As an early childhood professional, I always want the best for each child I am learning with. I find myself always referring to or consulting with previous cohorts, former and current co-workers, online resources, and even good ol' textbooks. Wanting to share many of these resources, I have added two new sections in the tabs on the left side of this blog. The first is a list of professional journals that can searched for in the Walden University Library and the second tab contains links to many professional websites and articles. Both of these options contain a wealth of material that could pertain to many different areas in the early childhood field. These lists are not all inclusive as there are other wonderful resources, so below are some I refer to often.
The book, Practical Solutions to Practically Every Problem by Steffen Saifer addresses a great deal of situations that can arise in a classroom. It is a great reference tool to keep on hand as each class as well as each child is different. There will be year where may encounter a child with a completely different behavior and you are at a loss on how to assist this child but this book comes in handy there with the many topics it covers.
The Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children's Media is a website that offers a great deal of material, not only about Fred Rogers himself but also relevant articles about technology and media in the world of early childhood. I know this topic is very sticky for many professionals so it is nice to have a guide to help make those decisions, plus it was Mr. Roger's passion to ensure children had quality media to learn from.
The Kindergarten Smorgasboard is a blog that has been shared many times over on social media but is a great tool for professionals to come and find new creative ideas for ones own classroom. Mr. Greg just happened to land in kindergarten one year (many years ago) and quickly developed a passion for teaching young children. He now shares this enthusiasm all over the county with other educators.
I will finish with this quote. I feel so strongly about children needing time to come into their own development so we as professionals cannot push this. When a child is ready he or she will pick up on concepts so quickly and without major frustration. I know parents fear their child will not be ready for kindergarten if he is not able to write his name or count to 100 but that is far from the truth. He is just not ready so allowing him the time to play and explore will afford him with the time develop the skill he needs to gain these concepts with ease.
I love the quote you shared. I think that more than struggling teaching some skills, we have to provide experiences and activities to help them to be ready, interested and motivated to learn. Whenever they are ready, they would learn naturally.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing! :)
Thank you for sharing your blog post the quote you shared I do love it. By helping children as teacher to see a child excel in learning is a rewarding point for teachers. There is a saying hard works pays off in the end and it really does.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely LOVE the kindergarten smorgasbord! There are so many resources listed on this site alone. I appreciate that it's always kept so up-to-date and current. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI can't get enough of Fred Rogers. Highly recommend the documentary "Won't you be my neighbor?" to enhance his philosophy!
ReplyDeleteI love this post!
ReplyDeleteI had no idea that The Fred Rogers Center existed and am happy that you posted about it to share with us. Also the quote that you posted regarding not pushing children to learn but letting them develop and learn in their own time I found to be relevant and could not agree more.