Philosophy of Early Childhood Education I believe that young children are curious and actively involved in their own

learning as Vygotsky describes in his Social Development Theory, and that their social interactions influence their development. As an educator, I provide a safe and nurturing environment that encourages exploration and discovery through play and hands-on activities by offering children choices within well defined centers providing opportunity for expressing themselves, testing ideas, developing knowledge and mastering concepts in a variety of ways. I also believe development happens within a predictable sequence of growth and change as in Piagets Stages of Development Theory. It is my role to model behavior and dialogue which will scaffold development and promote learning through the stages of development as well as use positive guidance to teach children to respect self, others, and their environment. I believe children need a developmentally appropriate curriculum that provides for growth of the whole child including physical, emotional, social, and cognitive learning. Therefore, I carefully plan and make time for developmentally appropriate activities and experiences to engage children each day based on the Foundations to the Indiana Academic Standards for Young Children from Birth to Age 5 addressing each of these areas. I believe this can best be done by using differentiated instruction and implementing activities in line with Gardners Theory of Multiple Intelligences. As Bronfenbrenners Ecological Systems Theory points out, it is important to consider a childs culture relative to their development. I believe children are unique individuals and they come to childcare or preschool at different stages in their development as well as from different cultural backgrounds. When working with children I take into account a childs family, circumstances, and life experiences developing relationships and partnering with families to help their children develop necessary life skills.