Welcoming Children and Families- A Family Resource Guide
Children are important to the society. As parents and teachers, it is important that we understand our role in promoting their growth and development. Various theories offer guidance on these roles. The most essential elements include the creation of enabling environments. This resource will highlight details regarding the processes and actions that will go into promoting the growth and development of 4–8-year-old children.
Personal Introduction
My name is Laura Kieen. I was born and raised in Los Angeles. I reside here with my immediate and extended families. I am married to John McCullough and have two children aged between 4 and 8 years. I became an early educator due to circumstances. During my younger years, I always dreamed of becoming a flight attendant. I studied hospitality-related courses and applied for numerous positions, albeit unsuccessfully. I started taking jobs that I did not enjoy doing. When John and I had our first child, we decided to homeschool her. Naturally, this was my responsibility because John had a 9-5 job. I found it less easy than I had expected. At this point, I began taking online courses on early childhood education and developed an interest. To create more time for myself, we enrolled our child in the nearest school as I studied early childhood at a nearby institution. This circumstance landed me in a career that I loved dearly and the daily interactions with children.
I have been in this career for five years and have worked at two different institutions which were Montessori-based. I find joy when interacting with children aged 4-8 years and influencing their choices positively. I learn a lot from children as an adult as well. The professional attributes that facilitate easy working with children include a passion for teaching, patience, creativity, respect, desire to learn consistently, authenticity, and to have a sense of humor.
Importance of Early Learning
The quality of care that learners receive has an impact on their development. Quality is determined by the interpersonal interactions between teachers and children, the physical environment, and the program support. According to Piaget’s development theory, children at the age of 4 to 8 years are in the pre-operational and concrete operational stages (Cherry, 2020). In the pre-operational stage, children use symbols to think, utilize words and pictures, try to view things from others’ perspectives, and are aware of their environments. In the concrete operational phase, logic and more organized thinking set in, and children value conversation as they start to reason. These stages of development demand that the instructor creates an environment that allows exploration fosters engaging interactions, responds to their needs warmly and empathetically, and allows free-form creativity in various classroom activities (Workman & Ullrich, 2017). These elements lead to progressive development among learners.
Vygotsky’s theory of childhood development highlights the importance of language in this process. The children can achieve reasoning, reflection, logic, and reflective thinking due to language (Kurt, 2020). This theory is quite practical in my profession because unless a child can express themselves, the process of thinking and reasoning with another individual is inhibited. I observe that children’s ways of expression vary but is highly reliant on known languages. Thus, I encourage collaborative, engaging, and thought-provoking discussions that evoke opinions from all my learners.
When dealing with varied learners between the ages of 4 to 8 years, I must be keen on their different velocities of development, which impacts learning. To differentiate the learning experiences, I keep a journal/record of each child’s development at the beginning of the semester. This information is obtained through observation and communication with parents. When enrolling children, I have a personal conversation with each parent regarding the child’s development. This allows me to tick the achieved aspects on each learner’s sheet. As we progress, I observe children keenly and compare their current stage to their age’s milestones. This approach provides insights into the progress of learning for each child.
Environment
Figure 1: Class plan
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The class plan above depicts sufficient space for fourteen learners. The seating arrangement allows each learner to be independent of the other. It also offers the teacher sufficient space to access all learners. When the learners are expected to work in groups, they can easily pair up due to the availability of space.
Cognitive
The design of the class is ideal due to its comfort, lighting, and movement of sound. Each learner’s individual space promotes individuality. In addition, the teacher is easily audible for all learners because sound travels easily. Learners can take part in various activities such as counting, discussions, and solving puzzles, which easily lead to improved cognitive skills.
Social/Emotional
Learners are allowed to interact with each other during classroom discussions and breaks. These interactions promote cognitive learning and social and emotional skills development. During different group activities, learners take the teachers’ position to present their work to colleagues. This improves their confidence, self-expression, and articulation skills significantly.
Language
To promote language, learners are encouraged to speak a chosen language for basic expression; for ESL learners, all students are cautioned against taunting one another. Instead, they are encouraged to correct each other kindly without laughing at colleagues. The sessions also include listening to audio and reading paragraphs to encourage correct pronunciation. Roleplay is also utilized when teaching about certain situations such as visiting a doctor or going to the shop.
Physical
Children engage in multiple activities within and outside the classroom to promote the development of fine motor skills. These activities include rope skipping, jumping, running, modeling, dancing, and other such engagements.
Families
The children’s first environment is surrounded by family members. The way family members who are the primary caregivers behave or treat a child impacts their perception of the world and consequently their behaviors. Families can either promote or inhibit the children’s growth. In the classroom, family members provide critical information regarding a child’s behaviors. They give critical insight into how the child views various aspects of a lie. For instance, a shy and fearful child may be in a family where physical battering or insults are used for discipline.
The families are informed about the children s’ development daily through the classroom diaries. In case of alarming issues, parents are called in for discussions. Every month, parents are contacted or invited to visit the school and speak about any concerns with the child’s development. Such information is easily accessible to family members.
Parents and guardians are encouraged to inform the teacher about any events in the home that could impact the children’s learning. Most times, negative events such as sickness, accidents, separation, or divorce affect the child’s learning negatively. This information is sought from parents whenever strange behaviors or changes in moods among children are noticed. This information guides me on how to interact with the affected child and cheer them up to facilitate better learning.
Figure 2: Critical Contacts
| Family counselling
Julie Rodriguez 4645 E Anaheim St, Long Beach, CA 90804, United States Contact: +1 562-682-5556 Translation services Long beach Translation Services 1320 Central Park Blvd. Suite 200, Office 227 Fredericksburg VA 22401 Contact: 1-800-230-7918 Website link: https://www.transcription-services-us.com/Translation-Services-Long-Beach.php Disability Agencies Ability First Guide Dogs of America Development of children’s resources Centers for Disease Control and Prevention https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/childdevelopment/facts.html The CDC website provides a wide range of information regarding children and their growth/development at different ages. Education development center https://www.edc.org/body-work/early-childhood-development-and-learning Families can use this site to understand their children’s learning process further Child Care Resource Center The website provides varied information for children’s growth across different ages. |
Conclusion
The children’s learning process is dependent on their environment and the players within these spaces. As an instructor, children grow and learn through various initiators such as language. This enables their ability to reason, think logically, or reflectively. The physical environment at school and home matters and affects their development. To promote proper growth, teachers and families need to collaborate.
References
Cherry, K. (2020). The 4 Stages of Cognitive Development: Background and Key Concepts of Piaget’s Theory.
Kurt, S. (2020). Lev Vygotsky – Sociocultural Theory of Cognitive Development. Educational Technology. Retrieved from https://educationaltechnology.net/lev-vygotsky-sociocultural-theory-of-cognitive-development/
Workman, S., & Ullrich, R. (2017). Quality 101: Identifying the Core Components of a High-Quality Early Childhood Program. Retrieved from Center for American Progress: https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/early-childhood/reports/2017/02/13/414939/quality-101-identifying-the-core-components-of-a-high-quality-early-childhood-program/
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Question 
One of the keys to a successful early learning environment is building a strong foundation with children and families. For your Final Project, you will have the opportunity to create an
informational packet aimed at helping children and families make a smooth transition into your early learning environment.
Welcoming Children and Families- A Family Resource Guide
To prepare for this assignment,
• Refer to the Week 5 Guidance for further tips and examples that will support your success on this assignment
Review and download the Week 5 Exemplar Template
(https://ashford.instructure.com/courses/91913/files/16538228//download?download_frd=1).
Read the required and recommended resources for this week.
• Remember that any applicable resource used throughout this course can support the requirement for four scholarly resources for this assignment.
⚫ If you did not begin the development of your ePortfolio in ECE 101, review the Folio Quick Start Guide (https://content.bridgepointeducation.com/curriculum/file/a7e58df4-a417-41f1-
be31-bf34325a979d/1/Folio%20Quick%20Start%20Guide.pdf) to help you set up your ePortfolio. Choose from one of the following age ranges:
• Infancy: Birth – 12 months
• Toddler: 1-3 years
• Early childhood: 4 years – 8 years
Scenario: You are in the process of preparing your learning environment for a new set of children. To help families and children have a successful transition into your classroom, you have decided to put together a resource guide to give to families. This guide will serve as a resource that your families will use throughout the year to help them have a better understanding of who you are as a professional, how you will create a positive learning environment, the resources they have available to them, and why you believe a strong home-school connection is important.
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