tion a c u d E d o o h d il h C WCCC Early r Program Newslette Volume 4, Edition 7 January 15, 2012
Got ECE News? Email Vicki at hricikv@my.wccc.edu
Welcome to the Spring Term 2012
Westmoreland County Community College
Inside this issue: Welcome!
1
Become an ECE Club Representative
1
Help End Hunger
2
Welcome to all new and returning ECE students to Westmoreland County Community College! This program reflects the standards established by the National Association of Education for Young Children for students in the field of early childhood education. The program provides a solid foundation in the who, what, and why of effective early childhood education (infancy through nine years). If you have questions concerning your Education/Pre-K-Grade 4 major, please contact Beth Hoden.
Become A Member of 3 PAEYC Upcoming ECE Workshops
3
Excerpt from Young Children - NAEYC
4, 5
Save The Date! Newsletter Mission
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*IMPORTANT NOTICE* ECE Club in Jeopardy of Being Dissolved,
Early Childhood
Students Representatives Needed!
Education Program Beth Hoden Office Phone: 724-925-4013
Requirements to become an ECE Club representative are:
Email: hodenb@wccc.edu
Be an Early Childhood Education major
Nancy Rustic
Attend monthly Student Government Association meetings as scheduled
Contact Beth for more information
Office Phone: 724-925-4035 Email: rustic@wccc.edu Vicki Hricik Office Phone: 724-925-4013 Email: hricikv@my.wccc.edu
Next meeting is Tuesday, January 17, 2012
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WCCC Early Childhood Education
Help End Hunger in Latrobe In the Fall of 2010, The Way, a local Christian church, launched the services of a soup kitchen in the Mozart House at 340 Main St. in downtown Latrobe, PA. The scope of this initiative is to provide our friends and neighbors with enough regular food assistance to send every needy person in the city to bed with a full stomach. Working toward this goal, The Way and its partners are currently working hard to acquire and incorporate the volunteer manpower, food product, and financial assistance needed to open this soup kitchen 7 days a week, year-round to serve one hot meal per day. This group has the belief and confidence that together with the people of Latrobe they can end hunger in this city. Join the team who gives of their time to serve the meals at End Hunger Cafe. Contact the Volunteer Coordinator for information on how to serve at the soup kitchen: Danielle Biddle 412-298-5491 danielle@thewaychurchonline.com Contact the Pastor of Community Needs for all other questions regarding donations, etc.: Pastor Amber Biddle 724-989-4765 amber@thewaychurchonline.com For more information about The Way: www.thewaychurchonline.com Contribute directly to End Hunger Cafe’s needs in building food inventory and facility upkeep.
You can underwrite an entire evening’s meal for one hundred dollars. That feeds approximately 125 people, our average attendance.
You can donate grocery items and cooking supplies (i.e. condiments, spices, etc.).
You can donate cleaning supplies (i.e. mopping solution, disinfectants, sponges, etc.).
You can donate paper goods (i.e. toilet paper, paper towels, etc.).
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Become A Member of PAEYC The Pittsburgh Association for the Education of Young Children (PAEYC) is the professional membership organization for those involved with the early care an education of young children. Doctors, lawyers, and other professionals have membership associations which provide a unified voice on behalf of their members. In the same way, PAEYC serves as a community resource, and advocate for quality, and a voice for those in the profession of early care and education. PAEYC currently serves over 1000 members and is governed by an elected board. Members and those interested are encouraged to serve on a committee and take an active role in PAEYC programs including Membership Services, Advocacy & Public Policy, and Professional Development.
Benefits of Membership Become a Member!
Membership in national, state, and local affiliates
6 issues of Young Children, NAEYC's journal
Exclusive access to PAEYC Newsletters
Reduced rates to PAEYC and NAEYC conferences
Career advising services
Meets STARS 3 Requirements
Borrowing privileges with PAEYC's early childhood resource library
Voting rights and eligibility to hold office in PAEYC, Penn AEYC, and NAEYC
Opportunity to participate in insurance plans offered through NAEYC
Upcoming ECE Professional Development Opportunities WCCC Youngwood Campus ECE Workshops: DATE
COURSE CODE
WORKSHOP TITLE
CORE BODY of KNOWLEDGE
January 19
SRVT 4804-01
Language Development: Preschoolers
CBK: K1C2-03
January 23
SRVT 8804-01
The Impact of Television in Children’s Lives
CBK: K3C2-31
January 26
SRVT 4806-01
Language Development: 6-8 Years
CBK: K1C2-03
February 2
SRVT 4811-01
Influences on Language & Literacy Development
CBK: K2C2-11
February 6
SRVT 0987-01
Children in a Technological Society
CBK: K3C2-31
February 9
SRVT 4816-01
Identifying & Understanding Differences in Language & Literacy Development
CBK: K2C2-14
February 16
SRVT 4849-01
Developing Language Arts Programs & The Literacy Environment
CBK: K2C2-11
February 20
SRVT 0013-01
What Happens When Children Don’t BelongAddressing Diversity
CBK: K#C2-31
The cost of each workshop is $10. Contact Vicki Hricik for more information.
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WCCC Early Childhood Education
Excerpt from Young Children, the Journal of NAEYC From STEM to STEAM, How Early Childhood Educators Can Apply Fred Rogers’ Approach by Hedda Sharapan For many in early childhood education, STEAM is a new term. It began in this decade as STEM, an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. These curriculum areas have become a major focus in education because of the concern that the United States is falling behind in scientific innovation. The pressure is on educators to start early and provide learning experiences in these areas for young children. STEM is a buzzword even referring to preschool (Ashbrook 2010; Moomaw & Davis 2010). Today, from what many of us see and hear, the term STEM is not even familiar to people who work with young children. I also wonder if many early childhood educators feel uncomfortable and unprepared to address concepts in these science-related fields. With a new and familiar addition to the acronym, A (for the Arts), STEAM integrates and uses the arts in the STEM curriculum to help children express STEM concepts (NCES 2009; Piro 2010); Tarnoff 2010). Since the arts are a natural part of early childhood education, adding this element may help more teachers find ways to work STEM concepts into the curriculum. This new term STEAM can help early childhood educators to build the foundation of science-related knowledge, using the arts to encourage children to express their ideas in a wide variety of creative ways. A model and an approach to consider Having worked closely with Fred Rogers for decades, I see how naturally and creatively he offered STEAM concepts, writing and hosting his highly acclaimed PBS program, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. How much we can learn from this approach! Most people think of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood as primarily about socialemotional skills. But the program addressed more than that. Each program was a tapestry of learning experiences, often connecting the arts and sciences. Fred Rogers, whose background included graduate studies in child development at the University of Pittsburgh, often described his work as helping children understand more about themselves, about others, and the world around us. Some of the more familiar ways he nurtured an interest in the world were through the factory tour videos and field trips. The everyday language of STEAM I like to think of “understanding the world around us” as Fred’s way of helping educators feel comfortable with all the basic elements that compromise STEAM. With his knowledge of child development and years of experience listening to and talking with young children, he was able to see STEAM concepts through a young child’s eyes. To him, they were just part of our everyday language, not intimidating academic concepts. STEAM is much more about facilitating inquiry-based thinking and discovery than about teaching
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facts and giving answers. Here’s how I’ve come to understand these STEAM terms: Science. Science is about nurturing a sense of wonder and curiosity. It’s about experimenting, encouraging investigation, and asking “Why do you think…?” questions. In early childhood, science is about everyday experiences. Like what makes shadows, how plants grow, why ice melts and where different animals live and what they eat. When children tell you their idea of why something happens, that’s a hypothesis! Technology. Technology is just a fancy word for tools. Adults tend to think of technology as digital equipment like cameras and computers or sophisticated machines in factories. But crayons and pencils are tools. So are rulers, magnifying glasses, scissors, zippers, and even dump trucks. Engineering. Engineering starts with identifying a problem, then moves ahead to thinking about solutions and trying them out. All of us have seen children go through these processes when they’re trying to figure out how to make a strong foundation so they can build their blocks higher or when they’re working on a toy boat that will float in the water table or making a stable base so their clay figures stand up. Art. Adding the arts gives children the opportunity to illustrate STEM concepts in creative and imaginative ways, express ideas about the world through music and dance, communicate with descriptive language, illustrate ideas with crayons or markers, create graphs, and build models. Math. Mathematics is much more than counting. Mathematical thinking includes comparing, sorting, working with patterns, and identifying shapes. Language, too, plays a big part in math, for example, when we use comparison words like bigger, smaller, higher, lower, farther, and closer. Higher-level math thinking comes into play when we help children know that comparisons are relative—that something can, at the same time, be bigger than one object and yet smaller than another one—and that things can be sorted in different ways. When teachers think of STEAM in these terms, it’s obvious that for children the concepts are second nature. Children constantly explore and experiment, working with all kinds of tools. Problem solving, and comparing things. That’s why teachers can offer STEAM learning opportunities everywhere. In fact, some teachers may find that they already, provide such learning experiences for children in lots of everyday ways. This excerpt was taken from the January 2012 issue of Young Children, the Journal of the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Go to www.naeyc.org to read the entire article. About the author— Hedda Sharapan, MS in child development, is director of early childhood initiatives for the Fred Rogers Company in Pittsburgh. She worked with Fred Rogers and has been with his small, nonprofit company 44 years. Her professional development newsletter (www.fredrogers.org/pdnews) draws on what education can continue to learn from Fred Rogers. A frequent keynoter and workshop leader at conferences, Sharapan was named a Hero on the Horizon at NAEYC’s 2010 Annual conference and was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011 from the National Association for Family Child Care. sharapan@fredrogers.org
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WCCC Early Childhood Education
Save
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Westmoreland County Community College
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soon!
To earn Pennsylvania DPW hours as required, check out the PA Keys website, www.pakeys.org, for professional development opportunities. Westmoreland County Community College sponsors affordable ECE workshops made possible through Southwest Regional Key funding. Scheduled workshops at WCCC - Fayette County Education Center in Uniontown and WCCC Youngwood Campus are already posted. Please email Vicki Hricik for more information - hricikv@my.wccc.edu.
Mission of the ECE Newsletter The mission of this newsletter is to provide Early Childhood Education students information on ECE Club activities, volunteer opportunities in the community, ECE professional development workshops, and anything related to the ECE field. WCCC Early Childhood Education Program