October - It's about much more than Halloween!

As you plan your classroom activities for October, you may want to explore topics other than Halloween.  Understandably, your children are focused on (and getting more excited each day about) wearing costumes and trick-or-treating! But you may be able to reign in some of their excitement by providing opportunities to explore other themes. Or at least you can try!

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Did you know that there are many awareness campaigns during October?  It has been designated as:

• ADHD Awareness Month​
• Bullying Prevention Month
• Breast Cancer Awareness Month

And within October are other awareness campaigns, including: 

• Fire Prevention Week |October 8-14, 2023 | Theme: “Cooking safety starts with YOU” 
• Red Ribbon Week (fostering safe, healthy, and drug-free communities)  |October 23-31 each year |2023 Theme: "Be Kind to Your Mind. Live Drug Free.™
• World Mental Health Day | October 10 every year | 2023 Theme: "Mental health is a universal human right”
• World Teachers’ Day |October 5 annually | "The teachers we need for the education we want: The global imperative to reverse the teacher shortage."​

There's a lot going on this month, isn't there?! These seven themes can give us lots of ideas for developmentally-appropriate activities and/or teaching strategies we can use in our early childhood programs during October.  You may want to add one or more of these themes to your October plans for your classroom.

​Here are just a few suggestions to get you started and some resources where you can find more information:

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​ADHD Awareness Month​

You are likely to have encountered children with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) in your early childhood program. Over 11% of children in the U.S. have been diagnosed with ADHD, including 2.4% of preschoolers ages 3-5 (CHADD).  While these children may be more inattentive, impulsive, and/or hyperactive than other children, you can help them be successful. Just keep in mind: They need what all young children need, they just need a little more help sometimes. 

 To support young children with ADHD in the classroom, provide what you give all the children:

• positive guidance
• precise language
• encouragement
• simple rules with frequent reminders
• clearly defined physical spaces
• lots of large-motor activities

Then give children with ADHD extra help by providing:

• fewer words
• visual cues
• help with organization

Check out this resource for more information:  https://www.adhdawarenessmonth.org/

We can be another resource. Contact us if you’d like to book our teacher training, "Supporting Children with ADHD in the Classroom".

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Bullying Prevention Month

Tomorrow, October 2 is "World Day of Bullying Prevention®." The goal of the sponsoring organization, STOMP Out Bullying®, is to encourage everyone to work together to end bullying. 

At ECS, we support those who strive to prevent bullying at any age! In early childhood, we can help.  After all, it's developmentally appropriate for educators to help children learn to be kind and to make friends. When we work to create a caring community of learners in our classrooms, we are preventing bullying.  

Here are 5 bullying prevention tips:

• Help children make new friends -  Guide social interactions: “What could you say if Jaden was building with blocks and you wanted to help?”
• Encourage empathy - Help children understand and respond to the feelings of others
• Talk about feelings and fairness - Help children understand equity (people have different needs)
• Help children assert their needs - Encourage communication among children: “Tell her, ‘Stop! I don’t like that!’”
• Model kindness - Model inclusion and respect for diversity through your actions and explain them to children

Check out this resource for more information:   https://www.stompoutbullying.org/world-day-bullying-prevention

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​Breast Cancer Awareness Month

This is a theme you probably won't be talking with your young children about, unless one of your families is experiencing breast cancer.  If so, here are two gentle suggestions:

• Talk with the family to find out how they want to be supported.
• Ask how they would like you to answer children’s questions.

For those of you who are affected in some way by breast cancer, here are two resources that may help:

• Breast Cancer Now offers a free ebook written for children age 7 and under
• The National Breast Cancer Foundation offers an ebook about talking to cancer patients

A personal note:  This month I am celebrating one year of being cancer-free!  To those of you who are fighting breast cancer as you read this:  Don’t lose heart!  Please reach out to me, I’d like to add you to my prayer list.  Also let me know if I can support you in any other way.  We at ECS are here for you!

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​Fire Prevention Week

​Educators:  Does your school take a trip to a fire station?  Or do you schedule a visit to the school by firefighters?  If you do, prepare children for the experience to lessen their fear of a fully-equipped firefighter and a noisy fire truck.

If not, you can set up your own "fire station" in the dramatic play center.  In our classrooms, we've supplied firefighter gear (much of which we made ourselves), and simply used a few chairs lined up for a fire truck.  Our children enjoyed helping to make their own props (like a steering wheel). 

If you create a classroom fire station, be ready with a waiting list - it's sure to be quite a popular place to pretend and play!

​Remember to allow children to be actively involved in exploring the theme of fire safety - without real fires, of course! If you'd like some resources, the National Fire Protection Association offers kid-friendly videos and other resources featuring “Sparky® the Fire Dog”. 

Here's just one tip for fire safety at school.

 If you do show any videos to children, always preview them for developmental appropriateness, and be prepared to answer questions after viewing. With your help, young children can begin to understand the dangers of fire.​

Families:  Fire Prevention Week is a great time to check your home and to prepare everyone for what to do in the event of a fire - and how to prevent one, too! 

Here are some things you can do:
-Test smoke alarms, replacing batteries or smoke detectors if necessary
-Choose a safe outside meeting place
-Practice your home fire drill twice a year
-Place out of the reach of children any items that can start a fire (matches, lighters, candles…)
-Teach your children to tell a grown-up if someone else is playing with matches, a lighter or fire.
-Practice everyday fire and burn safety at home around cooking, heating and other hot appliances.

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Let everyone in the home hear the sound of the smoke alarm (using the test button) and practice what to do if they hear it! For young children, “Don’t hide, get outside!” is a simple reminder you can tell them.

Let us know how we can help you keep children safe. I am a Child Care Health Consultant, and while I specialize in early childhood mental health, I have the training to help with other health and safety issues as well. 

Red Ribbon Week

Although this awareness campaign is designed for kids in kindergarten through 12th grade, younger children may become aware of it, especially if their program is on a campus with older children.  Here are a few age-appropriate messages you can share with young children about drug safety:

• Drugs are things that "change the way our bodies [and our brains] work. Some are medicines that help people when doctors prescribe them." (Nemours Teen Health). 
• Take only medicines that your doctors, nurses, parents, guardians, and teachers give you. (Of course, teachers must have written parental consent)
• Never take anyone else's medicine - taking medicine when you are not sick can hurt your body
• If you find something that looks like candy, ask a grown-up to be sure -  Sometimes medicines look just like candy but they can be very dangerous

Use teachable moments to talk about drugs with young children and keep their level of understanding top of mind.  It's best to follow the child's lead, answering their questions calmly and as simply as you can.

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World Mental Health Day

"Good mental health is an integral part of our overall health and wellbeing.
Good mental health allows us to cope with challenges, connect with others and thrive throughout our lives. It’s vital and deserves to be recognised and respected." (WHO)

Good mental health isn't just for grown-ups!  In early childhood, we often call it healthy social and emotional development.  Whatever term is used, (infant mental health, early childhood mental health) we can certainly nurture it in our children.

Here are a few teaching strategies that support young children's mental health:

• Check in with individual children each day to ask, “How are you feeling right now?”
• Help children identify the feelings of others:   Discuss how other children, adults, and characters in stories may be feeling
• Help children recognize situations that trigger certain emotions. “When did you feel ---?” 
• Help children develop strategies to handle strong feelings: “What could you do when you feel ---?”

Check out this resource for more information  https://www.who.int/campaigns/world-mental-health-day/2023
I can help you support your children as a Child Care Health Consultant.  I specialize in early childhood mental health!

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World Teachers Day

This theme may not be something to explore with your children, but it may be something to share with your families and your co-workers.  You may want to brainstorm ways you can work together to contribute to UNESCO's goals of advocacy and appreciation for all teachers.

​“World Teachers’ Day…is a day to celebrate how teachers are transforming education but also to reflect on the support they need to fully deploy their talent and vocation, and to rethink the way ahead for the profession globally." (UNESCO)

 “…the world faces an unprecedented global teacher shortage exacerbated by a decline in their working conditions and status."  This year’s celebrations “...will aim to put the importance of stopping the decline in the number of teachers and then starting to increase that number at the top of the global agenda.” (UNESCO)

At ECS we’re on a mission to  support all early childhood educators. One small way we do that is by volunteering our time and expertise at ECE events, such as the upcoming Texas AEYC conference in November. We also offer free phone consultations to answer your questions about child development and early childhood education.  We applaud all teachers for all that you do!

Happy October to all, no matter which awareness campaigns you are able to support.  Just getting your young children through the month as the excitement builds toward Halloween is quite an accomplishment!
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Contact us if we can help in any way.  We have trainings on ADHD, infant mental health (social-emotional development), and much, much more!

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References & Resources

ADHD Awareness October 2023. (n.d.).  https://www.adhdawarenessmonth.org/​
Breast Cancer Now. (n.d.). Mummy's lump.  https://breastcancernow.org/information-support/publication/mummys-lump-bcc164
CHADD. (n.d.). General Prevalence of ADHD. chadd.org/about-adhd/general-prevalence/
Head Start ECLKC. (2018, Jul 16).  Children with disabilities: Classroom visuals and supports. https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/children-disabilities/article/classroom-visuals-supports
National Breast Cancer Foundation. (n.d.) What to Say to a Cancer Patient eBook. https://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/what-to-say-to-a-cancer-patient/
National Fire Protection Association. https://www.nfpa.org/events/fire-prevention-week
Nemours Teen Health. (May 2023). Drugs: What to know. https://kidshealth.org/en/teens/know-about-drugs.html​
​NFPA Sparky's School House. https://sparkyschoolhouse.org/
Red Ribbon Week. (n.d.). Red Ribbon inspires our kids to be happy/be brave/be drug free.  https://www.redribbon.org/
Stomp Out Bullying. (n.d.). https://www.stompoutbullying.org/world-day-bullying-prevention
​Wonderlick, M. N. (2021, June 21). Starting with preschool, strive for kids who thrive.  ADDitude: Inside the ADHD mind. https://www.additudemag.com/adhd-children-preschool-parent-teacher-help
World Health Organization. (n.d.). World Mental Health Day.   https://www.who.int/campaigns/world-mental-health-day/2023
UNESCO. (n.d.). World Teachers’ Day. https://www.unesco.org/en/days/teachers​