Early Childhood Program Research Paper

Early childhood Program
Nevetra Whorline
ECE312: Administration of Early Childhood Ed. Programs
Prof. Kelly Wells
July 21, 2014

The best way to set up an early childhood program is to provide visual stimulating environments combined with spaces children can call their own. The best way I can set up an infant/Toddler classroom with everything I learned thus far would be to use a few simply approaches and theories in our school setting. Each class has a daily schedule that is posted and followed. The class schedule starts from 6:00 am-6:00 pm. The routine must include diaper changes/potty training every hour. Our children must have outdoor time twice a day (weather permitting) and bottled feeding of infants are on demand while
We as staff are their first teachers in life. They are natural copycats. I choose this age group of infant/toddlers because I believe this is a very important stage in a child’s life. Infants/toddlers learn by watching what we do no matter if it’s a positive action or a negative one. They will copy us its just what they do. So being mindful of how we talk and move and our tone really sets the mood for their learning. In my infant/toddler program, there are many things I would like to see happen and the way I would approach it is by teaching my staff how to apply The Creative Curriculum approach. This is a comprehensive early childhood educational system that emphasizes a practical, easy to understand approach to working with children. It promotes the use of interest areas as a way of providing experiences that promote cognitive, social, and physical and language development. (Teaching strategies gold). I would use this method by setting up everything in the class at eye level. The children need to be able to see and touch everything. Sensory is very important at this age and allowing the infants access to their surroundings helps build their social emotional and physical needs. Children learn through play and every day life experiences and creative curriculum allows me the ability to let them play and learn at the same time. Our teachers will set up their classroom in areas that allow for science,
According to the NAEYC standards its our job as teachers and Administrators is to promote a healthy environment for our children that respectful, supportive, and challenging to them. NAEYC also states that family and community support is huge part of their educational future, I have parent volunteer forms that allow my parents to come in a read to our toddlers during circle time. I encourage them to come and join the crafts we do as well as start communication logs. This is the foundation and core of what early Ed. Is all about. Another standard our program met is doing weekly observations on the infant/toddlers to see where they are. My observations are done in each area to give me and my staff a better idea of where the child is at and what things we need to do to help if the child is lacking in any area. An example of this would be if a teacher has an infant that reaches out for him/her as soon as he/she sees them and starts smiling. This is a social/emotional observation because the infant is showing recognition of who they are and making a connection with them. Infants that cry and then suck their thumbs to self soothe is showing cognitive observations by taking care of ones needs. This infant has figured out how to meet her needs by self-soothing. These are areas we must be trained in to observe and document according to NAYEC standards. Another standard is standard five building