Quotations From Influential People In Early Childhood Education

“Play is the highest phase of child development.” - Friedrich Froebel
Essa, E (2007), Introduction to Early Childhood Education, Revised Edition,
pp.147                                                                                   

“The greatest crime that society is committing is…wasting money it should spend for its children.”

-Maria Montessori

Essa, E (2007), Introduction to Early Childhood Education, Revised Edition, pp. 147

“Teaching is the expediting of learning: A person who is taught learns more quickly than one who is not.” 

– B(hurrus) F(rederick) Skinner

Essa, E (2007), Introduction to Early Childhood Education, Revised Edition

 “It is human to have a long childhood; it is civilized to have an even longer childhood.”

- Eric Erickson

Essa, E (2007), Introduction to Early Childhood Education, Revised Edition , pp.148

“When I think about passion, I have to embrace who I am as a woman, who I am as terms of being a Latino leader and what my family has taught me that creates a greater foundation for my passion.“ 

  

“Today my passion as a professional really is to bring my ideas in action into changing policy and into changing practice and influencing theory.“   The Passion of Early Childhood Walden Multi -Media Presentation  

-Leticia Lara, LCSW, Regional Manager

Outreach and Project Development

Zero to Three

The Child Who Touched My Heart

 I was a Child Development Home Provider and was one of the lucky homes who were accredited by Head Start. They gave me a case of a child whose parents were very young and separated due to drug problem. The child has 2 siblings and they are all under the care of her father and grandmother. She is  in and out of the rehabilitation center. Her mom’s case is really complicated.

This little girl is very quiet and wants to be alone all the time. She sits by herself and just cries and cries. She looks for her mom all the time. She will push me away and will tell me to leave her alone. Whether we are indoors or outdoors, she will go far away and sit in one corner or place.

I talked and work with her grandmother and her father all the time and offer my help by inviting her and her siblings to stay in my house on a weekend to play with my children. I bring them with me when we go around the island and visit places like the aquarium, zoo etc. and on week days she goes back to my house. I did a lot of activities that encourages participation, creativity and promoting self esteem such as dancing hula, singing, painting and group plays.

When she left for Kindergarten, she was totally a different person. She is a very happy child, made a lot of friends and she does well in class. When I saw her again she told me: “ Ms. Anabel can I go back to your school again, because I had so much fun there”.

My Personal Favorites

I come across these quotations from Maya Angelou which is relevant to our program

*It is time for parents to teach young people early on, that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.

*We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value no matter what their color.
                                                                                                                    

One of my favorite books

 

The Giving Tree written by Shel Silverstein

This book is about the little boy who comes to visit the tree every day. He gets and eats the fruit from it, climbs, swings on it and even makes a crown from its leaves.

The boy grew older and went back to visit the tree. The tree asks him; how he can help him and the tree was so happy. The tree offered his fruits to sell, branches to build a house and his trunk to make a boat. Nothing was left on the tree except the small piece of trunk.

The boy is already old and came back and the tree was so happy. The tree told the boy that it has nothing to give anymore but he can sit down on it and take a rest.

This story was told and read to me by mom when I was little and I got the opportunity to share it with my preschool children.  It is amazing how young children can relate to the story, feel sad, and at the same time understands how the tree shares, gives and gives until nothing left for itself   but still makes it very happy. I also remember how my parents  constantly has shown us, by their example, their unselfish love and always giving what they have and still make them very happy.  They never ask for anything in return and taught us to do the same thing or even better when we have our own children.

      

Image of a child's drawing :

This is a drawing of a 3 year old child. I chose this child drawing because she can express how she feels through her art. You can see how  black clouds represents rain and sadness for her.  She also scribbles and imitates how I write.  She came to me and read what she wrote:  “Nina is sad because it is raining and I miss my daddy”.

Every time a child draw something I make sure I write their names, date it and  put words into their art.

ALOHA TO MY OHANA

To my Fellow Early Childhood Bloggers,

Welcome to my blog site. Let me say:  Aloha to my Ohana, which means "Welcome to my Family".

I am an Asian American, who grew up in the Philippines and  migrated to the United States of America in 1997. Tagalog/Filipino is my first language. My husband retired in the Navy last March 2010 and decided to stay here in Hawaii. I am situated here in Honolulu and currently working as a Lead Education Technician at  Bougainville Child Development Center.

  This is going to be an interesting journey for all of us and I am looking forward to blog with all of you.