Article and Photo by: Karen Lindsay
East Coast Kids Child Care and Learning Centre is a buzz with activity as they celebrate their 4th anniversary. For many families, their dream of having a licensed, quality early learning and child care service for children in their rural community is now very much a cherished reality.
A day in the life of children and Early Childhood Educators
With Spring in the air, children’s interests have shifted to endless discussions of what the fresh season has to offer. They question its differences, observe its changes, and view all it has to offer through a lens of wonder and curiosity.
East Coast Kids Child Care and Learning Centre is a buzz with activity as they celebrate their 4th anniversary. For many families, their dream of having a licensed, quality early learning and child care service for children in their rural community is now very much a cherished reality.
A day in the life of children and Early Childhood Educators
With Spring in the air, children’s interests have shifted to endless discussions of what the fresh season has to offer. They question its differences, observe its changes, and view all it has to offer through a lens of wonder and curiosity.
During a recent community walk children noticed a solo, ragged scarecrow, flagging gently in a garden from the previous year. “What’s that?” a toddler asks, as she points. A preschool child answers “that’s a straw man, he’s not real; he keeps the garden safe from big hungry birds“. Another child chimes in,“ I have a garden at my house, we grow crunchy cucumbers!” As the Early Childhood Educator reflects on the children’s new interests, she wonders if the children would be interested in planning a garden at the early learning and care centre. When she shares her thoughts with the children, their enthusiasm and discussions about the possibility grows.
The brisk Spring walk is now filled with children’s questions and excitement; they burst with ideas as they imagine their roles in creating a glorious garden. Some children express that they don’t like to touch the dirt, but would like to water or measure flowers. Others are more hands on and would like to dig, break up soil and plant. For a few preschoolers interest is in neither, they would rather research, design or create a garden plan. Their conversations are full of laughter and zest for the possibilities this new adventure will bring.
Children’s ideas and imaginations are boundless! As an Early Childhood Educator the New Brunswick Curriculum Framework for Early Learning and Child Care offers many possibilities for creating rich learning opportunities for children based on their interests and curiosities. Our recent walk in the community provided the educator with insight into the children’s interests and an exciting opportunity to extend the learning that was taking place. As an early childhood educator it is exciting to experience child lead learning opportunities as they naturally unfold from the children’s interests. The curiosity of the early childhood educator is peaked… today the educator wondered … where we could plant our garden, what seeds will the children choose, what discoveries will they make and what will our next adventure be?
The brisk Spring walk is now filled with children’s questions and excitement; they burst with ideas as they imagine their roles in creating a glorious garden. Some children express that they don’t like to touch the dirt, but would like to water or measure flowers. Others are more hands on and would like to dig, break up soil and plant. For a few preschoolers interest is in neither, they would rather research, design or create a garden plan. Their conversations are full of laughter and zest for the possibilities this new adventure will bring.
Children’s ideas and imaginations are boundless! As an Early Childhood Educator the New Brunswick Curriculum Framework for Early Learning and Child Care offers many possibilities for creating rich learning opportunities for children based on their interests and curiosities. Our recent walk in the community provided the educator with insight into the children’s interests and an exciting opportunity to extend the learning that was taking place. As an early childhood educator it is exciting to experience child lead learning opportunities as they naturally unfold from the children’s interests. The curiosity of the early childhood educator is peaked… today the educator wondered … where we could plant our garden, what seeds will the children choose, what discoveries will they make and what will our next adventure be?
The New Brunswick Curriculum Framework for Early Learning and Child Care consists of the following four goals: Well-Being, Play and Playfulness, Communication and Literacies, Diversity and Social Responsibility. Each is interconnected and supports a rich and holistic learning environment where each child can flourish. It supports a thriving environment filled with past and present learning experiences, with opportunities for indoor and outdoor gardens of various flowers, fruits and vegetables, such as the garden that we will soon be planting.
Through observations, listening, relationships with children, their families and their community, documentation and reflection, early childhood educators follow children’s lead and support their new interests and learning. As we plant our garden this spring we will learn numeracy and literacy concepts as we measure and chart our plants growth, record observations in our log books, visit our resource centres, measure water catchers, plan for and maintain our bird feeders, explore new books, use our imaginations as we dress up in our gardening clothes, learn how to use our gardening tools, learn about healthy choices through the Canada Food Guide charts, explore science tables, sensory bins, and displays of upside down garden art, observe glass ant watch farms, water and weed our garden, use bins for recyclables and composting, explore photography, document through art and words our planting, and so much more… All of these possibilities started from a resent Spring walk in our community…oh the fun we will have as we explore and learn together through play so many new ideas and concepts!
Reference: http://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/departments/education/elcc/content/curriculum/curriculum_framework.html
About the Writer: Karen Lindsay operates the East Coast Kids Child Care and Learning Center.
Play, laugh and learn together. "Prepare the child for the path, not the path for the Child" Author Unknown.
Through observations, listening, relationships with children, their families and their community, documentation and reflection, early childhood educators follow children’s lead and support their new interests and learning. As we plant our garden this spring we will learn numeracy and literacy concepts as we measure and chart our plants growth, record observations in our log books, visit our resource centres, measure water catchers, plan for and maintain our bird feeders, explore new books, use our imaginations as we dress up in our gardening clothes, learn how to use our gardening tools, learn about healthy choices through the Canada Food Guide charts, explore science tables, sensory bins, and displays of upside down garden art, observe glass ant watch farms, water and weed our garden, use bins for recyclables and composting, explore photography, document through art and words our planting, and so much more… All of these possibilities started from a resent Spring walk in our community…oh the fun we will have as we explore and learn together through play so many new ideas and concepts!
Reference: http://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/departments/education/elcc/content/curriculum/curriculum_framework.html
About the Writer: Karen Lindsay operates the East Coast Kids Child Care and Learning Center.
Play, laugh and learn together. "Prepare the child for the path, not the path for the Child" Author Unknown.
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