References:

Arthur, L. Beecher, B. Farmer, S. & Death, E. (2008). Programming & Planning: in early childhood settings. Victoria: Australia: Thomson.



Copley, J. V. & (2000). The young child and mathematics. Washington: National Association for the Education of Young Children.



Craft, A., & Jefferey, B. (2004). Creative practice and practice which fosters creativity. In L.Miller & J. Devereaus (Eds.), Supporting children’s learning in the early years (pp.105-112). London: David Fulton.



Isenberg, J. P., & Jalongo, M. R. (2006). Understanding children’s creative thought and expression. In Creative thinking and arts-based learning: Preschool through fourth grade (4 ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall (pp. 3-37).



May, P. (2009). Creative development in the ealy years foundation stage. New York: Routledge



Mindes, G. (2006). Social studies in kindergarten. In D. F. Gullo (Ed.), K today teaching and learning in the kindergarten year. (pp.107- 115).Washington, D.C.: National Association for the Education of Young Children.




Ministry of Education (1996). Te Whāriki, He whāriki matauranga mo nga mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum. Wellington: New Zealand: Learning Media.



Ministry of Education (2009). Information and communication technology (ICT), Te hangarau Parongo me te whakawhitiwhiti: Kei tua o te pae: Assessment for learning, Early childhood examplers. Wellington: Learning Media.

Santrock, J. W. (2008). Life-span development (11th ed). New York: McGraw Hill Co. Inc.



Scholl, M. (2005). Social studies in action. Young Children. Vol 62 (4) pp.1-5.


Smorti, S. (1999) Technology in Early Childhood. Early Education, No.19 Autumn 1999.



 
Talay-Ongan, A. & Ap, E. A. (2005). Chilld development and teaching young children. Victoria, Australia: Thomson social science press.

Food Technology with the Apple Peeler

Making and enjoying food have always been part of our centre’s daily routine. Sometimes the children in my centre help the cook by peeling potatoes, carrots and pumpkins as she’ll cook them for lunch. In some wintery cold mornings, the children cooked their own sizzling ham slices on portable hot tops with the help of teachers.

Lately our centre manager introduced us to this great new tool. It is the Apple peeler/corer/slicer!!

It was like magic! We placed the apple onto the three-pronged fork of the apple peeler. Then as we turned the handle it began coring the apple. The apple now is sliced but still connected, like an accordion.

The children found this tool very fascinating and so did the teachers. As we found it interesting and fun to use we made sure that we spoke to the children about the importance of the apple skin in providing our bodies with fibre. This is to say that technology could also have some 'side effects'!

Despite the fact that we used technology for cooking with children, cooking itself is a great learning experience for children. It is interesting to note that cooking with children can teach children about Maths, Science and Language (Copley, 2000; Talay-Ongan & Ap, 2005). This is also greatly in line with Te Whāriki (Ministry of Education, 1996) which promotes ‘exploration’ with a variety of learning experiences that can be connected to the home environment. Arthur, Beecher, Death, Dockett & Farmer (2008) also encourage the use of real resources as it help children reflect on real life experiences.

Moreover, cooking with children always provides endless opportunities for meaningful discussions. It seems, with cooking we connect with the outer world (Ministry of Education, 1996). In this case it is either a grandma’s house or whānau who like or dislike some sort of kai.



Therefore, food technology is an important part of ECE daily program. As early childhood teachers it is our duty to provide children with these meaningful experiences.

Imagine 20 years from now when the child you are cooking with now, will remember you as a result of smelling some baking aromas that connected her/him back to their early years in the centre!

Techno Tamariki

The use of technology in my centre is part of our natural daily program. We use various technological devices such as laptops, interactive board, cameras, and video cameras. We also use electronic appliances for cooking with children. It is important to note that these devices are not only for the use of teachers but also for the children’s use.

Every time I’m about to capture a ‘memento’ of a child’s learning, another child will be patting me on my arm as he/she wants to have a go using the camera. So lately, we have been showing the children how to use the camera and the video camera, how to switch it on and how to capture or record. The children seemed to be very interested in how these devices work and are willing to learn how to make it function properly. 

  

ICT and technology are becoming fundamental components in children’s learning in early childhood education (Ministry of Education, 1996). Te Whāriki (Ministry of Education, 1996) promotes the use of ICT in early childhood education as it perceives it as the connection with the wider world. ICT in this context is anything that allows us to communicate or get information.

 The Ministry of Education (2009) and Smorti (1999) assert that ICT is another way to foster our tamariki’s creativity and problem solving skills in ECE. According to Smorti (1999) the use of technology can enhance children’s literacy and numeracy skills and get them ready for school. Therefore as early childhood teacher, I will be working closely with our future tamariki to explore more about technology and ICT to become young citizens who are healthy in mind, body and spirit (Ministry of Education, 1996).

The Marble Run

Marble run

The Marble run has been a great interest to most children in my centre in the last few weeks. It started by using the marble run in the sandpit and got extended to endless experiences in the indoors and outdoors. With the assistance of teachers, the children were able to construct their own marble run by using their own junk materials such as boxes, milk bottles, cello-tapes, scissors and more.

 Then one day, the ramp we have in our centre came to a very good use. One of the children inspired me to facilitate an experience utilizing our ramp area to make our very own marble run.

Experiementing with more material

 One day one of the children threw a marble down and watched it speeding down the ramp! I thought that was a great idea so I suggested if the children would like to make their own marble run on the ramp. The group of children agreed with a lot of excitement showed on their faces! I asked the children how they think we could make it, and their response was to use the blocks. In my mind I had the marble run idea, but the children wanted to have a marble RACE instead which was amazing!!

The children worked co-operatively in bringing the blocks from the block room and made their own marble run or I should say marble race!

This experience was a great one, especially because it extended on the children’s interest of marbles and marble runs. This was very exciting as the children initiated this learning themselves and they were capable of constructing the whole learning experience by being creatively expressive. Piaget's Cognitive Developmental Theory as cited in (Santrock, 2008) asserts that children construct their own learning to make sense of the world around them. This is in line with Te Whāriki (Ministry of Education, 1996) as it promotes the nurture of children being capable and confident learners in ECE.

Being creative

Nurturing creativity in children is very important in early childhood education. Creativity according to May (2009) is “the ability to construct something new out of things or ideas that already exist” (P.5). Creative thoughts and expression are also defined as the way we form unique ideas to solve a particular problem utilising the multiple intelligences (Isenberg & Jalongo, 2006).

Making a marble run using different materials

As an early childhood teacher I believe that we influence whether or not children become creative. Therefore, teachers need to believe that all children have creative potentials in order to flourish the originality in them and to provide them with the tools and materials needed to stimulate their imagination even further (Isenberg & Jalongo, 2006). Craft and Jeffrey (2001) argue that teachers are not the only main influential factor in fostering children’s creativity, but also having the space and the resourceful environment are important aspects to inspire their sense of creativity.

Using junk to make a marble run

What’s out there? Supporting social science in ECE

Pretty Nunu

In this entry I would like to stress one of the important factors in nurturing children’s learning in my home centre, this is the importance of the involvement of the community. In this case I’m sharing some of my family experiences with the children as I have realised that some children only see us as teachers and don’t realise that we lead a normal life just like them! In facilitating this experience the use of technology was just vital.

Children’s interest in animals has been going on forever! It started or I shall say we started to notice it when the children started to talk about the nest on our tree earlier this year. As we have been learning about birds and animal in general, this took us to pets in our lives.  So, lately I have been discussing with the children one of my young brother’s new pet! In the past the children have met ‘Nunu’ the beautiful Rainbow Lorikeet parrot but this time it was a bit of a strange pet!

Bashut

I introduce “Bashut” to the children by showing them a picture of her from the net. As they stared at the screen, they came to realise that this sort of cats are called ‘Sphynx’ and they normally don’t have any fur on their body! The children’s response was amazing as they thought she was so “adorable”! I was to make a promise that Bashut will come to visit on Thursday.

As I arrived to the centre on Thursday, a group of children ran up to the gate to ask me where Bashut was! So I explained to the children that because Bashut is very shy, there is no way she could stay in the centre for the whole day therefore my brother Rami will come and introduce her to us at 11 o’clock! Closer to 11, we were getting a bit impatient so we decided to ring Rami at home and ask him to come sooner!

Using the phone to ring Rami

We rang Rami using our centre’s phone. The children helped me dialling the numbers and we put it on speaker phone so everyone could hear the conversation with Rami.


Not long after the phone call Bashut arrived! We had a cool time with Bashut and we got to pat her too!

Rami is introducing Bashut to us

Connecting with the outside world is highly emphisized by our Early Chilldhood Curriculum. Te Whāriki states that “The wider world of family and community is an integral part of the early childhood curriculum” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p.14). As I mentioned above, I felt it was important for children to know that their teachers also have a family and some have pets just like the children. And what a great way of showing this by following children’s interest naturally and interconnect as a part of the daily program. Through this experience the children and I were working alongside each other. Scoll (2005) stresses the importance of working together as a community in exploring the wider world outside the classroom. This also means that child’s relationship with the physical environment is also fostered in order to build a community of learners (Mindes, 2006). Nevertheless, Mindes (2006) asserts that in order to foster children’s social and emotional development we as ECE teachers need to look beyond maths and literacy and start recognising the importance of social studies in the classroom.