In My Day – Traditionally, we have been trained to create lesson plans that show parents, administrators, and licensing reps, what kinds of experiences we’re going to offer our children to meet the educational objectives of our programs, what materials we’re going to use, and WHERE (what Learning Center) we’re going to offer those experiences.

I don’t mind proving what I’m planning and what skills I hope will be gained, and it is good to show the materials needed, but it is not important WHERE they are learning. It is important to show HOW they will learn it. This is the difference between Learning Centers, which are simply locations of materials, and Learning Methods, the proven means children use for high quality learning.

Young children learn from everything they experience and they learn in every location in which they experience it. We need to prove that we are offering them appropriate activities using appropriate materials so they may have opportunities to learn the way children learn.

Children from birth to about age eight, learn best through:

• Movement
• Sensory Exploration & Stimulation
• Manipulation of Materials
• Construction
• Role Play
• Expression

Movement means just that – movement. It means using the body and all of its parts in a variety of ways to gain gross and fine motor skills needed for life

Sensory Exploration is the way young children begin to explore objects Exploration leads to discovery and discovery leads to knowledge. Later in life, they lean less on their senses.

Manipulation of Materials, a method ‘evolved’ from Sensory Exploration but often simultaneously used, is moving changing, relocating, and repositioning objects to further understand their makeup and their purpose.

Construction consists of using objects for a continuous building and ‘unbuilding’ and rebuilding of objects to discover their mathematical and creative purposes.

Role Play is the use of imitation and imagination to understand life.

Expression is the use of words, music, and all of the arts to learn to express ideas, thoughts, and feelings.

All of the skills and concepts listed in a good program’s learning objectives are learned best through these methods and it is important for teachers to believe that this is the way children learn, and that HOW matters more than WHERE.

Next Blog: Great Expectations