April 16, 2009

In the introduction to their article “Play and Cultural Differences” (which is one of more than 90 articles in the new Exchange resource, Promoting the Value of Play CD Book), Elizabeth Jones and Sharon Cronin observe…

“Culture — a people’s way of behaving, being in, and understanding the world — is learned by each new generation through a process of enculturation. A culture’s solutions and life strategies are acquired by children as they watch and listen — and reinvented as they imitate, talk, and play. Language, including both words and art forms, is central to the unity of a culture.

“In the first five years of life, children learn to ta lk their people’s language and play their people’s daily life scripts — homemaking and going places, talking to friends and buying and selling, making and fixing, singing and dancing, and storytelling and celebrating rituals. Children’s imitative and playful grounding in their culture is the foundation for identity development and for trust in the world as a predictable and meaningful place.

“For many children, this learning process is disrupted by racism and other biases that devalue their home culture, or by sustained discontinuous experiences that ignore it. A child in out-of-home care will be aware both of differences and of the unspoken values attached to these differences: Are my language, my hair and skin, my games — myself — welcome here? Am I expected to change in order to be acceptable? Child care can be an alienating experience — or an affirming one.

“If no one in the child care program speaks the child’s language, if none of the toys recreate home, if no familiar adult is present in a caregiving role, the young child is thrust into the confusing but all-too-common experience of stranger care — of long days in a setting which doesn’t resemble home and whose people will have no lasting relationship with the child’s family. In such a setting, it’s hard to play and learn.”

Taken from ExchangeEveryDay, a free service of Exchange Magazine.

Dear visitors,

As a budding early childhood educator in Singapore, I believe in reflecting and sharing with all what I had gained in knowledge about children today and being a reflective teacher. Please feel free to share your expertise or any links ! I’ll try to update this blog as much as I can. Do drop by often !

I’ve also found characteristics of a good preschool curriculum from Gigglepotz website as follows:

Reading and Language

Develop oral language competency.

Speak in complete sentences.

Express ideas clearly.

Retell happenings in order.

Be able to give name, name of street, and phone number.

Increase speaking vocabulary.

Enhance listening skills.

Follow directions in sequence.

Recognize rhyming words.

Enjoy stories and poems.

Listen to peers in conversation.

Develop pre-reading and reading skills.

Recognize left and right and top to bottom progression.

Practice letter recognition.

Work with opposites.

Recognize their name.

Develop writing skills.

Hold pencil correctly.

Form letters correctly.

Write first name.

Math

Recognize and understand the meaning of the numerals from 0 to 10.

Identify everyday uses for numbers.

Practice counting.

Participate in problem solving through materials and experience.

Learn geometric shapes.

Gain knowledge of time including month, day of month, and day of week.

Science

Be provided with opportunities to gain answers to questions through experimentation, research and problem solving.

Be provided with a variety of experiences which stimulate his/her curiosity.

Be exposed to the following units: animal life, sea life, plant life, weather, five senses, road and fire safety, healthy living habits, and recycling.

Social Sciences

Participate in activities involving the following units: home and family life, community helpers, Indians and Pilgrims, patriotic and national holidays, transportation, communication, and current events.

Be taken on a variety of field trips relating to units. Potential field trips: Belvedere Plantation, Christmas tree farm, library, fire station, post office, local elementary school, park, etc.

Physical Education

Be involved in free and organized play.

Be involved in indoor and outdoor play.

Be given opportunities to participate in the following:

Games that involve large and small motor skills.

Rhythmic activities.

Creative dramatics.

Sand, water, and rice activities

Physical movement with stationary and moveable equipment.

Manipulative activities: peg boards, puzzles.

Construction activities: blocks, boxes, legos.

Art, Music, and Dramatic Play

Use the following art media:

Painting

Playdough modeling

Drawing

Gluing

Cutting

Music…

Experience music through:

Singing

Listening

Playing musical instruments

Learn to enjoy music for its own sake.

Be encouraged to play both informally in learning centers and outdoors and more formally in story time and group activities.

Have opportunities to use puppets, costumes, and other props to identify with people, times, and places in a make-believe world.

=) teacher chingmei