Saturday, July 7, 2012

Creating Affirming Environments


The community I live in represent many ethnic groups therefore in order, to develop an anti bias environment.  My front door would say welcome with a mixed picture of each child that represents the many ethnicities in the community. Upon entering the setting I will place a sign in section for the child and their family along with a cubby for each child to place their belonging in. The walls and bulletin boards display bright beautiful color. I will create a bulletin board section that will allow each child to take turns sharing pictures of themselves and their families. . My staff will represent diversity ethnicity as well. It would also display various forms of families such as single parent, extended family biracial and so forth. The material I will include in the environment to introduce anti bias is different varieties of music, the library will include books from various area represent every form of diversity. It will also include stories, puzzle, games and dolls.   I would also establish an area for dramatic play that will focus on diversity by incorporating various clothing items from different cultures in addition to play food dishes and more.  Many of the residence in the area have porches as represented in Andriana’s care home with that in mind I would like to have environment that has walk up porch as you enter and exit the environment (Laureate, 2011). I also like the area that allowed children having separation anxieties time to adjust.  I choose to include each of these entities into my anti bias environment because I feel that through each representation each child and their family will see some of themselves in the environment as well as expose them to other differences regarding culture, race, social identities and so forth. In regards to the cubby area for the child it gives them feeling of acceptance to be able to place their belongings in a place of their own which one of the most important factors to me.

References:                                                                       
Derman-Sparks, L., & Olsen Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Laureate Education, Inc.( 2011). Welcome to anti-bias learning community.

4 comments:

  1. Kvonya,
    I like the idea of having the picture of the ethnic representation of each child in your program at the entrance. I believe it pretty much says we are all alike and different but are all welcome and accepted.

    Thanks for your post.

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  2. I lke how you would display the various forms of families and the bright colors on the walls. The bright colors represents joy and liveliness; happy and cheerful times. Derman- Sparks & Edwards (2010) mentions, "an environment rich in anti-bias materials invites exploration and discovery and supports children's play and conversations in both emergent and planned activities" (p. 43).

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  3. Kvonya, I really like the idea of the welcome sign on the door depicting all of the children in the program! From the moment the children arrive, they will realize that they belong and are represented.

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  4. I really like your vision. It seems like it would be such a welcoming and cheerful setting. I really like the idea of having a separate place for children with separation anxiety to adjust before going into the setting. The setting seems very warm and welcoming. Thanks for sharing such great ideas!

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