PROMOTING CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND LEARNING
One of my favorite parts of being in the classroom is designing and implementing developmentally appropriate learning centers and lessons that promote exploration, language development, independence, and active engagement. Each activity is thoughtfully planned to support children's individual learning needs and developmental goals. Below are some examples of activities I have created and led.
Bringing Family Into the Classroom
Family Banners
To strengthen family partnerships and support children's social-emotional development, families were invited to contribute photos of their child's loved ones, family members, pets, and other important people in their lives. Teachers collaborated with each family to create laminated, child-sized family banners that became meaningful classroom resources. These banners help children develop face-to-name recognition, foster conversations about their families, and provide a source of comfort and emotional regulation throughout the school day, helping children feel connected, secure, and valued in their learning environment.
After seeing Family Banners utilized in a previous classroom setting, this has become one of my favorite activities and resources to bring into he classroom.
Designing a Center
Autumn Science
Throughout the Fall 2023 semester, I took particular interest to how I could help the children in the classroom reach their developmental goals and meet their needs through the activities we were doing. I have learned so much about what makes an environment or activity effective. As I got to know each of the students better, I learned more about their individual needs and interests, and how I could help meet those with the classroom environment.
This learning center was Autumn-themed, in correspondence to the month's curriculum, "Fall and Feelings". Utilizing existing resources, as well as creating my own, I added some interactive sensory elements, related literature, and natural materials for the students to explore. After I set up this center, I observed the kids when they played with the materials, including what was played with most and what materials they did not seem to be as interested in. For example, I chose to put out a few visually stimulating sensory bottles that had "Autumn" colors. Originally, I thought these would be popular with the children as we had placed out similar bottles just recently. However, I observed that the second time around, the bottles were barely touched. This gave me a great example of how important it is for different materials to be rotated to follow changes in interest and to help the classroom to be consistently engaging.
After observing one of the children playing with a pumpkin from another classroom, I wanted to incorporate this interest into my science center. I added some small pumpkins here, as well as one large pumpkin that we had cut open and explored earlier in the week.
While browsing the center's resources for visual elements I could add to the center, I could not find any posters about Autumn that I felt would be right for the classroom. So, I made one myself that displayed some elements of the season, along with the words, to encourage learning of the new vocabulary.
To incorporate literature and help initiate discussion and vocabulary in regard to Autumn, I added two developmentally- appropriate books that had rich images and simple text, such as "Leaf Rain" by Pauline Cartwright.
Circle Painting
The Inspiration
Objectives
Reflection
I noticed that several of the children in the class had been more interested in art, and there had been some recent discussions about shapes. I observed two students having a conversation about circles and stars while playing with a puzzle toy about shapes and wanted to expand on that.
The objective of this activity was to allow children to explore the basic shape of circles with the use of circle stamps, mixing colors, and exploring the sensory experience of paint.
This activity went well, and I enjoyed seeing each child create art in their own unique way. Some of the children chose to use the circle stamps to create circles, others used the side of the stamp to roll on the paint, some used their hands to spread the paint, and one child just enjoyed mixing the paint with his fingers and observing the colors! While things got a little messy, it was a great learning experience, and I was able to reflect on some points for the activity that I could have improved on, such as providing each child with their own tray.
I thoroughly enjoyed doing these activities in the toddler classroom, and they provided excellent learning opportunities. Creative curriculum is one of my favorite parts of working with children, and I look forward to the activities I get to be a part of in the future.
Practicing Self-Identification
Students aged ten to twenty-four months decorated their own leaves, and teachers assisted in cutting and gluing student pictures to each leaf. As a class, we discussed Fall, leaves, and practiced face-to-name identification.
Students aged twelve to twenty-four months each decorated a circle, and teachers assisted in cutting and gluing student pictures to each circle. As a class, we discussed names, "me", "you", and practiced face-to-name identification.
