As I reflect on my time in early childhood education, I have gained so much from the groups of children I had and from the day-to-day planning. I learned that all children learn best when it's fun, engaging, and most importantly, hands-on. Spending time with children who are 3 to 4 years old allowed me to see that the children are not the only ones learning; but I am too. I may have been able to deepen these students' fine motor skills and teach them how to spell their name; however, these students taught me how to have fun and be a "kid" again. Over and over again, I was amazed at how in tune these students were with their artistic abilities, how much they loved scientific experiments, and ultimately how to collaborate, or in kid terms, play with others. Ultimately, my experience in early childhood education shaped my foundation for who I am as an educator. In the video below, you will see some photos and videos of our time together in the classroom.
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At this specific preschool, we had an Enrichment Program. The Enrichment Program included classes for the children to engage in a specific program that their families chose for them. In addition, the Enrichment Program began at the end of the school day and ran for about 2 hours. Students were able to eat their lunch, participate in the enrichment activity facilitated by the teacher, and given free-time to play. Every Wednesday, I facilitated the Spanish Enrichment Program alongside two of my colleagues in two different classrooms. At every start, we would sing our greeting song which was both in Spanish and English which you will see in the video. Also, for students to learn the colors in Spanish, we played a game of hide-and-seek with a felt character named; Little Mouse and all his beautiful rainbow-colored houses (shown in the video). Students learned various vocabulary terms depending on the month. For example, for the month of January, we talked about winter and students created oso polar (polar bears) and copo de nieve (snowflake). By the end of the school year, students who came to the Spanish Enrichment Program were singing the greeting song on their own and were able to recall some of the vocabulary we talked about throughout the school year. Learning a second language is so important especially at a young age because their minds can take in the new information quicker and more easily. Having designated time for young children to move, dance, and sing along to music was a major part of my time in Early Childhood Education. There were moments where students would use ribbon and dance along to music or we would have movement breaks where the song would tell us what to do. For example, there were two songs that I used when I noticed students needed a movement break which include, "Silly Dance Contest" and "Shake Your Sillies Out". |
Early Childhood EducationFor about 4 years, I worked in two different early childhood education centers. The learning was play-centered and I mostly taught 3 to 4 year old children. I gained experience and knowledge on the importance of early childhood development. I learned how to best support and guide those individuals so that they can be successful in the growing years. In this blog, you will see students playing, artwork, and footage of my teaching. |