Are you ready for the first day of school?

Back to school

The children will be arriving soon and it does not matter if your program was closed for the summer or if it is a year round program. Before you start the new school year take a little time and asses what did and did not work within the last school year and determine why in both situations. Change the things that did not work and incorporate the things that were working.

Organize your classroom and eliminate any potential blind spots. Making certain that there are not any blind spots within the classroom will ensure that you can see the children at all times from all angles of the classroom. Reducing and eliminating blind spots is one way to guarantee that you are always aware of what the children are doing.

Make sure that you are prepared!! Prep your materials for projects before the children sit down to complete the project. Having children waiting for any length of time is not productive and creates a level of frustration for everyone. Plan your lessons but be flexible enough to allow for the children to move beyond the lessons that you have planned.

Assess the children; learn their likes, dislikes, and behaviors. Evaluate the children’s skill level and determine the next developmental level. Once the next developmental level has been determined that will be the goal to achieve. The children should be re-evaluated in the middle of the year to ensure that you are on the right path for each child and the group.

  • Asses all of your equipment

Review your classroom arrangement to make sure that there is an adequate amount of materials in each developmental area. Check your equipment to make sure that it is in good working order and that there is a sufficient amount for the children within your classroom. If you do not have a detailed equipment list, create one that outlines the equipment that is designated to the classroom. The list should include all equipment including materials that maybe stored as extras for the classroom. Having an accurate equipment list serves two purposes; first to ensure that there is a proper amount of equipment within the classroom and second to justify when additional equipment should be ordered.

  • Develop classroom rules

Allow the first couple of days for the children to adjust to the classroom and routine. During the first couple of days you are getting to know the children and the children are acclimating to the classroom. If you have older children allow them to develop classroom rules along with the consequences. This will set the expectations for the children and the classroom. This also holds the children accountable for their action with the knowledge of the consequences. This will take the discipline out of your hands and place it back onto the children. Example: when someone throws a toy the children might have the consequence be removing the children from the area. That would be the consequence for their actions. They would not be able to say that you were not being fair because the consequences were determined before the behavior was observed. You are just enforcing the rules that were developed by the class. This teaches the children natural consequences and accountability.

  • Provide parents with a welcome newsletter outlining the goals for the classroom. Inform the parents about your desires for the children.

Maintain open communication with the parents. Let them know what is going on in the classroom and whenever possible have them volunteer in the classroom. Communicating with the parents will build a trust level and allows for you to better help the children within the classroom. Remember that the parents are the child’s first teacher and will always know their child the best.

Communication between home and the classroom is very important. Make sure that the parents know that they should inform you of changes in the child’s usual behavior, if the child has experienced anything that may affect the child’s behavior at school, and assure the parents that you will do the same. Parents also want to know if something happened at school that might affect the child’s behavior as well as the activities that the child enjoyed during the day. This will create an open communication.

Poverty

I believe that perception is vital to reducing poverty in the sense that people who have not been exposed to poverty, often think that living in poverty is a choice. Rank (2004) believes that the poor are viewed as being different from mainstream society. There are situations that exasperate poverty such as divorce, single and teen mothers, and death of a family member. However, this does not mean that they choose to live a life at or below the poverty line. The other myth is that poor people are lazy and if they just went to work they would have a better life. The mindset of individuals that are living in poverty is often one of hopelessness, despair, and the feeling that they will never get out of the situation. Poverty can be changed in the future but first we have to change how poverty is viewed in this country. With all of the efforts being placed on poverty in other counties there is not nearly enough attention being paid to poverty issues that are increasing within the United States. When we evaluate poverty and how it will look in the future, we will have to recognize that, there will be families in the future that have never been touched by poverty. These families will be impoverished or very close to the poverty level.

Research has concluded that early childhood program can reduce poverty by increasing children’s social, emotional, language, literacy, and cognitive abilities.  These skills that are introduced to children at an early age will lay the groundwork for their educational success. Poverty is a problem that can be addressed in the future with a solid educational system.

A few effective ways to reduce poverty through the education system would be to:

  • Provide free or reduced early childhood centers for all children.
  • Ensure that all early childhood programs are providing developmentally appropriate programs for the children.
  • Create an educational system that is able to focus mainly on educating the students and not disciplining.
  • Have an education system that places value on educating student and not just passing standardized test.
  • Look at community colleges as a true two-year college and not a way to bridge the gap between high school and the universities.

Reference

Rank, M. R., (2004). One Nation, Underprivileged; Why American poverty affects us all. NY: Oxford University Press.

 

Outdoor Play Activities

Here are a few ideas of things to do outside on the

Word playground 

Bean Bag Toss

  • Socks
  • Dry beans
  • 10 Empty Shoe boxes

Have the children fill the socks with the dry beans. Secure a knot in the top of the sock and roll the top down around the knot in the sock. Have the children cover the shoe box with any color paper and decorate. Place the boxes around the outside area and create a relay with the bean bag toss as the children fill the shoe box they move to the next box until they have completed the course.

Hiding Game

Hide multiple items outside and give the children a card with the items on it and have the children match the items to the card as they locate the items. You can change the items weekly.

Simon Says

Play Simon Says using various sounds and movements of animals. Moo like a cow, jump like a kangaroo, walk like an elephant, crawl like spider. Be creative.

Why is it important for children to have planned activities when playing outside? One reason it to reduce accidents and for children to have the opportunity to participate in other activities outside.

Gardening

Plant a flower, herb, or vegetable garden on the playground have the children maintain the garden. They can eat the vegetables and herbs in cooking projects. The flowers can be used for art projects and room decorations. The children will learn how to tend and cultivate gardens. These are skills that can be used at home with their parents.

Use planter boxes if you do not have a large area for the garden. If you use planter boxes each classroom could plant a different plant to add variety.

Have the children learn about the plants and identify the various varieties    

Sidewalk Chalk activities

Have the children draw their own hopscotch

Trace the children on the sidewalk and let the children color in their silhouette

Draw with the chalk on the building and if it does not rain have the children use sponges and large paint brushes to remove the chalk from the building the next day. If you are worried that the children will not want to remove their art work have another classroom remove the chalk when they are outside.

Art activities

Have an outside easel for drawing

Take an easel outside for the children

Attach paper to the wall or door for drawing and painting

Other activities

Built bird houses, bird feeders, and musical activities

Outdoor Play

Should children go outside everyday to play? Yes, except during inclement weather conditions.

Outside activities should be a true extension of the indoor classroom. The playground is not a place for chairs for the teachers. It is also not the time for children go on the swings and climber to entertain themselves.

I have observed teachers in the classroom interacting in a developmentally appropriate fashion. They speak with the children in an appropriate manner, redirect them when necessary, they listen to their individual needs and desires, and respond accordingly. When the teachers are outside on the playground with the children they should be interacting with the children in the same developmentally appropriate fashion as they would inside the classroom. 

There should be activities for the children to engage in to allow for exploration and gross motor development to name a few. Outdoor time is in no way a rest period for the staff and a free for all for the children.

Often times teachers on the playground with the children are less than responsive to the children’s needs. They are often standing on the playground talking with other teachers, sitting on the side of the playground observing the children from a far, or looking at their cell phones. This type of interaction is not conducive with the outdoor play area being an extension of the indoor classroom for children. 

Numerous accidents have occurred outside on the playground due to a lack of supervision, unsafe, and inappropriate equipment. The outdoor equipment should be checked daily to ensure that everything is safe for the children. This will also reduce the number of accidents that occur due to broken and unsafe equipment.

Children could have an accident with caregivers interacting with them on the playground but these accidents can be explained to the parents. Can the same be said for accidents when the caregivers are talking to each other, distracted by their cell phones, or sitting away from the children? I think not. The last thing a parent want to hear from a teacher is that they have no idea how their child was injured. This is especially true for parents of young children that cannot articulate what happened. 

Many administrators believe that their outdoor areas are not complete without a large play structure for the children as well as parents that want to see a large climbing structure on the playground. Whereas, this may be the case, every outside play area should be a true extension of the classroom. The teachers at the center should be able to articulate to the administrators and parents what the overall goal of the outdoor play area is and why it is developmentally appropriate for the children to have an extension of the classroom outside on the playground.  

What are the benefits of going outside daily? Children have the opportunity to explore elements that are not available within the classroom.

Cons for Standards

handprint

The positive attributes were discussed now I will discuss the issues. I will explain why standards can produce issues for young children.

The following are con’s for standards within early childhood education:

1) When educators utilize the standards as their only teaching tool. They do not incorporate developmentally appropriate practices or address the individual needs of the children.

2) When educators only teach to the standards the children are not receiving the instruction by which the standards were designed.

3) Teachers have been known to feel overwhelmed by standards due to their lack of training.

4) I believe that when educators are not provided proper training on how the standards should be incorporated with developmentally appropriate practices is when problems tend to occur.

5) Standards alone can lead to teachers providing unnecessary testing for young children (Gronlund, 2006).

6) The problem with standards in early childhood education arises when other factors are not considered such as brain development and their individual needs are not addressed.

Reference

Gronlund, G. (2006). Making early learning standards come alive: Connecting your practice and curriculum to state guidelines. St. Paul, MN: Redleaf Press.