Creating
Affirming Environments
This
week I have been exploring ways in which to create a learning environment that
reflects the diversity of the children and families with whom I work, expand
and deepen understanding and respect for diversity, and promote strong
family-teacher relationships. For this blog assignment, I have the amazing opportunity
to bring these ideas to life by conceptualizing what this might look like in an
authentic early childhood setting.
In this scenario, I will be
establishing a Family Child Care Home.
The look and sounds of the environment needs to reflect the family
cultures and daily lives of the children and families that will be served
(Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010). It
needs to include toys, material, equipment, posters, pictures, books,
activities, and furniture that create an inviting, anti-bias learning
environment to encourage students to explore, discover, and communicate on
different levels (Derman-Sparks & Edwards).
I was very impressed and inspired
by Adriana’s childcare center that she established in her home. It was so thoughtfully arranged to welcome
the students and their families. I would
love to work with 10 children in the three and four-year old range. As you enter the home, children and their
families would be greeted with a bright, welcoming bulletin board. This would contain a calendar, schedule of
daily events, important news for the parents, and pictures of the children
participating in various activities.
There would be an area for the children to keep their personal belongings. In this cubby, each child would have a small
framed picture of their family. I loved
the idea of information wall and the family culture shelf described by Adriana’s
home care (Laureate Education Inc., 2011).
For privacy issues, I would have an information notebook for each
individual child. The parent would be
able to leave me notes about health issues, concerns, problems, or any
information pertaining to that child.
These notebooks would be reviewed while the children were engaged in the
cozy corner. This room would have a
comfy couch, rocking chair, large floor pillows, some small stuffed toys, and
books. What a great place for children
to transition from their parents and begin their day! Once all the children had arrived and were
calm, we would head for the kitchen for breakfast time. This gives the teachers and the children a
time to visit, relax, and fill their little tummies. I would have several other rooms or areas
that would support: art activities,
reading nooks, dramatic play area complete with a kitchen, mini-store, and
dress-up clothes. I love the idea of the
persona dolls (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2011). There would be a basket full of dolls that
provided a wide-range of diversity. In
the sunroom and outdoor covered patio, I would include areas for water and sand
exploration. There would be raised
gardens for planting and digging. There
would be a special section of a wall with a table for the children to display
pictures of themselves and family items to share with their peers. I would encourage each family to schedule a
time to visit the center and discuss the items displayed with all the
children. On a monthly basis, the
students would learn about a different culture.
They would hear stories, see pictures, complete art projects, taste
foods, would meet people from a variety of cultures. In addition, this childcare center would
provide displayed pictures, books, activities, and videos that depicted
different culture and areas of diversity; especially, the cultures of the
children attending the center. Finally,
I would also incorporate a curriculum that taught and exposed the students to
the basic skills needed to advance to a kindergarten program.
In conclusion, I think this would
be an amazing opportunity for the future.
In a home setting, an educator would have many more opportunities to
work with the children on issues of diversity, social interactions, academic,
personal, and spiritual needs. I would
love for this center to be Christian based.
I believe a strong belief system becomes essential in all of our lives.
References
Derman-Sparks,
L., & Olsen Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and
ourselves. Washington,
DC: NAEYC.
Laureate
Education, Inc. (2011). Welcome to the
anti-bias learning community. Media
segment
with Adriana Castillo.
