Social Media as Best Communication Tool to Stay Connected with Families and Build Partnership at the Centre

What is your favorite social media platform? My blog will show how social media as the best communication tool to stay connected with families and build partnership at the childcare centre.

1. Childcare Centre Websites

Create your own childcare websites to show the childcare centre is an ideal place for your children to learn and grow. It gives information to parents the goals and objectives of the centre upon enrolling your child from class schedules/hours to rates and fees and rules of the childcare centre. Besides, the centre websites can be effective means of communication and encouragement for families to get involve while staying connected at the centre. Keeping parents informed by posting information about incoming seasonal events for example:

• Family Tea Party with live animals show
• Easter Egg Hunt
• Christmas concert by the children

It can be a way of updating the parents of an important dates such as:

• June 9, 2017 – Parent-teacher meeting
• September 16, 2017 Fundraising activities

Photoraphs or video clips of the children can be posted online to communicate to parents on what is happening during the day.  Wilson (2014) suggest to obtain parental permission to post pictures and video clips and to ensure security of the site. If posible create a response link on the website so that families can comment on centre happenings or share ideas. Consequently, parents does not require to know teachers’ email addresses.

2. Email

Teachers are using email to communicate with families more frequently because it is convenient, affordable tool to disseminate  important information about the centre or upcoming events. Notes/reminders, messages, newsletters and group photos of the children  can be sent to families at the same time. When it comes to emergent need email is a 2^nd option after calling the parents. My experienced at one centre, a child had an allergy of cow milk that can threaten his life due to progressing hives all over the body. The mother can’t answer the phone due to her work but she can see the picture of the child having an allergy. By viewing her email she can decide and inform the teachers what would be the next step to do. Of course, email should not be used to communicate sensitive information. Always remember the risks of using social media. Therefore, we also need to remember that emails  from child-care centre should be done with e-professionalism. 

2. Blogging

To post a blog is another way of communicating and staying connected with families at the centre. Blogging with comment capability is one way where teacher and parents/families can interact and collaborate with each other to enhance the learning experiences of children at the centre. Also with the recommendation of being professional in giving comments to blogs posted.

3. Facebook, Twitter, and Instant Messenger

Some centres are using Facebook or Twitter or Instant messenger or both of them as tools for communication. They post pictures of children’s learning activities. Families can interact with other families by posting comments/tweets while staying connected with the teachers.  Parent- teacher communication can also use chatting on online forums. Users of these platforms need to know what are the advantages and disadvantages of using social media

In conclusion, the social media as communication tool will help families to stay connected at the centre and build parents-centre partnership in the early learning development of their children. “It is also important to note that a well-designed website is also a marketing tool that will give prospective parents an insight into the workings of the early childhood environment” ( Wilson, 2014)

Do you have any suggestions in addition to the flatforms mention above?

Thank you!

Reference:

Wilson, L. (2014). Partnerships: Families and Communities in Early Childhood; 5th Edition; Nelson Education Ltd.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3 Brain Areas Injured: Cerebellum, Hypothalamus, & Hippocampus affect my activity in ECE

My  blog will focus on how brain injury could affect in doing my activities for Early Childhood Education considering its possible damage to some major part of the brain such as the: cerebellum, hypothalamus, and hippocampus. I will describe the function and importance of each brain area in doing my activities and explain how brain damage could seriously affect my ability to perform my activities.

1. The cerebellum is belong to  major structure of the human brain located behind the top part of the brain stem. According to Wood, Wood, Boyd, Wood & Dasmarais (2017), cerebellum has left and right halves that connected to Pons area.  Cerebellum brain area is essential to my activity as it coordinates skilled movement; regulates muscles tone, posture, and motor activities ( p. 36, fig. 2.5). When the cerebellum gets damaged due to brain injury:

• experience lack of motor coordination and loss of balance which is very detrimental in the taking care of children.
• impossible for me to attend to their needs which naturally demands physical attention.
• the loss of balance might lead me to fall on a child or injure myself
• difficulty in kneeling down to children’s level, bending down to pick up toys on the floor, reaching out to feed the child with special needs, and assist and engage in their gross motor activities like; kicking the ball, running, and jumping.

2. The hypothalamus is located “below the thalamus and weighing only about 56 grams and it is known as the master of regulator. Hypothalamus is very essential into my work because it regulates hunger, thirst, sexual behaviour, and a wide variety of emotional behaviours such as happy, sad, anger. Additionally, it also regulates  body temperature; when I am feeling warm or cold, and also regulates waking up and sleeping pattern ( Wood et al.. p. 37) When hypothalamus got injured and damaged it affects my activity in the centre:

• suffering from possible fatigue and weakness due to low adrenal function.
• trap in an eating disorder instead of engaging with children.
• low sexual hormones may lead me to have a very unstable mood.
•  irritable and impatient due to lack of energy which could greatly affect my performance.
• it will also affect my ability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationship with children, families and staff.

3. “The hippocampus is a structure in the limbic system that plays a central role in the formation of long- term memories” (Wood et al., p. 39) such as telephone numbers, names of persons, places, including past knowledge and experiences.  When hippocampus injured, a person would not be able to remember the recent information. However, the person can still retrieve the memories stored from the past. (Wood et al.,2017, p. 39). How hippocampus affect my activity?

• difficulty in remembering the name of the new child instead calling his/her of another child’s name from the previous class.
•  difficulty coping up with the daily lessons, reviewing the children of basic skills just recently taught.
•  difficulty in responding to the children’s immediate needs and requests.
• difficulty to individualize their specific needs, that wil lead to inappropriate interventions which might be health threatening, like offering the wrong medicine.

In conclusion, brain injury that end up damaging any of the 3 areas of the brain mentioned above will certainly affect the physical, cognitive, emotional and behavioral functions of the human body.  The consequences of the impairment may lead to major changes in the person’s life. With brain injury, it would be impossible for me to carry out meaningfully my previous tasks with the children.

Reference:

Wood, S. E., Wood, E. G., Boyd, D., Wood, E., & Desmarais, S. (2017). The World ofPsychology  (8th Canadian Edition). New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc.

What does social media do to a brain injury survivor?

 

Blog #2: Caregiving Strategies to Promote Resiliency

Hi everyone!

“What contributes to the stability of certain temperament patterns has led numerous developmental specialist to examine the trait of resiliency and how it contributes to healthy emtional growth of our children. What does resiliency mean? Resiliency is the ability to overcome adversity in an adaptive manner”(Gonzales-Mena & Widmeyer Eyer, 2015, p. 214-215) . Why resiliency is very important in early learning and development?

Caregiving strategies to promote resiliency

1. Know the children in your care ( developmentally, individually, and culturally) and build a positive, caring relationship with each child.

When a caregiver or teacher respect each child and build a positive, caring relationship it can “foster competency and inner strength. The idea of fostering inner strength and competency early in development is a valuable goal in an effort to prevent later concerns. Fostering resiliency in a person and showing respect are approaches that share the same goal of healthy emotional development”(Gonzales-Mena & Widmeyer Eyer, 2015, p. 215).

2. Build a sense of community in your program in which each child experiences a sense of belonging while appreciating the rights and needs of others.

In our program we include the daily structured outdoor and indoor activities in which everybody can participate. Each child feels the “sense of connectedness to others, being valued, while forming relationships with their peers and making contributions as part of the group, a community, the natural world” (How does learning happen?, 2014. p. 7)

3. Build strong relationships with families that foster trust and mutual respect.

When there is a strong relationship between families and teachers the child learns best and able to model the trust and mutual respect for others. Such early learning promotes emotional stability and health and posters lifelong coping skills.

4. Create a clear and consistent program structure so that children can predict routines and feel safe.

“In creating a clear and consistent program structure, it addresses the importance of physical and mental health and wellness. It incorporates capacities such as self-care, sense of self, and self-regulation skills”( HDLH?, 2014, p. 7)

5. Make learning meaningful and relevant so that each child can see connections and experience his or her own competence.

“When children are able to explore the world around them with their natural curiosity and exuberance, they are fully engaged.  Through this type of play and inquiry, they develop skills such as problem solving, creative thinking, and innovating, which are essential for learning and success in school and beyond”(HDLH?, 2014, p. 7)

In conclusion, “resilient children have several specific characteristics. They have an active approach to life’s challenges; they look for resolutions to problems.  They also seem to understand cause and effect; things usually happen for reason. Resilient children are able to gain positive attention; they are appealing and sociable,with an easygoing disposition. Finally, they see the world as a positive place, and they believe in a meaningful life” (Gonzales-Mena & Widmeyer Eyer, 2015, p. 215) .

References:

Gonzales-Mena, J. (2015). Infants, Toddlers, and Caregivers; A Curriculum of Respectful, Responsive, Relationship-Based Care and Education; 10th ed.

Ontario Ministry of Education. (2014).  How Does Learning Happen? Ontario’s Pedagogy for the Early Years; Queen’s Printer for Ontario

What strategies that foster resiliency can you add?

 

How Social Media can Spark the Mind of a Child

What would be the tools on Social Media than can spark the mind of the preschoolers? How is it being used to be effective in emergent learnings? In this article, I will share what are the tools and how they help to spark the minds of children in the early learning settings.

It was a sunny day and the preschoolers ages 2.5 – 3 yrs. old went outside to play. I brought few open-ended materials such as chalk, silk banners with various colours, magnifying glass, bug container, etc. One child picked up the chalk and started to scribble on the ground and said, “I made a scarecrow.”  There was one child who asked him,  “What is the scarecrow doing?” and the child replied, “He scares the birds.” So when we came back to our classroom we had an investigation by using Google search. The children found out from the images that a “scarecrow” is not a real person but a made up thing place in the middle of the field to watch the plants and scares the birds and animals. One child suggested that we can add the scarecrow to our “Interest Web” which is posted on the wall of our classroom.

After some minutes, one child asked if they can make a scarecrow. So we search again from Pinterest how to make a scarecrow. Two children went to the creative shelf and took the basket of crayons and pieces of papers and started to make a picture of the scarecrow. But some children wanted to make a scarecrow out of pieces of fabrics from Dramatic Area.  And this can be their creative activity for the following day.

Credited: en.wikipedia.org. “A bunch of Scarecrows in a rice paddy in Japan”

The next  day I observed two children playing with the farm animals by making sounds.  During circle time I used  video clip from YouTube to show them the pictures of farm animals with their names and sounds that they made. The children learned in an instant the name of each animal and their corresponding sounds. To evaluate their learnings we played the “Listening Lotto”. It is a game by marking the picture of an animal as they listen to the sound made. Moreover, on YouTube children learned songs and dances of different cultures. We had fun everyday.

Indeed, the given tools on social media are means to help the children develop their domain and skills such as physical, cognitive, communication, social and emotional well-being but it is not the end. As educators, parents and caregivers let us learn how to use the tools by developmentally appropriate to their age level,  balance and creative in providing learning opportunities to the children in our care.

You are most welcome to share an experience you have related to my article.

 

What is Emergent Curriculum?

Click to access d31c2501297101375What%20is%20Emergent%20Curriculum.pdf