www.naeyc.org

 

I was reading off of www.naeyc.org about various things when the title Play and Children`s Learning caught my attention. One of my assignments this week was connected to the unintended consequences of "childhood" being viewed as an investment opportunity is that there are high academic expectations for children from an early age and play is given less and less an importance. For that reason I decided to read NAEYC`s view on play and what role it plays in children`s development. The conclusion was that “Many organizations, including NAEYC, have written about the importance of physical play, and play generally, in early childhood development. Not only does research suggest that play supports academic-related skills, but also physical skills and development. As the Pediatrics article shows, pressures on early childhood programs that come from funding concerns and a lack of understanding the role of play and how to best use it to support early childhood development will continue to result in decisions that devalue play” (NAEYC). There is also mention of how the website has many resources to help early education professionals integrate big body play into their programs to meet a range of developmental goals.

I was very excited to read that the “National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies released From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development, an update and synthesis of current scientific knowledge of child development from birth to age five. Guided by the Committee on Integrating the Science of Early Childhood Development (Jack Shonkoff, Chair and Deborah Phillips, Study Director). Early experiences affect the development of the brain and lay the foundation for intelligence, emotional health, and moral development, but the focus on the period from "zero-to-three" is too narrow. Some of the things that came up were:

1.      Healthy early development depends on nurturing and dependable relationships.

2.      How young children feel is as important as how they think, particularly with regard to school readiness.

3.      And although society is changing, the needs of young children are not being met in the process.” (NAEYC)

It is exciting when specialists come together and scientific advances can be used to shape early childhood policy, services and research.

I am very interested in reading more about nature and how I am take the children`s learning outdoors in order to make it more meaningful, fun and healthy.

 www.naeyc.org

Poverty In Namibia

I have not received a response from either of my initial contacts and I then chose to send an email to all of the members of a training session I attended a few years ago in early childhood. I did get a response from Anne Boudreau that is an ELC coordinator in an IB school in Japan. Unfortunately I have not yet received a response regarding this week`s issue of poverty.

Therefor I have chosen to read about poverty in Namibia off of the Unicef website.

I learned that one in three children in Namibia grow up in households that are poor. The same idea that poverty has long term impact on children, especially if poverty starts at an early age or persists over several years. These impacts include a higher risk of low birth rate and child mortality, stunting and poor educational outcomes. Poverty can impact children`s emotional and psychosocial well-being as well as increase stress and tension in the household. Poverty has long-lasting impacts on the lives and development of children and that if poverty is not addressed at an early age it will be passed on from one generation to another.

According to Unicef, the majority of poor children in Namibia live in households;

• With young children
• With four or more children
• Without orphans
• With caregivers that are married or in a consensual union
• With one or more working adults
• In which the female caregiver has at least secondary education
   
   

I think the above also support the fact that there are many myths and have nothing to do with the reality families in poverty live in.

United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). (2009). The state of the world's children: Special edition (Research Report). Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/rightsite/sowc/pdfs/SOWC_Spec%20Ed_CRC_Main%20Report_EN_090409.pdf

 

 

 

 

The website I chose to use as a resource throughout this course is www.naeyc.com.

I think the best place to begin is by reading the Position Statement in order to understand NAECY`s position on various issues that I will be analyzing throughout this course. The first issue I chose to look at was Diversity. Diversity has been my focus this week and I was curious to read NAEYC`s position statement on that. I was not surprised to read that there is an emphasis put on the fact that diversity is an increasingly important issue in our Early Childhood classes. NAECY has many good recommendations that are directed at Early Childhood programs and educators. Some points that are noted are the importance of “diversity, children`s ties to their families and community, the importance of second language as well as mother tongue” (NAEYC, 2009) I love the point made that “Linguistic diversity is and asset and not a deficit.” (NAEYC, 2009).

Getting Ready—Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

1. Establishing Professional Contacts.

I am really excited about this course especially because of the rich opportunities of learning from each other and others from different parts of the world. I have gone through the possible contacts and have narrowed it down to Dr. Betty Chan Po-king from China representing the OMEP National Committee for Hong Kong Pacific Early Childhood Education Research Association and Yvonne Dionne from Canada representing the Canadian Child Care Foundation.
I have sent them emails and at first I got emails telling me that a certain website had rejected the emails…I have sent them again off of a different email address and I am waiting for a response. I do have a plan B in case I do not get a response from my first 2 choices. I have saved the information from all of the participants that I met at a last conference I attended in Paris, PYP in the Early Years and I will send out an email to see who would be interested in a collaboration.

1. Expanding Resources

This is also very exciting. I have just discovered the NAEYC a few years ago and I was amazed at all the wonderful stuff on there. Therefore choosing the NAEYC website was a natural choice for me. The fact that reading through articles and information off of the NAEYC website is part of my coursework is very exciting because now I know I will have time to read and learn a lotJ