How child development is important with teaching young kids

Hey everyone,

Today I wanted to do a quick rant on my opinion of how important child development is for teachers of young learners.
For those who do not know not only do I teach english to kids but I try to incorporate how children develop, how to teach them, what kind of activities to do to make sure that kids can be kids.
I know lots of teachers out there who expect little kids to sit still and pay attention. They can't! They're kids! They are too busy thinking about or looking at something more interesting. Kids aren't dogs, they're little humans who haven't finished developing yet. They are very complex and every single day spent with little kids is always a new adventure.

A big problem, I think, is there are lots of teachers who don't think about how children develop. They don't let the kids do what they want to do (to an extent of course), color with what color they want to color with, get a little messy, run around and act like zoo animals, because it's "weird" or "unclean".
Why is this so important? As human beings we are social and imaginative, we aren't meant to be robots! That's how people go insane!

I was reading an article maybe 2 weeks ago about child development and there was a question in the article that really got to me.
"what if everyone understood child development?"
I thought the world would be a better place if everyone understood and put their knowledge of child development into use!
There would be no more children who are emotional wrecks because their parents never let them do kid things, or kids whose teachers didn't give them attention, little things that grow to be a big traumatic problem in the future. There wouldn't be as much people having to go to see psychologists.
We have some children that come in who seem like there is something wrong going on at home and now are considered "social outcasts".

So why is child development important as a teacher? The children are our FUTURE. They will grow up to be full grown adults one day and we really have to put in account what we are teaching, how we are teaching, and letting kids express themselves now before it's too late. Lots of doctors say that the first 4 years of a child's life is one of the most important times because that's when the basic bits of his/her personality are put together. So depending on how his mom and dad treats him at home and how the outside treats him, including us teachers, he can grow up to be an outgoing, happy person or a very depressing, sad person.

Definitely something to think about. I can't say that I'm an expert on child development because I'm not BUT I can say that I take it seriously. Read about it!

Carla

Fun class activity!

Hey guys!

I figured I should post up great activities that I find fun AND educational.
One of my favorites is "touch and guess" as I like to call it.

What you'll need
• A few letters ( I use magnetic little letters )
• A bucket or bag to hold the little letters
• a few flashcards or objects ( you'll see why)
That's it! This activity is best for kids who already recognize the letters as well as the sounds.
So I put the letters in the basket and first review the letters that I have. "what letter is this, what sound does it make?"
Once done I review the flashcards or objects that I will use, example: elephant, rabbit, table, etc.

I choose a letter for a child and have them come up and with their eyes closed to feel the letter. They first guess the letter and sound and try to match with the following flashcards and/or objects. I make sure to have everyone get at least one turn.

This is a fun game and the kids always get excited, personally one of my favorites.
Hope you guys can enjoy it as much as we do!

Carla