For Your Binder

This was the first American Academy of Pediatrics article (well, that caught everyone's attention anyway) that mentioned the importance of play. 11 years later they released another statement but ramped up the language saying that play was crucial to a child's healthy development.  I often wonder if they sat around saying to each other, really? we gotta say this again?   #DAP #play #parenting #teaching #learning

While the journal ceased publication in 2020, they continue to provide their articles as an archived resource and in the summer of 2020 Louise Parks, then editor of the Texas Child Care Quarterly, shared a review of my book Lisa Murphy on...  Being Child Centered with my editor at Redleaf Press, as well as some humbling words for which I will be forever grateful:

I’m delighted that we were able to include a review of On being Child Centered by Lisa Murphy. I’ll confess to laughing out loud (and shedding not a few tears) as I read Ms. Murphy’s wise and witty words, and longing for my days back in the classroom with eager, curious, and energetic three-year-olds. In a spectacular amalgam of Lilian Katz and Vivian Paley (my ECE heroes) Murphy calls educators to task (Katz) with anecdotes and examples (Paley) that are accessible, meaningful, and empowering of both adults and the children in their care. Can you tell this is one of my all-time favorites?!

#play #teaching #learning #inthenews 

A report on the value of children's play and a series of policy recommendations.  This report is very UK/EU centric but the data points are still applicable, even some 10 odd years later!  #play #DAP #teaching #learning #parenting

Many of you know that Lisa is a vigilante mixed age grouper!  Whatever ages can legally be together in one room (it varies from place to place) is what she is going to do! This is a list of the resources Lisa tapped into as she wrote the Mixed Ages paper that she presents during the workshop of the same title.  You will find most of these individual articles here in the resources section of the website if you want to explore the topic further! #handouts #mixedages #teaching #DAP 

Remember, these are in addition to all those big juicy large motor verbs that are crucial if you want strong hands in the first place!  #DAP #teaching #learning #movement #writing

Boys were over four times as likely to be expelled as girls, and African-American preschoolers were about twice as likely to be expelled as preschoolers of European descent. Although a pattern of particular risk for expulsion with African-American students has been demonstrated during K-12, the pattern of disparity appears to begin much earlier.  #teaching #learning #equity #implicitbias #expulsion

It's time to change the direction of the arrow! #teaching #relationships #environment

In these secret places, children develop and control environments of their own and enjoy freedom from the rules of the adult world. #dens #forts #outside #environments #play #parenting #teaching #learning

Literary fairy tales (meaning: written down, as opposed to a spoken story that was shared via oral traditions) were not at first called fairy tales and it was not until the 1690s, in France (of course) that the fairy tale established itself as a "legitimate" genre. #fairytales #stories #reading #books

Is COVID-19 making us move even less than we were before? #recess #play #movement #covid #outside #DAP

No one is really sure WHY we cry - but there are lots of theories. For me it can be a true feeling of sadness but I think it is often a purge of emotion.  A clearing.  A cleansing.  Bev Bos used to say that "if the eyes are the window to the soul then tears are what keeps the windows clean" #playtherapy 

This article was written by the lead researcher in what is simply referred to now as "The #Vanderbilt Study" - in it she reminds us that greater focus on academics for three and four year olds is not the solution. Her metaphor of an iceberg is a powerful visual; the tip of the iceberg are things we can see (read: measure) like ABCs and 123s, but what is below the surface?  What has actually made these other things visible? Curiosity, persistence, self-control... and when are those skills developed? When children #play !!!!!  #Tennessee #DAP #teaching #learning #environment #pushdown