Stacey Pepper Schwartz's Page

My daughter has been studying the Pilgrims at school. She jumped off the school bus Wednesday, her backpack full of papers, books, a half- eaten lunch and what she called an Indian hat. I looked at the paper with feathers in it and exclaimed “you made a Native American Headdress, how wonderful!” “What did you learn about Native Americans?” I asked. She shrugged. She began dancing around pretending to be an “Indian” like in the Peter Pan movie. I took her upstairs to our computer and googled "Nat… Continue

Dance is an art form. It is entertainment. It is fun. It is also available to everyone. If you have a body and a willing spirit you are a dancer in the making! The benefits of dance besides it being a medium of expression, a way to entertain, a way to have fun, is it enables you to work on the body and mind simultaneously. People with all ranges of abilities and special needs gain just as much and possibly more from dance because it reinforces these body-mind connections. If you have a child, st… Continue

Speaking from experience, when teaching children I sometimes need everyone to be still. Being still, "freezing" or not moving is a skill. I am sure I have said to a child at some point while teaching, “Stop moving” or “don’t move.” And I am equally certain that a majority of the requests were met with more wiggling. What does it mean to actually not move, what skills are you asking a child to use by being still and how can we as teachers and/or parents turn not moving to mastering a skill like m… Continue

Helping Your Preschooler Become Body Aware

It is so exciting when your baby takes her first step. When she lets go of your hands and teeters away. But now that your baby is a toddler/preschooler how can you help him discover more about his body, facilitate body awareness, strengthen gross motor skills and teach him to understand the space around him?

The answer is simpler then you think. Move with your child. Your child has mastered different skills like rolling, crawling and walking but be su… Continue