Ever since I finished my Child Development degree last year I have formed such a deep passion. A passion which seems to maybe go to far at times, because I feel for those who have children and don't understand where they are, or what they lack in their environment to help them progress developmentally. At times I think about how I didn't plan on becoming a teacher and how I would have gone into having my own children, not knowing much of anything about them developmentally and how I would have held them back for my lack of knowledge. I'm not saying I needed to be a teacher to give them all they needed, I'm just saying I believe it's important that parents understand child development. The first 5 years of a child's life are the most important, and the way we teachers/parents introduce them to learning/school will effect them for the rest of their lives. It will either put a bad taste in their mouth, or a good one. We can set them up for a successful future of learning and a healthy desire to learn.
Asking children "open-ended" questions helps them hypothesis. Instead of telling a child things you know, ask them what they think.. it causes them to develop cognitively by hypothesizing. For example: instead of saying "when you put that large block on top of that small block it will fall" say "what do you think will happen when you put that large block on the small block?" and let them experiment with it and see what happens. It may take them a couple of tries and trying out other blocks, but they will soon see what happens. That knowledge can't be told, it can only be experienced on their own.
There are some misconceptions about Play Based Schools.. here is one:
Children just play and don't do any academics: NOT true... actually it is opposite. Children know how to do one thing best... play. Children are learning about the world around them, and they figure it out by playing. In a play based school, we allow the children to do what they know best, and provide the right materials for them to have hands one experiences through their play which essentially is hands on academics. You might think that children playing in a huge sand box isn't beneficial for them, I hope I can change your mind... when a child plays in the sand they are learning cause and effect when they pour water on the sand and try to create something as opposed to creating something when the sand is dry. They have a sensory experience as the sand sits in between their toes and falls through their fingers. Depending on what items are in the sand, they can experience many different things from creativity, imagination, gross motor skills, fine motor skills, making connections cognitively, and many more. If there are other children in the sand with them, they can learn social and emotional skills with a teacher close by to guide them into problem solving. There are different steps of play which determines where a child is developmentally, and each step requires a child to be around other children as the child learns social skills. The most important stages of a child's development are communication/language/literacy, social emotional development, exploration/approaches to learning, purposeful motor activity, cognitive development and sensory organization.
One of my favorite places to visit is BING Nursery school at Standford University.
http://www.stanford.edu/dept/bingschool/
This place created at SU as a research institute, following the motto that children do one thing best... play. The only children allowed in the school are ones of professors at the college. Now if that isn't legit enough for you.. I don't know what is! When i visited BING, I was amazed.. it is almost exactly like the school I work at... and the environment just inspires me creatively!
Something that kindergarten teachers have said is that they are looking for preschoolers who enter kindergarten socially and emotionally ready. If a child is not socially and emotionally able to cope, they will not be able to handle the learning aspect of preschool, they will only fall behind. At the school I teach at, we help the children problem solve all day long. It is so important to teach children problem solving skills, which will set them up for success for the rest of their life.
I could go on about this forever!
It is most inspiring and intriguing when a child allows us adults to step into their perspective... unfortunately, us adults take advantage of it and too often make the child step into ours, when they are no where close to ready. But when we take a moment to see into their world, we find more creativity, understanding and inspiration than one could hold. When we see the world through their perspective, we can understand them better and help them get to a place of understanding life and this world in their own unique way.
