Why Do Babies Cry?

Just seeing this crying baby puts me in distress!

What do you think when you hear a baby crying in public?
What do you want to do?
Would you let your baby cry for long periods of time?
There was an interesting research article in the Wall Street Journal three weeks ago about Letting Babies Cry It Out. Please read this article.

We have heard many relatives assure us that "crying is okay, it is good for their lungs, makes them stronger". But it's really hard for parents and caretakers to let babies cry because of the physical impact it has on each one of us. When a baby cries the hairs on our arms or back of necks will actually rise. This causes us to instinctively want to sooth the baby to make ourselves feel better. But is crying normal? Should you stop a baby from crying? Is your baby in pain?  Check out the Purple Crying website to get a better understanding about crying babies.

I have taught our new GRADS parents about the Happiest Baby approach to calming a fussy baby.
Please skim over these frequently asked questions on Dr. Karp's website about using the Happiest Baby approach. Compare Karp's strategy with the suggestions in this slide show about calming fussy babies.


Please comment in the box below:

1. How do you feel when you hear your baby or any other cry?
2. What is your opinion about letting babies cry it out?
3. What new piece of information did you learn about Purple Crying?
4. Compare the Happiest Baby approach with the slide show for calming fussy babies.

Food For Your Family

Which one of the following is caused by the chemical BPA found in plastic and aluminum cans containing food?

a. obesity in children
b. reproductive development
c. cardiovascular disease

To find the answer please read the following articles, Consuming Canned Soup and BPA In Food Packaging.

After comparing the two articles write a response in the comment box below that answers the following:

1. What is the answer to the question at the beginning of this post.
2. Where does BPA come from?
3. Name something you ate or drank today that was packaged in plastic or a can.
4. Does this research affect your own family?
5. Do you plan on doing anything to protect your child from consuming BPA?

Stressed Out!

Have you ever stopped to think about how your reaction to stress is viewed through your child's eyes? If you are pregnant, how does your baby know when you are stress out?

Life is stressful and there is no way to avoid it! We have covered a great lesson about stress management this week. Here is the Stress Management Lesson Plan for teachers to view.

These are some of the things you learned:

• stress vocabulary
• levels of stress
• stages of coping with stressful situations
• your own stress score
• physical changes you notice from stress
• learning how to cope with daily stress

At the end of this unit your class will write the ABC's of Managing Stress. (Create your own title). We will upload your list onto The ABC's of Life website so other teen parents will be able to learn about stress.

Comment Assignment: Describe how this unit helped you and what are some coping skills you will use in your own life. 

Welcome Back!

It's so nice to be back at school. I hope you had a good summer and you're ready to learn. I am looking forward to spending some quality time together this year.

I'd like you to take a minute to fill out this form: GRADS Student Information


Here is a list of the topics we can cover in class.

UNIT 1   RELATIONSHIPS

v    Personal Development

v    Friendship

v    Healthy Relationship

v    Marriage

v    Family Stress

v    Marriage Conflict

v    Legal Issues

v    Support Teen Parents

v    Sexual Decision Making

v    Family Unit

v    Self-Esteem

v    Coping With Stress

v    Life List

UNIT 2   COLLEGE & CAREER

v    Time Management

v    Personal Goals

v    Career Planning

v    Job search skills

v    Effective communication

v    Going to college

v    School success

UNIT 3   ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE

v    Financial Goals

v    Problem solving

v    Independent living

v    Budgeting skills

v    Community Services

UNIT 4  Prenatal, newborn

v    Parenthood

v    Healthy Pregnancy

v    For Fathers

v    Prenatal Environment

v    Nutritional Needs

v    Labor & Delivery

v    Feeding Baby

v    Newborn

v    Safe Sleep

v    Crying

v    Infant Massage

v    Safety

v    First Aid

v    Medical Care

v    Immunizations

v    Fever

v    Child Care

v    Shaken Baby

UNIT 5  CHILD DEVELOPMENT

v    Nurturing

v    Feeding Children

v    Hygiene Needs

v    Child Development

v    Physical Development

v    Play & Toys

v    Reading & brain development

v    Guidance

v    Cooperative Parenting

Please write a comment below about what you would most like to learn about in GRADS this year?

Warm Regards,

Mrs. Hickman

Gliffy

I found another resources to produce nonlinguistic representations. Gliffy has a multitude of products to create professional flow charts, diagrams and more. Save product as jpeg then insert image into new post on blog.

Venn Diagram

Post-It

Click here for larger version

virtual book
http://www.classtools.net/education-games-php/turningPage

Bubbl.us

Bubbl.us

You can create colorful mind maps online then save and share. This image was exported and downloaded as an image. The image was inserted in this new post. Students can make their own by going to this sight. but they will need to create an account.

Class Tools

Click here for larger version

This Venn Diagram is available on ClassTools.net. You can embed this interactive tool into your blog using the html code. (click the save icon in bottom right corner, copy the html code, paste in to a new post. Click "compose" in the upper left corner of your new post. Publish when finished)

Click anywhere on this image to fill diagram. 

Online Baby Book

Do you have a baby book about your own birth and childhood? Do you know the details of your birth, when you took your first steps, the first word you uttered? Baby books are a way of keeping records of the events that occur on practically a daily basis as a baby grows.
I have found an awesome e-baby book that is similar to a blog. Kidmondo is very easy to use and you can upload photos and videos of baby too! I am going to help each student create an account and journal about their pregnancy and baby. When they get to the end of the book they can order a printed hard cover for a precious keepsake and start a new book for the next year.
Check out the other online baby books I found:

• Mixbook
• Baby Chapters
• My Own Little Story
• Little Chapters