Early Childhood: 2012-03-25

Wednesday, March 28

I've always loved finding new hands on activities for kids. This week through my own schooling I was able to take a closer look at some of the other resources out there for professionals, children, and families in Early Childhood. I have created a Resources section on my blog page but wanted to point out 3 other resources that I have found beneficial. Please check them out.
The first one has to do with Social Emotional learning, http://www.challengingbehavior.org/. This is a "hot topic" area in Early Childhood in MN right now. This website has an extreme amount of information for all who are interested in promoting positive social emotional development in our field. The second site flows right along this one (and actually has its own link on the last site but it is often times overlooked) http://csefel.vanderbilt.edu/. This site as well deals with Social Emotional Learning and young children. The third site I want to post is my favorite idea site. There is a subscription fee to access my favorite part of the site but there is a limited section that is free. This site has a lot of good ideas for the early learner http://www.kidssoup.com/. Enjoy!!

QUOTES:

"Children are not succeeding because they are not given the tools they need not because they don't have the intelligence." - Louise Derman-Sparks

“The passion was that all children were taught in an environment that truly nurtured their ability to develop and grow.” - Louise Derman-Sparks

"Self-esteem is an inner feeling: Sometimes it corresponds with outer reality, and sometimes it doesn’t." - Stanley Greenspan, Playground Politics

“The child may have a disorder or a set of problems, but he is not the disorder. He is a human being with real feelings, real desires, and real wishes.” - Stanley Greenspan

Influential People In My Life

Grandfather: My Grandfather was a wonderful man. He was quiet but full of wisdom. I spent almost every weekend working with him in his woodshop in his basement. Not much was said but so much was learned.

Aunt Wanda: I had many aunts that were important to me growing up. However, my Aunt Wanda was and still is like a sister to me; a sister I never had. She has been an emotional sounding board to me throughout my life. Her grown children are the younger siblings that I never had. We use to go around in her little blue pinto singing "On Top Of The World" by the Carpenters. Many younger days were spent just hanging out with her when I was young. Nothing much of importance but the time meant everything.

Grandmother: My Grandma Anderson was another very important person in my life. If I wasn't downstairs in the basement with Grandpa I was off shopping with my mom, aunts and Grandma. Many fun times were had at different malls. We didn't spend a lot but had fun hanging out together. My grandma taught me many lessons. One lesson, however, sticks out the most; everyone is special. She never stated this but definitely lived by this. There are a lot of people in my extended family and she always made each one of us feel that we were important.

Miss Arness: Miss Arness was my 3rd grade teacher. She was extremely fun and extremely funny. My philosophy regarding how I expect my students to feel comes from her. She treated everyone like they were special. She also felt that learning should be fun; and in her class in particular, it was. We were always laughing about something. We were also always at 2:45 listening to her read a story before we went home. The best was James and the Giant Peach. Her voices were phenomenal! So much fun! She was definitely my inspiration to teach others.