests can help children develop a sense of identity, which is essential for building confidence. Of course, watching your talents expand will also be a huge boost to your self-esteem.
7. Set Goals: Setting goals, big and small, and achieving them makes children feel strong. Help your child turn his wishes and dreams into practical goals by encouraging him to make a list of the things he would like to accomplish. Then practice breaking your longer-term goals down into realistic goals. In this way, you will be validating your son’s interests and helping him learn the skills he will need to achieve his goals throughout life.
8. Celebrate Effort: It is great to praise children for their accomplishments, but it is also important to let them know that you are proud of their efforts, regardless of the outcome. It takes hard work to develop new skills and the results are not always immediate. Let the children know that you value their work, whether they are young children building blocks or teenagers learning to play guitar on their own.
9. Expect their input: They may complain, but children feel more connected and valued when they are taken into account to do age-appropriate jobs, from picking up toys, to washing dishes, to picking up younger siblings from a play date. After-school homework and activities are great, but having your family need them is invaluable.
10. Accept imperfection: As adults, we know that perfection is unreal, and it is important that children receive that message as soon as possible. Help children see that, whether on television, in a magazine, or in their friends’ social media posts, the idea that others are always happy, successful, and perfectly dressed is a fantasy and is something destructive. Instead, remind them that being a little less than perfect is human and that there is nothing wrong with that.
11. Prepare them for success: Challenges are good for kids, but they should also have opportunities where they can be sure they will succeed. Help your child get involved in activities that make him feel comfortable and confident enough to face a greater challenge.
12. Show your love: Let your child know that you love him no matter what happens: win or lose the big game, get good grades or bad. Even when you are mad at him. Making sure your child knows that you think he is great (and not just when he does great things) will boost his self-esteem, even when he doesn’t feel good about himself.
Bibliography:
https://childmind.org/es/articulo/12-consejos-para-criar-ninos-seguros-de-si-mismos/
