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Strategies for the Growing Minds of Early Childhood

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From the strategies choose one that you would feel confident about and another that seems more difficult to implement. Based on the reading of Growing Minds: Cognitive Development in Early Childhood http://www.youtube.com/watch?vl7x_8XX0w&feature=related, discuss why the second would be more difficult and what it would take to remove the barrier(s). Consider how technology and content standards are related to your decisions.

strategies:1. structure a communication-rich environment, 2. create a print-rich visual environment, 3. model and teach the importance of developing and using good listening and viewing skills, 4. involve children every day in engaging reading experiences, 5. involve children every day in enjoyable writing experiences, 6. plan literacy games, songs, and other play-oriented activities to enhance children's phonological and print awareness.

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Solution Summary

The easiest to implement would be to create a print-rich visual environment, and to structure a communication-rich environment because as a teacher you are filling the environment with the things the child needs and then they come along and actively take them. According to Piaget, the environment is passive. Piaget's work suggests that the environment provides nourishment for the active child. The child actively constructs reality out of his or her experience with the environment. You can be sure that everything is labeled, and you can make sure that you have a structured communication-rich environment and then the students will actively construct meaning out of his or her experiences within this environment. It would be a bit more difficult to structure a communication - rich environment because you must be sure to consistently provide opportunities for a variety of types of communication. According to Vygotsky, the environment is active. Particularly, the interactions of parents and teachers play an active and necessary role in the child's construction of social and physical reality. Vygotsky asserts that cognitive development starts from the social realm and moves to the self. Different social times of the school day would be a great opportunities to structure a more communication - rich environment. (Circle time, snack time, lunch time, center times)

For me the most difficult would be involving children every day in engaging writing experiences. Writing is a task that is usually completed in isolation. This would be a great opportunity to bridge from Piaget to Vygotsky and back again. Some writing activities could be more about self and done in a writing station, while others could be more social, like letters to others, and could be done more as activities, and maybe even as a whole class activity on big paper. It would be more of a challenge for me to strike a healthy balance in planning for students in this area. I would simply have to put forth more effort here to be sure I was meeting all of the students needs.

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The Language Domain
From the strategies choose one that you would feel confident about and another that seems more difficult to implement. Based on the reading of Growing Minds: Cognitive Development in Early Childhood - http://www.youtube.com/watch?vl7x_8XX0w

Strategies:
1. Structure a communication-rich environment
Circle time - Reading names, dates, months, year, sentence strips, word cards, numbers, measurements, times, weather conditions, and places, discussing experiences, sharing stories, talkling about people, places, things, and processes - for example, what are the steps to getting dressed
Questions should be put up all around the classroom: What is your name? What did you have for dinner last night?, What is you favorite book to read?, What Time do you go to bed?, How old are you? When is your birthday? What is your phone number? Where do you live? What is your favorite color? What is your favorite toy?
2. Create a print-rich visual environment
Labeling everything in the environment with its name
Everything in a child's environment should be labeled with its name

3. Model and teach the importance of developing and using good listening and viewing skills
Circle time discussions
Oral Reading of all types
Show and tell

4. Involve children every day in engaging reading experiences
Reading Aloud to children
Comment on what you read

5. Involve children every day in enjoyable writing experiences
Develop creative writing activities daily

6. Plan literacy games, songs, and other play-oriented activities to enhance children's phonological and print awareness
Encourage your students to play with words. Keep word board games like Scrabble and Boggle and Balderdash on hand for recess and lunch. Teach them to play the old parlor games Hangman and Dictionary, word circle, and crosswords.
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The first five years of life is one of the most remarkable time frames in the entire life-cycle.

According to Piaget, the environment is passive. Piaget's work suggests that the environment provides nourishment for the active child. The child actively constructs reality out of his or her experience with the environment. Piaget asserts that cognitive development starts from the self moves to the social realm.

* Create a print-rich visual environment
* Structure a communication-rich environment

According to Vygotsky, the environment is active. Particularly, the interactions of parents and teachers play an active and necessary role in the child's construction of social and physical reality. Vygotsky asserts that cognitive development starts from the social realm and moves to the self.
* Model and teach the importance of developing and using good listening and viewing skills
* Involve children every day in engaging reading experiences,
* Involve children every day in enjoyable writing experiences,
* Plan literacy games, songs, and other play-oriented activities to enhance children's phonological and print awareness

There are three main areas of Cognitive Development during the first five years of life: 1. Reasoning, 2. Perception, and 3. Language. These three areas are interconnected and interdependent. These areas of cognitive development are also associated with and dependent upon emotional and social development.

Reasoning:

According to the work of Piaget, young children define words in terms of actions or properties. Older children define terms by placing them in larger categories or genres.

(Visual) Perception:

Younger children, who lack perceptual regulations, are not able to decenter, and they perceive only one more dominant image in an ambiguous image or a double image picture. Older children are able to shift their perception and see both images.

Language:

Language Acquisition:
Vygotsky saw language development as a co-construction between a child and his or her care-givers. The essential nature of adult interventions and Vygotsky's theory has important implications for the active nurturing of young children. More than Piaget however, he stressed the importance of the early language experiences of babies. Vygotsky developed a stage theory of the interaction of thought and language. Through these crucial interchanges, babies start to imitate words. ...

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