My Educational Philosophy

My mom and I were having a discussion about early childhood development today. It got my brain wheels turning so I thought I'd share some here ;-)


Did you know that 90% of your child's brain is developed by the time they're 5 years old?
It's statistics like this that make me believe even more in the power of early childhood education. I used to not think I would be "making enough of a difference" if I taught preschool. I had this misconception that the learning REALLY started once they set foot in that public school door.
But was I ever wrong! As a preschool teacher, I see more and more now the importance of early childhood education (in any form).
I'm a firm believer in helping a child to reach their full potential. Lev Vygotsky called it the Zone of Proximinal Development. That's a fancy way of saying "you take what a child can do by themselves and then you guide them to the next step until they can do that next step independently. And then you repeat".
And especially in the early childhood years, why would we NOT want to take our children to the next level?
If a child is trying to roll over, do we not allow her? If a baby is trying to walk, do we push him down? Absolutely not! So when our 4-year-old is mentally able to read, why would we sit back and wait for the kindergarten teacher to teach them a year or more later?
My point is that this is what preschool is all about. It's about not only giving children those social and emotional experiences before they enter the big world of elementary school; it's about allowing them to reach their academic potential, too!
I know I don't typically use this blog to post my personal opinions or thoughts, but this is my "philosophy" so to speak and, although some of you may already know how passionate I am about early childhood education, I wanted to post some of these things today too.
I hope you're having a great week! We're having an amazing time at summer camp! Of course, tomorrow is splash day and the kids are already giddy with anticipation!!
God Bless!!!

Ms. Melissa