As I have tried researching the nature/outdoor model online, I have found that there is very little actually written on it. After typing in “What is nature/outdoor preschool” What you end up with is an entire page with really nothing about outdoor preschools. They mention Montessori, Waldorf, Reggio Emilia, High Scope, Bank Street, Creative Curriculum and Cooperative. What little you can find on it is not very descriptive about where is stemmed from, the philosophy, the different kinds, the curriculum or really anything. The one page I did find was on the Natural Start Alliance web page. On what I can find other than that one will say, the philosophy is based off Waldorf another will say it is based off of Reggio Emilia. I am thinking it is
Ecology in early childhood education means the study of the relationships and interactions between human groups and their surrounding conditions that impact on the child’s development and learning. Any changes to the surrounding conditions start from the most intimate home ecological system moving outward to the larger school system and the most expansive system which is society and culture. Each of these systems inevitably interacts with and influences each other and every aspect of the child’s life. According to famous psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, ‘he divided the person's environment into five different levels: the microsystem, the mesosystem, the exosystem, the macrosystem, and the chronosystem’ (Study.com
What is a Universal Preschool? The thought of universal preschool and education has been around for quite some time. A man by the name of Robert Owen was the first to come up with the idea to support early education for young children back in the 1820s (Fuller, 2008). Owen’s push for early education was due to his worries of his factory workers’ children possibly not being stimulated with learning, therefore limiting their chance of a head start in life. Fuller (2008) disclosed that it was then that Owen proposed that children learn alongside with their peers (away from family) by enrolling in a school setting for young children.
Richard Louv, the author of, “Last Child in the Woods: Saving our children from nature deficit-disorder,” talks about nature and its benefits to a healthy development. Time Experiencing with nature allows people to have healthy development since it promotes creativity and imagination. It does not take more than a couple of steps outside to see nature. It is all around us. It can even be right outside our window. Leaving the blinds open can bring peace of mind, just by viewing it. As people experience time with nature, no matter the age, they develop greater creativity and imagination. It is like people today fear nature.
The daycare that I visited was Rosemont Daycare and Preschool. This center is faith based and I was able observe the “Duck Class” which was the age group of four and five year olds. I went to observe on February 11th and 16th, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 and the 18th from 3:00 to 6:00. On the 11th and 16th, there were a total of 12 children in the Duck class. At 9:00 the children were engaged in circle time meaning that the children were learning about their bible verse for that month which was “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.” The children then discussed what they thought that meant. On the 11th I was present to see the children, the ones I decided to observe were Kali, Roslyn, Fiona, and Brayden. When the children were doing crafts I sat near the counter island in the class room so I was out of the way but still able to see and hear what the kids were doing and saying at the table.
Overall, I believe I learned a lot from completing this assignment. In regards to quality environments, I now can see that there are many different types of classrooms that I will encounter in the future. My classroom I’m placed at this semester seems to be a more typical classroom compared to a place like the Child Development Center in Kent. The CDC seems to incorporate more natural and recycled materials rather than Indian Trail, which is more store bought items and nothing related to nature or recycling. This assignment has already impacted me in the classroom this semester. I’m starting to notice more things throughout the classroom that may not be up to standards or that could potentially be changed for a better quality classroom. This being said, the Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale will definitely impact me as a teacher. These are things I will unquestionably be taking into consideration when starting my career as an educator.
“Recent research consistently reports that persistent poverty has more detrimental effects on IQ, school achievement, and socio-emotional functioning than transitory poverty, with children experiencing both types of poverty doing less well than never-poor children. Higher rates of perinatal complications, reduced access to resources that buffers the negative effects of perinatal complications, increased exposure to lead, and less home-based cognitive stimulation partly account for diminished cognitive functioning in poor children. These factors, along with lower teacher expectancies and poorer academic readiness skills, also appear to contribute to lower levels of school achievement among poor children. The link between socioeconomic
The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how educators in the early childhood field can create an environment for children that is beneficial to development and enhance their thinking and learning skills. The author states that over the years, more and more observations of early childhood programs across the U.S. and some other countries to see what environments help to convey knowledge better for children. The authors states a caution that, “…we have seen: whether in Alaska, Florida or Massachusetts, all programs are starting to look like an early childhood catalog. Centers do not reflect the identity of the families and communities” (Curtis and Carter, 34). They then goes on to say that many programs apply
Living in a healthy, happy environment is crucial for preschoolers as this could influence them later in life, causing them to miss certain milestones in their development. Theorist Erikson believes that there is a task that must be reached before they move on to the next stage of development, Erickson, E (1950) 1963. Development is important in preschoolers as this is when they learn their social skills, language skills and both their fine and gross motor abilities. Many hurdles can be put in place when it comes to determining a preschooler’s health such as; low economic status, lack of childhood education and not having the health model Te Whare Tapa Whā in place as these can all have a detrimental impact on a preschooler’s development in
Richard Louv author of “Last Child in the Woods”, eloquently and vividly shines light into the ongoing trend of nature-deficit disorder. Louv is a strong advocate who is exposing the reality that many children are being deprived of exploring nature and therefore suffering from nature-deficit disorder. It is clear that children today are not having similar encounters or any at all with nature as their parents or past generations did. There is no doubt that in a more modern and urbanized world children are being separated and distanced from the marvelous gifts and experiences that nature brings. Louv exposes the reasons why nature-deficit disorder is occurring by exploring time constraints, fear, bogeyman syndrome redux and a flawed educational
There was so much to learn about play and learning. I learned that play is very crucial to the learning and the development of a child. I knew the basics of the way we teach the children and how we are supposed to address and ask questions to the little ones to learn and be able to excel in their leaning. The understanding of why we need to is a different reason. To understand that the early childhood education plays a big role in the lives of these very young children. There is evidence that states that there is short and long term gains in cognitive, language, and the social-emotional development of the children. ( http://www.academia.edu/). I never realized that play contributes to these developments in so many ways. We as preschooler
Aim of this study was to investigate children’s scientific view of the earth, aged between 5-6 years and 8-9 years, and different mode of questions, open and forced-choice questions, elicited different responses in terms of scientific or inconsistent/non-scientific concepts of the earth. One hundred and twenty-eight children were asked to draw picture of and answer questions about the earth. The finding indicated children, aged 5-6 years, made more inconsistent/non-scientific and fewer scientific responses, whereas children, aged 8-9 years, made more scientific responses and fewer inconsistent/non-scientific responses. However, different mode of questions did not elicited difference responses as children found the questions confusing.
I observed at St. Eve’s Learning Center location in their preschool room. The center has a naturalistic feel to the environment and all of the staff is friendly and welcoming. The classroom displayed best practices, modern theories and research, and followed expected standards set by their accreditations.
For my observation, I chose Kids World; located at 160 Kelly Road, Bowling Green KY 42101, contact number (270) 842-6915 with supervising teachers Kim Neal and Chelsie Cosby. Kids World is a Family Child Care Center that services children ranging in age from infant to school age children. Days of operation for Kids World are Monday through Friday, from 6:30AM to 5:30PM. Kids World is a licensed type 1-child care facility with a maximum capacity of 86 children, and is a participant of the Kentucky Child Care Assistance Program. A majority of the staff are certified or trained in CPR (Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation) and have obtained a CDA (Child Development Associate) credential.
The system I chose to analyze was kids park. I chose this system based on a variety of different reasons. Firstly, on my experience from visiting majority of the parks in my neighbourhood, I’ve came noticed that a handful of parents doesn't have the time to take their kids to the park anymore. Whatever the reason maybe; work, personal time off, or too busy, it is something I've been noticing progressively. It is usually the nannies who are left with that responsibility or older siblings. Secondly I chose this particular system because I find it interesting how some parents are raising the children and when they’re out in public, for instance, a playground, I get to see how they deal with their kids in certain situation and if it affects what
In electing to observe a kindergarten class, I was hoping to see ‘real world’ examples of the social development, personality types and cognitive variation found within the beginning stages of “Middle Childhood” as discussed within our text.