Top 5 Tips To Plan Successful Play Dates

by Beth Anne Brennan

Lower School Head

I was in my office the other day, well beyond the hour I had intended on staying, when I got a call from my younger sister.  A nice surprise, for sure, but when we moved beyond casual conversation, she got to the heart of why she was calling.  She wanted to get my thoughts on a play date that went badly.  No need to go into the details, but being a parent of four children myself, the host of many play dates in my time (some successful, some not so much), along with having a career where I am surrounded by children, I did have a few thoughts on the matter.

Although in the moment, after a not-so-great play date, every parent’s first response is likely, “I will never have that child over again!”  An experienced parent, however, knows that probably won’t be the case.  Children love the idea of having play dates and honestly, as parents, we generally want to see our children having fun and enjoying the company of their peers, but sometimes tempers, impulses, and demeanors can get the best of any child during play.   Although there is no magic formula to make a play date great, there are steps you can take to help insure they go well.

At the recent NJAIS conference, I ran into Dr. David Lowry, former EMS Head and respected colleague; he reminded me in a conversation that parents love lists.  Here, then, is a quick list of play date tips; may your meetings with fellow friends be happy and successful experiences for all.

1     Let your child have a say as to whom he/she wishes to play with. When they were younger we made our children play with our friends' kids.  As they grow, however, encourage them to choose their own friends, perhaps ones that have similar likes, interests or hobbies.

2     Invite the other parent in.  Many parents want to get to know you better before leaving their child in your care.  Invite them to your home and talk to them about your expectations.  Get any contact information and special care information and ask them if they have any suggestions that may be helpful in setting the tone for successful play date.

3     Set rules. Tell the children what the "do's" and "dont's" are for your home.  Keep the list short.  Suggest to your child, ahead of time, to put away any toys he/she is not willing to share.

4     Prepare for the meltdown. Keep play dates short and be ready for the worst.  Some children will test limits, so be prepared as to how you will handle any and all situations. 

5     End on a happy note.  Try to help the children achieve success in their play date by ending on a positive note. Should anything have happened during the visit, be open and honest with other parents.  

      Remember, we as parents host play dates so that our children can practice socializing with their peers.  Do not expect reciprocity and remember that you can say “no” if a day or situation does not work for your family.

For more detailed information planning great play dates read:

Jennifer Bingham Hull : http://www.growingafamily.com/tips/playdates.htm

Jennifer Rodecki, M.Ed. and Deb Leach, Ed.D., BCBA:  http://bringingaba.blogspot.com/2012/05/5-tips-for-successful-play-dates.html

"As I think about our children...two things come to mind."

Head of School Aaron Cooper's opening remarks for Back To School Night - 9/27/2012.

   Mr. Cooper notes two significant priorities for The Elisabeth Morrow School:

   1.  Care for and understanding of each student.

   2.  A program that supports the individual development of each student.

CooperAtLSnight by EMScommunications

A Circus Isn’t A Circus Without A Big Parade

by Beth Brennan

Director of Early Childhood Programs

Thirty years ago, two teachers came across an old box of costumes in the attic of the Little School and decided it would be fun to perform a circus.  Since then, the Kindergarten Circus has become one of the most cherished traditions at The Elisabeth Morrow School. 

This year, one of the largest Kindergarten classes in school history delighted and amazed the audience with their dazzling acts.  As always, the students selected the types of performers they wanted to be.  They then developed their characters, polished their acts and added dashes of individual charm to entertain the parent and faculty spectators.

As the EMS Kindergarten Circus takes place at the end of the year, the performance reflects the students’ emerging independence and is generally considered a rite of passage for the school’s Early Childhood students who are moving up to the elementary grades, 1 through 4.

“Watching the Circus is pure joy”, says Amelia Gold, Head the Music Department at the School, “You see the innocence and sense of play at this age is something that cannot be captured at any other time in their lives!”  As well, many of the school’s alumni still hold fond and vivid memories of their participation in the circus.  Says alumna, Amanda Blumenstein, “I remember all of the words from when I did it sixteen years ago.” 

Enjoy the slide show of images from today's performance (shown below).  You can also catch the video of the Kindergarten Circus' traditional opening number by clicking here.

The Experience of Research in Kindergarten

by Beth Brennan
Director of Early Childhood Programs


This spring, our EMS Kindergarten classes have been using their acquired literacy skills to begin their first, school research projects.  As with all projects of this nature at EMS, the teachers are merely guides while the students are encouraged to take ownership of their research and presentations.


Initially, the children are instructed to select an animal.  Next, they are guided through the research phase.  The teachers assist in selecting a variety of books (non-fiction), provide video clips and apps to use with iPads, and help with fact-finding during library visits.  Students are also provided with a list of general questions as a framework for their research; this also helps them process their findings through notes or images they sketch.  Experience is also important, so very soon, the children will be visiting the local zoo to study their animals in person. 


Projects such as this one are multi-faceted, engaging a range of methods for gathering and processing information.  From a farther perspective, "research" gives young children a sense of purposeful study–it  forms a body of skills and pattern of thinking as children move through school and are confronted with problems or topics they must break down and understand.

Large Motor Development at the Art Table in the Three’s Classroom

by Tricia Eickelberg
Early Childhood Teacher


The three-year-olds of C-1 recently painted marble pictures using daffodil colors. In order to move the marbles around they needed to tip the box from side to side and back and forth. On another day, they also helped paint our pond by using rollers to spread the paint over the paper. They then used texture tools to make the waves in the water. 


Children generally enjoy active projects like these–they're fun, they're making art–but the overarching goal here is to strengthen muscles in their upper arms. Later, when they begin writing, these stronger muscles will help with both proper pencil grip and with the ability to move the pencil across the paper.

"High-Order" Reading

by Beth Brennan

Director of Early Childhood Programs

Recently, I read an article called "Using Higher Order Questioning to Accelerate Students' Growth in Reading" by Debra S.Peterson and Barbara M. Taylor,* from this month's issue of The Reading Teacher.  With regard to student reading, the authors stressed the importance of facilitating "high-order" discussion and writing to promote deeper thinking in students: So, in essence, teachers need to engage student readers beyond simple factual analysis and at more of an analytical, abstract or inferential level.

This is precisely the subject matter we tackle during grade-level meetings and professional development days at EMS.  Our teachers regularly assess to what extent they are engaging students in rich and thoughtful reflection, or to what degree their students are thinking critically about the reading.  The hardest part we find (perhaps for any educator) is having the willingness or confidence to move text discussions away from "teacher instructed" to "student centered." This is challenging; it is very easy to just provide answers, but it takes a great deal more effort to move students toward meaningful analysis or discussion. And, it is very important that we do so if we hope to promote and cement higher-order comprehension. 

* - This article is protected by copywrite and therefore not available via direct link.  A PDF may be purchased through the Wiley Online Library.  The abstract is available here.  If you wish to read this article, contact me and I will try to provide you with a copy

Elisabeth Morrow Adopts a New Handwriting Program

by Beth Anne­ Brennan

Director of ­Early Childhood Programs



The topic of handwriting skills, fading within the curriculum of many schools, is often featured in newspapers and articles, and debated in educational circles across the country.  The faculty at Elisabeth Morrow weighed in on these debates, did some research, consulted with occupational therapists, and recently reevaluated our own teaching practices for developing the skills of handwriting.  We found that a change would be beneficial for all learners; thus the Handwriting Without Tears program was adopted this fall. 
Handwriting is an essential skill for children and remains the primary tool of communication for young learners. Poor handwriting has been linked to poor spelling, poor note-taking skills, and an aversion to writing in later grades (1).  Our goal in teaching handwriting in the Early Childhood Program is that it should be automatic (done without thinking about it), neat and performed quickly.   As well, our teaching should focus on the needs of all types of learners. We felt that the Handwriting Without Tears program provided a multi-sensory approach, designed to make fluent handwriting an intuitive skill. 
More than just pencil-in-hand, the program uses play dough, wood pieces to build letters, dry erase boards, chalk boards and songs about letters (order and rhyme).  The variety of materials enables our children to explore, manipulate, or play with letters during center time in school. Each of these materials has specific objectives in mind for the varying stages of handwriting development.  So far, we are finding that the techniques for instruction are uniform, meaning that letter formation builds upon basic shapes and strokes—a process that makes sense for teachers, parents and most importantly, children.    
The Handwriting Without Tears program has been in use for over thirty-five years and occupational therapists and educators have been steadily advocating its implementation as handwriting problems increase due to keyboard use becoming more prevalent.  At Elisabeth Morrow, the program has already met with favorable results.  One of our Kindergarten teachers recently commented on how much she loved teaching handwriting this year:  “The children are having meaningful experiences manipulating letters, and I am noticing that more children are having success transferring their learning to their written work.” 


1 Feder, K.P., & Majnemer, A. (2007). “Handwriting development, competency, and intervention.” Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, 49, 312-317