I did not observe a class this week, but will next week. Therefore, I wanted to discuss the different learning environments, such as the montessori school and Reggio Emelio approaches, that can be found in South Carolina Schools.
Personally, I am a big fan of the Reggio Emilio approach. I like the way that students are enouraged to explore concepts they encounter in their environment on their own. I like how teachers conduct small group discussions with their students by probing the with questions about what they are exploring. The environement seems very nourishing for the childs. It gives the hild freedm to explre what they wish to, but by the teacher engaging them in discussion, it challeneges ham and expands their thinking.

The montessori approach is good I think for some children but not for all . From my perception of this approach, kids thrive in this environment if they like to explore things independently and are motivated by learning from their peers. This approach allows for kids to learn from one another, which is great, however what happens when one kid is not at the same learning level as the others? What happens when kids with learning disabilities are put into this environment? I think that this approach is great for kids on the same level of learning but it may be probalmatic for kids who are not.

I definitly see the need though for different teaching approaches to be used in different schools in order to cater to every kind of student. It is just a matter of finding the approach that fullfills the childs needs the best!

The ABC Train Case study 12, Reponse to question 1

Kenji suggests that the kids are at various levels of developent at this time. Some are going to have a stronger understanding of the alphabet than others at this time. For some of the less advanced kids, they may not be at the point yet where they can put the letters of the alphabet in order, because some of them do not know all of the letters yet. He suggests that they think about teaching the alphabet to the class in a more broader sense where the kids are activity they plan can be accomplished by everyone in the class, no matter what their skill level is. By allowing the kids to pick out their own letters and put them in any order, the kids are given alot more freedom to explore the alphabet according to their skill level. Most likely, the letters that they choose to put on their train will be ltters that have meaning to them in some way. They may be found in their name, or they may have seen them many times in a familiar book. Kenji suggests that by allowing kids to explore the alphabet on more of their own terms, they are less likely to get frustrated and they are more likley to get some sense of meaning from the activity. I definitly agree with the recommendations that Kenji gave to the students. I can remember when I was young and starting to learn my letters and the ones that were most important to me were the ones I saw in my name. My teacher was very good about allowing us to explore the alphabet on a level that suited each of us. I found that the more I was given free reign to explore the alphabet in my own terms, inspired me to want to learn more and more about the alphabet as the meaning of it developed.


Response to question #2

In the second plan the students have modified it so that they read a book to the kids about trains and discuss the book. This is a great way to help introduce the train theme to the kids. By reading the story to them it may help to introduce or reintroduce new words or letters to the kids and inspire them to use them in the train they create. By discussing what the train's function is and how it is all connected may introduce to the kids that are a little more advanced that the letters of the alphabet follow each other in a certain sequence, just like the cars on a train follow each other. Another way the team sparks the interests of the kids is they make the letters out of different types of material. For tactile students, this would be a gret way for them to associate a letter possibly with the wy that it feels. After each child completes their personally designed train, they display them on the bulletin board for the whole class to view and eah child is given the chance to talk about their train. This helps to introduce new ideas and ways of thinking about letters by seeing them dislayed in the many different styles on the board. For the teachers, it also llows them to get an idea of where kids are skills wise in their understanding of the alphabet.

Case Study 1/ Question 1

In this case study we can se the two instrucctors, Shawna and Ronnie, constantly engaging the infants in conversation. As teachers, it is great that they do this because it stimulates the infant's brains by introducing them to communication sounds. In this case study, Shawna feeds 4 month old Deshi his bottle. While she feeds him she looks into his eyes and quitly asks him if he is enjoying his bottle. He stares back at here and recognizes that she is speaking to him. Even though he cannot yet nderstand what she is saying and he cannot respond, his brain istaking in the sounds that she is making. Another great thing that I noticed within this study was when Natalya came into the classroom to nurse her son and she spoke to him in Russian, his native language. By speaking to him in this way, she is helping him to absorb his natuve tongue, while he is also learning English from his teachers. At the infant stage, it is easy foor kids to learn many different languages because they are so modable and thir inds are eager to soak u any language sounds that they can. Babies who are not spoken to and are not stimulated will develope at a slower rate. Their minds will not have been stmulated as much as babies who are constantly spoken to wen they are young.

Classroom observation 1

Today I observed the three year old and toddler classes at the Early Childhood Development Center. The first class I observed was the three year old class. When I arrived, the students were playing with blocks and small toys around the classoom. The lead teacher's name was Ms. Mcartney. After playing with the blocks it ws time tostart the day, so in order to get the class ready to transition to the next activity, Ms. Mcartney had them sing the clean up song so that all the students would know it was time to finish playing with the blocks, cean up, and move onto th next activity. She told each student to find their name on the rug in the classroom and sit on it. During this rug time she told then that they would be going to breakfast neext but before they did, they woud need to wash their hands and get in line. She had a stck with each students name on it which she would pull out one at a time and say the childs name and that would be their sign that it ws thei turn towash their hnds and then get in line to go to breakfast. I thought this was a great way to move the children frm one place to another in an orderly fashion. Not only did the kids have to folo the diections fromtheir teachers, but they also were able to practice getting to know what their names looked like from the name she pulled out on the sticks. After they were ll lined up she had them sing a song which old them to have their hands behind their backs and get ready to be quiet to go out into the hall and to the cafeteria. Once in the cafeteria, the kids knewto sit down patiently while the teachers came around with the cereal anf fruit. Ms. Mcartney said that it is part of the head start program for the school to give them a nutritious breakfst in the morning. After breakfst the each lined p on an imaginary line, sang the hall song that they did before and went back to t heir classroom here they were instructed to once again find their name on the rug and sit down. I learned that the rug is a great thing to hahve in the classromm as the primary spot for the teacher togather her kids to instruct them on whet will be hapening next. Its a great spot for transition. I had to move onto the toddler class next but really enjoyed being with the three year olds!
The next class I had was the toddlers. In this class there were 4 children. The teacher said that the way they carry on classroom activities is by introducing different activities to the kids for them to do and then they et the kids decide whether they want to dothe activity or not. These kids are less able to follow direction like the three yera oldds, so it is easier to introduce a variety of things for them to doand then let them decide what they would like to do. We layed ouside and then painted and also played with the blocks that were in the classroom. One of the chldren was a little mre advanced than the others and so she was given tasks tha were a little more cchalenging for her to do. My favorite class so far was the three year olds.

Why I chose Early Childhood Education!

I absolutly adore working with children, especially the young ones.Over the summers, during my highschool and college years, I worked on staff at a summer camp called Camp St. Christopher on Seabrook Island, SC. The ages of the kids who came to camp ranged from 4 to 17. As a staff member, I was responsible for leading different camp activities which ranged from sailing, to outdoor skills and beach games, and also leading them in bible studies. Working with these kids, feuled my passion to wantto go into a fieldwhere I would work with them every day. Since I particularly enjoy working with the younger kids, ages 3to 8, I decided to persue a degreein teaching. I cant wait to utilize my creativity,passion, and energy to influence the lives of children. I hope that through this semester, I will learn the techniques and strategies to be the best teacher I possibly can be. I cant wait to see what the future holds for me and us as a class!!