Another beautiful morning in Hollywood! I once again stopped to shed my jacket on the walk down the hill this morning.
Today's class material covered many of the things that we have worked to incorporate into the philosophy and practises at the childcare centre where I work. We touched briefly on the concept of emergent curriculum, and it was nice to hear it talked about appropriately for infants and toddlers; so often, when early childhood educators try to implement emergent curriculum for infants and toddlers, they scan the toys the children are playing with for a theme, and then build some theme-based programming around that. That's not emergent curriculum, it's theme-based programming. More appropriate for that age group would be to notice what they are working on developmentally, and provide objects and experiences that lend themselves to the appropriate uses. There doesn't have to be a "theme" or "topic", especially with that age group. It was hard for me to articulate before, but I am looking forward to bringing back some ideas for planning in the Toddler Room! We also talked about involving children in things like diaper changes, dressing, and bathing routines, as well as developmentally appropriate ways of feeding. It was a familiar sight when, in the feeding video with older toddlers, the children sat around the table, taking turns serving themselves from a communal bowl, and chattering socially together over their meal.
Today, we drove to Erewhon (which is a market, and apparently famous people often shop there... I wonder if that makes me a famous person!) for lunch, where I discovered some very tasty fresh produce that would be horribly out of season at home. The strawberries were particularly delicious, and had crunchier seeds than I am used to encountering!
It's been a long week, and I am feeling rather exhausted, so I will wrap this up and head for bed.
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