The Waldorf Approach Preschool is a highly debated area of a child’s educational journey. One of the primary goals of preschool is to prep the child for traditional elementary school. There are various contemporary models of early education that have been constructed to help children develop their educational career. A few examples of these models are the Bank Street Approach, The Reggio Emilia Approach, The Montessori Approach, and the Head Start Program just to name a few. The Waldorf approach is the program of discussion in this particular paper. The Waldorf Approach was originated in 1919 with the basic analysis that children can learn traditional educational subjects through artistic activities. The assumption is that children should dictate the classroom curriculum, and that the material learned should benefit the child as a whole. There are four conditions that teachers focus on when using the Waldorf Approach. The four conditions are Aesthetic, Social, Symbolic, and Sensitive conditions. In a classroom setting these four conditions are put into practice by ...
I am a firm believer that the quality of the child care directly affects the child’s development in the classroom. By eliminating the need for competing preschools to continue to improve their curriculum and to remain relevant in the field of early childhood education, we risk falling into the same trap K-12 education has fallen into. In other words, individual classroom freedom will be lost when teachers are forced to follow the governments blanket and mandatory regulations. I choose this concept because I feel it is important to allow a wide variety of options to families in order for them the find the right fit for their
Early childhood education, although constantly evolving, was actually established and practiced as early on as the times of Ancient Greece and Rome. The foundation that early childhood education is based upon is to instill in children the skills needed to succeed later on in life, while making sure young children enjoy their time in schooling. Throughout chapter 3 in the textbook Who Am I in the Lives of Children, the reader is capable of evaluating just how greatly the methods for teaching today’s youth have evolved and changed for the better.
Hailed by Newsweek (1991) magazine as the international role model for preschools, the Reggio Emilia approach has caught the attention of early childhood educators. In 1999, current Secretary of Education, Richard W. Riley visited the schools in Reggio Emilia to better understand its benefits (Dunne, 2000). It’s principals are understood by only a few, however, and has limited following with approximately 1200 Reggio inspired preschools in operation, most of them private (Sipprelle, 2009), making the innovative ideas offered by this approach available to only a few. Why have so few schools emulated those so successful in Reggio Emilia, Italy? Is Reggio Emilia applicable in the American classroom? A look at the history, theory, practices and application of this approach reveals both the benefits and difficulties in adapting it to the current educational system in the United States.
Tejada, E. (2010). The Promise of Preschool: From Head Start to Universal Pre-kindergarten. Education Review (10945296), 1-6.
Morrison, G. S. (1976). Chapter 6: Early Childhood Programs APPLYING THEORIES TO PRACTICE. In Early childhood education today (10th ed., pp. 5-31). Columbus, Ohio: Merrill.
The purpose of this research paper is to investigate the issue of Preschool to determine if children who participate in structured preschool programs are more successful in kindergarten or first grade.
Wellness is imperative to a healthy life. Sometimes, people do not really consider what makes up wellness, they simply think of it as being “well”. Wellness may be a state of being “well”, however, it incorporates different areas such as nutrition, health, safety, nurturing, and emotional stability. People must be healthy in all of these areas in order to achieve wellness. This is not an easy task for an adult but definitely not for children. In order for children to achieve wellness, they are completely dependent upon the adults in their lives; parents / caregivers, friends, and teachers.
Preschool is a highly debated area of a child’s educational journey. One of the primary goals of preschool is to prep the child for traditional elementary school. There are several contemporary models of education that are designed to help children be successful throughout their school years. The Head Start Program was one of those programs. The Head Start Program was designed by President Johnson to aid in assisting lower income families who had children attending traditional education the following school year. The program was initially only eight weeks, but under the Clinton administration the first Early Head Start grants are given and in October of 1998; Head Start was reauthorized to expand to full-day and full-year services (http://www.ilheadstart.org).” (University of Michigan, 2005) This program gives a “head start” to those children who “come from backgrounds where funds, parenting, and health are lacking.” (University of Michigan, 2005) This paper will focus on a study performed to assess the success of the Head Start Program for ch...
We investigated the Early Learning Content Standards and how they aligned with the kindergarten content standards. Our investigation will look at preschool-aged students who have gained this preschool knowledge prior to kindergarten and the negative or positive affects it has on their school career. Does it have an impact on their initial school year? Researching the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment Data on students currently in kindergarten and first grade, and determining who did and did not attend pre-school, will give us information on the students polled. Research states the social-emotional standards in preschool tie directly to kindergarten readiness and, if a child attends preschool, they will be exposed to the social-emotional content standard. The Early Learning Assessment given in preschool is the formative assessment component of Ohio's comprehensive early childhood assessment system called Ready for Kindergarten and is directly tied to the kindergarten readiness assessment that we pulled data information from. The purpose of this research is to show the direct effect of exposure to preschool in the outcomes of the assessments collected and the screenings done by the Ashtabula Area
The results of quality preschool programs can be seen early after they begin. Children learn many important life le...
While walking through the front gates of County elementary school, you see children of all ages playing while they wait for the school bell to ring. Walking to the classroom that I will be observing you see students with their parent’s line up waiting to get signed in. The students are to be signed in by a parent or guardian for safety precautions, and shows that the child was signed into school. As a visitor, I am to sign myself in, this shows I was in the classroom, at what time was I there, and reason for visiting the classroom.
Quality early childhood educators are individuals whose teaching and learning pedagogies are based on values and beliefs that lead to positive relationships, embedded in trust and high standards of professional ethics (Boon, 2011). Creating this type of individual requires educators to adopt the necessary skills, which will enable them to meet the diverse academic, social and emotional needs of all children. Since diversity is guaranteed in all educational settings, educators will often encounter various ethical dilemmas when interrelating with children, parents and even colleagues. Thus, making it integral for educators to develop skills and approaches to help deal with these dilemmas. As such, educators need to understand ethics in order
Curriculum is the organized framework that explains the content that children are to learn, the processes through which children achieve the identified curricular goals, what teachers do to help children achieve these goals and the context in which teaching and learning occur. The best curriculum for early childhood teacher is developmentally appropriate curriculum that allows teachers to set-up an effective learning environment for children.
Dever, M. & Falconer, R. (2008). Foundations and Change In Early Childhood Education. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (p. 3-4, 12). 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ
Early childhood education plays a key role in a child’s academic development because he or she learns soft skills, job skills, and develop positive traits. Preschool is not like kindergarten, but instead a stepping-stone that prepares young students for the years of schooling they will have later in life. As more schools began to open families wanted to be able to verify that programs would benefit and protect their children. In response, the National Association for the Education of Young Children was made to help families find the best care for their children, by providing the early childhood educators with training and ensuring the quality of children’s daily experiences. (“NAEYC”5).