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Observing Communication

One day while grocery shopping, I observed a mother with her two children.  The children were twins, a girl and a boy.  The boy ran up to the bananas and wanted to count them.  The mother laughed and responded, “Count all of them.”  The boy nodded as he began to count.  The mother began to count too as well as the little girl.  The girl and boy stopped and said, “There are so many I love bananas.”  The mother told the children that they were going to talk about the banana.  She told the children where the bananas can from, how to grow bananas, and named animals that like eating bananas.  In this instance, there is what Stephenson (2009) calls “indirect learning (what some call the “hidden curriculum”). This kind of learning includes what children learn from one another, and the implicit messages conveyed by the teachers and by the environment’s structure and resources” (p. 90). The mother and children continued to shop for other fresh fruit and vegetables.  As the mother chose the fruit and vegetables she wanted to buy, the children identified the shapes and colors that they recognized.  The children are learning and the mother assist the children in learning in an environment that the children can relate to.

Reference

Stephenson, A. (2009). Stepping Back to Listen to Jeff: Conversations with a 2-Year-Old. YC:

             Young Children, 64(2), 90–95.

Affirming Environments

Creating Affirming Environments

Creating an environment that reflects the diversity of children and their families supports the teacher’s aim of making the classroom conducive to learning.  In the classroom, children must be comfortable enough to freely express him or herself through learning.  Parents must be comfortable enough to know that his or her child will be safe and will learn.  Lynch (2016) explains that “Staging the physical space, getting the students to cooperate, creating a communal environment, and maintaining a positive classroom climate and culture increases the opportunity for children to learn” (par. 1). Learning involves giving children the ability to explore, grow and develop.  Copple and Bredekamp (2009) share children develop when they have secure consistent relationships with responsive adults; mentally active in seeking to understand the world around them; and  are challenged to achieve at a level just beyond their current mastery. Children learning takes place in the environment during the lessons and activities which influences the physical, social, emotional, and cognitive domains.

The physical space must be clutter free with all manipulatives, materials and other resources accessible to the child.  The manipulatives, materials, and other resources should be age appropriate, tailored to meet the child’s individual needs, and interesting. The classroom would include a library, cozy corner, science, math and literacy, music, dramatic play, blocks, and physical development area.  In each of the areas there will be a variety of manipulatives on the shelves at the children’s eye level.  The manipulatives will be top free so the children can play with what he or she chooses to play with while in the learning center.  The cozy corner will include a rocking chair as well as a nook with shelves for books.  Castillo (2011) shares that teachers should “Support the children’s lives, their family’s lives, and listen to them (p.7).  Using the environment to help support the children causes the child to desire to interact in the environment as well as with the teacher.

 

References

           

            Copple, C. & Bredekamp, S. (2009). Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early

                        Childhood Programs Serving Children from Birth through Age 8. 3^rd ed.,

Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Laureate Education, Inc. (2011). Strategies for working with diverse children: Welcome

to an anti-bias learning community. Baltimore, MD: Author.