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Our perspectives may not be the same as our children and parents in our classroom.
When I was taking the ED. 135, I remembered one of the course taught me the importance of helping our young children to maintain a healthy and active lifestyle. I was sent to my classroom six years ago. Eighty percent of my children in my classroom were Polynesians. On average, 30-40% of the children were overweight. I talked to one of my mom in my class and informed her that according to our Growth Chart and the B.M.I. her son was overweight. I further inquired his diets and daily activities at home. She smiled casually," He is just a big boy! He has big bones. Ha! Ha! Ha!" I explained to her that according to our Federal guideline, junior boy is way over our standard. Staying fit and eating healthy and the right portion of food may not be our children and parents' priorities.
Susan Bernheimer shared on p. 99 in Reconsider Priorities. She pointed out that p.100 "the foundation of meaningful learning as emerging from life experiences of children." I ordered a bunch of footballs and basketballs. For the next few months, we spent a lot more time at the playground throwing footballs, basketballs and dodge balls. We had also made a variety of fruit salad in our Cooking class.
On page 101 Susan Bernheimer also pointed out in The Living Classroom. She also mentioned about how food helped to bond relationships together. During our monthly Parent Group meeting, I used some of our snack money for the classroom to purchase a large variety of fruits, low-fat cheese and crackers. I cut them up and displayed them in a beautiful platter. Ice water was the only drink. No fruit juice or soda. I invited the parents and families to come. Everyone commented on how sweet and crunch were the grapes and strawberries. I passed out the simple receipt to everyone to share.
Early Childhood education is alive! Our relationships with our children and their families should be changing constantly to meet their needs. Principles and fundamentals are only guidelines to applying to in our everyday teaching.
