The National Association of Early Childhood Teacher
Educators’ website is a great resource for obtaining current issues and
approaches, and recommendations for what to do in an early childhood classroom.
Their current E-letter can be found under the Main Menu. The most recent issue
from the Summer of 2012 discusses two topics that stood out to me; Learning
Stories and Growing Up WILD.
Learning Stories are popular in New Zealand where the country
honors the indigenous culture and all other cultures equally. They are a record
written by the teacher, the student, or parents that captures a small activity.
The author has the freedom to include or leave out any details, but can focus
on the students strengths and achievements. I think that early childhood
programs should definitely include these assessments, but I think that other
assessments that allow less interpretation would be necessary still.
Growing Up WILD is an early childhood program curriculum that
involves children in a variety of activities to get them moving, exploring, and
discovering nature. I think the curriculum would be a great addition to a
summer program and could be manipulated for fit a variety of centers.
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