Sharing Web Resources Continued

Part of becoming a productive early childhood professional involves having and utilizing resources that are readily available to us. Some outside websites resources I chose to take a closer look at were:

• Early Childhhood News: http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com

• Early Childhood Resource & Practice: http://www.ecrp.uiuc.edu/index.html

• Zero to Three: http://www.zerotothree.org

Each of these websites offered a plethora of information regarding various issues in early childhood education. 

In this month's newsletter for Early Childhood News; Respecting Infants & Toddlers for Best Practice by Terri Swim; she discusses ways to increase the positive and reduce the negative influences educators may have on children. "Demonstrating respect is not just about feeling good; for young children, it is about adults acting intentionally to promote optimal development and learning (Swim, n.d.)" We should provide response that allow children to make they own choices. This will helps them to build skills they need to think for themselves. As teachers, we should repeat their style of doing things. This promotes independence as well as strengthens confidence and self-esteem.  She also encourages educational professionals to listen to children with our eyes and hears (Swim, n.d.). In doing this we are allowed the opportunity to learn the child's areas of weakness and promote development. Lastly, it is important to aid in building children's social skills by paying attention to how children interact with one another. 

I receive the CCEI newsletter. Feburary's issue talks about children's heart health. This month is National Heart Month. Although many young children do not have heart problems, it is important to start them off with healthy eating habits and practices to ensure longevity. Schools and centers should serve healthy food and engage in some type of physical activity during the day. 

Both articles tie into what we are discussing this week; Excellence and Equity of Care and Education for Children and Families. Children in our care should be surround by quality child care professionals who have the child's best interest at heart. Children should have access and be exposed to educators who want to help build skills and respect each child's differences. Introducing children to healthy eating habits and exercise is also vital in promoting excellence in child care. 

The week I learned that these websites offer information to educational professionals for any branch of this field. Ongoing training, classes and educational websites helps professionals like ourselves stay abreast to standards and techniques need to promote excellence and equity of care and education for young children and their families. 

Resources

Heart Healthy Habits for Children | February 2016 CCEI Newsletter. (2016, February). Retrieved from http://www.cceionline.com/newsletters/February_16.html

Katz, L. (2015, August 6). ECRP Spring 2015. Retrieved February 13, 2016, from http://www.ecrp.uiuc.edu/v17n1/index.html

Swim, T. (n.d.). Respecting Infants & Toddlers: Strategies for Best Practice. Retrieved from http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/article_home.aspx?ArticleID=468

ZERO TO THREE: Homepage. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.zerotothree.org

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 2

Unfortunately, I was unable to get in touch with my international contact from Germany. So I decided to listen to a podcast and visit the Harvard website. 

I chose the NAEYC podcast entitled, How Federal Policies Affect Early Childhood Education. Adele Robinson explains that the government has a strong impact on our field. The Federal government makes sure that the states have funding for early childhood education. This benefits all children, not just low income families. Federal dollars pay for state licensing visits to all centers who serve children, state training, and access to resources. It also helps early childhood educators by providing them with finical aid if they need it to help them obtain their degree. Although federal funding helps young children especially between birth and five years old, each state mainly regulates how and where the money is spent. This is why it is important to express to policy markers the importance of how and what to support in order to benefit to the child. 

The Harvard website lists the propositions guide the Center’s international work:

• Coordinated strategies to support child development can multiply the effects of investments in child survival, health, education, and economic development.

• We need to protect children from significant adversity, in addition to providing them with enriched learning opportunities.

• The early childhood years are critical building blocks for lifelong health, not just school readiness.

The NAEYC podcast and Harvard's website are both focusing on ways in which funding will help young children receive the start they deserve. Making sure policy makers and leaders have the child's best interest at heart is our main concern. This is a global issues "Recent reports estimate that 200 million children fail to reach their full developmental potential by age 5 (Harvard, n.d.)." Advocates role in seeing the funding is properly placed and used is vital in this field. 

References

Harvard. (n.d.). Working Globally - Center on the Developing Child. Retrieved from http://developingchild.harvard.edu/about/what-we-do/global-work/

NAEYC. (n.d.). NAEYC Radio | National Association for the Education of Young Children | NAEYC. Retrieved from http://www.naeyc.org/newsroom/NAEYCradio

Sharing Web Resources

The website I chose to following is the CCEI (Child Care Education Institute). 

The information that I particularly found relevant to my current professional development was from this month's newsletter, Technology and Interactive media in the classroom. Our center recently purchased a Smart Board. This is an interactive whiteboard. "SMART solutions offer teachers multiple ways to get young students excited about learning and prepare them for a lifetime of achievement in school and beyond" (Smart, n.d.). We now live in a technology based world, therefore, it is important to integrate computers, smart boards, tablets and other devices in early childhood classrooms. 

The article on Science in early childhood classrooms made me understand the value discovery has on young children. Science education encourages exploration, experimentation, and observation (CCEI, 2015). Children as early as birth are natural born observers. They are constantly looking for things to explore. Last June's issue goes on to explain that early childhood professionals must recognize and take advantage of these natural characteristics, providing appropriate guidance and experiences to help young learners expand their knowledge and skills(CCEI, 2015). Young children are also natural born investigators  constantly asking questions that begin with what, how, why, who and where. These are great opportunities to integrate scientific questions and lessons. After reading this article, I am inspired to incorporate more hands on science activities in my planning.

In CCEI's volume 9, issue 12 newsletter, New Federal Law Brings Important Changes and Improvements, the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act of 2014, will have a substantial impact on access to quality care for millions of working families across the country (CCEI, 2014). This means that grants were funded to state to safeguard the health and safety of children, improve program quality, help families who receive assistance, and overall strengthen early education and care of children (CCEI, 2014). This article may be a little outdated but is it great to know that politicians are working together and more funding is readily available for states. 

 

Other new insights I gained was in October's Newsletter, CCEI talks about SIDS. "Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is the sudden, unexplained death of an infant younger than one year old" (CCEI, 2015). I was surprised to learn that at least 1 out of 5 cases of SIDS in the U.S. occur in child care centers (CCEI, 2015). Although this has never occurred in our center, I believe it is important to receive the proper training in reducing the risk of SIDS. According to this article, many states have begun to require training on SIDS even though there are many mysteries as to why "crib death" happens. "Infant caregivers should already be aware of these basic practices: put infants to sleep on their backs; no blankets, sheets, or plush toys in the bed; do not swath infant too tightly in blanket or layers of clothing; and do not smoke near infants" (CCEI, 2015). Educators as well as parents of infants should be aware of this term and informed on ways to reduce the risk. 

References

CCEI. (2014). Newsletter Archive of Monthly Online Child Care Training Newsletters. Retrieved from http://www.cceionline.edu/index.cfm?id=56

CCEI. (2015). Newsletter Archive of Monthly Online Child Care Training Newsletters. Retrieved from http://www.cceionline.edu/index.cfm?id=56

SMART. (n.d.). Early Childhood - SMART - American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Retrieved from http://vault.smarttech.com/stimulus/early-childhood.asp

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 1

Let me introduce Kilah. She lives in Germany. I connected with her through a college friend that now resides in Germany now. We communicate through email due to the time difference. I texted her this week's question and this was her response: 

I worked in Japan as an assistant language teacher and substitute teacher at an international school. In the Japanese schools it was not easy to identify students that live below the poverty line because they all had the uniforms and school materials. The language barrier also made it difficult. On the other hand, at the international school the tuition alone was almost that of a year in a university so I doubt there were students there that were affected by poverty.

In Germany, I do see it though. I am at a small international school and there is a family that has two children that attend this school. Without going into too much detail, I will say that  their self esteem and confidence are impacted by their lifestyle. For one of the students there is more aggression and even bullying to compensate for his emotional needs.  I have also seen embarrassment on field trips because everyone else has spending money and he doesn't. Appearances are not a big deal here so the worn clothes and style of dress do not cause him any grief.

I am glad Kilah shared with me that she has worked in more than one country. This was very useful information to know because I still have not been in touch with my Peru contact. From our conversation, I learned and gain insight that in Japan it is hard to tell if any poverty exist due to uniforms. Although Kilah stated they all dress the same, many families do not discuss their situations with anyone else, leaving it hard to determine who is less fortunate. Where in Germany, children are acting out and teased due to poverty issues.

Sharing Web Resources

The organization that I chose was the National Association for the Education of Young Children
http://www.naeyc.org.

"The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) is a professional membership organization that works to promote high-quality early learning for all young children, birth through age 8, by connecting early childhood practice, policy, and research. We advance a diverse, dynamic early childhood profession and support all who care for, educate, and work on behalf of young children" ("About NAEYC | National Association for the Education of Young Children | NAEYC," n.d.).

What Parents Have to Teach Us About Their Dual Language Children

http://www.naeyc.org/yc/article/What-Parents-Have-to-Teach-Us-About-Their-Dual-Language-Children

This article talks about a 2 year case study on families that speak one or more languages in the home. They focused on four areas:

1. Home language context: Who speaks what language to whom and when 
2. Family language and behavior observations: What families hear and see at home
3. Language and literacy practices in the home 
4. Family concerns, assumptions, and questions about language learning 

We as educators try to connect home-school by sending home daily sheets, making phone calls or emails, or generating a weekly and/or monthly newsletters. As a way to help teachers understand home life, the preschool expanded home–school communication by adding parent focus groups, a home language survey, individual interviews, and family workshops on bilingualism and home–school projects (NAEYC, n.d.). These are all great ways for the teacher to get to know the child and their family. I would like to use several of this ideas in my center. I especially like family workshops in bilingualism and home-school projects. Both will get parents together so they are able to share their backgrounds with other parents as well as the staff and have fun while doing so. 

Resources

About NAEYC | National Association for the Education of Young Children | NAEYC. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.naeyc.org/content/about-naeyc

NAEYC. (n.d.). What Parents Have to Teach Us About Their Dual Language Children | National Association for the Education of Young Children | NAEYC YC | Young Children Journal. Retrieved from http://www.naeyc.org/yc/article/What-Parents-Have-to-Teach-Us-About-Their-Dual-Language-Children

Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

Part 1: Establishing Professional Contacts 

For this week's assignment I have reached out to two people that may be able to assist me with international resources.

First, I have a girlfriend that lives in Germany. She has a little girl and will be asking one of her teachers if she would be interested in sharing information with me throughout this course. I also have a close friend who is from Peru and Has sent emails on my behalf to some of the early childhood educators that she knows. At this point, I have not heard a response from either party. 

These pictures were taken in 2014 when I visited Germany.

Part 2: Expanding Resources

I am a member of the Childcare Education Institute:
http://www.cceionline.com/index.cfm?id=3
and The National Association for the Education of Young Children:
http://www.naeyc.org/
along with other organizations since around 2008.

Both of these sites offer a plethora of information for educators and I am torn on which one I want to focus one for this assignment.

I am very excited about these blog assignments over the next eight weeks! 

Thank you

This has been an amazing class! I want to take the time to thank all of my colleagues for sharing their  stories and knowledge. I also want to thank you all for your inout, support and motivation. Much success to everyone on their journey!

Two people I want to especially acknowledge are:

Kelly Seay and Rayanna Tomlin

Kelly Seay each week throughout this course you have commented on my discussion posts and blogs. You have been supportive, motivational, and inspiring. Thank you, thank you thank you. 

Rayanna Tomlin, thank you for sharing your story. It takes a special kind of person to open up their home to children who need one. This is our second attempt at obtaining our master's in early childhood and we will get through this. Gook luck in the future! 

I would also like to take the time and thank Dr. E. Your shout outs kept me motivated. I was happy to receive the first one as it set the tone for my performance during this class. Thank you for being such extraordinary teacher!