Celebrating Week of the Young Child

Welcome back😊

Celebrating our youngest learners during the Week of the Young Child has always been one thing I look forward to as a leader in early childhood. I believe this is our time to shine🌟

This week is a time to remind ourselves that the: safe and supportive environment we create, activities we plan, and the tools we implement with young children to handle big feelings has a big impact!

It is our time to show off why play is an important part of how children learn, and how we are an essential role in each child’s development alongside their parents.

“Tell me and I forget, Teach me and I remember, Involve me and I will learn” – Benjamin Franklin

This quote is very important to our profession. As early child care professionals, it reminds us that play is important and why hands-on curriculum is essential to the children in our care.

The experiences we provide daily for the children in our care play a crucial role in the development of each child’s brain! During this week we get to involve the community and parents in a sample of what we get to do every day!

Throughout this week NAEYC has helped set-up a sneak-peek into our roles as early childhood educators with themed days:

🎶Music Monday – During music time, we introduce new vocabulary, and self-regulation skills. We set-up fun musical activities such as music with the parachute, streamers, or even making egg shakers! Consider documenting the process to show parents how easy it is to create egg shakers and teach new vocabulary words like: Stop, Go, Slow, Fast, Quiet, and Loud!

😋Tasty Tuesday- Invite your cook to talk to the appropriate classes about healthy eating habits, and even demonstrate cooking skills like measuring, pouring, scooping, and cutting. The teachers can lead the class in building their own snack: cream cheese ants-on-a-log. This teaches following multi-step directions, counting, fine motor skills, and possibly introduces new foods!

🧩Work Together Wednesday – We teach cooperation in many ways. The classrooms get daily or weekly jobs in order to work together to keep their classroom fun and safe. We encourage cooperation through play by leading games like relay races, and building towers. A good take-home family engagement activity would be a center quilt⬅️, check out our flyer!

🎨Artsy Thursday – Teachers create an open and inviting art area with different types of paper, utensils, art mediums, and visual representation of classic art. An activity I have done that ties in both literacy and art expression: Read “Only One You” by Linda Kranz and have the children design their own rock, and then we created a display in the flower bed by our entrance for all to…sea😉

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Family Friday – The purpose of this is to promote inclusivity and diversity. We invite families to share family pictures to display in classrooms, and share their traditions with us. For a center event, you can host a family game night with snacks and games for all ages.

To connect this idea at home, talk about the importance of spending time as a family whether it’s reading, eating, spending time outside, or volunteering together in their community. Providing flyers or hosting family conversations on this topic can go a long way!

Two reasons why I feel this is our week to shine:

1) We get to Show why early childhood education is important!

🎓We are experts in child development!

We teach long lasting life skills 📏: cooperation and problem solving, work through emotions, self-regulation, washing their hands, putting on a coat, table manners, and how to have a conversation!

We create a positive and inviting classroom community that has a consistent schedule but that always has new and exciting things to explore🔍

We plan, create, and implement activities that are hands-on👐 to teach skills that prepare each child for kindergarten.

2) We get to invite others to engage in the fun and “Ah Ha!” moments and feel the excitement we as early childhood professionals experience daily!

I was at an Early Childhood Conference when I first heard this quote:

 “The future of the world is in my classroom today”- Ivan Welton Fitzwater

I once printed this quote out and placed it above the door of each classroom, so that each morning the teachers would be reminded of the power of our profession.

As early childhood educators, we guide parents through the first five years of their child’s life. Using tools from our education to ensure that we are meeting the developmental needs of each child.

Our responsibility as leaders is to not only provide opportunities for these young learners, but to also help GROW, EMPOWER, and ELEVATE our employees to continue to have a strong, high-quality early childhood center.

We are always learning🍎✏️

Till next time,

Jen

P.s. Do you follow our Pinterest page? We post all our activities there!