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I grew up watching Sesame Street on television. I loved it. I knew all the characters. I learned a lot during my early childhood years to get me started off for kindergarten.

I heard something yesterday about one of the characters from one of my co-workers at school that intrigued me to do further research. My co-worker is an elementary education major in college and said her class watched a video saying Cookie Monster is now Veggie Monster. What?? No more Cookie Monster??

In my research I discovered that statement is false! Click here for proof that Cookie Monster is still Cookie Monster. He has not changed his name to Veggie Monster, Fruit Monster, Broccoli Monster, or any other healthier choice food. Click here for the article denying Cookie Monster’s name change.

Thank goodness one of my favorite childhood characters has kept his identity. The Sesame Street website description of Cookie Monster states that he likes “eating crunchy fruits, vegetables, and, of course, cookies!” He knows how to eat healthy foods. He eats healthy foods. He teaches the importance of eating healthy foods. He even models eating healthy foods. That’s how to do it. It is ok to eat cookies (and desserts) but eat those favorites in moderation after eating healthy foods.

Thank you, Sesame Street, for teaching young children about healthy eating while maintaining a sense of fun.

Tags: Educational by Brenna Phillips
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Once again I read an article about a positive way to succeed in adventures and life tasks. Awhile back I read in Len Sweet’s AquaChurch 2.0 book his advice for being a risk-taker. Read that post by clicking here.

Most recently I read an article about an educator who credits much of her success to her grandfather’s advice while learning to waterski:  ”He told her she would never have a good ride unless she went outside of the wake.” Read that article by clicking here.

I am reminded once again that we must get out of the boat. We must get our feet wet. We must try. Even if we sink toward the bottom a few times in our efforts to succeed, may God pull us back up and help us to try again.

Tags: Educational, Ministry by Brenna Phillips
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Higher education institutions are catching on to what early childhood educators have been talking about and doing for years. “…for students to learn by doing.” Early childhood students learn through play. That concept must be carried throughout the entire educational system. Students learn by doing and they learn in various methods and styles.

For students to succeed in the ‘real’ world, they must learn through cross curriculum by combining one subject with another subject with another subject, all working together using practical methods to engage students.

Check out this article on how my college is waking up to the learning patterns of today’s students. Click here for the article. Way to go, Mocs!

Tags: Educational by Brenna Phillips
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… move up to children’s worship. It’s that time of year. Transition time. New class time. Larger classes. More children. Older children.

Make the transition moving up easier with this book: Savannah Goes to Children’s Worship. Click on the title or see the book link to the right of this post to place your order for the book.

Click on this video to join in the song Every Move I Make.

Every Move I Make

Tags: Books, Educational, Ministry by Brenna Phillips
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This video is meant to be fun and is in NO way a slap or blow at homeschool families. I have great friends who homeschool their children. There are many reasons for homeschooling. Homeschooling can be very effective and beneficial and depends on the needs of each family.

Click on the link for the following video:

A Homeschool Family

Tags: Educational, Ministry by Brenna Phillips
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Many students have summer reading lists to complete during their summer break from school. Sometimes it is difficult to get them to even open up a book during the summer. After all, school is out. They don’t want to think about books, teachers, papers, or assignments. However, during those months or weeks off from school, students lose much of what they learned during the school year. Just like with any activity or learning process, we must practice to stay current and retain information.

I teach at an early childhood learning center that offers summer camp for school-agers. I often ask those students if they have been working on their summer reading assignments. While some of them will say yes, most of the answers are no. Reading is not one of their fun activities of the summer. They would much rather be running through the sprinkler or climbing on the playground.

At one summer camp where I worked, we had three 15-minute silent reading periods set aside in our daily schedule for the students to read. They could either read books provided by the school or they could bring their own books, preferably books on their summer reading lists. These reading times started off well at the beginning of summer camp but slowly lost their appeal as summer went on.

As an early childhood teacher of 3-4 year olds, I set aside reading times each day for the students. At this young age, obviously, there isn’t much reading going on, but they are encouraged to choose books from the bookshelf and look at the pictures. This time serves as down time between high energy activities as well as time to introduce books related to the theme of the week.

I sit down with the students and either read the books to them or have them tell me what they think is happening in the stories from the pictures. This activity encourages respect for books, a love for reading, and opens their imaginations to adventures occurring in the stories. It is important to switch books out and replace books on the bookshelves every week or every two weeks to prevent boredom.

Click on this link for a study completed on students and summer reading. Interesting!

Tags: Educational by Brenna Phillips
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It’s almost time for students to go back to school. Many of them will go to new schools. It can be stressful enough just going to a new class and a new teacher. It is even more stressful going to a completely new school and environment.

Start early talking about the transition with children. Talk about the expectations of a new grade and age group. Talk about the school. Talk about the teachers. Click here for tips and helps on going back to school.

Transitions not only happen at school. They also happen at church. Children promote to new classes at church as they grow older and move on to older classes at school. Preschool is a big time of transition and can be very stressful and overwhelming to young children. Click here for a helpful resource on transitioning preschoolers at church.

Tags: Educational, Ministry by Brenna Phillips
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I read a recent tweet from another children’s minister professional who said he finds himself planning activities for 5th-6th graders that were once planned for high school students. I teach early childhood students ages 3-5 and they are doing activities and learning assignments that used to be accomplished in K-1st grades.

It is amazing how much children are growing older and how young they are in their thinking processes and at what ages they are when they reach certain lifestyle milestones. This is true for their physical attributes as well, causing young children (especially girls) to mature faster and experience adult physical conditions and characteristics.

Here is a recent article explaining how children are younger and younger when they begin to reach their puberty years. Researchers have linked many reasons to these younger years but here is the most recent reason:

“The biggest culprit seems to be the super-sized American diet. The rate of obesity in children ages 2 to 11 has nearly tripled over the last few decades. Fat cells produce estrogen, as well as the hormone leptin, which can stimulate the release of the hormones that trigger puberty. Girls who are overweight also produce excess insulin (a hormone that helps the body use starches and sugars from food for energy), which can stimulate the ovaries and adrenal glands to release more sex hormones. A 2003 study found that nearly 60 percent of girls with precocious puberty were overweight.”

Click here for the full article.

Facts like this greatly change the children’s ministry thinking. Not only must we change our ideas and thoughts on activities for early childhood and elementary students, we must change how we think about fun activities and summer camps. Elementary students must almost be thought of as youth when it comes to camps, etc.

Tags: Educational, Ministry by Brenna Phillips
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It is amazing how much teachers can learn from their students when they listen more. Teachers often talk too much and think they have to be talking to be teaching. Teachers are intense learners. They can learn from their students and more learning will take place if teachers listen more to their students. Both parties involved in the learning process will learn more if they listen to each other more and talk less.

Read this post on teachers talking less and listening more.

Tags: Educational, Ministry by Brenna Phillips
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I have read many posts and comments recently regarding success in ministry. Many of these posts were determining their success in ministry by numbers. The idea that success must be about numbers is disturbing to me. We must determine the definition of success in ministry. Success is not about numbers. A ministry can have 2 people or it can have 2,000 people. It can have $20 or it can have $200,000. Ministries can be successful by many means, not only by numbers.

Check out this e-book on redefining success in ministry: Reframing Success: Missional Metrics for Missional Ministry. The book only costs $1.25 — go ahead and order the 40-page book. It is worth your time.

Get the e-book link here.

Tags: Educational, Ministry by Brenna Phillips
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