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Ready To Learn Monthly Newsletter
RTL panel with sylized drawings of children performing different activities.

View, Do, & Learn

(printable PDF)

MONTHLY NEWSLETTER - MAY 2008

Physically Active for Life

from an article by Steve Sanders at PBS Teachers

Children jumping rope.Once a physically active nation, today's society actually discourages physical activity. Children spend less time outside playing, and technology such as computers and television causes young people to be less active. But there are many benefits of daily physical activity for children: building and maintaining healthy bones and muscles, helping to control weight, reducing fat, and possibly helping increase students' capacity for learning.

A quality preschool program encourages young children to develop physical skills through a variety of different activities, including at least 30 minutes a day of instruction and practice in physical skills, plus additional time for free play. The curriculum should teach skills in running, jumping, galloping, skipping, balancing, throwing, catching, kicking, climbing, and striking.

According to the Preschool Activity Guidelines outlined by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education, preschoolers should have at least one hour of daily structured physical activity, should engage in unstructured physical activity whenever possible, and should not be sedentary for more than one hour at a time. There should be inside and outside areas for large muscle activities.

By providing opportunities for children to develop positive attitudes towards physical activity, we help children become physically active throughout their lives.

Find lesson ideas for helping preschool children develop specific skills at PBS TEACHERS: Early Childhood: Physically Active for Life.

Gross Motor Skills: What to Expect

Boy playing with ball.One-year-olds typically move from crawling to running by about 20 months. They can use their new mobility to push and pull toys, dance, and climb.

Two-year-olds use numerous ways to travel from here to there, including running, jumping, and climbing. Teach them to kick a small ball forward, catch a rolled ball, and throw a ball overhand.

Three-year-olds are more coordinated at running, climbing, and other large-muscle activities and can learn to ride a tricycle, pump a swing, and catch a large ball.

Four-year-olds are skillful at walking, climbing, jumping, hopping, skipping, marching, and galloping. Give them lots of opportunities to climb, jump, and balance as wella as bounce and catch balls.

Five-year-olds abound with energy. Their increased coordination allows them to ride a bike with training wheels, swim, jump rope, and perform most ball-related skills. They enjoy games such as shadow tag or follow-the-leader.

For more detailed information see PBS Parents.

Peep Rises and Falls for Science on Saturday Mornings

Peep and the Big Wide WorldMay's episodes of Peep and the Big Wide World, a science show for preschoolers, include fun activities for raising objects with balloons and dropping objects to see how they fall. Tape the Ch. 8, Saturday, 7 a.m. episodes, then view them with kids to bring easy science activities into your home, family childcare and center.

The May 3 episode's first segment is Under Duck, where Quack discovers there's more to his pond than meets the eye (like fish). In the live episode, kids search for all the living things on the playground. In the second segment, All Fall Down, Peep thinks the sky is falling. The kids discover that different objects don't seem to fall the same way when dropped from the top of a swingset.

On May 10 in The Spring Thing, Peep and his friends see signs of Spring. The kids look for things that are growing. In The Springy Thing, the kids use discarded items to create contraptions, guitars, and boats. Viewers can make things of stuff that would otherwise be thrown away.

On a hot day, kids play with cold, cold ice and watch how it melts on May 17 in The Perils of Peep and Chirp. In Hoop Tricks, Chirp finds a beautiful bracelet and discovers the amazing things it can do. In live action, kids find stuff in the recycle bin for making musical instruments and things to wear.

Save It for Later, on May 24, urges kids to collect and sort things. And in the Red Ballmoon, kids tie helium balloons to small toys to see how many balloons it takes to raise different objects.

On May 31, Chirp Builds a Nest. And the kids build houses for their stuffed animals out of cardboard and tape. Find some old boxes and try building your own house! In the last segment, Stuck Duck, a duck gets stuck in a hollow log. The live action kids roll balls through different kinds of tubes.

BUILDING YOUR SKILLS: For People who Care for Kids

a Place of our own los Niños en su casa
A PLACE OF OUR OWN, and its Spanish-language series companion, LOS NIÑOS EN SU CASA, are an education series for caregivers of pre-Kindergarten aged children. Debi Gutierrez hosts A PLACE OF OUR OWN--Weekdays, 12:30 p.m. on Channels 8 & 22 in southern Oregon and 8 a.m. on Charter Cable Channel 21, Jackson County.--and Alina Rosario hosts LOS NIÑOS EN SU CASA--Weekdays, 7:30 AM on Charter Cable Channel 21, Jackson County. (View the current printable PDF of the RTL Learning Triangle for episode titles.)