So, this is an unusual topic for me, but this paragraph so brilliantly describes why the Alabama Partnership for Children (APC, my work) exists. I don't know a whole lot about Obama's preschool policy (or even Alabama Governor Bentley's), but I do know that I care about young children because what they learn and the way they learn shapes their lives and our world. At the APC, our mission is all about supporting young children's healthy development and supporting their families.
Excerpt from "The Catch-22 of Obama's Preschool Plan" by Erika Christakis:
"Consider the complex interplay of physical, emotional, social and cognitive skills at work when a child learns to write her name. The child needs to have the motor control to hold a crayon — which might be absent if she hasn’t had a a chance to develop her pencil grasp through years of play with small manipulative toys. She needs to understand that the printed word carries meaning, and then be able to recognize individual letters and eventually connect them to sounds–a connection that comes more easily to kids who’ve had years of exposure to rhyming games and songs. Even more important, she needs to possess the motivation and self-regulation to sit still long enough to write her name. And she needs to see the inherent value of writing names, as a means of self-expression or to acknowledge and know her peers. Without such curiosity, perseverance and a desire to learn, the discrete skills don’t take a child very far."
I just think it's amazing to consider all of the skills she mentioned - physical, emotional, social, and cognitive -were what I was taught to simply write my name. I'm thankful to teachers and child care providers (including my mom) who gave me, and continue to give many other children, these skills!
Excerpt from "The Catch-22 of Obama's Preschool Plan" by Erika Christakis:
"Consider the complex interplay of physical, emotional, social and cognitive skills at work when a child learns to write her name. The child needs to have the motor control to hold a crayon — which might be absent if she hasn’t had a a chance to develop her pencil grasp through years of play with small manipulative toys. She needs to understand that the printed word carries meaning, and then be able to recognize individual letters and eventually connect them to sounds–a connection that comes more easily to kids who’ve had years of exposure to rhyming games and songs. Even more important, she needs to possess the motivation and self-regulation to sit still long enough to write her name. And she needs to see the inherent value of writing names, as a means of self-expression or to acknowledge and know her peers. Without such curiosity, perseverance and a desire to learn, the discrete skills don’t take a child very far."
I just think it's amazing to consider all of the skills she mentioned - physical, emotional, social, and cognitive -were what I was taught to simply write my name. I'm thankful to teachers and child care providers (including my mom) who gave me, and continue to give many other children, these skills!
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| Me! With developmentally appropriate manipulatives. And surrounded by literature! |
