The End!

Throughout this course I have learned alot more than I expected about research. I have gained insights about equity in research as well as design models. Research takes alot of time and alot of searching for answers but in the long run it provides us with valuable information about many different subjects that we may never have known about. It gives us a guide to learn more than what we knew at the beginning about certain subjects. I have learned that when doing research it has to be valid and credible. While do research I need to find valuable resources that can help me learn more about whatever it may be that I am researching. During this course I did find alot of challenges along the way such as understanding some of the readings that we had to read. In a way some of the readings were like a second language to me. Learning about research was a new thing for me. It is not like I remember doing it back in grade school. I have learned that research can help me plan better for the students and families I serve by providing me with new information about certain subjects and the research will be my guide to helping others have a better understanding of whatever the subject may be. I want to wish everyone the best of luck and hope everyone has a BLESSED 2013.

Early Childhood Australia

Looking over this website I saw many interesting things about website. The website is almost similiar to the NAEYC website that I am familiar with. Comparing the two I found they are like in many ways. Both NAEYC and Early childhood Australia have the same common ground. They both want to serve children and give them the best learning experience possible. They both want high quality sytems, safe and accessible and quality education among their centers in Australia. They want to improve the professional practice and working conditions in early childhoodl. I found that childhcare services in Australia are committed to meeting quality standards and quality teachers. I see that as being similair here in Georgia. We are working on a quality rating system which will help us to work towards improving our centers and giving our children qualified teachers in the centers. This shows that all around the world we are trying to provice programs for the children we servce to the best. We want to give them the best learning experience possible and in order for this to be successful we have to work toward raising the bar in what we do in our programs. This website provided alot of the same type of information as the NAEYC website does. I plan on going back and reading some more on Early Childhood Australia and compare it to what we do in our programs here in Georgia.

School Readiness

My research topic is on school readiness. We are hearing so much in today's soceity about the standards that are being placed on children in shcool today. What was once taught in the the first grade chidlren are having to learn in kindergarten. I want to find out if child's life influences their preparation for formal learning, how parents and family influence on school readiness and how family life is important. I want to learn ways to better help families focus on school readiness because preparing students for school today has to be a team effort. It can not be all done by the teacher alone. I also hope to find through research if placing a child in a preschool program at an early age supplies furtheer reinforcement in a child's general school readiness. I want to find out if school readiness prepares children at a young age to face the learning experiecne that they face in schools today. Children are expected to learn quicker and learn things at an early grade compared to what we were taught when we were in school. I hope to share some information with my classmates and if any of you have any information on school readiness you would like to share I hope to hear from you. Good luck to everyone.

Goals

When I think about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds I think about wanting to give them the best learning experience possible and to have a sense of being comfortable. I want to learn new ways to become better prepared to serve those from diverse backgrounds. I want to make sure that I meet the needs of my students as well as their families. We can make it a fun and learning experience between the teacher and the families. We will learn from each other as well as giving others in the classroom a chance to learn about another culture. I want to make sure that I keep an open door policy for all of those that I serve. We are a team that is learning together in giving our children a chance to succeed in life. My goals would be to make sure that I am prepared to serve those from diverse backgrounds and that I accept that students are differ in capabilities and take these differences as the starting point for teaching and learning. I want to also find ways to make sure that I active involvement from parents because learning and growth of their children is crucial. I want to make sure that I am properly trained and others who may work around me are trained to learn more about diversity, equity, and social justice. I will find trainings that will help me along the way to become more knowledge in these areas so that I can share it with others. I want to give the best so that I can serve those around me. I want to wish all of my classmates the best of luck. Remember we are in the field of early childhood education because we want to make the difference in the lives of those we serve and we also serve the families as well. You can only be truly accomplished at something you love. Don't make money the goal. Instead, pursue the things you love doing, and do them so well that people can't take their eyes off you. All the other tangible rewards will come as a result. -Maya Angelou

India

I choose the country of India because we have had a few children enrolled in our Headstart program from India. It is interesting when you have a family come into your school that is from ay different country than your own. You do have to prepare yourself in many ways in order to help the child and the family to adapt to their new environment. I guess you can say that you as a teacher and the family will be learning alot from each other. In preparing myself for a family coming from a different culture I would want to research everything I can about their culture. I would want to meet with family along with family service worker from school and get to know each other. I would want to talk with them about what they expect their child to learn in school and their preferneces about language, foods and etc. I would want to make sure they understand that I have an open-door policy and that we are working together to give their child the best learning experience possible. I would also look for outside resources to help me in the classroom but to also help the family in the home if they should ask for help. I would make sure that they are felt welcomed. If parents could not speak English I would want to make sure I have someone who could speak the language for me when meeting with parents and also have ways to type letters in their English that are sent home. I would invite the parents to share things from their culutre with the class. We once had a family from another country and we let them come in a prepare a meal with a varitey of foods from their culture and they even wore the clothes from the other culture to school that day. The children loved being apart of this and it was such a great learning experience for them. I hope that by preparing myself that I will be able to help their child learn to the best of their ability and that we will become a team. I will learn from them as well as they will learn from me. I want to make sure that we have a way to communicate because giving their child the best learning experience possible will be important to me. I want them to feel comfortable and know that by the things I do that I care and want to be there for them.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

Thinking about the personal side of bias and predjudice brings my mind back to the racial outbreak that happen in my small town community back in the 1980's. The reason for the outbreak has never really made any sense to me. It was because two races couldn't get along. We had many things to happen, alot of fights, alot of threats made to everyone and even extreme violence broke out. Yes, it was a white/black situation for whatever reason I still don't understand. I have never seen anyone as different because we are all in this world to live together. During this time I witnessed many harsh things being said among people and saw many violent acts among each other. I plainly remember the day we were called from our classroom to report to the office because our parents were picking us up due to a bomb threat that had been made among the school. Our community was on the news everytime you turned the tv on or picked up the newspaper. This racial outbreak lasted for a couple of weeks but did eventually die down. I forgot to mentioned yes, there were people that served jail time for the acts that were committed during this time. As the years have gone by the memeories still remain here in this communinty of this day but the way we live is together. It does seem like that day back in the 80's actually made us a stronger community who have come together and united as one. That is the way we are all suppose to be. As we all live in this world we are always going to have people or groups who pinpoint out certain things about people and who don't like the way they live or do things but we have to remember that we are all on this planent together as one. I hope and pray that one day we will all be living together in harmony instead of against each other.

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

This weeks topic has been an eye opener for me. Microaggression happen more than we really see them. I can look back and see myself many times showing some type of microaggression to someone and I really didn't realize that this is what I was doing. I can think of a time when this occur when my boys were in school and the insult came from a teacher. We all know as teachers we are suppose to have faith in our students but this one teacher really put my kids down. It was during their Junior year in high school when they were preparing for the high school graduation test. We were meeting with some of their teachers because we were conceerned about some things going on in another class not the one the teacher added his comment to. He looked at us with our kids in the room and said he knew that our boys would never pass the science part on the test because they couldn't learn it in class and they would never be able to pass that part on the graduation test. Talk about putting the boys down and how it made us feel because he was suppose to be a professional helping students to acheive their success. Well, to make a long story short they both passed aced all five parts of the graudation test the first time and for me I gave an insult back to the teacher. Working with headstart program we sometimes tend to forgot that all families are not like ours and we may sometimes look at others different. In our community we are a small comminuity weith mostly whites and africian americans. When we do get the spanish speaking families in we tend to have that look as if you all come into our world you should learn how to speak our language. This has happen often in the past few years as we have seen more and more families from another culture come into our area. I have to work on myself to learn how to help these families and find ways that I can serve them. Again, microaggression is all around us and we sometimes just don't realize what we say and do to others until it is too late. I have learned alot through this discussion this week and I plan to work on making sure that the way I approach my families and others that it is in a way that is helpful and not hurtful.

Family Culture

What would I take with me? I would say the three things I would choose to take would be my Bible, box of family pictures and my mother'ring given to me when my children were born. I would choose the Bible because it is God's word. It helps us to live a better life and serves as a guidebook showing us how to live on the right path. The Bible is important in Christian worship because it is the foundation of faith. The Bible would serve as my guidebook to help me in another country to survive. My box of pictures would be family pictures that mean alot to me. It would include my wedding pictures and pictures of my children when they were born. These pictures would serve as a reminder of the family I love and care for. It would help me to get through each day by having those pictures to look at. My last item would be my mother's ring given to me when my children were born by my husband. This ring I would wear and it would be a constant reminder of how much my children mean to me and how much I love them. It would serve as a reminder that we are together no matter what the circumstances may be and that they will always be in my heart. If upon arrival I had to choose I would take a family picture out of the box and stick it in my Bible because with the word of God in my hand I know that I would be able to get through the tough times and having the family picture in the Bible would let me know that my family is safe because God is on our side. I have realized that my family culture is all about family being together and that we serve a great God who will look after us and protect us from evil. We are a family who believes spending time with each other is important and we want the tradition to continue for our younger generation as they get older.

Topic

My topic I would choose would be on autism. The reason I choose this topic is because we are seeing more and more children in Head Start that have autism whether it is a mild case or severe case. I have had the opportunity to work with a few children with autism and it is a challenge when you really don't understand the reasons behind autism. My research topic would include many issues that could possible help us understand autism in children. Research would be to help determine if environmental factors might increase the risk of a child developing autism and if vaccines play a part in children developing autism. Understanding genetics and how the brain develop in autism and the affects of whether medicines help some reduce behavioral problems in children with autism. I would also like to research effective programs that combines parent training and help families with chidlren of autism. I see the number of children being diagnosed with autism increasing. We hear more and more about this disability than ever before. It took me a long time to fully understand what it was and it is a challenging disability for some and for teachers and society who don't understand the challenges that these children face with autism. I posted a few quotes I found that relate to autism that I wanted to share. >"A child with Autism is not ignoring you, they are waiting for you to enter their world." "If you've met A child with autism, you've met A child with autism. Each and every one of them is so wonderfully different."

Research

“If they can't learn the way we teach, we teach the way they learn” ― O. Ivar Lovaas My topic I have decided to research on is Austism. This is a subject that I have been interested in since having a student about 3 years ago in my classroom who had a mild case of austism. I never really understood this disability until then and even though it affects children in many different ways I have always wanted to know more and the causes behind this disability. It is not easy to understand I can say that and it is a challenge when having a child with this disability. As my saying above goes I want to teach the way they can learn and I know that teaching them may be different from the other in my classroom. Throught research I would like to understand causes behind this disabilty. It has been said that this disability often appears in the first three years of life. Teaching a Head Start class I often get children at the age of 3 years so when I am able to better understand this disability then I can help the child and family before they start so and be better prepared to deal with this situation. I want to learn ways to help the family and learn ways to help better teach those students who may have autism. When I understand it better then I can understand the child better. I want to be aware of all the resources that may be available to me so that I can share it with families and others. I have never been really good at research but I see this as a topic I need to learn more about because I am seeing more and more children come into our program who may be showing signs of autism whether it is mild or severe and I want to be able to pin point and help those who need it early so that when they start to school they will have a head start on learning.

Final Blog!!!!

Time has really gone by fast and I have enjoyed reading each and everyone blogs. I want to wish each of you the best of luck as you continue on your journey. I have learned many new things throughout this course and plan to use some new resources I have discovered since this class.I wasn't able to make an internationl contact but I have explored many new websites and have learned many things about other countires and early childhood education. It is good to become familiar with the way education is in other countries. I have learned about many different orgainzations that foucs on early childhood educaiton. This is good to know because the early years are important in a child's life and we as teachers need to learn how to prepare for these young learners for a great learning experience. One web resource I found was Smart Study. Smart Start, the early learning division of United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta has joined forces with a coalition of early childhood advocates. The programs focus on low-income, preschool children with risks for reading difficulties, transforming our existing, good programs into programs of excellence. Some of the aspects of the program is implementing Opening the World of Learning (OWL), which comprehensive, integrated curriculum, enhancing classroom learning environments, providing teachers with new ways to help children improve their language, providing coaching and early literacy training for teachers to help them fully integrate literacy throughout their classrooms and engaging families in their child's early reading experiences to reinforce these skills at home. Another web resource was call SPARK. SPARK is Supporting Partnerships to Assure Ready Kids (SPARK GA) was a national initiative funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation from 2002 - 2008 to help communities combine resources and better prepare children for school. Targeting children ages 3-6 who are vulnerable to poor achievement. These are just two of the many other great web resources. I also read about how in Sub-Saharan Africia there is a high rate of out of school children. They have either never been to school or have dropped out. This is sad becaue every child needs to be in school and every child has the right to learn. When you have countries like this and the chidlren are suffering becuae of the lack of education I see the need for stronger global committes and national policies that need to be stornger. As we face the many downfalls of our economy we are seeing more and more children here in the United States dropping out of school and not having the support to behind them to get their educaiotn. It is all a sad situation. Throughout this course childhood proverty has been see as an issue and it is only growing into a bigger issue. Childhood proverty is seen everywhere and so much more than ever. The Childhood Poverty and Policy Centre's Page showed me just how bad the issue of poverty in early childhood is and the affects it has on our children and also our county.. My goal in Early Childhood field is to be the best teacher I can be. I want to make a differene in the lives of my students. I want to make my community aware of the many issues that children are faced with and how that affects their learning ability. I want to find programs and activities to make parents become more involved in their child's education because we are a team working together to give our students the best. I want to not only serve the children I teach but the families as well. If kids come to us from strong, healthy functioning families, it makes our job easier. If they do not come to us from strong, healthy, functioning families, it makes our job more important. -Barbara Colorose Children are like wet cement, whatever falls on them makes an impression. - Haim Ginott

International Contacts

I found many interesting things looking through the UNESCO's "Early Childhood Care and Education" website. The first article I looked at was about "Everyone Has the Right to Education". This is so true. It talked about how everyone does have the right to edcuation from the time they are born. It talked about the adoption of the Education for All and Millennium Development Goals in 2000 and how much progress has been made in our education system worldwide. This website shared information on the efforts to make quality education a reality for all. Global Action Week shared some useful information to raise the awareness of the importance for educaiton to everyone as it focuses on six education goals and there are: Six internationally agreed education goals aim to meet the learning needs of all children, youth and adults by 2015. Goal 1 Expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children Goal 2 Ensuring that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, children in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minorities, have access to, and complete, free and compulsory primary education of good quality. Goal 3 Ensuring that the learning needs of all young people and adults are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life-skills programmes Goal 4 Achieving a 50 per cent improvement in levels of adult literacy by 2015, especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing education for all adults. Goal 5 Eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, and achieving gender equality in education by 2015, with a focus on ensuring girls’ full and equal access to and achievement in basic education of good quality. Goal 6 Improving all aspects of the quality of education and ensuring excellence of all so that recognized and measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially in literacy, numeracy and essential life skills(http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/inclusive-education). I hope to see all of these goals met in the year of 2015. The last issue I looked out was discussing how in Sub-Saharan Africa has a high rate of out of school children. They have either never been to school or have dropped out. This is so sad because education in important in everything we do in our life. it discusses how much we need a stronger global committee and national policies that put priority on reaching these children and trying to give them an educaiton they deserve. http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/resources/online-materials/single-view/news/slowdown_in_access_to_education_in_africa/

Web Resources

This week I choose to look at a web resource called Smart Start. Smart Start, the early learning division of United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta has joined forces with a coalition of early childhood advocates. The programs focus on low-income, preschool children with risks for reading difficulties, transforming our existing, good programs into programs of excellence. Some of the aspects of the program is implementing Opening the World of Learning (OWL), which comprehensive, integrated curriculum, enhancing classroom learning environments, providing teachers with new ways to help children improve their language, providing coaching and early literacy training for teachers to help them fully integrate literacy throughout their classrooms and engaging families in their child's early reading experiences to reinforce these skills at home. There are so many families out in the world that can benefits from services like these. This websites also has many useful links that you can follow. One of the resources that I read on was called SPARK. SPARK is Supporting Partnerships to Assure Ready Kids (SPARK GA) was a national initiative funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation from 2002 - 2008 to help communities combine resources and better prepare children for school. Targeting children ages 3-6 who are vulnerable to poor achievement(www.smartstartga.org). This program is helping those who are young to try to acheive success early in life so that when it comes to the real school environment maybe they will have a chance to learn and acheive success. I am going to continue reading up on this website for various resources here in Georgia. The website I often go to and check is NAEYC. This website helps me throughout the school year to help keep updated on changes that may have affect on my job since we just compelted our accrediton renewal process last school term. Some of the articles I read have been discussed during this class at some point. Partnering for success: Community approaches to early learning, building parent-teacher partnerships, and reflections from teachers of culutrally diverser children. There were many other good aritcles that I am going back to read because I know they will help me in my classroom. www.smartstartga.org

International Contact

Applying the Science of Early Childhood in Brazil. This is a project that is taking place and is hoping to use the science of child health and development to guide stronger policies and larger investments to benefit young children and their families and Brazil. This program will be working with many leaders and policymakers to help acheive a more prosperous society. I think this is great sharing the importance in early childhood around the the world. Many countries don't have the means of learning the importance of early childhood but with programs like this they are getting the chance to help the children and families in their country to have a better understanding early childhood education. I would love to keep updates on this and see how the program progress throughout the year. It would be interestering to know how other countries embrace the importance of early childhood in their country and compare it to ours here in the United States. Together, these organizations will engage in the following activities: •Building a scientific agenda and community of scholars around early childhood development; •Synthesizing and translating scientific knowledge for application to social policy. This will include working with the Center’s longtime partner organization, Frameworks Institute, to effectively communicate the science of child development in the Brazilian cultural context; •Strengthening leadership around early childhood development through an executive leadership course for policymakers; •Translating and adapting the Center’s existing print and multimedia resources for a Brazilian audience (http://developingchild.harvard.edu). This week, I listened to World Forum Foundation Radio podcast Episode 9: Barbara Jones. In this podcast, Ms. Jones describes her journey from college graduate to the owner of her own Montessori program. She shares how her disillusionment with the public school system led to her discovery of the Montessori method. She found that what she had learned in college was different from what she found in the public school system and so set out to search for something different. After taking a job at a small Montessori program in southern California, she went to London to become certified in the Montessori method. She then moved to the Maine where she worked for a private school for several years. During this time, she had discovered an old school building that she thought would make a good location for her own program. After several years of waiting, she was finally able to purchase the building and started Pine Grove Child Development Center which celebrated its 25th anniversary. Ms. Jones describes the beautiful original floors and large windows that overlook a large park preserve in which the school is located. This information in this podcast can be viewed from the perspective of equity and excellence. Teacher education and experience and access are two factors addressed in several of the resources for this week. When visiting the Pine Grove website, I discovered that all teachers at this school have a 4 year degree and are required to attend 40 hours of professional development training each year. When listening to the podcasts I just struck me that it would be great if we could take places and turn them into these ideal schools for others around the world. Even though this school does charge a tutition just reading about it kind of made me realzie how places can be turned into a speical place for chidlren and give them a learning experience. It is what you seek when you are a teacher and how you want to teach your children. Episode 9: Barbara Jones. [Audio podcast]. (2012). Retrieved June 1, 2012 from http://worldforumfoundation.org

Week 4

The orgainzation I have been reading about is the NAEYC website. This website is provided with alot of of useful information to use in the Early Childhood field. They are many sections that can be helpful to you as a teacher. They have a variety of topicds you can pick out and read about a certain issue type you may have. There is a section that provides opportunities to get involved in the organization. It gives you a list of affiliated offices in different states that you can contact. NAEYC state policy efforts focus on researching and tracking national and state trends and informing NAEYC affiliates, policymakers, collaborting organizations, and other interested parties. NAEYC positions on state public polices and their impact on children brith through eight and families. This website is good for me to keep updated on any changes according to the NAEYC guidlines. It gives you standards that as a teacher you must meet and what you are suppose to be doing in the classroom to give the students you serve the best learning experience possible. It also gives you a great list of publications that you can use and order. Looking at the website I really didn't see anything that I really didn't agree on. It provided me with helpful information since I work in a center that is NAEYC accredicated.

Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre's Page

This website gave alot of useful imformation about childhood proverty. Childhood proverty is everywhere we look. It is affecting the unexpected and we need to be more prepared to be aware of what is happening around us. There are alot of children living in poverty, more than we ever expected. Children are dying from preventable disease because living in proverty their families have no means of getting them to the doctor or getting the help they need. This website had many publications that you could read about proverty. This website has a section where it can be used as a resource for policy makers, practitioners, and activist concerned about childhood proverty. It also gives some important elements of policy changes for children in proverty and ways this website outputs can be used. There is also a section that you can read about different case studies from different parts of the country. I read a few of these and they were quite interesting. It gives you a view of what things are like in other parts of the world. I would recommend this website to others to read because it provided useful information about childhood proverty. I hope and pray that one day the cycle of childhood proverty will be broken and there won't be such thing as this and families won't have to suffer from this. Today's poor children are all too often tomorrow's poor parents(www.childpoverty.org).

Organization

The orgainzation I choose was NAEYC. This organization was founded in 1926, The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) is the world's largest organization working on behalf of young children with nearly 80,000 members, a national network of more than 300 state and local Affiliates, and a growing global alliance of like-minded organizations. NAEYC is the leading membership association for those working with and on behalf of children from birth through age 8. NAEYC convenes thought leaders, teachers and other practitioners, researchers, and other stakeholders and sets standards of excellence for programs and teachers in early childhood education. NAEYC members include teachers, paraeducators, center directors, trainers, college educators, families of young children, and the public at large.

My Supports

Thinking about my support system in my life many people come to mind. The first person on top of the list is God. Without him so many things would not be possible. He is the one person you can always count on in any time of need. My family is a great support system for me. They are understanding when things get tough especailly when I am up doing homework and trying to make it through school so that I can better prepare myself for them in the future. Everyone needs to have someone special they can always count on and have to talk to when things get tough.

My mom would be a number one fan on my support system team. She has helped me so much during my time going to school. She has been the glue that keeps me together. She has been there and help me with my childrren by making sure they were feed and bathe when I came in from school at night. She was also working full time and then she would pick up my kids from school or daycare and take care of them for me. Without her doing this I would have never made it through school during my time.

Now that my children are older they are a good support system. My boys who are 19 year old twins help alot with their younger sister. If I am doing my homework and she is doing hers and has a problem and I can't get to it right then, they always set up on the plate and help her.

I am so thankful for all of those who have supported me in all I do and for helping me make the best of my career by giving me the courage to go back to school and help enhance my skills so that I can better my future not only for myself but for my family as well.

My Connections To Play

“You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” Plato

“Play is the beginning of knowledge.” ~ Anonymous

Play gives children a chance to practice what they are learning…They have to play with what they know to be true in order to find out more, and then they can use what they learn in new forms of play.” ~ Fred Rogers (Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood)
“Play is the highest form of research.” ~ Albert Einstein (scientist)


This assignment got me to really thinking back into my younger days. We were never bored and always had plenty to do. We didn't sit around like kids do today we were always finding something to get into. I had to think back to the many things I played with growing up. I am posting a few toys I remember playing with back in my younger days but we also made up many things to play using things just lying around in the yard. For example, we use to take pinestraw and we would rake it up in different sections and have a walk way. We would call this our pine straw house. We would have so much fun pretending we lived in this huge pinestraw manison. Below is some other toys I remember playing with.



We thought we were something viewing many images with the viewmaster. We would watch different cartoons through these lenses.

We don't see paper dolls much anymore. I remember playing with these and having to punch out the clothes and placing them on the dolls and folding them back to make them stay. Today children have the barbie dolls to take place of the paper dolls. Times have changed.

This was a popluar game we use to play.

Etch A Sketch as been around for many years and is still around today. I remember spending many hours trying to draw something on this things and I never could figure out how to get my lines to do right.

This was the doll I loved. You would pull her string in the back and she would talk. I still have this doll today and my little girl laughed when I showed her the type of dolls we use to play with. I love my Miss Beasley and I took her everywhere. She wore the cutest little glasses.

When we were coming up we found ways to keep ourselves occupied. We had toys to play with but we would go outside and find things in the yard and invent us a toy with it. As I stated earlier we would make pinestraw houses and these would be our manisions. I remember taking items from inside to outside and my cousins and I would set up a dentist office. We would use our minds and be creative. We didn't have to have toys to play with we could always invent something to do. We were never bored. I remember after a rainy day how we would go outside and play in the mud puddles and make mud pies. We would have so much fun doing this.

Play is so different today. Children have video games, Ipods, laptop computers, portable DVD players and so much more. They don't get outside and enjoy the fresh air and sunshine but instead they stay inside and don't do anything all day but use these new technology items we have today. Children really don't know what play is about in today's world. I sit and tell my children about the things we use to do growing up and they laugh and say I wouldn't be caught doing that. We had lots of fun when I was growing up.

Quotes!!

Dr. Seuss, author
"A person's a person, no matter how small."

While we try to teach our children all about life,
Our children teach us what life is all about.
~Angela Schwindt

Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go;
even when he is old he will not depart from it.

It is easier to build strong children
than to repair broken men.
Frederick Douglas 1818 – 1895

Children are like wet cement
whatever falls on them makes an impression.
Haim Ginott 1922 – 1973

Children learn what they live.
If a child lives with criticism
he learns to condemn.
If he lives with hostility
he learns to fight.
If he lives with ridicule
he learns to be shy.
If he lives with shame
he learns to be guilty.

If he lives with tolerance
he learns confidence.
If he lives with praise
he learns to appreciate.
If he lives with fairness
he learns about justice
Dorothy Nolte 1924 - 2005

Moving on!!!

It has been great reading everyone's post and it has also been a great 8 weeks and they have really went by quickly. I want to take the time to wish each of you the best of luck in your journey. We are dedicated professionals wanting to give the children we teach the best learning experience possible. I hope to see you all again in some of the others classes. Again, the best of luck to you all.

Vicki

Poverty is not having money or material possessions or to provide or get basic commodities.
Poverty is something we are seeing more and more of in the world due to the way our economy has became and the way people are losing their jobs on a daily basis.

Poverty is everywhere you turn but when you turn and look at it starting at you and seeing how it can affect someone you know makes you take a different look at it. You see it as something real and it can happen to any of us. There is a family that lives down the road from me and I have know them for about 7 years. The family is a mother, child and grandmother and grandfather. The family has always struggled but the past 6 months have been down to the extreme. They have lived without electricity for the past 7 months. They have a drop cord ran from their home to the uncles to provide them with a light at night. The go to the uncles to cook and take bath. They have little or no income at times to pay the bills. The grandfather did have a job but his employer gotten took over by the IRS and this left him without anything to do. The grandmother and grandfather have very limited education skills. They have a car but no gas to put in it. They do get a few food stamps to help provide with food but other basic commodities they have to do without. It is a sad situation to watch people you know suffer like this. The child in the long run suffers from this stessor the worst and I know the adults do also for not being able to provide child with things in life that every child should have. I do have to say they have lived like this for the past 7 months and hopefully they will be able to put this behind them and move forward due to the fact the grandmother will start getting a disability check in February. The grandfather continues to look for odd jobs and does a few when he can find work. It is sad. The child goes weeks without having snack money at school and really don't undertand why he can't have a sunny d and chips like his friends everyday. He don't have the joys of going places such as McDonalds like some kids do. On top of all of this during this 7 months struggle of living in the conditions they have lived in the mother got a little out of mind trying to get money and now has ended up in jail for a while. I guess you can say proverty can turn you into a monster you never knew you were. It affects our every waking moment and is sad to see more and more families each and everyday is being affected by poverty. Sometimes it looks as if our world is getting worse and worse. I pray each and everyday that things will get better for everyone.

Watching poverty affect someone closeby and seeing what it can do to a family is sad. Being the person I am though and knowing this family I try to help out with the child when possible. I make sure he has snack money for the week and money for field trip when needed. I try to find and buy him clothes when I can. I just bought him a pair of camo shoes this weekend and he couldn't wait to wear them Monday to school to show his friendss. Poverty is all around us and so bad in other parts of the world. We can only continue to pray that things will get better for those around us.

Ethiopiais one of the World's poorest countries. Out of a population of around 80 million (2008) people, 35 million people are living in abject poverty.



In one of the world's poorest countries, where about 44 per cent of the population lives under the poverty line, more than 12 million people are chronically or at least periodically food insecure. Most of them live in rural areas with agriculture as their main occupation.

With 80% of Ethiopians dependent on agriculture as their main livelihood, severe arid conditions due to persistent lack of rainfall coupled with civil disputes have worsened Ethiopian poverty. All efforts have been made to improve conditions in Ethiopia but things have hardly changed. The extremely poor people comprise of the small and marginal farmers.

Areas where poverty in Ethiopia is pronounced:
Poverty in Ethiopia is more pronounced in the rural areas as compared to the urban areas. The situation worsened recently because of sharp increases in the prices of food and fertilizers on world markets, which made it more difficult for poor households in Ethiopia, as elsewhere, to secure adequate food supplies. Rural areas have uniform distribution of poverty, Oromiya, being an exception. Oromiya cultivates enset, which acts as a buffer storage at the time of drought and dearth.

Climate Changes Increasing Ethiopia Poverty
Increased poverty, water scarcity, and food insecurity are just some of the negative impacts set to hit small-scale farmers and pastoralists in Ethiopia as a result of climate change in the region. While Ethiopia is no stranger to climatic variability, having suffered droughts that have contributed to hunger and even famine in the past, climate changes is set to make the lives of the poorest even harder. The persistent lack of rainfall is a major factor in rural poverty. Recurring droughts leave poor farming families without food crops, causing periodic famines. People lack coping mechanisms for facing drought-induced famines, and contingency planning is inadequate.

Causes of poverty in Ethiopia:

Some of the causes of poverty in Ethiopia are:

Arid conditions leading to irregular production in the agriculture sector.
Improper marketing strategies of agricultural products.
Degrading ecology
Technological know how being poorly developed.
Transportation facilities are poorly developed.
Failure of the rural people in participating in awareness programs meant for them
Absence of sufficient rainfall
Shortage of food products owing to several conditions.
Absence of proper socio economic infrastructure. This includes lack of potable water, proper education and health programs.
Unstable political scenario.

The HIV/AIDS pandemic is driving poor people even deeper into poverty, depriving families of the young adults who are their most productive members. It is estimated that about 6 per cent of Ethiopia's adult population is HIV-positive. Together, the HIV/AIDS pandemic and malaria seriously affect the health of large numbers of Ethiopians, many of them in rural areas.

Probable remedies for poverty in Ethiopia:
Some remedies that are suggested for bringing about a reduction in the Ethiopian poverty level are the reduction in the growth of population and macro economic stability. Families, which are run by the womenfolk, are especially susceptible to poverty in Ethiopia. The womenfolk do not participate in awareness programs. This results in innumerable deaths of infants, malnutrition, and illiteracy in the poor families. Efforts should be made to influence women and other less privileged people to participate in various awareness programs pertaining to family planning, education and health benefits. http://finance.mapsofworld.com/economy/ethiopia/poverty.html


References:
http://finance.mapsofworld.com/economy/ethiopia/poverty.html

Protecting Children's Health

The topic I choose to discuss was immunizations. Childhood immunizations are important. Vaccinations are our most important tool for preventing diseases. If diseases can be eliminated then it is important to keep immunizing. If we were to take away the protection given by vaccinations we would see more and more people becoming infected and these diseases will spread to others. It is important that we protect ourselves and keep these disease from becoming a threat to our health. In the older days these diseases caused death because they didn't have the vaccine to give to stop the prevention. We now have a way to save lives so therefore we need to protect our future. If we were to stop vaccinating these diseases could make a comeback. Children here in Georgia have to have immunizations according to schedule and these have to be met before the child starts to school. Ga. law requires children attending school K-12 to be age appropriately immunized with all required vaccines at the time they enter school. Also, all Ga. students who enter 6th grade after July 1, 2007 must take 2 doses of measles vaccines, 2 of mumps, and 1 dose of rubella vaccine. They are also required 2 doses of the chicken pox vaccine because only 1 dose is given at childhood. This is just showing how important it is to continue to make sure that our children are protected against so very deadly diseases. Where I teach at parents have a time frame to get the child's immunization record to us and if not met in that timely manner the child can be sent home until proof is presented. When parents don't stay on the vaccinating schedule and there is no reason, such as a medical reason and the child becomes way behiind on their vaccines this can be a case of child neglect. There must be medical reasons in order for the parent to behind on the child's immunizations. This is simply protecting those around us from getting a disease.

Japan has some different requirements on immunizations than we do here in the United States. Vaccinations recommended in Japan and not in the United States are tuberculosis and Japanese encephalitis. Japanese guidelines do not include vaccinations that are recommended in the United States are hepatitis B, HIB, and chicken pox. The timetables for all common vaccinations are similar. Some immunizations required in Japan and not in the United States are due to the fact that there is a greater risk of the spread of these diseases in that country.


References:

http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vac-gen/6mishome.htm

http://www.hhs.gov/nvpo/law.htm

Birth Experience

The day I found out I was expecting was a very happy day. I was also a little scared because I didn't know what to really expect. The day came to find out what our little bundle was going to be but when the ultrasound lady put the wand to my stomach we were in for a surprise. We were going to have twins and they were boys. I was in shock I think for a few seconds because I was not only carrying one but two babies. I really didn't know what to expect now. The day came and it was March 12, 1993 and a very cold day with ice everywhere. I gave birth by c-section to two healthy little boys with one weighing at 6lbs 7ozs. and the other at 4lbs 12ozs and this was 3 weeks early. I remember waking up and wondering what they looked like and couldn't wait to hold them but at the same time my mind was racing as to how I would handle two babies at the same time. Well, with twins you learn many tricks to getting the job done. Today, they are 18 years old and just graduated from high school in 2011. One twin is going to college and the other is working. I forgot to mention they are not identical twins and believe me they are like night and day.

Through my pregnacy I didn't experience many healthy issues until close to the end I was in the hospital 4 times due to blood pressure shooting up. I worked right up until the last month before I had the twins. I had heard so many horror stories about woman with twins and the health issues they had but I was blessed and experienced a wonderful pregnancy with them.

August 15, 2001 I was blessed with a healthy baby girl weighing in at 8lbs and 7ozs. This was also an easy pregrancy except she was a busy little girl for 9 momths and today she continues to be a busy little lady. She is 10 years old and in the 5th grade. She loves to sing and dance. She clogs with a local dance group in our hometown and has won several awards for dancing.

I have been blessed with all three of my children and I wouldn't take anything for them even when these teens drive me up the wall sometimes.

I choose to discuss birth customs in Netherlands. Most mothers don't see an obsterician, but instead are referred by their family doctor to a local midwife practice. Doctors only get involved in high risk cases or if complications arise during delivery. The woman also decide if they want a home or hospital delivery. Most decide to deliver at home. I don't think I would like the experience of home delivery. I would be scared too much could go wrong. Giving birth naturally remains the ideal for vast majority of woman. Also if the mother gives birth early in the day and no complications arise she and the baby can go home in little as two hours. I think I would rather stick to having my baby in hospital and with an epidural if that is what I choose.

http://www.parents.com/pregnancy/giving-birth/vaginal/birth-customs-around-the-world/?page=2