Sharing Web Resources

First I want to apologize by the late submission but I'm sick  since Thursday night  :( and I still feeling weak but I will go the doctor tomorrow since now I can stand the pressure on my chest and coughing :( But oh well life must go on :)

I  received my first newsletter from Zero to Three on January 19,2012. The newsletter featured some great links for early childhood professionals as wells as for parents. The newsletter highlighted the article The Influence of Media on Young Children’s Development by Ellen Wartella, Northwestern University, which I found interesting and is available for free. If you want to subscribe and received and/or have access to all previous articles the subscription for a year is only $78.00 :). Here is the link if you want to read it I promise you will love it as a professional and also if you are a parent like me :) http://main.zerotothree.org/site/DocServer/32-3_Wartella.pdf?docID=12981

The newsletter also suggested some books which by the title and description I find relevant to our profession  and is relevant to the current issues of the early childhood field the book is Finding Our Way: The Future of American Early Care and Education by Moncrieff Cochran,

This is a brief description of its content;"This book offers a comprehensive and far-reaching analysis of the principles and practices of early care and education in the United States and Europe and compares/contrasts those practices with other developed countries. The book informs policymakers and directors of child care centers about the vital role high-quality teachers play in a child's later educational achievements and future success. The author describes the very high costs of child care in the United States, most of which is paid for by parents, and shows how greater government support in other countries makes teachers' pay higher, the child care centers better, and the burden on the parents lighter."            

Getting to Know Your International Contacts

Even thought I was able to establish a contact with a member of the NAEYC I was unable to communicate with her this past week :(  ,therefore I choose  the country of Kyrgyzstan  the main reason was because I didn't know where that was :)Until 1991 Kyrgyzstan was part of the Soviet Union and was one of the  poorest  republic with 32.9 % of the population living below the Soviet poverty  line. 60% of the population live form agriculture. Because of the crisis children needs to work and  recent research estimates that 24% of children are either part time of full time workers.

 The government has established a Comprehensive Development Framework which is a 15 year vision for development in Kyrgyzstan and also with the National Poverty Reduction Strategy (NSPR), Kyrgyzstan's Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper. This is intended to be the first three-year plan for implementing the national development vision.

Sharing Web Resources

The website that I choose is Zero to Three."Zero to Three is a national, nonprofit organization that informs, trains, and supports professionals, policymakers, and parents in their efforts to improve the lives of infants and toddlers". Their mission is to promote the health and development of infants and toddlers.

I subscribe to their newsletters but I need to wait for two weeks before I received the first one :( ,but I really enjoyed their article about building positive relationships with parents. I really like the "care giver-parent communication tool" which is like a questionnaire that is fill out by both the caregiver and the parent around every two to three months in which parents and caregivers share what they like  the most about the child and also they share their goals for the child.  I believe this topic is related to this week since as educators it is important to build positive relationships with parents regardless of their country of origin or the language that they speak. As professionals we need to use all resources and I think this is an excellent tool that we can use  :) To access this article go to their website http://www.zerotothree.org and select  the " Care & Education " tab and then click Family ,Friend and Neighbor Care :)

My international organization I changed since I was able to create a contact with Maria de Lourdes “Luly” López Cintrón she works at APENET which means Asociacion Puertorriqueña Para la Educacion de la Ninez de  Edad Temprana Their organization is part of the NAEYC  and I was unaware that we had an organization in Puerto Rico which is my country of origin affiliated to the NAEYC. I was lucky to establish a contact with her and she also gave me her phone number . I hope that over this course we can share ideas and also opinions about different trends in the early childhood field. Their website is  http://www.apenetpr.org/index.html.  I will keep you posted since I need to call her Tuesday to discuss about diversity in Puerto Rico  :)

Establishing Professional Contacts & Expanding Resources

Establishing Professional Contacts

I sent a request to Delfena Mitchell who is the Director of the Liberty Children's Home on the outskirts of Belize city. The website for their organization is http://www.libertyfoundation.org.uk/.

 I was thrilled by the story that she shared about a little boy named Joseph and his siblings and  the process of healing after years of physical abuse. The website provides with statistics about the country located in  Central America and how is the country of more incidents of child abuse physical and sexually. I hope to received a response since I will like to learn more about  Joseph  and how they help him as well as the other children in their center and to be able to share it wit you in the remaining weeks of this course.

 I also sent a request  to Barbara Jones  "BJ" founder of the  Pine Grove School in Falmouth, Maine in 1985.As Delfena Mitchell I listed to her podcast at World Forum Radio  She went to California looking for an alternative experience and looking for a job she was interested in an ad looking for a Montessori teacher and she shared the story  of  how she was hire. Because of her experience she decided to be certified   as a Montessori Teacher   and she went to England to complete the course and requirements for her certification. Years after she open Pine Grove school in 1985 till today.

I really hope that she respond to my request since I am a mother of a 5 year old and I am really interested in learning about the Montessori approach and how it help children.

Her website is:  http://www.pinegrovecenter.com/

Expanding Resources 

 The resource that I choose is  Zero to Three National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families is a national nonprofit organization whose mission is to “promote the health and development of infants and toddlers”. Their website, http://www.zerotothree.org/,

The main tabs of the website are: home, behavior and development, maltreatment, care and education, public policy and about us. The home page includes a link in the upper right corner to “Get Connected”, a great highlight that provides visitors the opportunity to register to enjoy privilege benefits such as access to premium content, and emails related to relevant and updated early childhood topics. Another highlight located in the home tab as well is the “Donate Now” link, that goes beyond a simple donation, because by clicking the tab you will be redirected to a new page where you can search the different projects that Zero to Three is working on and on the bottom of the page there are  links that will take you to the supported projects that are also excellent resources.