Creating Affirming Environments

Emotion Board

           There are several elements that I would include in my own Family Child Care Home.  In the media segment, Adriana Castillo shared her own home child care.  One thing from the media segment that I would like to include in my own home child care would be the welcome area.  In Adriana’s welcome area, she included a sign in book for the families to provide information about their child for that day as well as a poster of each of the families with whom she worked (Laureate Education, 2011).  This welcome area would allow the early childcare provider to have a record of important details about each specific child as well as allowing each child to recognize him or herself as a part of the center.  One adjustment I might include in my own personal center would be to create another poster or bulletin board, in the welcome area, where the child would have to answer a simple question pertaining to our curricular area.  For example, in Adriana’s center, they were studying about emotions.  I would create a bulletin board with a variety of emotions and attach each child’s picture on a magnet or Velcro.  They could then move their picture to show how they were feeling that particular day.  The welcome area not only served as a place where the families could share, but also as a place where they could see themselves in their environment (Derman-Sparks and Edwards, 2010).

 

                Another aspect that Adriana included in her environment was a “rest area” (Laureate Education, 2011).  This was a place that was comfortable and allowed the children to adjust to their daycare environment.  Adriana Castillo shared that many of the children experienced separation anxiety (Laureate Education, 2011) and this rest area provided them some comfort while they were experiencing the emotions of leaving their parent.

 

Culture Share

               As far as anti-bias elements, Adriana Castillo provided many materials that contributed to an anti-bias environment.  One element that I would place in my own home child care would be the family culture share area.  I thought this was another wonderful way for the children to see themselves reflected in their environment while learning about the cultural diversity of their peers.

Cozy Reading Area

                In my free play area, I would be sure to provide an assortment of anti-bias materials.  I would include an library area with comfortable seating and lighting where the children could read.  Derman-Sparks and Edwards (2010) described the importance of including a variety of diverse books that represented not only cultures of children in the center, but also of the greater society.  I would work to build a classroom library of books that represented these things as well as books that portrayed stereotypes and bias to use as a teaching tool.

Music Center

                I would also incorporate a music and movement corner of the center where children could explore a variety of instruments and sounds from different cultures.  In order to represent each child’s home culture, I would ask each family to provide or recommend music to place in our music center.  I would also find video representing dances and movement to a variety of music for the children to enjoy.  Using technology, such as the popular game, Just Dance Kids, may also be something I would incorporate here. 

                 

Dramatic Play Area

                 Another area I would want to include would be a dramatic play area.  In this area, I would include clothing representative of my children’s cultures as well as materials such as scarves and cloth for the children to create their own unique style of dress.  In this area I would also ask families to donate empty food containers from their home to represent a variety of different foods that are eaten.  I would also include dolls with various skin, hair and eye colors as well as different physical abilities to reflect various racial and ethnic backgrounds.  I thought the skin colored bean bags from the media segment were a wonderful idea that could aid in anti-bias learning but could also serve many other purposes.  

                 I would also use the idea presented in both the media segment and the course text about decorating the classroom with photographs of the children and their community.  This would serve as another way to represent our community diversity while allowing the children to develop a sense of comfort in the classroom. 

               Overall, I feel that the most important aspect of the childcare center is that each child feels that his or her culture and family is being represented equally and that each child feels safe and comfortable in the setting.  In the media segment Adriana mentioned that she is still learning and changing although she has been practicing early childcare at her setting for four years (Laureate Education, 2011).  This is a very important point as we continue to learn and grow as early childhood educators.    

Resources

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

ourselves. National Association for the Education of Young Children. Washington, D.C.

(NAEYC).

Welcome to an anti-bias learning community ( Laureate Education, 2011). Retrieved from

     https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=

     _419753. course media.