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Assignment: Creating Affirming Environments: Week 2
For this week’s
assignment I am opening a Family Child Care Home. There are many factors that
need to be thought out when opening a center-the areas and elements need to be
consistent with the needs of all children. The areas will need to be well
defined and have a welcoming environment.
In order to have an
anti-bias environment for my family I will need to have materials for the
children that honor diversity both within and beyond their own identity groups
(Derman-Sparks, 2010). Some of the materials I would need are; multicultural
books for the ages I will care for (infant to four year olds), the books will
need to have real life pictures to help reflect scenarios that the children can
relate to. I will need to have dolls of many cultures that portray native dress
and customs to help children feel more at home and a variety of puzzles that
also depict the families that I care for in my home. I will also have an area
set up for families that includes important information in multiple languages
if needed, it is important to know some of the languages for the families that I
will be working with daily. My creative materials need to reflect colors other
than your basic white, black and brown. There are many different skin tones
that need to be seen and used with paper and paint. I need to use materials
that do not reflect one primary group of people because it teaches children
that they are not as important as the dominant group (Derman-Sparks, 2010). Posters
showing families from all races, ages, and genders will also be displayed in my
home. My home center needs to reflect an atmosphere that is welcoming to
everyone and shows that I am building an anti-bias environment for learning and
sharing.
I want my home center
to embrace all my families no matter where they come from and I will blend all
cultures throughout my whole home so all families know they are welcome and
that includes having separate areas for every family and child because
individual space is important for each child. These things are vital for any
center to show the families that they are your focus and you will go above and
beyond to have the right environment for everyone.
Derman-Sparks, L., & Olsen Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and
ourselves. Washington, D.C.: National Association for the Education of
Young Children (NAEYC).
Susan, connecting with the idea of creative supplies being multicultural, I really liked the idea Adriana Castillo (Laureate Inc., 2011) introduced in her center. She had made beanbags in different skin tones so that children could match their own skin tones to the beanbags. She also introduced different scents into the beanbags ... personally this is something I might be hesitant to do because if there is a smell a child does not like, they may associate that particular smell with the color, having a negative outcome. However, I did think about coffee ... coffee comes in many different skin tones, depending on how much or little milk is added, and of course each cup of coffee will still smell the same. So even if a child does not like the smell of coffee the same feeling would be assigned to all the colors. However, in the end one would need to question what the purpose of the scent is in the first place ... if it is for the purpose of stimulating the sense of smell, then I would find a different way of presenting it.
ReplyDeleteSusan,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your description for your early childhood home center. I like the way your center honors diversity within and beyond the children's identity groups. Also how your creative materials will reflect more colors than just the basic ones.
Susan - I really enjoyed all the items and tools you listed to help show diversity in your childhood home center. The creativity of the items and different media's could really give the children a way to communicate all their ideas and needs. I think teaching children that describing themselves or others as white, black, or brown is not an accurate description and will help them find pride in themselves and embrace diversity because all skin colors are unique and special.
ReplyDelete