Creative Care Preschool - Essay Example

Creative Care Preschool A Program Overview Crystal Patterson and Number June 9, Program Overview Proposed Centers Name: Creative Care Preschool Location: Type of Center: Preschool and Day Care Center Hours of Operation: 8:00 am – 5:00 pm, Mondays thru Fridays Ages of Children Served: 1.5 yrs to 6.5 yrs. Services Rendered: Creative Care Preschool aims to serve the community by providing high quality programs for children. It offers quality care for toddlers and preschoolers as well as developmentally appropriate education. This way, they likewise help parents in rearing their children well, ensuring that children get the best possible care and education that they need in their development. The center aims to optimize each child’s potentials in all developmental areas – physical, cognitive, social, emotional and creative, by providing them with opportunities and experiences beneficial to their growth and development. Creative Care Preschool is the ideal place for beginning learners. Armed with a sound philosophy, an efficient program and caring and efficient teachers and a conducive learning environment, this is where their bright future begins. Proposed Centers Vision Statement Creative Care Preschool aims to reach the highest standards of quality for an early childhood center. It will provide the best developmentally appropriate programs for children aged 1.5 to 6.5 that will help develop children who are confident, others-oriented, creative and competent. The will have honed their skills to enable them to succeed in a globally competitive world. Mission Statement Creative Care Preschool advocates high quality care and education for very young children. It provides children several opportunities to experience learning first hand by themselves, with capable mentors and with their peers. Educational Philosophy Creative Care Preschool believes that God created each child in a unique and special way thus deserving LOVE and RESPECT. Each child is endowed with gifts, abilities and innately full of potentials, but in the process of “becoming” according to his own pace, interests and needs. A child learns best when he finds enjoyment in what he is doing, thus learning should be fun. PLAY is the world of children. Learning through play has value and is an effective method of teaching. Through play, a child develops his mental functions as he learns varied concepts, and at the same time he develops body coordination, he learns how to handle emotions, acquires social skills and values as he interacts with other children. All learning acquired by the child is an outcome of interactions between him and his environment (people, ideas and materials). A child is able to learn in an environment where there is freedom of movement and choice; this enables him to be an active participant in his learning as he initiates activities, asks questions, explores, observes, and socializes with other children and adults around him. Emphasis is on the “process” of learning more than the “product”. With the child actively involved, learning becomes meaningful to him. Since it is the child who actually experiences learning, these are better retained. The Philosophy of the school comes from the theories of Jean Piaget (1969) and Lev Vygotsky (1978). “Piaget believed that children create knowledge through interactions with the environment. Children are not passive receivers of knowledge; rather, they actively work at organizing their experience into more and more complex mental structures.” (Brewer, 2001, p.6). He insists that children need to use all their cognitive functions. These theories were designed to form minds which can be critical, can verify, and not accept everything they are offered. Such beliefs reflect his respect for the thinking processes of children. Vygotsky (1978) believed that the social context influences children’s intellectual development more than by individual experiences. His theory places a great deal of emphasis on effective social interaction. Piaget and Vygotsky have created a strong foundation for the constructivist model that the school upholds. It premises on the belief that learners “construct” their own learning, and in effect, have better retention of it (Decker, 2009). “In the Constructivist theory the emphasis is placed on the learner or the student rather than the teacher or the instructor. The learner interacts with objects and events and thereby gains an understanding of the features held by such objects or events.  The learner, therefore, constructs his/her own conceptualizations and solutions to problems.  Learner autonomy and initiative is accepted and encouraged.” (Van Ryneveld, n.d., n.p.). Curriculum Model The school uses an integrated curriculum based on themes of interest to the children. In the program, the Cognitive aspect is not the only one given importance but the Social, Emotional, Physical, Creative and Moral aspects as well. One of the goals of the preschool is to prepare students with necessary skills for kindergarten such as math, reading, language and creativity skills.  Another major concern of the school staff is in the area of instilling good values such as consideration for others, respect and love of God, self and neighbor. The Physical Learning Environment Creative Care Preschool provides a clean, safe and nurturing environment. It offers rich, age-appropriate learning materials/ experiences for children, carefully planed and prepared by teachers each day. Creative Care Preschool is a place where children free to explore, touch, experiment and ask many of their questions, supervised by adults in school so that they can discover the answers to these questions themselves. The environment is one that is open and stimulating in order to encourage children to participate, explore, and learn. A stimulating environment provides the teacher with many opportunities to observe where a child’s interests lay as well as those areas the child may be tentative in (Danoff, Breitbart & Barr, 1977). The environment should also be flexible and spontaneous to accommodate children’s play that is essential in a preschool classroom, and is valued by the school. This implies that teachers should allow for adequate space and an array of creative materials. Furniture should be child-sized, durable, comfortable, and organized in such a way that would be easy to rearrange depending on varying classroom needs. Basic classroom furniture includes anthropometrically sized tables and chairs, shelves, cubbies or similar storage units, sofas, and pillows. The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) advocates for the use of learning centers in classrooms. These learning centers may include a dramatic play area, a small library or reading corner, a manipulatives area for fine motor activities, a block area, a math and science area, an art area etc. These learning areas are set up in the classroom in such a way that children may go to one learning area after another to work and play with the materials provided in each area. Having learning areas in classrooms provides many benefits for children. They develop social skills as they interact cooperatively with others, share materials and teach each other. Centers encourage communication because children can talk and verbalize freely. Children can move and be active, so there will be fewer discipline problems and disruptions. Learning centers involve a greater use of the senses. This also implies that centers encourage children to learn in ways that are natural to them. Learning centers allow children to work independently, in small groups, or one-on-one with the teacher. They provide for a wide range of abilities and interests because children can progress at their own rate. It fosters creativity, curiosity and experimentation. The Creative Care Classroom encourages children to be independent, make decisions and solve problems. Since learning materials abound, it reflects that it offers diversity and flexibility in terms of materials and learning activities (Brewer, 2001; NAEYC, 1997). The school playground is wide and spacious, surrounded with shady trees and flower lined pathways. It has both grassy and cemented areas as well as a sand-pit where children can sit and play in the sand. A bike path surrounds the playground equipment that include a large and a small slide, swing sets and climbing equipment that lead to a fort where the children can pretend to be anyone or anything they want to be. The Creative Care Playground encourages the over-all physical development of children as well as their imaginations and social skills. Strategies for inclusive practices Creative Care Preschool is not prejudiced in selecting whom to care for. It agrees with the principle that “Children should be treated fairly regardless of race, religion or abilities. This applies no matter what they think or say; what type of family they come from; what language(s) they speak; what their parents do; whether they are girls or boys; whether they have a disability or whether they are rich or poor. All children have an equal right to be listened to and valued in the setting.” (EYFS, 2007). Including disabled children may be challenging. “A broad definition of a developmental disability is a condition or disorder, physical, cognitive, or emotional—that has the potential to significantly affect the typical progress of a child’s growth and development or substantially limits three or more major life activities including self-care, language, learning, mobility, self-direction, capacity for independent living, and/or economic self-sufficiency” (Federal Developmental Disabilities Act of 1984). Recognizing this, teachers and staff at Creative Care Preschool structure the environment to accommodate such children, like providing ramps for children in wheelchairs. At the same time, they seek the support of the children’s parents and other agencies involved with children with special needs. Professionals from a wide variety of fields and disciplines devote much time and energy in helping these children live comfortable and fulfilling lives with the end view of mainstreaming them into society and the real world. Educators, therapists, psychologists, speech pathologists, physicians, social workers and even government officials join hands in the care and education of these children to ensure their optimum growth and development. The children may be part of the social care team. They have the ability to help each other in their interactions. Children, both normal and with special needs are subsequently paired in natural settings for social activities. “The most direct outcome of these procedures has been an increase in positive social responses and peer acceptance. Strategies for peers to use include, soliciting the student’s attention, providing choices, modeling appropriate social behavior, reinforcing attempts at functional play, encouraging/ extending conversation, turn taking, narrating play and teaching responsiveness to multiple cues.” (Benito & Ramirez, 2000). The Teachers and Staff The director and teachers have earned their degrees in Early Childhood Education. Seeking accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children, they promote “developmentally-appropriate practices”. Carefully selected, these teachers and staff have competence in their professional skills and their personal skills as well since their role in molding the child is a very crucial one. The adults involved in the child’s care and education in school are concerned about the child’s holistic development Staff Professional Growth Plan Teachers are lifelong learners expected to model such quality to inspire their students. Judith Little (1982) recommends teachers to collaborate with each other to come up with effective instruction. Teachers at Creative Care Preschool engage in frequent, continuous and increasing concrete and precise conferences on their teaching practice and ability to reflect if these practices are working to encourage success in their students. They are open to feedback and allow frequent observation of their teaching performance. Together, they plan, design, research, evaluate and prepare teaching materials. They also support and coach each other on other practices of teaching. In turn, the school administration provides them with enough professional training both in-house and to seminars and workshops offered outside the school related to Early Childhood Education. Deserving teachers may also apply for a subsidized scholarship grant to take further studies in ECE. Discipline Policy Children need to learn self-discipline and respect for authority. Part of Creative Care’s philosophy is that teachers and staff must be keen practitioners of what they preach, knowing that children are very keen observers who imitate what they see. Being children, though, they like testing their limits with persons of authority, that they sometimes break preset rules. Teachers and staff deal with misdemeanors by reminding children of the rules and processing this information thoroughly by talking it out with them. They discuss consequences of misbehavior and its effect and the consequent “punishment” which was initially agreed upon by the class. Threats, bribes and withholding love from an errant child are not effective means of disciplining because they may cause the child to retaliate or the negative behavior reinforced. Rewards for acceptable behavior on the other hand, are given sparingly lest they depend only on these external rewards or punishment in order to behave properly. Teachers understand children’s limitations. When preschoolers forget to abide by the rules and regulations of the class, they are given three warnings before the teacher takes action to execute the consequence that was agreed upon. Children who display rowdy or disruptive behavior are not “behavior problem children” but may be due to many factors such as lack of awareness of rules, short attention span, boredom and a host of other reasons. It is the adult’s role to discern which factor causes the misbehavior and deals with it in the most appropriate manner such as letting the child sit in a “time-out chair” to help the child reflect on his behavior before rejoining the class. The Home-School Link Teachers establish relationships with each child’s family. The school believes that learning is a partnership between the school and the home. This partnership is essential in supporting the child in his total development. Creative Care Preschool emphasizes strong Parental Involvement if the program is to be effective. Communication between the home and the school is vital to the program. The means provide where parents can actively take part in their children’s education include the narrative record, newsletters, parent-teacher conferences, parent seminars and school projects and events that require parental participation. Assessment Process Assigning a quantitative grade (i.e. 90%, or A, B+, etc.) to a child’s progress in school is not a practice at Creative Care Preschool because it does not give a clear picture of what the child already knows and can do. Children’s progress in all areas of development (cognitive, social, emotional, physical, creative) are observed and assessed by the teachers throughout the school year. Wiggins’ (1991) description of what authentic assessment should be is that it involves “engaging problems and questions of importance and substance in which students must use knowledge (and construct meaning) effectively and creatively (p. 39). Thus, it involves the use of higher-order thinking which is far useful in the end than mere knowledge of information which most traditional assessment methods measure. Authentic assessment entrusts the reins of learning to the students. They “are required to provide rigorous intellectual commitment and perseverance, and teachers must continually connect student’s previous and current knowledge to the emerging curriculum. The relevance of curriculum to student interests therefore cannot be planned, because the learners’ interests and experience cannot be assumed nor completely evaluated in advance” (Wescombe-Down, n.d., n.p). This gives the students more power in the acquisition of learning. Using prior knowledge, they are encouraged to invent their own solutions and try out their own ideas and hypotheses with the able support of their teachers. This way, they can indulge in concrete experiences that focus on their interests. The process of searching for information, analysing data and reaching conclusions is considered more important than learning facts. According to the National Association for Education of Young Children, “excessive use of standard test is especially inappropriate”. Standardized achievement test by itself cannot fulfill the major purpose of assessment for young children. Multiple-choice or short answer tests not do stress reading, writing, and math skills. Instead, especially for preschool-aged children, teachers’ observations are essential to their assessment. Systematic observations determine a child’s cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional and physical development (Morrison, 2009 p. 69). What is more developmentally-appropriate for preschoolers is the use of Portfolio Assessment because this shows a much more realistic and concrete reflection of a child’s development in skills and knowledge. Portfolios are a compilation of a child’s work. The portfolios entails of work samples, products and observations. Each portfolio is vastly different. Examples of what is in a portfolio are written work, artwork, journal etc. Teachers and parents discuss children’s portfolios at parent teacher conferences to see evidences of progress. Teachers are also using digital portfolios. They may use these to complement the original portfolio of the child or alone. Service to Children Policy and Procedure Statement Creative Care Preschool accepts children aged 1.5 to 6.5 years regardless of gender, learning pace, ability, family situation, religion, socioeconomic status, nationality and ethnic origin. Grouping of children is according to developmentally appropriate practices with the suitable adult-child ratio, as follows: One’s and Two’s: 4-6 children per group Two’s and Three’s: 6-8 children per group Three’s and Four’s: 8-10 children per group Four’s and Five’s: 10-12 children per group Five’s and Six’s: 12-15 children per group. Two capable adults handle each class: one is an experienced teacher who is a graduate of Early Childhood Education and one is the Teacher Assistant who is at least a High School graduate. Both have obtained thorough training in Child Development and Education modules. Health and Safety Policy and Procedure Creative Care Preschool puts utmost priority to children’s health and safety. To ensure this, the following policies are set: A. Pick-up: The school administrator or child’s teacher must be informed as to who is/are authorized to fetch each child. In the event that the fetcher is unable to pick up the child, the parents should call and inform the school as to who will be the alternate fetcher or the alternate fetcher should present a letter from the parent or guardian authorizing him/her to fetch the child. The school does not release children to unfamiliar fetchers. In some cases, the school administrator procures a copy of the certified court custody of some special cases upon enrollment to prevent untoward incidents. The school expects punctuality of parents in terms of brining and fetching the children in school. Parents should not bring children earlier than 30 minutes before classes begin nor fetched 30 minutes after dismissal. B. Accidents: In case of accidents or illnesses that may occur within the perimeters of the school, an “Incident Form” will be sent home to notify parents about the kind of accident or illness that occurred and the action taken. The injured child will be given first aid treatment and must be provided with follow-up treatment medication at home. For major accidents, the school physician will be called upon to check on the child or will be brought to the nearest clinic or hospital, if need be. C. Sick Children: Children who fall ill in the school will be isolated and sent home immediately. In consideration to the sick child and to other children, a sick child must stay home when he is sick. He can rejoin his class when he is completely recovered. Nutrition and Food Handling The school provides a nutrition program for all the children. Food is hygienically prepared in a sanitized kitchen. The nutrition program considers allergies of certain children and try as much as possible to avoid ingredients that would cause it. Sometimes, allergic children are served an alternative but equally nutritious snack. Program Evaluation To ensure high quality of services, Creative Care Preschool adheres to the Code of Ethics advocated by the NAEYC. Teachers, parents and school administrators evaluate the school based on the Developmentally Appropriate Practices identified by NAEYC. The stakeholders evaluate the program regularly on its curriculum and assessment procedures, adult-child interactions, school-family relations and classroom atmosphere. Such evaluation is documented on written questionnaires and teachers and school administrators deliberate upon it at the end of each term to further improve the services of the school. References Benito, N. & Ramirez, C. (2000) Transition Strategies for teams supporting students with disabilities. University of South Florida: Center for Autism and Related Disabilities. Brewer, J.A. (2001) Introduction to Early Childhood Education. Boston: Allyn and Bacon Danoff, J., Breitbart, B., and Barr, E. (1977). Open children: for those interested in early childhood education. New York: McGraw Hill Co. Decker, C. Decker,J., Freeman, N. and Knorpf, H. (2009). Planning and administering early childhood programs (9th edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Federal Development Disabilities Act of 1984. Little, J. W. (1982). Norms of collegiality and experimentation: Workplace conditions of school success. American Educational Research Journal. 19(3), 325–340. Morrison, G. S. (2009). Early childhood today (11th ed.) Upper Saddle River : Pearson. National Association for the Education of Young Children (1997) Developmentally Appropriate Practices in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8: a position statement of the national association for the education of young children. Washington: National Association for the Education of Young Children Piaget, J. & Inhelder, B. (1969) The Psychology of the Child. New York: Basic Books The Early Years Foundation Stage, (2007) Effective practice: Play and Exploration Crown Van Ryneveld, L., (n.d.) “What is constructivism?”, Retrieved on May 29, 2010 from http://hagar.up.ac.za/catts/learner/lindavr/lindapg1.htm Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Wescombe-Down, D. (n.d.), “Constructivism, mainstream teaching and scientific knowledge from the classroom perspective.” Retrieved on 05 June, 2010 from http://www.unisanet.unisa.edu.au/11788/science1/constructivism/MSMSASTA05. doc Wiggins, G. (1991) “Task” Design Ideas, Principles and Guidelines. Geneseo, NY: Center on Learning, Assessment and School Structure. Read More