Philosophy Statement

To understand the whole child you have to understand the pieces which create a whole and balanced child. Development of social and emotional needs, physical needs, language learning needs, and cognitive development needs all come together cohesively to create a whole child. The best way to encourage and educate the whole child is through play because all needs for developing the whole child can be met during play. The keys to creating a whole child play environment is by incorporating age appropriate toys and materials into centers created by using development appropriate practices. The DAP’s (development appropriate practices) are created by investigating and identifying the child’s current stage of development. Once you identify where they the child is developmentally, you encourage and aide the child in learning and growing through play by using the DAP’s. Each part of the whole child’s needs must be investigated and identified before you can create a successful whole child environment. The child’s present cognitive abilities and struggles must be identified, you should know what physical abilities or struggles the child is facing, the child’s language needs must be identified, and last but definitely not least is the social and emotional needs. To

It is important that an environment where children are going to be is a safe and friendly environment, and consists of everything that a child needs to be able grow and develop to the best of their ability. This includes challenging exercises and things that are able learn at their own pace. Whichever age group you a person is working with, it is important to ensure that the planning is done according to each child’s individual needs to ensure that that the development of each child is met. This is vital as every child is different and therefore activities that are put out should be able to be adapted so that every child feels as if they are able to have a go at doing it. A positive environment also includes the way that a room looks and if

All of these elements are important for a practice or program, however, the three elements I feel that are more important are; 1) creating a caring community of learners 2) Teaching to enhance development and learning 3) Planning curriculum to achieve important goals. Creating a caring community, communities are very influential for children beginning school and being immerged into a place outside the home, sometimes for the first time. It is vital to create a safe and warm environment for children where they can learn social skills and how to treat others. Teaching to enhance development and learning is a happy mixture of adult-guided and child-guided but has the teacher being the one in charge and responsible for directing and supporting the child. Planning curriculum to achieve important goals, programs must have a curriculum based on goals that are significant for children development. Lakeridge UMC accomplishes these three guidelines by incorporating play with peers and academics and staffing caring teachers. This program also gives its kids some freedom by not having to ask to go to the bathroom but just going, instead of interrupting the class which also fulfills creating a caring community guideline. Lakeridge no doubt follows the guidelines for a successful

The next most important aspect is providing developmentally appropriate curriculum. Students need safe and age appropriate toys and things to explore. They also need to be able to appropriately learn from the materials that are provided in the classroom. All materials must be appropriate for all students.

It is very important that children feel safe in the classroom environment. A large number of children find that school is the only “stable” place they have to go. Students also need to be given a voice within the classroom. Given the fact that children do not have much power over their lives outside school, they feel a sense of worth when they are given the chance to speak and be heard. A great deal of information can be obtained by just listening to these children.

include in its learning. There is a national curriculum which applies to all states schools primary and

Spaces are set up so that infants can practice self-help skills and Toddlers have their own space for their things. Family pictures with the children are displayed throughout the classroom to provide a way to identify themselves. Each child's development of awareness as part of a family, ethnic group or a social group is supported with conversations and celebrating cultural events with the children. Materials are selected to be developmentally appropriate and changed over time to give more challenges and opportunities to experience success. My children are respected as individuals, personal relationships are built with each one by encouraging, talking and comforting them. I give them one on one time as much as possible. I will always immediately attend to a child who is hurt, scared or upset. I'll help the children recognize, accept and express their feelings in culturally appropriate ways. Many opportunities are provided for toddlers to help themselves to gain new skills. Toilet Learning is encouraged when the child shows readiness or interest. Small group activities with manipulatives are planned to allow cooperation between

Every one is an individual and so everyone has individual needs. It is important that as a practitioner that I always take this into consideration and consider the fact that each child will also experience their own personal situations which are unique to them. These unique situations often include social, economical and cultural difficulties and this may delay, stop or help a child advance the development of a child or young person and have an affect on them reaching their full potential. “Many issues in our wider society will

The second standard requires centers to “implement a curriculum that fosters all areas of child development-cognitive, emotional, language, physical, and social” (Berns, 2016, p. 172). This is important because children should be learning and fostering their various aspects of development through a curriculum that is directed for that purpose. In child-development centers, this can be seen when activities are planned around a child’s interest so they can further explore and experiment on the topic. The third standard emphasizes on the use of “developmentally, culturally, and linguistically appropriate and effective teaching approaches” (Berns, 2016, p. 172). I believe this is important because each child has different backgrounds, interests, and skills so there should be different teaching methods implemented to help each child learn. This can be seen in child-care centers make adjustments to activities and materials to accommodate for the children’s skills and level of development. The fourth standard states that centers should “provide ongoing assessments of child progress” (Berns, 2016, p. 172). This is vital because teachers and parents are able to observe how children progress developmentally and physically as the years pass. This can be seen in child care centers when teachers make checklists and observations of children’s behaviors and skills. The fifth element requires that

Kostelinik, M.J, Soderman, A.K. & Wiren, A. P. (2011). Developmentally Appropriate Curriculum: Best Practices in Early Childhood Education. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson

Developmentally appropriate practice is informed by what teachers know from theory and literature about child development and learning. The principles of child development are all interconnected, even though each principle describes a different idea. Principle one declares that all the domains of development and learning (including physical, social, emotional, and cognitive) are important and are very closely related. Principle two states that many aspects of children’s growth and learning should follow documented sequences so that students can build on their skills, abilities, and

Throughout twelve years working with young children I have come across with children with different needs, culture, social economic and different family structure. Each child is unique and so fore they must be treated as unique individuals. Each lesson plan should be written considering each child needs, social economic, or family structure. My plan to create a curriculum that fits and benefits all children that I will be serving is to first of all, consider each child individual needs then their families needs.

Create and maintain safe, healthy environments, spaces and places, which enhance children’s learning, development, engagement, initiative, self-worth, dignity and show respect for their contributions.

When I finished junior high school I enrolled in a training program to teach elementary students in some of the most remote regions of Mexico. I was excited about the prospect of teaching reading, writing, and mathematics to underprivileged students in areas of my country that needed education more than anything else to bring them into the modern era. I had seen the difference a few good teachers had made in my life. It was one of my earliest ideas to help the youth in my country rise above the limitations of their past and see the possibilities available to them with hard work in school.

There are three things you can do to individual a child needs you have to individualize, document, and planning. When achild first come to a daycare you have to welcome the families and child and make them feel comfortable. The next thong you can do is document the child step by step. When doing documentations you have to frame a question, gather evidence, reflect on the evidence, then you will plan and maker your final decision. A second way that teachers build around children's particlar characteristics and needs- or individualize – is by observing each child andbplanning intentionallt to extend the child's interests while planning an emergent curriculum.