LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

Creating Affirming Environments

Child care reaches thousands of children each day.  It may be a licensed childcare center or a licensed family childcare home.  Therefore it is imperative that those who operate these facilities make sure that they honor diversity among the children and families that they serve (Pelo, 2008).  An environment rich in anti-bias education promotes creative discovery and supports the fact that every child deserves the right to develop to his or her fullest potential (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010). 

 

In my Family Child Care Center it would be vital for the families of my students to be an intricate part of our program.  One of the ideas I would include that came from the Anti-Bias Learning Video (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011) would be a welcome and greeting room where I could greet my students and families each morning.  In the room I would make sure that I had a schedule of our activities for the day.  The room would also contain photographs of our children and their families.  It is a part of our professional vision and responsibility to integrate families as valuable and indispensable partners in the learning community (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010).  I would also instill a volunteer program where family members could come in and volunteer at the school throughout the day.  Including a star student/family corner which highlights a different student each week along with items from their home would give the children the benefit of seeing both their home and their early childhood program as equally welcoming and loving place. 

 

My literature area would include many genres of books who main characters or illustrations reflect diversity.  If my center included Hispanic children or children who knew a second language, it would be important to have books that contained that language in the literature area.  There would also be an area rug so that volunteers could come and read to small groups of children.  Books (especially big books) are a great tool for engaging small children and leading discussions into other subjects.

 

Adriana Castillo’s Family Child Care Home (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011) also showed a center where skin tone materials were placed.  Children could connect with these items because they showed a reflection of themselves.  My Art center would definitely contain paper and paint of various skin/earth tones so that children could include variations of themselves and their families in their art projects and paintings. 

Puzzles, Legos, etch-a-sketches, and blocks would also be kept in an area to promote critical thinking and promote motor skills.  Center areas would also include housekeeping, dramatic play, and puppetry.  Finally, images of different children and families would be placed throughout the facility.  This gives children a connection with society as a whole.  The photographs could facilitate discussions about families around the world.

 

References:

 

Derman-Sparks, L., & Olsen Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and

ourselves. Washington, DC: NAEYC.

 

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2011). Welcome to an anti-bias learning community [video]. Strategies for Working with Diverse Children. Baltimore, MD: Author.

 

Pelo, A. (Ed.) (2008). Rethinking early childhood education. Milwaukee, WI: Rethinking

Schools.