Letter to Auburn KinderCare Parents
Victoria Barnes
Rasmussen College
Authors Note
This letter is being submitted on August 24, 2014 for EC100/EEC1700 Section 3 Foundations of Child Development.
LETTER 2
Dear Parents of KinderCare’s Children, My name is Victoria Barnes and I have worked in the Early Childhood Education field for over 6 years. Currently I have been employed here at Auburn’s KinderCare since September of 2013. My responsibility to KinderCare is of a Program Supervisor and Assistant Infant teacher. This letter has been prepared for you in order to better help you understand our foundation of Early Childhood Development. With this letter, my hopes will be that you will have learned how we better prepare our children’s futures by sharing with you how your child will learn and grow physically, intellectually, socially and emotionally other wise known as PILES.
Every child is their own person and they develop at their own pace. Many theorists have studied children and have documented their view points on how they learn and grow. B.F Skinner, a behavioral theorist explained that both positive and negative reinforcement affects a child's development. (Marotz & Allen, 2013). For example, he did an experiment with rats. He placed one into a box, then sent an electric current through it. As it moved around, it would accidentally bump into the lever and the electric current would shut off. It soon learned that it was placed in the box to shut the current off. The rat knew that it could avoid the current by shutting it off so it would go to the switch repeatedly. This relates to children because when a child has good behavior, they get rewarded and will want to continue that behavior happily and willingly. Whereas if they behave negatively, they will not get rewarded, so they avoid it. If they do misbehave, they learn to except the consequences. Maria Montessori believed that children learn and grow best through hands on activities, she believed that every child should express creativity. For example,she would have children be put into small groups and have access to all kinds of materials. They are still guided by the teacher but their project is open ended. I agree with their theories because children should encouraged to be creative and learn in a positive way.
By taking pieces from each theory I am able to implement developmentally appropriate practices properly, and guide your child through each of their milestones. As the infant teacher my main goal is
LETTER 3 to lay the foundation for your child's growth and development. I constantly give them positive reinforcement once they've reached a milestone, for example, When a child is starting to walk. They may only be taking a few steps, but they are starting to recognize that I get excited for them so it encourages them to continue to practice. Working in early childhood education I have come up with my own theory of how to meet a child's developmental needs. I have a strong identification with Maria Montessori and B.F Skinner's theories. Montessori's theory of hands on exploration and creativity, and B.F Skinner's reinforcing behavior theory. Infants are very observant. They are great people watchers. As they get older and more mobile, they will learn to explore a bit more as they reach each milestone and I will encourage them every step of the way. At KinderCare we focus on your child's physical, intellectual, so and emotional needs. My philosophy of how your child learns and grows is going to incorporate all of these areas of development. For their physical needs, I like to do art projects, such as finger painting, coloring with crayons, and ripping paper. These help with fine motor skills and hand eye coordination. As the infant teacher one of my obligations is to help the child learn how to walk. If they are old enough and have the strength to stand pretty well, with help, I
