Intentional Words

I am in the process of writing a 25 page literature review. I am very overwhelmed for a variety of reasons. The review is required to focus on a small topic related to language and literacy and is to include at least 25 scholarly journal articles from the last five years that are also peer reviewed. The librarian is my new best friend!! I had much apprehension deciding on a topic. I have decided to focus on vocabulary instruction and young children in relation to socioeconomic status, sounds interesting, huh?

My research has brought to my attention the importance of language modeling in order to facilitate vocabulary growth in young children. The early childhood years are a time when vocabulary expands more than any other time in human development. When placed in the proper perspective this causes us to think more intentionally about vocabulary exposure. Typically developing children, in the proper environment, pick up words without intentional support from adults the opposite is true when children are not in a language rich environment. In conclusion, this is even more evidence that early intervention programs, like Head Start, are essential in nurturing all young children to become language bearers.

Love and Kids

Since it is the 14th of February, I want to ponder the idea of love and young children. We, as adults, know what love is, or do we? Is it a feeling, an action, a word, a gift? How do children perceive love? In one of my favorite books, author Gary Chapman, discusses the idea of love and broadens the idea to love and children. He contends that children view and feel love much like we do as adults. I tend to agree, to an extent. Our differences arise because I look at children through my lens of child development.

We know that young children don't have the ability to think abstractly ( thanks Piaget). Children, in their egocentric state, also believe they are the reason the sun rises in the morning and the moon shines at night. With this egocentric frame of mind, it appears to me that love would be something expected as opposed to our adult view of something we give without the expectation.

Regardless, as parents and early childhood educators, we know that love is essential for the developing child to reach their full potential. Happy Valentine's Day!!

A Change of Plans

I recently enrolled in a doctoral program at East Tennessee State University. My professor (that I looove) , gave us a motivational talk during our last class, encouraging us to write on a daily basis. Wow, every day, I hardly have to time to eat every day!! Anyway, I have determined that the most effective and time conscious way to write everyday, is to blog. Therefore, I will continue to use this blog for its original purpose of scrap booking our lives, in addition I intend to post about relevant topics in the realm of Early Childhood Education. So buckle up, ECE is a wild ride!! :)

Our 1st Snow Day!!!

We woke up this morning to a blanket of snow. This was certainly the biggest snow of the season and our first snow day. We spent the day at home being very lazy!! Chris says that days like this only come along 3 times in a lifetime :)!! He took full advantage of the lack of time I had to plan a project for him, and watched several hours of television. We decided that daytime television has a bit to be desired. Maddie asked to go "bye bye" a hundred times, she is a true creature of habit. As the day came to an end, Chris admitted that the house can not stand for us to be home for another day (mess is an understatement).

My ever so photogenic family :)