Affrilachian poet and playwright Norman Jordan is one of the most published poets in the region. Born in 1938, his works have been anthologized in over 40 books of poetry. He was also a prominent voice in the Black Arts Movement in the 1960s and 70s. He died in 2015, put part of his legacy is the Norman Jordan African American Arts and Heritage Academy in West Virginia. Folkways Reporter Traci Phillips has the story.
Continue Reading Take Me to More News“Life’s Little Lessons” is a collection of fun and flexible resources designed for early childhood care providers, based on the hit PBS KIDS show, Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood. Using Fred Rogers’ landmark social-emotional learning curriculum and a series of catchy “strategy songs,” the show – and this digital resource – helps young children manage emotions and develop key social and emotional skills while exploring, growing, singing and creating with Daniel Tiger and his pre-school friends.
- Separation: Separation may be easier for some kids and more difficult for others, but having a plan in place for gradual acclimation and strategies the children can employ throughout the day can help children learn to be more independent and remember that grownups do come back.
- New Experiences: Childhood is full of new experiences. Whether going to the doctor, traveling on an airplane, or visiting a relative’s house for the first time, talking about and planning for new experiences can help children manage their fears and expectations.
- Pretend Play: When children participate in pretend play, they are developing their imaginations and language skills, exploring new ideas and roles, engaging in conversations that require problem–solving and social skills, and working on early literacy skills such as symbolic thinking.
- Friendship: In this set of resources, we will focus on how you can help children work on expressing their feelings and ideas, listen to each other and work together to solve a problem or conflict.
- Disappointment: In this set of resources, we will focus on how you can help children work on recognizing and naming the feeling of disappointment, expressing that feeling appropriately and finding ways to turn that feeling into something good.
- Mad Feelings: In this set of resources, we will focus on how you can help children work on developing self-control, listening carefully and using strategies to calm down when they feel mad.
- Persistence: In this set of resources, we will use video and a song from Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood to focus on how you can help children learn that being persistent is worthwhile; and when we keep on trying we are more likely to succeed. When we don’t succeed, we can learn from our mistakes.
- Alike and Different: Certainly children don’t have to like everyone. No one does. But with the help of loving grownups in their lives, they can learn to be “neighborly” — respectful, courteous, and kind.
- Use Your Words: In this set of resources, we will focus on how you can help children learn to use words to express how they are feeling so others will understand how they feel and/or what they what.