Summary: The Early Learning Standards

The preschool years which are the ages between 2 ½ years to five years old is an exciting time for children. It is during this time that they use all of the development learned during the infant and toddler stage to actively explore and engage in school. Preschoolers learn how to make their own choices, develop socially, and explore their environments. Parents and caregivers still play an important role in helping children during this time take initiative and explore their environments. Adult’s behaviors, attitudes, and styles of thinking contribute to preschooler’s

Bruno (2009) notes “when adults take responsibility for healthy and safe environments, children are free to discover their world without barriers to impede them” (p. 180). As early childhood professionals, we have a tremendous duty of ensuring that all children, their families, and staff members engage in a safe and healthy learning environment. Ensuring health and safety determines the quality standards of an early childhood education and care program. The NAEYC Early Childhood Program Standards (Health Standards 5 A-C) and the NACCP’s Components of NAC Accreditation Standards Health and Safety Standards (F1-8) provides guidelines that ensure consistent health and safety practices within early childhood programs. This short composition will compare and contrast the NAEYC and NACCP standards, discuss how the standards impact children’s social/emotional and academic development, and discuss the most important components of the standards.

Chapter two discusses various theorists that helped to mold and shape early childhood education to where it is today. There are several different theorists that contributed to the development of early childhood education. Some of these theorists include Alfred Adler, Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, and John Dewey. Each theorist developed a unique theory that has caused early childhood guidance and education to flourish like it has today. Without learning and building on these theories, early childhood guidance and education would never develop or change. The chapter explains how some theories may seem strange to the contemporary families, but these theories are the foundation of how early childhood education got to where it is today. The book goes

Early childhood is a time of curiosity, a time for play, and a time of rapid development. Every child is unique and deserving of an early childhood education that facilitates academic, social, and developmental growth through a variety of enjoyable experiences. Differentiated instruction adapts content, products and processes to meet the diverse learning needs and preferences of students (Thousand, Villa, & Nevin, 2007). Friedrich Froebel, the creator of Kindergarten, believed that children grow and learn as they play (Bruno, 2009). Play-based instruction not only enables young learners to have fun, but it also encourages interactive and cooperative learning, passion for discovery, and a foundation for later learning experiences

Problem Solving, Numeracy and Reasoning: Helping to expand their knowledge of problem solving using stories, games, role play, singing and games. Making the child feel easy talking about and understanding the language of reasoning and problem solving.

There are some considerations in terms of children’s intellectual development that teachers should keep in mind. First, education is exploration. This is where teachers allow children to interact with the environment by providing rich experiences and environment. Second, children do not think like adults. This is where children have

It is essential that educators create safe, welcoming environments that promote learning for all students in a classroom and to do this they must acknowledge issues of diversity and difference and know how to approach these issues. There are two key documents that guide educators in their planning and implementation of curriculum; The Australian Curriculum and The Early Years Learning Framework. Using these two documents to create learning programs, educators must enact an inclusive curriculum that empowers all students, regardless of differences. For educators to understand and address issues of diversity and differences such as socio-economic, cultural and ethnic backgrounds, language barriers and stereotypes around gender and sexuality, they must look at their own philosophy, values and beliefs around these issues.

To understand the whole child you have to understand the pieces which create a whole and balanced child. Development of social and emotional needs, physical needs, language learning needs, and cognitive development needs all come together cohesively to create a whole child. The best way to encourage and educate the whole child is through play because all needs for developing the whole child can be met during play. The keys to creating a whole child play environment is by incorporating age appropriate toys and materials into centers created by using development appropriate practices. The DAP’s (development appropriate practices) are created by investigating and identifying the child’s current stage of development. Once you identify where they the child is developmentally, you encourage and aide the child in learning and growing through play by using the DAP’s. Each part of the whole child’s needs must be investigated and identified before you can create a successful whole child environment. The child’s present cognitive abilities and struggles must be identified, you should know what physical abilities or struggles the child is facing, the child’s language needs must be identified, and last but definitely not least is the social and emotional needs. To

Children are motivated to learn when they have opportunities to make choices in an environment that is secure, enriching and stimulating. Children are curious from infancy and have a desire to learn from their environment and people around them. When children are encouraged to interact with their peers and adults in positive ways, they feel safe to explore their surroundings.

Activities and projects are planned by educators to match the skills, interests and unique needs of the specific children they are working with. Applying emergent curriculum to an early childhood education center is a process that requires an understanding of the individual children in your care as well as the group as a whole. As a teacher, your role is to carefully observe and listen to children as they play, determine their areas of interest, then develop a plan or curriculum to direct their learning which reflects these interests. The emergent curriculum approach allows early childhood educators to gain greater insight into the needs of each individual child and their needs, allowing for thoughtful and customized programming. The flexible and open-ended nature of emergent curriculum lets children and educators alike to explore, answer questions and guide learning in a way that evolves over time. An emergent curriculum involves the whole child; meaning the social, emotional, cognitive, and physical realms of development and learning. The main thought behind Emergent Curriculum (as well as other early childhood approaches) is that children learn not necessarily by what they are taught but “learn as a result of their own doing.” Emergent Curriculum is a teaching philosophy that focuses on the development of lesson plans based on the emerging interests of

A child centred approach is important because, if a child has an option to choose what they want to do, they will be able to process information more efficiently through the motivation of play, and how much time they have to explore by themselves. The EYFS declares that “children learn though actively investigating the world around them.” Therefore the more they engage with an activity of their choice the more they will take from it and learn.

In the planning cycle, the planning characteristic can be reflected into the ‘respond’ section of it. There are two different planning styles that can be use, the DOPS planning cycle (MoE, 1998) or the progressive filters which is notice, recognise, respond and possibilities (MoE, 2004a). In the planning the environment is viewed as the foundation of the child’s learning. Te Whāriki defines planning as “helping adults who work in early childhood education to understand what young children are learning, how the learning happens, and the role that both adults and other children play in such learning” (MoE, 1996, p.28). Observations have a very important role in planning for the child, as the observation shows a lot about a child and what their interests are, which can help to determine the ‘what next’ characteristic to extend children interests. Observations help teachers to plan in regards to what they have seen (MoE, 1996). It helps to create an environment that facilitates the children’s learning, so that they can get the optimal benefits in regards to what they are interested in. It also indicate

"Developmentally-appropriate practice, often shortened to DAP, is an approach to teaching grounded both in the research on how young children develop and learn and in what is known about effective early education" (DAP, 2013, NAEYC).The NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children) makes the principles of developmentally-appropriate practice one of its cornerstones. Developmentally-appropriate practice ensures that children do not become frustrated or bored with what they learn. It enables students to successively build upon past knowledge without any gaps. It ensures that learning remains fun and engaging: very young children are not forced to memorize facts, sit in their desks for too long, or otherwise taxed beyond the emotional and intellectual limits of their present capacities. All children can learn, but depending on the developmental stage of the child, the ways in which the learning process takes place must often be altered. It must also be remembered that not all children are functioning at their chronological age: some may need additional support while others may be more advanced. It is necessary for the teacher to understand each student's limits and strengths, developmentally.

Shared activities with peers provide children with opportunities to learn, practice, and develop their communicative, interactive, and social skills. At ages 2-4, children are still developing in all of these domains, therefore their problem solving skills are not yet efficient. For example, toddlers have limited awareness of another’s point of view, therefore limiting their social problem solving abilities. Toddlers also lack the language skills needed to communicate in social situations, further limiting those problem solving abilities. For this reason, it is important to look at how teachers can facilitate problem-solving development in children these ages. In order to do this, one must first determine how children ages

Science is, by its nature, inquiry based and science knowledge is built through processes in which discoveries of the natural world are made (Abruscato, 2000). It utilizes discovery and scientific thinking process to explore and learn knowledge and skills. Learning by doing is the new efficient method in teaching science. For kindergarten, this method leads to better understanding of science concepts and builds skills that children will use in future life .What a child can do with assistance now, they can later do on their own (Vygotsky, 1978). John Dewey (1916) stated that children must be engaged in an active quest for learning and new ideas. Inquiry is important in educating kindergarteners because it not only keeps them interested in lessons but also helps them retain more information when performing exploration and investigation. Children are naturally motivated to learn and actively seek out information to help their understanding (Piaget, 1950).The success of students who participate in hands- on inquiry activities suggests that if students have first hands experience with science, concepts are easier to understand and apply and students are generally more favorable to science and have better understanding of the nature of science .Within a conceptual framework, inquiry learning and active learner involvement can lead to important outcomes in the classroom. In kindergarten, students who are actively making observations, collecting results and drawing