Promoting Child Development and Learning
Throughout the semester I've learned the importance in the way a teacher sets up a learning environment for young children. I have learned that children need a safe and secure environment to explore and learn. Children learn best through play, and the design of their environment will either promote appropriate learning outcomes or cause inappropriate non-desired outcomes. I've learned that promoting a child's learning and development takes both the environment and curriculum. While working with the infants I realized that when it comes to promoting development and learning, their environment and the teachers promote desired outcomes.
Block Center:
This semester I decided that I was going to redesign the block area in the infant center. Once I choose what section of the classroom I was going to focus on I had to come up with developmentally appropriate objectives for the new center. I used the Desired Results Developmental Portfolio (DRDP) measures to structure my objectives because the infant center uses the DRDP to assess children's development. There are three learning objectives that I accomplished with this learning center.
1. Classification and matching (DRDP measure ); child compares, matches, and categorizes different people or different things.
2. Space and size; child shows understanding of how things move in space or fit in different spaces.
3. Symbolic play; child uses objects to represent other objects and ideas.
The center reflects how children learn by bringing new objects of interest into the classroom. By rotating new materials into the classroom a teacher can expand the children's knowledge and interest.
I chose to redesign the bock center after observing the children interest in building and knocking down towers. After my observations I came up with a plan to make the blocks more then just your average blocks. I used pictures of the children on the new blocks to add diversity into the project. This project reflects on how children learn in one big way. Children learn through play, using blocks the children will learn math skills, science, and diversity.
This semester I decided that I was going to redesign the block area in the infant center. Once I choose what section of the classroom I was going to focus on I had to come up with developmentally appropriate objectives for the new center. I used the Desired Results Developmental Portfolio (DRDP) measures to structure my objectives because the infant center uses the DRDP to assess children's development. There are three learning objectives that I accomplished with this learning center.
1. Classification and matching (DRDP measure ); child compares, matches, and categorizes different people or different things.
2. Space and size; child shows understanding of how things move in space or fit in different spaces.
3. Symbolic play; child uses objects to represent other objects and ideas.
The center reflects how children learn by bringing new objects of interest into the classroom. By rotating new materials into the classroom a teacher can expand the children's knowledge and interest.
I chose to redesign the bock center after observing the children interest in building and knocking down towers. After my observations I came up with a plan to make the blocks more then just your average blocks. I used pictures of the children on the new blocks to add diversity into the project. This project reflects on how children learn in one big way. Children learn through play, using blocks the children will learn math skills, science, and diversity.