Early Step Programs

This week I looked more into the U.S based groups that the Save The children organization sponsored. This program looks into Early Childhood development and the children who are from low income families and affected by poverty. This really resonates with me as a professional due to the fact that I work in an Early Childhood Program and have seen only a few families come trough that have been impacted by poverty while enrolled in my class. I could see myself getting involved with a program like this or this program. I would like to learn more about this program as more information comes to the website each week. I have signed up for the news letter and weekly emails from this organization. One of the pieces of information that really struck my interest is that 34 million people are affected by poverty in which 10% of that (3.4 million) are children. That is extremely high. This organization deal s with policies in Early Childhood and the poverty issues when it comes to money and getting back on track, and the health of the children are issues that are dealt with by politicians, economists , and neuroscientist. I understand that no matter the issue or trend being discussed can be taken from any of these point of views and can be influenced by these point of views.

Getting to know your internationally contacts.

So this week was rough in getting in contact with the few people I had emailed, facebooked, and set letters to. Due to some family circumstances, I have not been able to be by a computer. I received an email that was more of a generic letter from a school in Ireland, stating that they are glad to hear from me and would like to hear more. I am waiting on them to send more information. I probably wont hear from anyone directly. I have also recently got in contact with an old friend from high school who was teaching in a international school. I hope to spend more time talking to him about his experiences. He said he was out of town for a few days but when he gets back he will contact me.

This week I went to SAVE the CHILDREN website. I found a blog that really interested me. The blog post title was called "Why Primary Education Matters" by Martine De Luna. She stated that 57 million children globally don't go to school. She says that the children at her school are grateful for the fact that they get to go to school even though they have to walk through mud and swim the river to go to school. She makes the connection between literacy and poverty. I found that most interesting. I am looking into finding research to see what other professionals are saying and learning.

Sharing Web Resources

The organization that I chose to explore more is Zero to Three. The reason why that I chose this website is because  I work with children ages 1 to 3. I feel that I will benefit from this website in my own professional development. The website for this organization is: http://www.zerotothree.org/. I also used this link: http://zttcfn.pub30.convio.net/child-development/from-baby-to-big-kid/. This link is to the news letter that the organization puts out each month. Of course I just subscribed in the middle of the month so I have to wait till the beginning of October to receive my first news letter. I cannot wait to receive the news letter. I feel that I don't get enough news/reading on information that is and can be directly connected to me and my job.  This is going to be a great way to start collecting more professional resources for me to keep up to date on Early Childhood news and information on development, care, and more

The President’s Budget Proposal: A Groundbreaking Moment for Our Nation’s Babies is the article that really caught my attention. THis article states that the federal budget is increasing money allocated to Early  Childhood. President Obama is stressing the importance of Early childhood development. Even though this article is from April I feel that to see this news now, it creates a great feeling compared to what has been in the news lately.    One of the things that was really cool about this site is people can write and professionals answer back. The website allows people to ask questions and talk about their experiences. One lady asked if using two languages in a home would benefit the child. THe professional wrote back explaining the benefits of dual language and how to promote it.  http://www.zerotothree.org/child-development/early-language-literacy/qa/dual-language-delay.html. The part that I really thought was great was it was a lengthy response. THe professional went into depth about the information and really could benefit not only the women that wrote in but others as well.