Dimensions of Early Childhood - Southern Early Childhood ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Put These Ideas Into Practice! Cardboard Boxes: Learning Concepts Galore! by Laverne Warner and Linda Wilmoth Art Explorations With Boxes • Roll—Cover the bottom of a box with paper. Roll a marble or small ball in paint and then tip the box to roll it back and forth. • Stamp—Use lids, box tops, edges, and bottoms as stamps. Cut into shapes and dip into paint. • Decorate! Paint or use markers and crayons, along with craft materials, to decorate boxes, large and small. • Ripple—Peel a paper layer from corrugated cardboard to reveal the ripples. Use them for crayon rubbings or to paint prints. • Build! Glue and tape boxes of all sizes together, even inside each other, to make small or gigantic sculptures. Children decorate with paint, paper, streamers, recycled objects, or whatever fits their theme. Fine-Motor Activities With Boxes • Sort—Select similar and different small boxes. Sort with tongs or fingers. Which boxes will fit inside the others? • Stack—Pile boxes high. Order them from large to small— or small to large! • Wrap—Wrap pretend or real gifts with newspaper, recycled gift wrap, or children’s own gift wrap made with roll paper. Add paint, stickers, and/or stamps. Tie bows, too! • Play games—Create board and playground games with boxes. Design matching and memory games on box lids for a 3-D experience. Cut out sections for beanbag toss. Store game and puzzle pieces in decorated boxes. • Solve puzzles—Choose magazine pictures or decorate with art materials to make the picture or design. Glue on cardboard. Cut into pieces. Store in another box. Math Concepts With Boxes • one-to-one correspondence (match sets of boxes, match balls or other items to boxes) • counting (how many in a stack? in a row? fit together?) • patterns (arrange by color, shape, size, type of cardboard, lids) • names of shapes and sizes of boxes (square, cube, deep, shallow, wide, narrow) • seriation (largest to smallest, darkest to lightest, heaviest to lightest) • observe and describe similarities and differences between and among boxes (sturdy, collapsed, bent, folded, types of tape, wood) Skills Children Develop by Learning With Boxes Language—express thoughts, feelings, and ideas Social Studies—contribute to class community, recognize cause-and-effect relationships Fine Arts—create original work; use colors, textures, and shapes to create form and meaning Social Development—share and cooperate, develop friendships, respond to others’ suggestions, exhibit self-control, engage in self-directed learning Fine-Motor Development—develop pincer control, learn to grasp art and writing tools with fingers Science and Math—solve simple design problems, gather information, compare sizes, match objects, increase vocabulary Note: Dimensions of Early Childhood readers are encouraged to copy this material for early childhood students as well as teachers of young children as a professional development tool. 16 Volume 35, Number 1 DIMENSIONS OF EARLY CHILDHOOD Winter 2007
How do early childhood educators provide nurturing care to infants and toddlers that supports their long-term development? This article outlines eight practical strategies, called the Ps of the Responsive Caregiving Process. Responsive Infant Caregiving: Eight Proven Practices Brain research has confirmed what many early care and education professionals have known all along— warm, nurturing relationships among babies, toddlers, and their caregivers support children’s development (National Association for the Education of Young Children [NAEYC], 2005; National Research Council & Institute of Medicine [NRC], 2000). The nurturing adult-child interaction that supports children’s development is called responsive care (Lally et al., 1995). Responsive care is supported by small adult-child Lisa Leifield and Tisha Bennett Sanders Babies are born with different temperamental styles. ratios and primary care systems (Bernhardt, 2000; Lally et al.). Furthermore, small adult-child ratios support the child observation strategies that are central to responsive care. It is important for caregivers to intentionally implement responsive interactions because this type of care has been shown to be particularly important for encouraging babies’ social-emotional development (Casa, n.d.; Hyson, 2004; NRC, 2000; Shonkhoff, 2004). Specifically, responsive care • helps babies learn to be communication partners, • encourages babies to feel warm and close to people, and • supports babies’ enthusiasm for exploring their environments (Parlakian & Seibel, 2002). Gerber (1979), Honig (1985, 1989), and Lally (1990) were early advocates for responsive, relationshipbased care for children in out-of-home care. Recognition of the value of responsive care intensified as the numbers of babies entering early care and education grew during the 1980s. During this time, women increasingly Lisa Leifield, M.S.W., Ph.D, has been involved in early intervention training and technical assistance for more than 15 years. She worked at the Early Head Start National Resource Center, was the Project Coordinator for the Northeastern Early Intervention Faculty Institute, and was the Early Childhood Education and Training Services Manager for the Early Head Start program at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Subjects & Predicates Individual babies have different ways of expressing preferences and as they grow the kinds of signals they use to express preferences changes. Tisha Bennett Sanders, Ed.D, is Assistant Clinical Professor of Early Childhood Education, Peabody College, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee. Her interests are issues related to high-quality care of infants and toddlers, including curriculum and best practices. Prior to joining the Vanderbilt faculty she worked at the Early Head Start National Resource Center at Zero to Three. Winter 2007 DIMENSIONS OF EARLY CHILDHOOD Volume 35, Number 1 17
Page 1: Southern Early Childhood Associatio
Page 4 and 5: BOARD OF DIRECTORS Terry Green Pres
Page 6 and 7: quality of life for students and ma
Page 8 and 9: helps children learn how to stand u
Page 10 and 11: thoughts with one another in small
Page 12 and 13: sion and bullying: The influence of
Page 14 and 15: • sorting boxes into groups (for
Page 16 and 17: Much of children’s learning is ac
Page 20 and 21: entered the workforce and women on
Page 22 and 23: Subjects & Predicates Babies feel s
Page 24 and 25: communicates to the child that his
Page 26 and 27: and father who have recently immigr
Page 28 and 29: Put These Ideas Into Practice! Resp
Page 30 and 31: Proposed Changes to the By-laws of
Page 32 and 33: emphases have demanded additional a
Page 34 and 35: Figure 1. Professional Development
Page 36 and 37: five levels, aligned with the five
Page 38 and 39: Broad, M., & Newstrom, J. (1992). T
Page 40 and 41: Dimensions of Early Childhood Volum
Page 42 and 43: has perhaps led to the decline of p
Page 44: Get in on the Embracing Joy the of

Dimensions of Early Childhood - Southern Early Childhood ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?