These pictures remind me of the observations that I conducted in the preschools and daycares over the past 5 weeks. The most exciting thing about these photos is that kids are learning and playing in a safe learning environment. These kids demonstrate and promote positive social skills, interactions and cooperative play....something we all learned about in the Early Childhood Development course. All professionals and parents should continue to work together to create productive and safe environments for our children to play in!

Inspirational Quotes

Your children need your presence more than your
presents.

                                                    Anonymous

Children need love, especially when they "do not deserve" it.

                                                ~ Harold Hulbert

This Video Will Assist Toddlers In Learning Numbers

This following video is a numbers song to the ten little tune. It's designed to help children learn the names and the spelling of numbers. This has been arranged and performed by A.J. Jenkins.

After receiving many views and likes on Youtube, here is what some viewers thought about this song.

Lori says:  "My grandchild of two months could not take his eyes off this , he is now one and he still cannot take his eyes off it, he is also trying to sing it now."

Shannon says "My two granddaughters also love it ( and all your great songs)I have put some on my mobile and if they start crying or are bored I put it on for them , they stop crying immediately. Thank you so much."

Kimberly says "my 2 yrs and 5 months old daughter loves to watch your songs even if she doesn't speak english yet :) Very nice, I like it too!"

Janet says "My 18 month old son loves watching your videos. At the end of the video he says again which means he wants to watch it again. Keep up the good work:)"

Assessments in Hong Kong

The amazing fact about children is that they learn in different ways. Some children are visual learners while others learn best by listening. For this reason, I believe that children should be assessed in any area that shows evidence of learning. I agree with Howard Gardner's theory that there are at least 7 multiple intelligences. Children should be assessed Linguistically, Intrapersonally, Interpersonally and Mathematically. When children are assessed in any area, it is important that the area is one that can be used in real life situations. It has to be meaningful.

Vygotsky speculated that parents play an important role in the intellectual development of their children, and that this role includes the transfer of expectations related to their children's academic achievement. Consequently, different parents can produce different contexts of academic achievement for their children. The participants were 215 Primary 5 and 6 students from four primary schools in Hong Kong, and their parents. Students were administered a test of working memory and their academic achievement was indicated by their school-assessed mathematics and language achievement scores.  Parents reported their expectations of their children's academic achievement, the extent of their home and school environment, and their educational and income levels. Correlational and sequential regression analyses showed that different schools yielded different contexts of academic achievement. The results support the hypothesis that parents, and especially parental expectations, play an important role in children's academic achievement, and that within Hong Kong different schools can be characterized by different contexts of achievement.

References

Phillipson, Sivanes. (2009). Context of Academic Achievement: Lessons from Hong Kong. Educational Psychology, v29n4p447-468

Poverty in Ethiopia

According to an article that I recently read, some of the causes of poverty in Ethiopia are:

• Absence of sufficient rainfall
• Shortage of food products owing to several conditions
• Technological know how being poorly developed
• Transportation facilities are poorly developed
• Lack of potable water, proper education and health programs

In Ethiopia, 44% of the population lives under the poverty line. Many of the people live in rural areas with agriculture as their main occupation. The HIV/AIDS pandemic is driving poor people even deeper into poverty, depriving families of the young adults who are their most productive members.
Poverty in Ethiopia is more pronounced in the rural areas as compared to the urban areas. The situation has worsened because of sharp increases in the prices of food and fertilizers on world markets, which made it difficult for poor households in Ethiopia to secure adequate food supplies.

References

Poverty In Ethiopia-Financial Information, World Finance
www.finance.mapsofworld.com/economy/ethiopia/poverty.html

Poverty (:-{/{) My Unwanted Experience

My family and I were negatively affected by poverty. We lived in it for many years. Although my mother and father worked, we struggled to keep food on the table, clothes on our bodies, and a roof over our heads. Poverty is a condition that no one should have to experience, but hey, life is unfair and people go through things. We made the best of this situation by being thankful for the things that we did have access to. Although, there is really nothing good about living in poverty, the unconditional love that I shared with my family and neighborhood friends kept me very happy. Having the support of loving, caring, & positive people was priceless. Having my family and friends in my life was better than playing with any toy. I have learned to be strong and give to others who are less fortunate. This was one positive thing that gave me the strength to cope with poverty as a child. My father and mother did not earn a lot of money so they constantly encouraged my siblings and I to get a good education so that we would not end up like them. Unfortunately the cycle continues all over the world. Change is possible and is currently underway because there is always at least 1 person who is willing to commit to it!

Access to Healthy Water in Haiti

Access to healthy water is a concept that some people in developed countries take for granted. It is a blessing to be able to get out of bed, walk to kitchen and bathroom faucet, turn a knob and clean water is provided immediately with your preference of temperature. Unfortunately, this is not the case for many residents in Haiti. 46% of Haiti's urban population and 54% of Haiti's rural population have access to a water supply. Sewer systems and wastewater treatment are nonexistent. In rural areas, systems have often fallen into disrepair. They either do not provide any water service at all or provide service only to those close to the source, with those at the end of the system (tail-enders) remaining without water. In almost all urban areas of Haiti, water supply is intermittent. The problem of supplying the metropolitan area of the capital with sufficient clean water and a sewer system remains unresolved. Many privite citizens and some major consumers such as luxury hotels, receive all their water via tanker trucks. This topic is important because children can catch life threatening diseases if they are not able to drink clean water. This issue is relevant to my field of work because home day cares must have clean water, serve nutritious meals, and follow other health protocols.

References

"Water Supply and Sanitation in Haiti" from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia