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Everything You Didn’t Learn in Kindergarten Will Hurt You

TENNESSEE TRIBUNE — NASHVILLE, TN — DeeAnne Miree loves to come to work in the morning. She is principal of the Cambridge Early Learning Center in Antioch. It was built with a $33 million Department of Education grant and is one of two preschools in the country using Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) practices to study implicit bias in early childhood education. The other preschool is in New Jersey.

Published

8 years ago

October 20, 2018

Peter White

By Peter White

NASHVILLE, TN — DeeAnne Miree loves to come to work in the morning. She is principal of the Cambridge Early Learning Center in Antioch. It was built with a $33 million Department of Education grant and is one of two preschools in the country using Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) practices to study implicit bias in early childhood education. The other preschool is in New Jersey.

DeAnne Miree holds up the SEL pyramid, a model for pre-k and kindergarten Metro classrooms. Miree has not suspended a single student this year.

The SEL model is a pyramid. The base is a trained workforce that uses best practices to nurture relationships with all students. The next level is creating high quality supportive environments. That means good facilities with classrooms designed around small activity centers.

“When children are engaging in problem behavior in the classroom, it’s usually an indication of social and emotional skills and competencies that they need to learn,” said Dr.

Building with blocks

Mary Louise Hemmeter, a researcher at Vanderbilt’s Peabody College of Education. The SEL pyramid Cambridge uses is based on Hemmeter’s work.

In one of Cambridge’s 7 classrooms kids are doing different things but it’s not that noisy. Four kids huddle around a table of laptops practicing their writing and reading skills; another group is playing with blocks. One boy hurts his hand and starts to cry.

Miree calls him over and suggests putting it under some cold water. He shakes his head “No” and goes back to building. A larger group is seated talking about The Rainbow Fish, a

Danielle Norton mixes oobleck.

story about a beautiful fish who finds friendship and happiness when he learns to share.

In another classroom, kids are making oobleck, AKA gloop, a mixture of cornstarch and water. Meanwhile another class is dancing to music. They all eat a family-style lunch served into white bowls from a well-appointed kitchen. The school day ends at 2 pm.

The last two levels of the SEL pyramid target social emotional supports and lastly, individual intervention for kids with persistent challenging behaviors. Just like in K-12 schools, their percentage is small, but those kids can have an outsized negative impact in the classroom.

When kids are aggressive and aren’t gaining social skills to succeed with their peers, they will settle for negative attention instead. SEL is all about giving all kids positive attention to solve problems.

Experimenting with cornstarch, water, and food coloring.

Targeting support and special interventions are at the top of the pyramid for the few who persist with problem behaviors. They are not expelled or punished. They are taught. There were three interventions last year, one so far this year. There are 140 kids at the center. They are all training for the big jump to kindergarten.

“The capacity to develop positive social relationships, to concentrate and persist on challenging tasks, to effectively communicate emotions, and to problem solve are just a few of the competencies young children need to be successful as they transition to school,” said Hemmeter.

Racial Disparities in Preschool Discipline

A national survey of teachers in state-funded pre-kindergarten programs found that preschool children were being expelled at 3 times the rate of K-12 students. And a US Department of Education study found that more than 8,000 children were suspended from public preschool programs in 2011–2012. Black children were the majority of those suspended.

A number of studies have shown that these kids are at risk of failing in school.

Each dot is a student. Each color is a class. Top rows are language skills. Bottom rows are math skills.

One study found that when aggressive and antisocial behavior persists to age 9, intervention has a poor chance of success. The solution is to get kids into good pre-school programs. Metro schools got a $7.7 million grant to expand SEL into 187 pre-K classrooms and about 300 kindergarten classrooms in the next three years. Cambridge’s program will be the model.

“We actually have really good data that show when you coach teachers, and support teachers to do the model, that they do it well and as a result of it, kids’ social skills and problem behavior get better,” said Hemmeter.

SEL strategies have dramatically reduced suspensions at Fall Hamilton Elementary School. Miree reports that Cambridge has had none for its current crop of four-year olds. The same cannot be said of Metro ‘s 168 K-12 schools. (see Cutting the School to Prison Pipeline, Dec. 7-13, 2017)

Between 10-15 percent of two to five-year olds act out some as they grow. If kids don’t learn to control their impulses and solve their problems in pre-school they will have problems when they are older.

Every Cambridge classroom has a flip booklet of pictures called solution cards that prompt kids to resolve their own conflicts. Is somebody playing with a toy you want to play with? One photo shows kids trading toys. Another shows them sharing it.

Every classroom has an oversized hourglass. If trading doesn’t work, a kid turns over the hourglass and waits for the sand to fall through. Then he or she gets to play with the toy. No fighting, no kicking, no biting. Bothered by somebody being mean? Another picture shows a little girl ignoring her tormenter.

Miree was initially a SEL skeptic. “Let’s see how that is going to work with this child that’s defiant that I’ve seen in an elementary setting,” she once thought.

“I was blown away when I came here to see the teachers once they were all trained watching it in action,” Miree said. Learning to share is not genetic. Those kinds of things have to be taught.

Mendy Coe is one of two classroom leaders at Cambridge who coaches four other teachers. Vanderbilt researchers assessed what teachers were doing in the classroom and they looked at students’ academic performance at the beginning and end of the school year.

“They took all that data and we looked at the areas where we needed the most improvement. What came out of all that was that our students seemed to be lower in math and in writing and spelling,” said Coe. Now she is tracking students’ progress with a computer program.

“We selected very specific objectives. We are looking at letters and sounds and numerals and quantities. We could assess that. That’s very measurable,” she said.

Each child gets a construction paper identifier and the school population is tracked on a board as their performance meets expected outcomes. By year’s end, the kids should move from the left to the right side of a display board.

Most of the kids at Cambridge were more than halfway across the board last week.

This article originally appeared in The Tennessee Tribune.

Peter White

Posts by Peter White

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Car suspension test demonstrating a smooth ride, comfort features, and handling on various terrains.

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61 years since Selma, Houston leaders say the bridge remains to be crossed

61 years after Selma, Houston leaders say the fight for equality continues. The issues that sparked the marches still impact Black Americans today.

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Houston leaders discuss the ongoing struggle for civil rights 61 years after Selma, emphasizing the need for continued action.

It has been 61 years since the Selma marches. But political leaders in Houston say that the issues protesters were marching for still plague the lives of Black Americans.

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Here is what you need to know about finding unique white elephant gift ideas that everyone wants to steal

The best white elephant gift ideas are funny enough to get a reaction but useful enough that people actually want to steal them. Look for gifts with a surprise factor, broad appeal, an inside joke, and just enough personality to spark some friendly competition. The wrapping paper comes off, the room goes quiet for half […]

Published

1 month ago

October 4, 2026

Oakland Post

The best white elephant gift ideas are funny enough to get a reaction but useful enough that people actually want to steal them. Look for gifts with a surprise factor, broad appeal, an inside joke, and just enough personality to spark some friendly competition.

The wrapping paper comes off, the room goes quiet for half a second, and suddenly everyone wants the same gift. That is the sweet spot. A great white elephant pick should make people laugh, lean in, and start plotting their next steal before the turn is even over.

Should a White Elephant Gift Be Funny or Useful?

A white elephant gift can be funny or useful, but the strongest choices usually give people a reason to laugh and a reason to keep the item. A practical gift with an odd design, unexpected feature, or playful theme can get a reaction without becoming something the recipient immediately wants to give away.

The right balance depends on the group. Close friends and family members may enjoy a ridiculous gag gift because they already understand one another’s sense of humor.

A workplace exchange, neighborhood party, or mixed-age gathering usually calls for something with broader appeal. In those settings, humor works better when it is built into an item people could still use afterward.

It also helps to think about how quickly the gift will make sense once it is opened. A strangely shaped kitchen tool, oversized mug, quirky desk accessory, or unexpectedly fancy everyday item can create an immediate reaction. Guests understand the joke right away, while the item still has enough practical value to attract a steal.

Pure gag gifts can be harder to pull off. Something that exists only for the punchline may get a big laugh during the reveal and then sit untouched for the rest of the game. If the goal is to bring one of the gifts everyone keeps fighting over, usefulness gives the joke staying power.

Memorable Present Ideas: Creating Inside Joke Gifts

Inside joke gifts can make a white elephant exchange feel much more personal, especially when most of the group shares the same stories. The trick is choosing a reference that people will recognize quickly instead of building the entire joke around something only two guests understand.

You can turn a memorable vacation mishap, office catchphrase, family story, or long-running group joke into the theme of the gift. A personalized comic book can work especially well when it turns familiar people or a ridiculous shared moment into part of the story.

Think carefully about who the joke involves before ordering anything permanent. The gift should make the person feel included in the fun, not singled out for the wrong reason.

Can You Bring Something You Already Own?

Holiday gift exchanges can be a good place to re-gift something you never used, especially if it is unopened and clean.

The following can all work if they still look presentable:

A duplicate kitchen gadget
An untouched game
A decorative item
A sealed gift set
An unopened candle
A new travel accessory

The goal is to give the item a second chance, not use the exchange as an excuse to clear out damaged or unwanted clutter.

Take a close look at the packaging before wrapping it. Faded boxes, missing pieces, visible wear, or anything that looks obviously used can make the gift feel careless.

Wrapping Budget-Friendly Gifts

Wrapping can make gifts more entertaining before anyone even knows what’s inside.

Misdirection works especially well for fun party games. Put a small gift inside a much larger box. Use packaging from an unrelated household item.

Add harmless weight so guests cannot guess what they are holding. The reveal becomes part of the joke without changing the gift itself.

You can also lean into the theme of the exchange. Bright paper, oversized bows, reusable bags, or deliberately over-the-top wrapping can make an ordinary item feel more memorable. If the gift itself is already funny, simple wrapping may work better so the surprise stays hidden until the last second.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Picking Last an Advantage in White Elephant?

Picking last can be an advantage because you get to see almost every gift before making your move. Instead of choosing blindly from the remaining wrapped presents, you can steal something that has already caught your attention if the rules still allow it.

That advantage depends on the house rules. Some games limit how many times a gift can be stolen.

Others lock an item once it reaches a certain number of steals. If the most popular gifts are already unavailable, the final player may have fewer strong options than expected.

The first player can also get another turn at the end in some versions of the game. That rule can balance things out, since the person who started with the least information may get one final chance to steal.

How Do You Plan White Elephant for a Large Group?

For a large white elephant exchange, set a firm spending limit and establish the stealing rules in advance.

Create a clear turn order before the game begins. Drawing numbers as guests arrive can save time once everyone is ready to start.

Keep the number of steals per gift limited so the game does not drag on. It also helps to have one person track which creative holiday presents have been stolen and when they are locked, especially if dozens of people are participating.

Can You Play White Elephant Virtually?

A virtual white elephant exchange can work over a video call, with one person keeping track of the turn order and each steal. Guests can either mail physical gifts ahead of time or use digital gifts that can be delivered once the game ends.

Set the spending limit and stealing rules before everyone joins. It also helps to decide how gifts will be revealed and who is responsible for sending each one afterward so the exchange does not become confusing.