Competency Statement Essay

To establish and main a safe, healthy learning environment I believe it is important to establish and maintain a safe and healthy learning environment by keeping my center and play ground area clean and free of the things that are harmful to my children. I believe the first steps to encourage learning is to keep a clean and safe environment, that my children’s minds will be stimulated and will meet there individual learning styles. My goal is to encourage my children to follow healthy and nutritional eating habits. I do this by promoting foods that are healthy and clean for my children to eat. I teach about and have my children sample all types of healthy food to help our bodies grow strong. My children and I have helped encourage in changing the centers menu to make the menu fun, colorful, yet healthy and nutritious, that meet the needs of those children with a special diet. One thing I would love to try to do more of would to have the children service them self as a family style meal. In the functional area of establishing a learning environment my goal for my children is to try to make sure that my classroom is fun, safe, organized and set up for success. In my classroom I have seven different learning areas: art, science, blocks, dramatic play, manipulative, writing and library. All labeled with words and pictures. I try to set up stimulating learning centers so that my children can move freely with age appropriate material for their self-directed play and learning. I like to provide a high activity, low stress environment where my children can learn and play happily together. I do have to mesh some centers onto one shelf due to limited space in my classroom. If I could I would change the layout of the room and add some more space for each center. My weekly plan is not designed by myself but by my company. I believe it is a very effective lesson plan, age appropriate and fun. I do get to add or make changes to it as needed to make it work for special needs. I try to  involve my parents in helping provide props or anything they have laying around the house that we can use to make our centers more life like. My lesson plan focus areas include circle time, language/reading activities, creative expression, science/math, music and movement, gross motor, dramatic play and sensory. I try to make every lesson fun and hands on so that I know my children are grasping the learning part of the lesson.