Welcome to our home greets you at the door. There
will be pictures of funny smiling faces on the wall and set up all around the
foyer. The children that attend can see themselves in a cubbie with their name
on it. Around the room, there are other photos, posters and art drawing of the
children and their families. This helps to make the child and their parents
feel safe as they come in the door.
There are different areas of play that is set up for
the children to
allow space for developmentally appropriate experiences.
Dramatic play- wigs, shirts, shorts, pants, community helpers
uniforms, dresses and costumes of other cultures. Shoes, belts, hats, that
encourage language and social interaction.
Housekeeping – pans, pots, plates, spoons, forks, stove, play refrigerator, pizza box, food boxes, cups, plastic food
from different cultures, tacos, chicken, meatloaf, hotdogs, hamburgers, fish,
and beans. This encourages again social interaction and language. Diversity in
gender role-playing. Child acts out home life to peers.
Art – Skin tone paper to be included with all the other color paper. A few mirrors
to see their own reflection. Many pencils,
paint, paper, and markers to be as creative as one can be. A diverse of color materials;
beads, buttons, feathers, strings, cotton, fabric, paper and glue for collages,
paintings and other art projects. D
Judith k. Lepuschitz and Adriana Castillo discuss students, who are now
almost finished with their studies, and they'll become early childhood
professionals. What piece of advice you can give them, something that they can
take with them? Something that you think is really great about working with
children.
Adriana Castillo states: " I
recommend this to anyone who really wants to work with children. Keep going,
and never do this by themselves. Because always we have good people around us,
and the resources that we can receive. Because I didn't have to do this just by
myself. I really found great people to instill for me”.
This statement reminds me of the
reason why I am such a strong adovate for children. My co-workers and I were
taking classes together at the community college in for our degrees in Early
Childhood Education. We all worked together as a team, bring much resources
back to the development center to share with the other staff. It gave me the
want to go further and then come back and give to those who started off just
like me.
Sandra
References
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).
Laureate Education,
Inc., (2011) “Welcome to an Anti-Bias Learning Community” (Transcripts)
Strategies for Working with Diverse Children-Baltimore, MD; (Adriana Castillo, Judith
k. Lepuschitz )
