My supports

"Support" to me means someone that believes in you, and someone that loves and cares for you deeply not only are they their physically but emotionally.

With that saying my immediate family is my biggest support system these people include: My mother,father,sister and Fiance and daughter, as well, as myself. I am a firm believer that if you don't believe in yourself no one will. My family has had my back through thick and thin, especially when i decided to go back to school while trying to balance a household, work full-time,entertain a four year old and be a great mother, plus plan a wedding for this June.

My co-workers are my support system when i feel like being a teacher is not for me sometimes, but then they  remind me that i am making a difference and to take a deep breath and remember that the children need us. Then i remember i do love children, and its a blessing to work with a great team of women who have the same passion and inspiration as i do.

When i think about the challenges that i may face it would be if i could not talk to these people everyday. It is not a day when i do not call my parents house a Million times a day it seems.I truly adore my parents and love them alot. I talk with my Fiance a million times a day as well, and it will be a challenge to me if i could not see or talk with them. I also think it would be a challenge for me if i could not see my daughter smile and tell me, "mommy i love you, when are you going be done with your homework, so that we can play".

My connections to play

Quotes that i feel relate to play:

 "Play is our brain's favorite way of learning" Diane Ackerman

"Play gives children a chance to practice what they are learning" Fred Rogers

Essential Play items as a child







As a child growing up with one sibling my parents were very supportive of play as long as my sister was by my side since i was the oldest. After-school i had to make sure that my homework and chores were completed before i could ask if i could go outside and play. My parents allowed me to be involved with extracurricular activities but it was never forced. My parents allowed me to have friends and to go outside and play as long as i came home before the street lights came on.  As a child i enjoyed going to the local park district with my friends and playing at the playground and making up games such as house, IT(tag). On the weekends i enjoyed swimming at the local park district  with my friends.As a child i was a great swimming and enjoyed using my swim pass to go swimming everyday during the summer. Growing up as a child and  being involved with my peers allowed me to gain socio-emotional skills and bonds that would last a life time, since i still hangout with my peers from grammar school.

Play is very much different now than how play was when i was a child. I feel that children are more into video games and technogolgy now than going outside and playing. As a child, obesity wasn't a big concern as it is now, as a child we enjoyed playing and running around. As a child i remember making up games with my cousins and using our imaginations. Now children seem to be into TV and dangerous activiteis such as gangs, bullying and etc.

Relationship Reflection

Relationships to me are very important not only are they building blocks but its a support system. Not everyone has the same support as others, but i feel that all support is better than nothing. I consider myself has being very close with my parents, and my immediate family. I am trying harder to have a more close knit relationship with other people in my family, but that is work in progress.

Some of the people that i feel i have a close knit relationship with is my mother and father,and my sister. I am also very close with my fiance and building a continuous relationship with my 4 year old daughter(the love of my life).  And i am currently building a relationship with my coworkers.

My mother and father are significant people in my life, they have been a true blessing to me. They support me with everything that i put my mind to. We have a bond that is unbreakable. I hope that this bond will never be broken.

My sister, has been a support person to me every since we were little kids. We have gotten into a lot of trouble as kids; but as we have grown up, we have a bond that only sisters can have. She has a listening ear, and she respects me for who i am.

My immediate family which consistent of my future husband and my daughter; these people have my back no matter what. My fiance Tyrus has a listening ear, he is passionate about the goals i have set for myself and he will not let me settle for less than the BEST. My daughter who is only four cares so much about her mommy everyday she ask,"how was work mommy, and were the kids good".

When I Think of Child Development …

We find delight in the beauty and happiness of children that makes the heart too big for the body.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

From birth to age three children have a lot to learn...

...but not all children are learning as well as they can.

Every child deserves a good start in life.

http://www.birth23.org/

Testing for Intelligence?

I think it is necessary to assess school-aged children. Even an educator who access children in Early head start programs teachers find out areas that the child needs improvements in, and where can we find resources to help that child develop and grow to succeed in the future. As well as resources that can help that family at home. Although i was never a great test taker,because i was always nervous or over think the questions. In saying that some children may experience those same symptoms, but i still believe think that children need to be tested to learn more about how the school systems need to be changed, as well finding out if they child might have a learning disability.  A negative factor is that educators or peers begin to label those students who may be labeled as having learning disability or judging them because of there difference.

I decided to study Japan, as many of use have heard that women,men,boys and girls have a very streaked  educational system, well that's at least what i heard. As i conducted research i learned that the educational system in japan is highly valued, in the japanese culture, the teachers are paid well. The japanses government supports the educational system. Children in the school system attend school accordingly:

• 6 years primary school (shogakkou)
• 3 years junior secondary school (chugakkou)
• 3 years senior secondary school (koutougakkou)
• 4 years university

The Japanese culture still places importance on creativity, internationalism, and critical thinking in schools. The government still regulates all curricula at every level of the system, however. Even preschool has an official curriculum.
Resources:http://www.justlanded.com/english/Japan/Japan-Guide/Education/Introduction

Consequences of Stress on Children’s Development

My mother was the eldest of six children during the 70s. At this time, my family was experiencing poverty. My mother not only had the responsbility to be in charge of everyone, but she also had to get a job to help support the family with the income that my grandmother was bringing home at the time. My family grew up in low-income housing on the Southside of Chicago,IL and they had a hard time. My grandmother was very much so the Authoritarian parent, in which her word was the law, there were no questions of why, or i can't, you had to obey her or you would get into serious trouble. I believe being poor and having the responsibility to look after all my uncles and aunts put alot of stress on my mother, because she was not allowed to go outside at times because she had to look behind my aunts and uncles. While my grandmother worked to bring home the little amount of money she did, i believe she was stressed as well. The amount of stress that my mother had, made her move at the age of 16. I mother did graduate from high school and later received her cosmetology license, and she vowed to never be like my grandmother, she took several parenting classes and help her be the best mom she could be.


As i look at other countries and how poverty plays a role in their lives as well, I was very intrigued about learning about Ethopia and how they deal with poverty. About 90% of the Ethiopian population are living below poverty line with about 62% deprived of adequate schooling. People who live in Ethiopia depend on the agriculture and if a drought happens it makes it worse and allows for so many people to go hungry . Because poverty and the lack of food is so high in Ethiopia, makes for children of school age not to be to complete school and leaves the children to become apart of child labor, child trafficking, and child prostitution( Major problems facing Ethiopia today,2011).

Major problems facing Ethiopia today. (2011, September 27) Africa and the world. Retrieved from http://www.africaw.com/major-problems-facing-ethiopia-today

Breastfeeding

I felt breastfeeding was a good topic to discuss for my blog, because there are so many feelings and thoughts behind the issue. Breastfeeding is the best source of nutrition for an infant, it provides the child with great brain development. Breast milk also is very important, it promotes sensory and cognitive development, and protects infants from infectious and chronic diseases.It is suggested that breastfeeding starts an hour after birth if possible(Kidshealth, 2011).

Although Breastfeeding is a personal decision and its your choice as a mother, when my daughter was born in 2007 i felt that i didn't have the time to breastfeed my daughter because i was still in college and i thought it took a lot of time out of my day. Plus i thought that it was painfull.After completing Early Childhood classes, i felt that i made a big mistake at the beginning of my child's life which was not to breastfeed, but if i was to decide to have another child that would be the only option for me.

I studied Breastfeeding in Africa allthough many mothers in africa are affected with HIV they still breastfeed. Which was something new to me. According to the World Health Organization the  transmission of HIV from an HIV-positive mother to her child during pregnancy, labour, delivery or breastfeeding is called mother-to-child transmission. In the absence of any interventions transmission rates range from 15-45%. This rate can be reduced to levels below 5% with effective interventions( World Health Organization).
After studying about Africa, Breastfeeding is common to some when and not to others. According to Berger, in some African nations HIV-positive women are encouraged to breastfeed  because the risk of dying of the infection is not likely ( Berger,2009,p.155).


Although Breastfeeding is a great chose for your baby, breastfeeding will not affect my work as an early head start teacher, i will just make sure that i give the mother her rights and her privacy.



Reference

KidsHealth. Breastfeeding Vs formula Feeding. Retrieved from http://kidshealth.org/parent/growth/feeding/breast_bottle_feeding.html  

Berger, K. S. (2009). The developing person through childhood (5th ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.

World Health Organization. Infant and Young child feeding. Retrieved from  http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs342/en/

Birthing experience

When i had my daughter at 22 years old i was very scared because i still had to finish/complete my course work at my University so that i could graduate with my Bachelors degree. After realizing i had a great support team comprised of family,doctors and friends, i knew this would turn out to be great. I was due on March 20,2007 and had my daughter on March 15,2007 after being induced because of my doctor saying i had lack of amount of fluid for my daughter. According to my Mother i had an easy pregnancy, i hardly got sick just dehydrated once, i didn't gain a lot of weight and my daughter was very healthy. I was in labor for maybe 5 hours if that.Some of the traditions in our family is that after leaving the hospital you have to wear lots of warm clothing so that you have a "set back" which means getting sick because of your pours being open. My mother would not allow me to drive or walk up for stairs for weeks after my daughter was born.

After researching birth customs i came across the history of Germany because i had a a high school from Germany.I wanted to learn about their culture differences. After conducting research its seems as though pregnant when in Germany are highly faved. Unlike women in America we see doctors for prenatal care women from Germany see Midwives, doctors in Germany are optional. When mothers want to name their babies in germany the government has a list of "accepted names" unlike America you can name your child/children anything you like. Unlike most mothers who go back to work six weeks later after having a child, German women are forbidden to go back to work until eight weeks later all with pay.When women in Germany find out that they are pregnant if they like they can tell their boss they would like to take a leave of absence, and their job is still secured. (http://www.parents.com/pregnancy/giving-birth/vaginal/birth-customs-around-the-world/?page=3).

References
Parents healthy kids. happy family magazine (2011, September 6). Birth customs around the world: German. Retrieved from  http://www.parents.com/pregnancy/giving-birth/vaginal/birth-customs-around-the-world/?page=3

A note of thanks and support

I like to thank all of my classmates, for there kind words and support. I wish us all the best of luck in our next classes.

NAEYC Code of Ethic and Ideals and what they mean to me

I-1.5- To create and maintain safe and healthy settings that foster childrens social,emotional,cognitive, and physical development and that respect their dignity and their contributions.

        I feel that helping children succeed socially,and emotionally is a big part of early childhood education. As educators you never know the things that are going on in a child's life.  helping children succeed emotionally by providing books such as a kissing hand, owl babies, helps children cope with emotional feelings that some children go through on a day to day basis. Having a safe environment is number 1 in a early childhood program. 

I-2.7—To share information about each child’s education

and development with families and to help them

understand and appreciate the current knowledge

base of the early childhood profession.

As an educator in an Early Head Start Program, it is my duty to plan my children's education with there parents. We have parent teacher conferences, Home visits to discuss the progress of their child as well as to set goals for their children. I share information about their children daily with parents. 

I.1.12- To work with families to provide a safe and smooth transition as children and families move from one program to the next.

As an educator it is imperative that i keep that i keep my interest of my children in hand. I want smooth transitions for my children so that they can adjust. It is also important that my parents have an input as well, so that they feel comfortable with the BIG change for their child.

GROWING MY COLLECTION OF RESOURECES

National Association for the Education of Young Children
http://www.naeyc.org/

The Division for Early Childhood
http://www.dec-sped.org/

Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families
http://www.zerotothree.org/

WESTED
http://www.wested.org/cs/we/print/docs/we/home.htm

Harvard Education Letter
http://www.hepg.org/hel/topic/85

FPG Child Development Institute
http://www.fpg.unc.edu/main/about.cfm

Administration for Children and Families Headstart’s National Research Conference
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/hsrc/

HighScope
http://www.highscope.org/

Children’s Defense Fund
http://www.childrensdefense.org/

Center for Child Care Workforce
http://www.ccw.org/

Council for Exceptional Children
http://www.cec.sped.org//AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home

Institute for Women’s Policy Research
http://www.iwpr.org/index.cfm

National Center for Research on Early Childhood Education
http://www.ncrece.org/wordpress/

National Child Care Association
http://www.nccanet.org/

National Institute for Early Education Research
http://nieer.org/

Pre[K]Now
http://www.preknow.org/

Voices for America’s Children
http://www.voices.org/

The Erikson Institute
http://www.erikson.edu/ 

Article: UNICEF (n.d.). Fact sheet: A summary of the rights under the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.unicef.org/crc/files/Rights_overview.pdf
 

Websites:

World Forum Foundation
http://www.worldforumfoundation.org/wf/about.php
This link connects you to the mission statement of this organization. Make sure to watch the video on this webpage 

World Organization for Early Childhood Education
http://www.omep-usnc.org/
Read about OMEP’s mission.

Association for Childhood Education International
http://acei.org/about/
Click on “Mission/Vision” and “Guiding Principles and Beliefs” and read these statements.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES 
Interdisciplinary council on learning disorders
http://www.icdl.com/dirFloortime/newsletter/index.shtml
Early childhood environmental rating scale

National Head Start Association
www.nhsa.org

Early Childhood Home page(Illinois State Board of Education)
http://www.isbe.state.il.us/earlychi/default.htm

Words of Inspiration and Motivation

Quotes from Susan Bredekamp

 "Children benefit most from teachers who have the skills, knowledge, and judgment to make good decisions and are given the opportunity to use them." – NAEYC, Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs Serving Children from Birth through Age 8 (2009)


"Developmentally appropriate practices are ways of teaching that vary for or adapt to the age and experience of the individual learner. So fundamentally the definition has not changed. Instead, it has been expanded to include the fact that not only do you have to consider children as individuals, but you also have to consider children as members of groups with their own cultural identities."

Quote from Lyndon B Johnson

"Education is not a problem. Education is an opportunity''.
Lyndon B. Johnson
 

Five and six year old children are inheritors of poverty's curse and not its creators. Unless we act these children will pass it on to the next generation, like a family birthmark.Lyndon B Johnson

Quotes about Passion and Motivation:

“We as professionals in the early childhood field have an opportunity to shape a child’s life for the better, and that what makes me so passionate about this field.”- Sandy Escobido


"Seeing how involved my parents were it made me want to be involved in eduction in general". Sandy Escobido

“Everyday I go to work with a smile on my face because I know that services I’m providing for the children, it’s to their benefit.” –Raymond Hernandez

Personal Childhood Web

                        









 This is a picture of my childhood friend/fiancee Tyrus, holding our four year old daughter Sariyah. We have known each other since the eight grade, he always makes me laugh. He was and still is a support system when things are going on in my life. We are planning our wedding for June 2012.As a  child, we would play together at the neighborhood parks, with both groups of our close friends. My mom would allow him to come over to eat dinner at times. We are close, and its so funny because who would have thought we would be getting married, because he was a just a friend for a long time.




My Aunt Rochell/God Mother.My Aunt Rochell is such a kind women who tells it like it is. She taught me how to drive on the expressway when i was sixteen years old. I remember as a  young girl not wanting to go with my mother, and staying at her house.My Aunt, always told me that Latoya you are such a beautiful person, don't ever let someone tell you different.









My sister Shayla,"oh boy", as a child my mother thought we were twins we always dressed alike and got gifts on each other birthday's.We were always together as children, wherever i went she went.  Shayla is a great support system til this day she helps me with expressing myself because she is more outspoken than I am. I always thought of her as the,BIG SISTER. Shayla is a great motivator and support person.She is always proud of me.Shayla motivated me to continue my education and to pursue my dreams of one day helping families and children continuing to grow.

My Father, who cares for me alot who always gave me advice as a child about friends. My father was and still is a great provider. He was a great support person when i decided to go away to college to get my undergraduate degree, he knew i was making a great decision. He makes sure that i am making great decision in life. He loves me for who i am. He believes in me, he believes that i will be successful in whatever i put my mind to. He asks on a daily basis how is school, hang in there before you know it you will be done.

















This is a picture of my mother and her first granddaughter Sariyah. My Mother, without here i would not be anything. My mother has always been my back bone, she loves and adores me.She supported me through my undergraduate years at school. She was the loudest person at my graduation. My mother has never stopped me from achieving my dreams in life.I encouraged my mother to go into early childhood now she works at a Montessori school. My mother is also the greatest grandmother, she is a very good support system when helping with her granddaughter.





















These five family members have been a great support team, and they will always love and want nothing but the best for me. I truly am great full.

       

My Journey

Today is the day, i start my journey of continuing my education to receive my Masters of Science Degree in Early Childhood Studies from Walden University. I am very nervous and anxious at the same time.

How are you feeling?

Passion

My title is Passion because i have a PASSION to work and help others. I enjoy working with Early Head Start families i have been working with Early Head Start since 2008.

I chose to work with Early Head Start because i was an Early Head Start child. I wanted to give back what they gave to my family which is Love and Passion.