Archive for October 2002

By Jeanne W. Lepper, Director How do young adults learn about children? Some come from large families and have siblings and cousins. Some may have served as counselors at summer camp, others as coaches for youth sports. At Stanford, the undergraduate students also have the unusual and wonderful oppo... [ Read More ]

By Nancy Howe, Head Teacher Bing Nursery School was originally founded in 1949 as the Stanford Village Nursery School. In 1966 a grant from the National Science Foundation to the Stanford Psychology Department, along with a matching gift from Peter Bing and his mother, Anna Bing Arnold, made it poss... [ Read More ]

By Christine VanDeVelde Luskin, writer and former Bing parent Is there a connection between birth order and intelligence? This was the question examined by Professor Robert Zajonc, one of the world’s foremost social psychologists, in the 2002 Bing Distinguished Lecture held on May 29th at Bing Nur... [ Read More ]

By Chia-wa Yeh, Research Coordinator and Teacher Eve Clark is professor of linguistics and symbolic systems at Stanford University. She has been conducting research at Bing Nursery School since the 1970s. Hundreds of children enrolled in the school have participated in her studies. Clark has publish... [ Read More ]

By Jeremy Smart, Teacher David Kelley, a professor in Stanford’s product design program and founder and CEO of IDEO Product Development, spoke at a Bing staff-development day about keeping an innovative, open mind. He certainly spoke from experience: IDEO has designed thousands of products, rangin... [ Read More ]

By Courtni Holst, Teacher Alphabing started as West PM’s class gift for the annual Harvest Moon Auction last November. The idea of an alphabet book all about Bing was mentioned to Jennifer Justice, a parent of a child in the class and a writer. Jennifer took the idea and ran with it, composing mos... [ Read More ]

By Jennifer Winters, Assistant Director At our staff-development day during spring quarter, Masaharu Kage spoke to us about “lesson study,” a technique for teacher training in Japanese elementary schools. Kage is an associate professor of psychology at Keio University and is currently a visiting... [ Read More ]

By Svetlana Stanislavskaya, Head Teacher As we know, play is serious work for a child—a time to learn, discover, and create within an environment that is open to manipulation. The half-acre yards at Bing are carefully planned to be just such an environment, and children enjoy the space and freedom... [ Read More ]

By Suzanne Offensend, Teacher As part of staff-development day in February, Daniela O’Neill, Ph.D., a former student of John Flavell, spoke about the importance of narrative in children’s development. O’Neill is visiting Stanford on a sabbatical from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Cana... [ Read More ]

By Karen Robinette, Teacher, and Suzanne Offensend, Teacher Telling stories to children, as opposed to reading stories from a book, has some clear goals and objectives. First, telling a story without pictures actively engages children’s imagination in forming their own mental images–a rare oppor... [ Read More ]

By Tom Limbert, Head Teacher This is my building,” Riley explained to a teacher transcribing his words. “It’s a hundred feet tall!” Riley pointed to his clay creation and elaborated, “It has a huge window. The little pokes are the small windows.” A basic, open-ended material such as ... [ Read More ]

By Jennifer Winters, Assistant Director Parents and teachers alike understand that young children learn best by making their own discoveries and acting on their own ideas. But learning something well also requires plenty of time and space and appropriate materials that meet children on their own ter... [ Read More ]

By Mark Mabry, Head Teacher As part of an ongoing investigation of the tools in our classroom and at home, the children in West AM used measuring cups, spoons, whisks, rolling pins, graters, egg beaters, and other kitchen tools in a variety of cooking activities. After a few weeks of cooking with an... [ Read More ]

By Parul Roy, Head Teacher I feel something hard!” says Ethan O. “Let me see,” says Eli. The boys continue digging in the sand area. “It’s a bone!” exclaims Cole. “No, it’s a dinosaur bone!” shouts Ethan excitedly. The children keep digging to dislodge the big skull bone from the h... [ Read More ]

By Sarah Wright, Head Teacher James: I see the ring. Look! It’s going to have babies. It’s going to have eggs. I found a worm that’s about to have babies. Nika: Worms don’t have babies that are eggs. They are not born in eggs. They are born in tummies like I was born in my mom’s tummy. One... [ Read More ]

By Nancy Howe, Head Teacher Parents are always welcome at Bing Nursery School, and they can participate in their child’s first school experience in many ways, from fundraisers like the annual auction to family events like the Bing Fair to working in the classroom alongside teachers. This past year... [ Read More ]

By Peckie Peters, Head Teacher Consider this scenario. You are given the chance to spend two days away from home, in a hotel near the beach, with an opportunity to engage with other early childhood professionals, laugh and socialize with fellow Bing teachers, and ponder your commitment to young chil... [ Read More ]

By Andrea Hart, Teacher Last November I traveled with nine other Bing Teachers to Anaheim, California, for the seventy-fifth annual conference of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). Thousands of early-childhood educators, care givers, and advocates met to improve ea... [ Read More ]

Ella Jenkins, one of my favorite children’s musicians, spoke and sang at the National Conference for the Education of Young Children in November. Jenkins has been working to benefit children’s music education for decades and was celebrating her thirtieth anniversary with Smithsonian Folkways rec... [ Read More ]

By Karen Robinette, Teacher Kindergarten Information Night took place on January 31 at Bing Nursery School. Local pediatrician Dr. Rick Lloyd, Ohlone School principal Mrs. Susan Charles, and Escondido School principal Mr. Gary Prehn presented information and answered questions pertaining to kinderga... [ Read More ]

By Jennifer Winters, Assistant Director The inspiration for the Harvest Moon Auction this past year was The Broody Hen by Olivier Dunrea. Dunrea’s reading at Bing, generously funded by Helen Bing, generated excitement for the upcoming event. The auction went off without a hitch and had a real down... [ Read More ]