Early Childhood Education Philosophy

Bright Eyes Day Home is inspired by the theories of Reggio Emilia and follows Flight: Alberta's Early Learning and Care Framework. Both of these philosophies are play based, and child-led. One of my roles as an Early Childhood Educator is to create a responsive environment that is engaging, stimulating, fun, and safe. I do my best to go outside with the children everyday. 

I view children as being highly capable and competent individuals. I strongly believe that the way an Early Childhood Educator views children will greatly influence every aspect of the children's day with that Educator. Because I see children as highly capable and competent individuals I find it relatively easy to take a step back and allow the children to take the lead. I do not feel the need to be in control of the children's play and instead I ensure that the children have large periods of time that the children are able to play freely. I keep a variety of ideas for adult-led activities that I will implement when children request or when the children seem to be struggling with free-play. 

Documentation

I share documentation with parents through an app/website called StoryPark. StoryPark is secure, private, and free for parents to use. I share individual and group learning stories, as well as monthly program plans on StoryPark.

Learning Stories are a type of documentation that includes photos and written text that describe what I witnessed the children doing. Followed by a reflection about what Holistic Play-Based Goals were being met or practiced during this play experience. Then I state the next steps. Usually the next steps are adding some new materials to the environment or planning an outing that would further support the Holistic Play-Based Goals. 

Below are two examples of learning stories from my day home. The first is an individual learning story about a girl in my day home. The second is a group learning story about a group of boys in my day home. 

Responsive Environments

"The environment in which children live, play, and relate can open up or limit opportunities for their care, play, and learning." - Flight Framework 

With this in mind I strive to always create an environment that will open up opportunities and support the children's development. The majority of the items in my day home are open-ended items, such as loose parts, natural items, and recycled materials. I rotate toys in and out of the day home space based on my observations of the children engaged in play. 

I have found that most children love messy play and as such I encourage children to play in the dirt, jump in mud puddles, paint, and play with a variety of sensory bins. 

Discipline

"Too often we forget that discipline really means to teach, not to punish. A disciple is a student, not a recipient of behavioural consequences." - Dr. Dan Siegel

It is my job as an Early Childhood Educator to observe, and investigate the why behind any behaviours that the children are showing. Once I understand the why I can begin to support the development of the skills that the child needs to be successful. The most common skills that I work on with children are language skills, social skills, and emotional regulation skills.

Flight: Alberta's Early Learning and Care Framework