An environment that is rich in anti-bias materials invites exploration and discovery supports children's play and conversation in both emergent and planned activities (Derman-Sparks. L., & Olsen Edwards. J, (2010).
What I would like to see when families walk into my home is endless possibilities with the materials in each center. An anti-bias environment is also culturally consistent for the children and families it currently serves (Derman-Sparks.L, & Olsen Sparks.J, (2010)
References
Derman-Sparks.L,& Olsen Edwards,J. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington. D.C.: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).
Great post. I love the fact that your family care home will promote more of nature and culture through various STEM activities, which is the one of the core concepts in an anti-bias setting. This setting will also promote sustainability, where kids can also extend their learning through bringing in resources from home and that will enable a connection between their home and the family care home.
ReplyDeleteTakeisha, thank you for sharing your ideal environment. I wanted the children to have the experience of a STEM center so I created one with recyclable materials. You can see it on my blog.
ReplyDeleteTakeisha,
ReplyDeleteI like that you would incorporate STEM into the daily lessons. Many people shy away from STEM because it can sound frightening, and if you are not familiar with it, it can be challenging to plan for or have the appropriate resources. I worked at a school that held an all-day “Science Day” every six weeks. Parents were invited, and the whole school would participate in science lessons. Teachers would complain that they did not always have ideas, so I asked for them to try STEM but was turned down because of the time it took to plan the lessons. I ended up “cheating” and purchased STEM kits from Lakeshore Learning Store for our PreK and kinder students. We used their fairytale boxes to reinforce our reading standards and build houses that could not be blown down by the wolf, a bridge that could hold all goats safe from the troll, and a chair that Goldilocks would not break. The kits came with question cards that the teachers and parents could use to ask questions for deeper thinking and problem-solving skills. After a while, the teachers figured out that they did not have to be an engineer to help make these connections and they would create amazing lessons. My district now offers STEM from PreK 3 – 12th grade.
You offering the time to explore with science, technology, engineering, and math is also a good idea to dispel the myth that those fields are for men.
SScott
Hi Takeisha I admire your inclusion of hands on activities for the students to participate in. It is very imoortant to expose children at an early age of STEAM activities and providing them with the opportunity to get their hands messy gives provides them with opportunities to learn by exploring with their senses of touch, smell, sight, and sound.
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