CCS Early Learning By Executive Assistant, By Serena Lee

After comparing the advantages and disadvantages of all the curriculums that were presented during the poster presentation, I have decided to purchase the Second Step Early Learning curriculum developed by the organization Committee for Children. This curriculum teaches skills that improve students’ ability to understand their own and other’s emotions, show empathy, be able to self-regulate, solve problems, and decrease the frequency of their disruptive behavior, including both verbal and physical aggression. (Second Step Program Review of Research) There are two main reasons and a couple small advantages that make me decided to choose this curriculum:

Being an early childhood/special education major, I decided to observe during my field experience hours in a preschool class at Prairie Children Preschool, in Aurora. In this classroom, I observed a blended classroom, with ten out of fifteen children having IEPs. Thus far, I have visited three times and have completed a total of nine hours in the classroom. One opportunity I have in my placement is to be able to observe in the classroom on Fridays, during which only students enrolled in the Preschool for all program. Through my field experience I was able to observe Ms. Vanessa Seppa in the blended classroom. I have observed her work with children towards goals that have been set. Only having experience in early education made me curious as to the difference from preschool to the upper grades. One of my relatives was a substitute in a special education class and connected me to Vanessa Villalobos, who is a special education teacher in middle school.

What are the goals of Early Head Start? The goals or priorities of this is to provide safe and developmentally enriching caregiving. To support parent, mother and father, in the role as primary caregivers. The teaching of the children, and family in meeting personal goals. Being able to successfully achieve self sufficiency across a wide variety of domains. Communities being mobilized to provide proper resources and environment that is necessary. But also, to ensure the provision of high quality responsive services for the family. The idea of this topic, is to show the types of things that should be looked for when choosing a child care center. When choosing a child care center for whom it may involve it should be important to look for things like the quality of care, and the type of care and learning techniques that will be involved, while the child is there.

This makes it hard for low-income families and their children to get the adequate education they need to strive. Head Start also experiences a lot of turnovers within staff because there is not enough funding for the programs to pay their staff competitive wages that they need to stay instead of leaving for higher paying jobs. Thus, funding for Head Start should be increased to increase the number of teachers therefore making it possible to add more spots for children and their families into the current programs and for more optimal pay for the staff. Consequently, expanding this program and making it more accessible to low-income children and families who are in need of

During my observation at the preschool here at Harper, I looked around and realized a lot of similarities and differences it has; compared to other daycare and preschool centers. The age of children in the room I observed was ages 3-5 with one lead teacher, and depending on the ratio of how many kids showed up on that day, about three or four helping teachers. The program was set up to a very open, happy and overwhelming setting. Every furniture and object in the room had a sign saying what it was, and then underneath the typed out word was the children’s way of writing what the object was. For example, a book shelf was in the corner of the room; on the book shelf was the word printed out “Book

In today's society many religions and many people don't see eye to eye with the LGBTQ community. They see this community as something less significant than others, viewed as something unnatural, and even something different from this world we live in. This community suffers from being threatened for their lives, being scared of being their true self. In what power should people have to make these decision on what people should like; none, because people should be allowed to love whatever gender they please with. People in this community shouldn't have to a live in fear of being judged by others, tormented, or even humiliated because others don't agree with what gender they like. They are just like every human that loves, but many don't see that because of maybe the way they were raised was to only believe in same sex marriage or people just don't like the idea of a sex liking the same sex. People don't see that society is more open than it was back in the days. This community suffers from being othered and are being viewed as monstering walking on the street. There's stereotypes being made about people in this community, there's religions that disown family that are in this community, and people don't see these types of event could lead to self harm, addiction, and could mess a person mind, just because they don't agree with what gender they please with.

For my field experience, I had the opportunity to observe a four-year-old pre-kindergarten classroom on November 5th and 12th at Bushwick United Head Start program. The school is located at 136 Stanhope street, Brooklyn, N.Y. Majority of the families the school serve are Hispanics, and as a result, the student body entails mostly ELL students. There are approximately 130 students enrolled in the program, and out of that 130, about 10% speaks English. The school uses an additive model of English Language to support both the student’s home language and foster and support English language acquisition. The classrooms are staffed with teachers who speak the children’s home language, who can apply some use of the home-language within the classroom and providing hands-on experiences for students. Additionally, to support students with disability, the school also partnered with United Community Services (UCS), a program that offers speech therapy, occupational therapy and physical therapy to students. The school uses the evidence-based Creative Curriculum. The Creative Curriculum is aligned with Head Start Performance Standards, NAEYC guidelines and the NY State Prekindergarten Common Core Standards.

For the classroom observation assignment I was able to observe at Stepping Stones Family Childcare and Preschool Program. I conducted observations for five hours each on the dates of September 24th and September 25th of the year 2015. This licensed home-based daycare and preschool program is located in a quiet suburban neighborhood on 4103 Bryant Street, Blasdell, New York. The facility allows for a twelve-child capacity (ages 6 weeks to 12 years with four additional school age) and is owned and founded by Kim Bannister. When I observed, there were two additional staff present. Therefore, there were a total of 3 adults and 12 children at the center when I observed. New York State Senator Marc C. Panepinto was also present on September 25th as he read to the children and toured the home. I chose this specific setting as I personally thought it would be an interesting dynamic to study how a home-based preschool program is run.

My philosophy of Early childhood education is based on research that indicates that a child’s growth is developmental. Every child is unique in terms of life experiences, developmental readiness, and cultural heritage. A high quality early childhood program that provides a safe and nurturing environment, which promotes physical, social, emotional, language and cognitive development will ensure a positive continuation of the child’s education process

Education has come a extensive way from the times of Plato and Aristotle, but from each new era came a person with a concept that effected the world of education eternally. Sisters, Margaret and Rachel McMillian influenced education through their development of the Open-Air Nursery School in more way then one. Not only had they introduced the idea of starting education at a younger age then the fledgling kindergarten program, but their school was devised for kids from low- income areas that needed the extra care as well. A unique concept of the time that grasped my interest and made me want to discover more about their program and it’s effect on Early Childhood Education.

The Head Start program I visited uses a more traditional comprehensive method. Students are all close to the same age. Since the program is federally funded there is much emphasis put on performance standards and teaching objectives.

Early childhood education must always be changing and evolving to meet the needs of the children and families that we serve. In the short term for this school, the plan is to implement a new curriculum for students 2 and under. The plan is to re-train teachers and add new equipment to the classrooms when expansion becomes available. Long term, the plan is to open a second school.

Preschool classroom’s fosters an exploratory play environment for children ages four to five to prepare students for private school kindergarten courses and utilizes North Carolina kindergarten standards to develop curriculum. Cumberland County public school system does not have the best reputation for educating students and has created a need for more private schools. Currently, we only offer a preschool program but plan to expand into the elementary school ages. As the new school year approaches I will be redesigning the classroom environment and

The Early Childhood Education program at Carlow University focuses on educating children from birth to grade four in any context—school, family, or community. As a signature mark of the program, students learn how to honor diversity and form strong inclusive relationships between child and caregiver/teacher. They learn that a child’s environment needs to be rooted in trust; physically and psychologically safe. They learn that the caregiver/teacher relationship needs

There are many types of learning opportunities that can encourage a child to learn and help to enhance their abilities. Child care centers are a great way to encourage a child to learn, and to be ready for the school atmosphere. “The Big Top Child Care Center” in Laurel, Maryland have an excellent program for children between two to nine years of age. They have an environment where teachers are well trained and are first aid and CPR certified. They enhance a child’s learning by providing them with nutrition, educational field trips, and special events. Elementary schools are the opening door for early childhood education. Children can begin their learning experience in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten which are the first grades of elementary education. “ Ring Factory Elementary” located at Harford county in Maryland is a school that has three kindergarten classes that teach five to six year olds the beginning of their educational life. Not only are there child care centers and schools a great