Creating Affirming Enviornments
In visualizing my family child care home, I would first want to make sure that everything I do in the classroom makes the children and their families feel safe and welcome. In watching the media segment, Adriana Castillo had an area outside the main center where parents signed in their children and dropped off their children (Laureate, 2011). Being that it is very hard for children to say bye to their parent, especially children with separation anxiety, Castillo had a chart outside the classroom with pictures of each family. This was something that I really liked and would definitely add to my family child care home because it helps to show the children that they are loved and that if they ever need that bit of reassurance, all they needed to do is look at the picture of their family.
The second idea that I would incorporate into my family child care home is a section of dramatic play. Dramatic play can consist of a lot of different ideas, but mine would be a corner of the room that has dress up costumes. For example: dresses, doctor outfits, fireman, police, ect. As children imagine what they want to be, they express themselves through imaginary play. This shows that they can be more than what they are and can help the children to explore and create longterm dreams/goals.
The third idea that I would use in my family child care home is labeling around the classroom, but also adding pictures of the center, this is due to lack of reading that is happening at young ages. I would also have the visuals with pictures of the children in the classroom. In doing this, the children in the classroom feel comfortable and are able to know they're peers better. For example: John is in the picture for the reading center, and he is reading his favorite book;John loves to read. Overall, creating a family child care home takes a lot of time, work and ideas. I am looking forward to learning more from other early childhood professionals so that I may be able to create a safe and healthy classroom environment!
Laureate
Education, Inc. (2011). Strategies for working with diverse children:
Welcome to an anti-bias learning community. Baltimore, MD: Author
Hello Angela,
ReplyDeleteYou discussed having a dramatic play area within your childcare center. Through my experience as an educator to young learners having a dramatic play area is a must in all developmentally appropriate early childhood classrooms. The dramatic play area is one of the most prime areas for self-expression in the classroom. It is also the area where teachers can learn about what their students already know about the world.
When reading our text, I have learned that the dramatic play area should have “a variety of clothes and toys for both genders reflecting the children’s backgrounds as well as cooking tools and empty food containers from children’s families which will help to depict various cultures”. The ideas the you added for your center were great!
Reference
Derman-Sparks, L., & Olsen Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, D.C.: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)