BLOG 2: 6162

Blog2 6162

The organization I choose was National Head Start Association. The website is link

http://www.nhsa.org/

 Head Start is a federal program that promotes the school readiness of children ages birth to five from low-income families by enhancing their cognitive, social, and emotional development.

Head Start programs provide a learning environment that supports children's growth in the following domains:

·             language and literacy;

·             cognition and general knowledge;

·             physical development and health;

·             social and emotional development; and

·             approaches to learning.

Head Start programs provide comprehensive services to enrolled children and their families, which include health, nutrition, social, and other services determined to be necessary by family needs assessments, in addition to education and cognitive development services. Head Start services are designed to be responsive to each child and family's ethnic, cultural, and linguistic heritage

 

Issues:

 Cuts resulting from sequestration are scheduled to occur evenly across defense and non-defense programs, such as Head Start and Early Head Start. There are ongoing efforts to convince Congress to exempt defense spending from the cuts. If they are successful, all $1.2 trillion in cuts will be borne by non-defense spending. This would mean that the Head Start/Early Head Start cuts would be absolutely catastrophic—over 200,000 children lost from the program.

BLOG 6162: Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

Blog 1: 6162: Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

It has been a struggle trying to contact other early childhood professionals from around the country. I sent out multiple e-mails in which some were wrong addresses and other people were not responding.  I still have yet to hear from one of the e-mails I have sent. I have a friend that teaches English over in Africa. I contacted her and asked her if she could give me 2 of her friends e-mail and let me contact them. I have sent them an e-mail and waiting to hear back from them. I really want to speak with educators from another country because I think it would be interesting to see what differences there are between our cultures and there’s.

 

 

Blog Assignment 2:

I choose to join National Head Start Association (http://nhsa.org/) because Head Start is a comprehensive program for children from age three to five and their families. The goal of Head Start is to bring about a greater degree of social competence in young children, in particular those of lower-income families. Social competence is defined as a child's everyday effectiveness in dealing with both the present environment and later responsibilities. I feel very strongly about the importance of education in children at an early age.

MY SUPPORTS

MY SUPPORTS

I have a wonderful support system around me. I work in an environment where the goal for everyone is the same…. They want what is best for the kids! We all work every day to help benefit the kids around us. My husband is also my support. When I come home and had a bad day he is always there for me and reminds me why I do what I do! Having the support I do helps create a warm, caring environment for the children. It would be extremely difficult to get through the day without the support that I have. If you don’t work as a team then it will be much harder to create a warming environment. If my support system was not in my life it would be hard for me to stay on my feet. As I have said before my husband is my number one support and if he was not there I would have a very hard time. My children are my support system because I go to work for them. I can’t wait to get home from work to see them.

I have recently moved 3 hours away from my family. I have a new job with a new support system. They have been wonderful and very supportive of me.  My husband and children are now my only support system around me.  As far as my work I have many people that have helped me make this adjustment. It is so important to have your co- workers be supportive and to help have the same goals (to advocate for our children). If I would have started a new job and not had the support that I had it would be more difficult to be positive and create an environment that  would benefit our children the most! I am very new in my job so I have needed a great deal of direction and if I did not have the support from my co workers that I have had I would have a difficult time adjusting!

Childhood Connections to Play

Childhood Connections to Play

Growing up all I did was play, play, and play some more. I remember my parents would have to make me come inside. I wanted to stay outside and play with my friends in the neighborhood all night long. It seems like when I was growing up that is all we knew to do. I hardly ever watched T.V. We were forced to use our imaginations (what children do not have to do anymore). I had the freedom to do whatever as long as I was playing! My parents loved the fact they my sister and I played outside. They encourage us to go outside and play.

Play today seems to be much different. It seems like children can not go outside and play until dark, because fear that someone may take your child. Kids want to watch T.V or play video games, that is their idea of play. It takes the freedom to explore and create games of their own.

            My vision of play for my children, I want them to really enjoy playing and be able to express themselves. I want play to be fun for them. I don’t want my children to sit on the couch all day and play video games. I want them to have an imagination and create their own games.

            Play has always been important in my life and I hope it will always continue to be. Play needs to be for children and adults!

“You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” Plato

“Almost all creativity involves purposeful play.” ~ Abraham Maslow (psychologist)

Reflecting On Building Relationships EDU 6161

I choose my husband and my dad.

It is important to build relationships with other because you know that you always have someone there when you need them. To get through life you need others to help you. Rather it be adivse or someone to cry with, or laugh with. You know that person is always there for you and they know you are always there for them. My parents were always there for me. They made me who I am today. My dad always told me if I am going to do something I better give it 100% and I have always followed that.

Other people that I have positive realtionships with are my mom, sister, and my best friend Barkley.

My husband is one of the most important relationships to me. He has become my best friend. We recently moved about 3 hours from my family, so we have to depend on each other. We have two boys a 2 year old and a 5 week old. The way we maintain positive relationship is we respect each other.

My dad is another relationship that means the world to me. He is the best dad in the world. I know that I can always depend on him. We talk on the phone everyday. If I ever need advice I go to him. I think respecting each other is the key to maintaing healthy/postive relationships.

Some challenges to keeping a positive relationsip is we get busy and tend to forget to call or keep in touch. Another challenge could be difference of opinions.

In both my husband and my dad they are caring, brave and understanding.

I have taken what each of these people have given me in my life and I want to pass it to my two boys. I have a two year old and a 5 week old. I also carry it over in early childhood. I want what is best for the children and I show them compassion and that I am always there for them

Week 8 Blog

Blog Week 8: When I think of Child Development

“Children are great imitators. So give them something great to imitate”

"A person's a person, no matter how small."

-          Dr, Seuss

While we try to teach our children all about life,
Our children teach us what life is all about.
~Angela Schwindt

Early Childhood Education: Blog Week 6: Testing for Intelligence

Blog assignment Week 6: Testing for Intelligence

This topic has always been an issue for me. When I was in school I made really good grades and was top of my class. But if I heard the word standardized test I would panic and I never did well on this type of test. So my opinion about testing may be way different than others. I had the grades but as for a big test that determined what college I could get in or getting into grad school… I would freak out. My sister was the same way. We always joke around about our family and big standardize test. I feel that kind of testing does not define the academic level of a student. They need to look at the whole picture! From my own experience it can really affect your self esteem and put a real stress on your academic work. I understand the concept of why they use the test, but it does not need to be the only focus. They need to account many other factors besides these standardized test. As the assignment for this week states the early childhood profession needs to recognize that understanding the whole child requires a wider perspective!

When looking at Hungary it seems that they too use standardized testing as an approach to determine the academic level of a child. There school seem much similar to the US and hold teachers accountable for their children’s academic level and use a similar method. I feel that the US holds the teachers more accountable than the governemnt in Hungary. Schools do have to meet requirements that are set for them.

http://www.childresearch.net/PROJECT/ECEC/europe/hungary/report10_01.html