1. Summary of Expectations:
As an early childhood educators, it is important that we are knowledgeable about the various ways we can support children’s emergent writing and reading skill. Being knowledgeable of the developmentally appropriate ways we can support them will allow us to enhance children’s learning in this area. Children make sense of their world through play and exploration. Therefore we can facilitate learning by providing children playful experiences, developmentally material, tools, scaffolding, facilitating, and a rich environment. As teachers we need to provide children regular and active interaction with print, oral, and written language. We need to become role models and create a rich print environment. According
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I will conduct observations in children’s natural environment because children are behaving in a natural manner. This allows me to become knowledgeable about the “child growth and development, their perceptions of self and others, patterns of behavior, and their strength and weaknesses” (Beaty, 2014. p.2). This information is valuable because it will assist me for curriculum planning that will be based on each child’s individual needs and interest. For instance, using the Child Development Checklist is a tool to use. Beaty (2014) states, “The child development checklist is a “recording tool that helps observers to determine where each child stands in the six areas of development” (p.5). For example, in section 7. Emergent writing and reading skill allows me to focus on that specific area. I will observe the child to see if he pretends to write with drawings & scribbles, makes horizontal lines of writing scribbles, make some letters, and prints name or initial (Beaty, 2014. p.5). Additionally, I will observe to see if the “child holds books right side up, turns pages right to left, pretends to read using pictures to tell story, or shows awareness that print in books tells stories” (Beaty, 2014. P.5). Using this tool will allow me to informally observe and record children’s natural development. Also, I will use anecdotal notes which are “brief narrative accounts describing an incident of children that is important to the observer” (Beaty, 2014.
In this assignment I am going to describe a child observation that I have done in a nursery for twenty minutes in a play setting. I will explain the strengths and weaknesses of naturalistic observation through the key developmental milestones based in Mary Sheridan (2005) check-list and provide a theoretical explanation to support the naturalistic observation.
Support from parents has proven to be of extreme importance in the literacy success of a child. This often begins with the simple ritual of “bedtime stories” in the home. Studies show that children who are read to as infants perform better in literacy later in life. From a young age, children begin to understand the workings of the written word if they are exposed to it frequently. Babies who are nowhere near having the mental capacity to read and comprehend a book are still able to “follow along” when their parents or caregivers read to them. These children understand that each segment of writing represents a word and they are even able to recognize when a text is upside-down because they are accustomed to the appearance of writing. This puts the child significantly ahead when the time comes to learn to read.
The facility I did my observation at was Tutor Time in Fairfield, and I arrived there at 3:15pm. When I arrived there, I could instantly see that it was a child centered program by the feel of the artwork the kids had made that were on the walls, the passing classrooms and it smelled like sugar cookies throughout the building. It was very quiet in the office area and in the halls when I was walking to the class of preschoolers.
I observed at St. Eve’s Learning Center location in their preschool room. The center has a naturalistic feel to the environment and all of the staff is friendly and welcoming. The classroom displayed best practices, modern theories and research, and followed expected standards set by their accreditations.
from the first bar, she quickly swung her feet over to the side for leg support.
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.
Literacy is most commonly understood as reading and writing. But before children can read and write, they need to learn about sound, words, language, books and stories (Raising Children, 2015). Children begin to develop and gain knowledge quite differently and with support and developmentally appropriate learning skills children will also come to understand the connection between letters and sounds. Literacy development or early literacy is the most essential in the first three years of life as it the earliest experience children have with language, sound and the positive interactions between child and adult. Vygotsky (1978) believed in how children developed, and the important role of adults in leading child’s early development. The interactions
As a teacher, you need to encourage all attempts at reading, writing, speaking, and allowing children to experience the different functions and use of literacy activity (The Access Center, n.d.). Moreover, it is crucial for educators to understand phonological awareness and phonics; know what constitutes good children’s literature and how to use it; know children who need additional assistance with beginning reading and writing (Cunningham et al, 2004 as cited in McLachlan et al, 2013, p. 112). Educators also need to plan effective activities to assist children experience reading aloud, listening to other children read aloud, listening to tape recordings, and videotapes so children have opportunities to integrate and extend their literacy knowledge (The Access Center, n.d.). Morrow (1990 as cited in The Access Center, n.d.) notes that classroom with greater teacher facilitation promote literacy behaviours, so it is educators’ role to provide literacy rich
Every child deserves a positive, safe, nurturing, and stimulating learning environment where they will grow academically, socially, emotionally, and physically. My role as an educator is to provide my students with this type of environment as well as an education that will help them succeed academically and become life long learners. It is the responsibility of a literacy educator to provide students with this type of environment, but also to provide instruction that will help students become successful readers and writers. There are numerous programs and philosophies about literacy and reading. Through years of experience and research, one begins to develop their own creative approach on teaching these skills. After looking at different programs and seeing the positive and negatives of each, an integrated and balanced approach of literacy seems to be the best way to teach the differing needs of each student.
The two children that I have interacted with this week at the Early Childhood Education Center from the Willows group is Emily and Harriet. I got a chance to interact with these two girls this week. They are both so much fun to play with and be around. With Harriet, we played in the dirt box and played with the musical instruments. We also played with her stuffed little gray and white cat and a toy tiger. With Emily, we played doctor and played in the kitchen area. Together Emily and I played nurse and doctor to make her little baby feel better and got to play dress up with it. We also played some in the kitchen to make food for the baby as well. From what I have learned from Harriet and Emily is that they have two different personalities.
To allow the children to have opportunities to develop their emergent literacy knowledge while spending time in the writing centre, the educator could add literacy related materials such as different writing materials and different things for the children to write on (Fellowes and Oakley, 2011). To support emergent literacy in this centre the educator could include literacy related materials such as:
Observation It is believed that observing allows a teacher to see how children interact with adults and each other, as well as, becoming familiar with their everyday behaviours and the range of abilities in the classroom (Dowling, 2010). IPTE has allowed me to observe a number of teaching techniques, assessment methods and positive behaviour management strategies. Across a period of four weeks, I was able to spend two days a week observing in four of the five classrooms within the school, both in Foundation Phase (FP) and Key Stage 2 (KS2). The observation period enabled me to gain a good insight into lesson planning, the running of the school, strategies and policies used as well as the integration between FP and KS2. However, what stood out to me over the four weeks was the schools methods and use of Assessment for Learning (AfL).
Observation is important as the practitioner can find out what the child is interested in and what motivates them to learn alongside their progress and how they behave in certain situations, additionally at the same time it identifies if children need assistance within certain areas of learning or socially (DCSF, 2008). Furthermore the observations check that the child is safe, contented, healthy and developing normally within the classroom or early years setting, over time the observations can be given to parents as they show a record of progress which helps to settle the parent and feel more comfortable about their child’s education. Observations are not only constructive within learning about an individual child, they can be used to see how different groups of children behave in the same situation and how adults communicate and deal with children’s behaviour (Meggitt and Walker, 2004). Overall observations should always look at the positives of what children can complete within education and not look at the negatives and all observations should become a fundamental part of all practitioners work alongside reflection (Smidt, 2009).
The purpose of early childhood education is to firstly learn about one’s self and agency, how one’s actions can affect and impact others; to develop a sense of identity; who you are and how you fit into this world. Experience a sense of belonging through interactions with peers and teachers whilst celebrating and sharing diverse cultures whilst embracing others. Children need to have opportunities to explore, experiment, to gain insight and knowledge in numeracy, literacy, science and social structure through innovative and richly supported curriculums (DEEWR, 2009). I have very high expectations of all children as I believe that this assists in building self-confidence and