Early Childhood Program Research Paper
What Makes a Great Early Childhood Program
By Juetta E. Potter
A great Early Childhood program for infants, toddlers, preschoolers and school age children would be a program that participates in Kentucky’s STARS for KIDS NOW initiative. This is a one to four star rating system that recognizes centers that go “above and beyond” what licensing and regulations require. This outstanding Early Childhood program would employ only individuals who follow the NAEYC standards for Early Childhood Professionals, which are:
1.Promoting child development and learning;
2.Building family and community relationships;
3.Observing, documenting and assessing to support young children and families;
4.Using developmentally effective approaches to connect with children;
5.Using content knowledge to build meaningful curriculum;
6.And promoting high personal standards; continually expanding his or his/her skills and knowledge to successfully teach all children.
Every child and parent would be welcome in this program that would use developmentally and culturally responsive practices, taking into account all children’s cultural and ethnic backgrounds and needs. Antibias curriculum would be used to help teach children about the problems of …show more content…
prejudice and provides them with the knowledge, attitude and skills to fight prejudice.
Every child and every parent who walked through the door of this program would feel important and know that their thoughts, feelings and ideas really mattered! Parents would leave their child with the comfort of knowing that health, safety, nutrition and developmentally appropriate practice was top priority of everyone who worked at the center.
This program would be a child-centered program, with room arrangement to support child-centered learning.
Child materials and supplies would be easily accessible to children and labeled with pictures and words to promote early literacy. Children would have ample opportunities to move around and engage in active learning, with materials and space for hands on activities. Learning centers and desks would be arranged so that children can work and play together, with supports from teachers for cooperative learning. Provisions would also be made for individual differences and individualized instruction. Project-based activities would be incorporated, with ample time for children to engage in projects and other cooperative
activities.
This program would have learning material and experiences to cover all of the developmental needs of every child ages 0 to 8 years. This would include for each age group: books, fine motor material (puzzles, blocks, grasping toys, etc.), art materials (crayons, markers, paints, play dough, etc), assortment of musical instruments, dramatic play materials, sand and water play area, science/nature materials and experiences, math and counting materials, and material that promotes diversity displaying different races, ages, abilities and gender.
This would be a program where children are physically and mentally active, with encouragement to initiate learning activities. Children would be encouraged to carry on dialogues and conversations with peers, teachers, and other adults, with teachers creating and supporting these social interactions. The room would be filled with children’s collaborations, projects, problem solving and cooperative learning, with child-created artwork displayed for all to see.
This program would be able to assess young children from infancy all the way through preschool, to recognize any possible developmental delays and to recognize possible disabilities, such as Autism, in order to be able to provide the earliest possible intervention so these children can have the best chance possible for a successful and fulfilling life. Collaborations would be made with the local school system to make transitions from child care settings to school settings as easy and stress free for the child and parents as possible. This would be a program that we would all dream of leaving our children with, should the need arise that we can not be with then ourselves, where children are treated like little people, with feelings, ideas and needs that are addressed in the most developmentally appropriate means possible for each individual child. This would be a great early childhood program for all children!
Sources:
Fundamentals of Early Childhood Education by George S. Morrison; Pearson Education Inc, 2011.
By Juetta E. Potter
A great Early Childhood program for infants, toddlers, preschoolers and school age children would be a program that participates in Kentucky’s STARS for KIDS NOW initiative. This is a one to four star rating system that recognizes centers that go “above and beyond” what licensing and regulations require. This outstanding Early Childhood program would employ only individuals who follow the NAEYC standards for Early Childhood Professionals, which are:
1.Promoting child development and learning;
2.Building family and community relationships;
3.Observing, documenting and assessing to support young children and families;
4.Using developmentally effective approaches to connect with children;
5.Using content knowledge to build meaningful curriculum;
6.And promoting high personal standards; continually expanding his or his/her skills and knowledge to successfully teach all children.
Every child and parent would be welcome in this program that would use developmentally and culturally responsive practices, taking into account all children’s cultural and ethnic backgrounds and needs. Antibias curriculum would be used to help teach children about the problems of …show more content…
prejudice and provides them with the knowledge, attitude and skills to fight prejudice.
Every child and every parent who walked through the door of this program would feel important and know that their thoughts, feelings and ideas really mattered! Parents would leave their child with the comfort of knowing that health, safety, nutrition and developmentally appropriate practice was top priority of everyone who worked at the center.
This program would be a child-centered program, with room arrangement to support child-centered learning.
Child materials and supplies would be easily accessible to children and labeled with pictures and words to promote early literacy. Children would have ample opportunities to move around and engage in active learning, with materials and space for hands on activities. Learning centers and desks would be arranged so that children can work and play together, with supports from teachers for cooperative learning. Provisions would also be made for individual differences and individualized instruction. Project-based activities would be incorporated, with ample time for children to engage in projects and other cooperative
activities.
This program would have learning material and experiences to cover all of the developmental needs of every child ages 0 to 8 years. This would include for each age group: books, fine motor material (puzzles, blocks, grasping toys, etc.), art materials (crayons, markers, paints, play dough, etc), assortment of musical instruments, dramatic play materials, sand and water play area, science/nature materials and experiences, math and counting materials, and material that promotes diversity displaying different races, ages, abilities and gender.
This would be a program where children are physically and mentally active, with encouragement to initiate learning activities. Children would be encouraged to carry on dialogues and conversations with peers, teachers, and other adults, with teachers creating and supporting these social interactions. The room would be filled with children’s collaborations, projects, problem solving and cooperative learning, with child-created artwork displayed for all to see.
This program would be able to assess young children from infancy all the way through preschool, to recognize any possible developmental delays and to recognize possible disabilities, such as Autism, in order to be able to provide the earliest possible intervention so these children can have the best chance possible for a successful and fulfilling life. Collaborations would be made with the local school system to make transitions from child care settings to school settings as easy and stress free for the child and parents as possible. This would be a program that we would all dream of leaving our children with, should the need arise that we can not be with then ourselves, where children are treated like little people, with feelings, ideas and needs that are addressed in the most developmentally appropriate means possible for each individual child. This would be a great early childhood program for all children!
Sources:
Fundamentals of Early Childhood Education by George S. Morrison; Pearson Education Inc, 2011.