13 Positive Learning Environments We as leaders promote positive and responsive interactions among the children, parents, childcare providers and staff by modeling an inclusive, respectful, understanding and empathetic environment. This will be seen through self-reflection, active listening, working and communicating as a team and being held accountable to the College of ECE Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice and agency's policies. "Every child is a capable communicator who expresses himself or herself in many ways." (HDLH) Knowing and understanding the children within our programs, we will support their abilities to self-regulate in a positive way. When creating a safe, calm and rich environment, we will lead by example through our tone of voice, body language, patience and demonstrating empathy. Being mindful of using age appropriate communication when speaking to children to make the most effective communication possible. Getting to know the children, understanding their cultures, identities and their stories will support them in building positive relationships with others and their environment. Children will be supported in learning self regulation by providing consistent, developmentally appropriate and positive redirection. By teaching awareness of emotions, we can provide children with calming and coping techniques and age appropriate emotional responses. We will refer to the documents “Supporting Positive Interactions with Children”, “Children See Children Learn” website, “Triple P Tip Sheets” and the “Resource Binder” with multiple resources located in each environment. "Educators can play an important role in supporting self-regulation by providing environments that reduce stressors while recognizing and supporting children’s efforts and increasing ability to self-regulate. Educators can also support children’s developing ability to self-regulate by being responsive and attuned to children’s individual cues, arousal states, and responses to various stressors. And they can help children learn strategies for becoming or staying calm and focused by enabling them to recognize and modulate their emotional states and impulses and become more aware of the effects of their actions on others." (HDLH) Through collaboration, observations, documentation and learning stories, we are able to identify the children’s interests. Our planning sheets are used as a guide in directing our focus in meeting the needs of the children. Offering children open ended materials, tools, invitations, planned as well as spontaneous experiences, we are creating the ideal positive environment for learning opportunities that will foster the children's exploration play and inquiry and support their learning and development. It is not about the product but the process. We incorporate indoor and outdoor play, as well as active play, rest and quiet time, into the day, and give consideration to the individual needs of the children receiving care. Individual Support Plans are developed when needed to support a child’s identified needs. We focus on the strength and interests of each child to ensure their optimal development while engaging with their peers in a meaningful way. We complete Ages and Stages Questionnaire and the Wordplay Checklist: Speech and Language Developmental Milestones on each child to help with planning developmentally appropriate activities that meet each child's individual needs and interests. We also do daily observations through positive interactions with the children and record their findings with Learning Stories and documentation.
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