My Connections to Play

Play is important to children and their development. 

Quotes
"A child at play is a happy child"
"Play influences social development" Vygotsky

Connections to play
Play has always  been a part education.  When I went to school, we had recess.  During that time, children were allowed to play freely.  We played games and it allowed us to socialize.  As a result, children developed physically and socially.  Today, schools are trying to eliminate recess and play.  This will affect student development and the learning process.  Play can be creative or exploratory and it can be fun, so children need play to learn; it comes naturally to them.

Relationship Reflection

I have good relationships with several friends.  Relationships are important because people are part of my support system.  As a result, these relationships are important to me.  The factors that lead to good relationships are mutual respect and caring for each other.  When people work together to ensure that they each other are okay, they develop ties to each other.  For example, my friend Marianne works with me.  We help each other at work and provide support for each other. This strengthens our relationship because we trust each other.  Other important relationships for me include family and coworkers.

Family relationships are important becuase we help each other and provide emotional and financial support.  I work with family members to help take care of children in the family and to achieve goals in life.  Coworkers also work with me to achieve goals.  Another important relationship for me is my relationship with church members.  These people provide spiritual support. 

Final Blog Assignment

Consequences of learning about International Early Childhood

1.  International connections make it possible to learn about how issues affect the world.
2.  A global understanding of an issue such as poverty can help to solve domestic poverty issues.
3.  The exchange of information benefits all early childhood educators.

Goal for International Awareness

Early childhood professionals focused on international awareness should create a central website or newsletter that combines global research and information on solving world issues such as hunger.

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 3

This week, I visited the UNESCO site.  I learned that UNESCO advocates for Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programmes that attend to health, nutrition, security and learning and which provide for children’s holistic development (UNESCO, 2011).  This site provides information about early childhood edcuation and other related areas to child development.  UNESCO also founded the first World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education.  This allowed various groups and organizations around the world to discuss issues on how to improve ECCE.  The site also provides resources and publications on various issues to child development.


http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/

Sharing Web Resources

Sharing Web Resources

In my research, I have mostly used childpoverty.org to find information about early childhood issues. This site provides a publication called, “Who Are America’s Poor Children?”  After reading and downloading this publication, I find several interesting facts about new research in early childhood education.  I also found a site called http://www.campaignforeducationusa.org/learn-the-issue-ece.  This site provides a link to information about initiatives for early childhood education on a global scale.  Based on what I have learned in the newsletter, poverty causes disparities in education and leads to achievement gaps in education.

References

childpoverty.org

Global campaign for education. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.campaignforeducationusa.org/learn-the-issue-ece

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 2

The Global Children’s Initiative is a wonderful program that focuses on the health and well –being of children around the world.  On the site it is stated that “one essential, cross-cutting aspect of the Center’s approach is its commitment to work collaboratively across disciplines and institutions, drawing together the best and most creative expertise available to achieve the Initiative’s goals” (Global Children’s initiative, 2012).  After exploring the site, I learned three interesting facts.

The Global Children’s Initiative focuses on:

·         early childhood development

·         child mental health

·         children in crisis and conflict situations

As an early childhood educator, I was surprised to learn about the Global Children’s Initiative.  Since it focuses on early childhood development, this should have been a part of my resources at work.  However, I only learned about this initiative in this class.  Therefore, I am glad that continuous learning has improved my education and my understanding of outside resources.  I think that health is an important part of children’s development. Therefore, research conducted by GCI in the United States has helped to develop programs in other countries.

References

“Global Children’s Initiative” (2012) Retrieved from http://developingchild.harvard.edu/initiatives/global_initiative

Sharing Web Resources

Early Childhood:

Site: http://www.earlychildhood.com/

This is a great site for early childhood educators because it provides links for other educators to communicate and share information.  This site also has research and resources through other site links.

Early Childhood News: The Journal of Professional Development http://www.earlychildhood.com/

This site features sample articles from the print magazine for professionals who work with young children. Early childhood educators can use this site to find articles and news about current issues in Early Childhood Education.