The Story Of Our New Sleeping Mats

by Beth Brennan, Lower School Head and Tricia Eickelberg, Director of Early Childhood

The Elisabeth Morrow School is a community of students, administrators, staff, parents, students and alumni, all of whom value an excellent education as fundamental in the lives of children and the adults they will become. The “4 C’s” Cooperation, Consideration, Compassion and Courtesy form the foundation of the school’s character education. This year an amazing example of how we, as a community, brought these values to life is worth sharing with all of you.

In the fall of 2011, I shared an idea with EMS parent Karen Toback, who at the time was the Little School PA representative for the year. We scheduled a time to chat and she eagerly came to my office ready to help. I told her a story about how a parent, some twenty years ago, volunteered to create resting mats for the youngest students here at EMS. They were still in use but they were all very worn. The children, however, still loved resting on them. She took one look at the old (but loved) sample and committed to help the children in Chilton House acquire new mats.  Thus, a yearlong joint partnership between “home” and “school” began.

A completion deadline for this fall had Mrs. Toback quickly out shopping for prints of fabrics that would work for both girls and boys. After sharing samples, we all agreed upon a bright and interesting print. Next, a flyer inviting all interested quilters to help with this project was sent out to our community. The call was answered and group met regularly throughout the spring. They cut and packaged fabrics and borders to distribute to all of the volunteer quilters. Much like an old fashioned quilting bee, they worked during the summer to complete all 100 mats for all six classrooms in Chilton House.

Our caring community is our strength; deeds such as this, and the people who work steadfastly to bring them to fruition, are what brings vitality and integrity to our school’s mission. To acknowledge this gift, the children in Chilton House designed their own quilt patches, which were hung together in our lobby as a symbolic way to pass along our thanks to all of our quilting volunteers. As well, at a recent sing-a-long, the children sang a thank you song (below). We hope the joining of children’s voices and words of thanks are inspirational for all of you to hear and enjoy.



Thank you… Karen Toback (head seamstress),  Georgia Silverman (Ella and Kara’s Grandmother),  Laura Cohen, Donna LoBue, Kim Kachakian, J. Grace Kim, Lily Reidel, Adela Skinner, Maria Staphos, Lily Lou, Tricia Eickelberg, Jen Cordover Family.

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

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.

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