Assessment 3: Journal - Zhen Jia by ZHEN JIA

zjia8725 — 2023-05-20 11:11:19 UTC

During the first week, we explore materials children use in early childhood. We start exploring with paper first. I think of paper as a soft material. When I touch it, I feel it is very light. Paper is one of the indispensable and essential materials in kindergarten art activities. It is deeply loved by children and teachers because of its rich forms and easy availability. In kindergarten art activities, paper can play a variety of roles, such as painting, scrapbooking, origami, collage, and so on. It can help young children to think creatively, make crafts, and express emotions. Different cultures use different methods to make paper. The paper was discovered in China as early as 2,200 years ago. In our daily life, we use all kinds of paper. Children have also accumulated some experience related to the paper in their daily life. From newspapers, and books to paper towels, cartons, and more. Paper is not only a partner in children's lives, but also an essential material for children's games and creations (Pacini-Ketchabaw et al. 2016).

zjia8725 — 2023-05-20 11:11:54 UTC

In art activities, teachers can guide children to carry out manual activities, such as making flowers and small animals by themselves. As an educator, I will encourage children to flexibly use the materials in hand, give full play to their creative imagination, and stimulate their curiosity, imagination, and spirit of exploration.

zjia8725 — 2023-05-20 11:13:34 UTC

In class, we also explored clay. Clay feels completely different to me than paper. Because it has a whole different texture. Clay has more weight, is moister to the touch, and can be kneaded freely by hand. I simply squeezed a small person with my hand, and I feel very interested.

zjia8725 — 2023-05-20 11:14:00 UTC

In addition, clay is a non-toxic and odorless natural mineral with strong plasticity. Children can shape the clay as they like by kneading and other actions. In the modeling process, children will have creative inspiration. Through the combination of hands, eyes, and brain, children can transform their imagination and information from the outside world into their mental images (Pacini-Ketchabaw et al. 2016). Clay is a creative art, and children are born with creativity. For young children, playing with mud is the most enjoyable game. Although they know little about pottery, children will be fascinated by their rich imagination and the way of creation in play. Therefore, in clay art education, children are happy and engaged, actively participate, learn happily, and create happiness. As a teacher, I can guide and encourage children to create beautiful shapes, beautiful things, and beautiful worlds in their minds, and exercise children's innovative thinking.

zjia8725 — 2023-05-20 11:15:44 UTC

Children are generally very happy and enjoy listening to music. Music has a natural affinity for children of all abilities, living circumstances, and cultural backgrounds. Even babies as young as a few months old can keep time with the ditties. Because children love music so much, music can provide them with wonderful learning opportunities. The tone, rhythm, and pronunciation in music have many similarities with those in written and spoken language, and they can provide a template for developing children's early literacy skills. In class, we felt the charm of music and art from different countries and cultures. For young children, I think music can promote the normal development of the brain of young children and is conducive to the overall development of the brain (Edwards et al. 2011).

zjia8725 — 2023-05-20 11:16:29 UTC

The content of music education for young children involves activities such as music appreciation, singing, and rhythm, which are changeable. For example, when listening to music, preschool teachers can create some situations for children to participate in the performance. Through imaginative painting, you can also combine the singing of the theme melody and the free creation of dance movements. Singing activities can integrate dance, language, rhythm, rhythm, etc. In addition, music from different cultural backgrounds can also be played in teaching activities, so that children can learn about multiculturalism. In particular, listening to Aboriginal music can give children a sense of Aboriginal culture. As a teacher, I can also lead the children to sing nursery rhymes to cultivate their language learning ability.

zjia8725 — 2023-05-20 11:17:06 UTC

I went to the Glenroy library during the field trip of Week 3. While exploring the library I found a children's book about Aboriginal children in Australia. "Take The Children Away" is a song written and recorded by Australian singer Archie Roach (Roach et al. 2010). Through this book and song, children can learn about the experiences of thousands of Indigenous Australian children in the past. Therefore, music and pictures can be linked together to help children improve their literacy and awareness of indigenous people through the form of picture books.

zjia8725 — 2023-05-20 11:18:35 UTC

Early childhood is the initial stage of the development of children's character, personality, and behavior habits in all aspects, and it is also a very important stage. Therefore, we must pay enough attention to the enlightenment education of young children, especially grasping the sports in kindergartens, and take active and effective measures to promote the all-round development of young children. Sport is an important part of kindergarten education. It can not only develop and train children's physical fitness, promote the coordination of children's limbs and hand-brain coordination, but also integrate various game elements into sports activities. This can promote the physical and mental growth of young children. There are many indoor and outdoor activities for teachers and children to play together. Outdoor activities such as hop-scotch, throwing and catching a ball, etc. Indoor activities such as hide and seek, involving children in cooking and other household duties, acting out stories, etc (Gallagher et al. 2017).

zjia8725 — 2023-05-20 11:19:00 UTC

In addition, gross motor skills involve the development of larger muscle groups required for movements such as kicking, running, and jumping, while fine motor skills refer to a group of skills that involve the ability to manipulate smaller objects with the hands and fingers, such as grasping and pinching. Children can develop both gross and fine motor skills while playing outside or making art. For example, making sculptures helps children develop fine motor skills. At the same time, it can also cultivate children's imagination, creativity, and perseverance, and stimulate their enthusiasm for learning. Moreover, when carrying out game activities, teachers should consider possible safety risks and take some safety protection measures.

zjia8725 — 2023-05-20 11:19:56 UTC

Children's drama is a category of drama, mainly based on character dialogue, supplemented by actions and expressions for stage performances. Young children can watch or directly participate in the performance. The themes of children's dramas are mostly selected from the themes of social life familiar to children, which are suitable for children's appreciation level and acceptance. Fun and playfulness are the unique artistic characteristics of children's drama. In terms of performance forms, it can be divided into children's song and dance drama, puppet show, story performance, shadow play, children's cartoons, and parent-child games (Mages 2018).

zjia8725 — 2023-05-20 11:20:11 UTC

As a teacher, I can lead the children in drama performances. For example, prepare a video of a puppet show ahead of time for the children to watch. After watching, the teacher guides the children to recall what the main content of the story tells and discuss and share it. The teacher can ask: "Do you remember the scenes in the story? (Guide the children to discuss independently and share with their peers)." After that, the teacher can provide pictures of the scenes, and ask the children to post the pictures of the scenes in the order of the development of the plot. At the same time, teachers can guide children to discuss the most interesting scene fragments and guide children to discuss how to express each plot. Teachers and young children can experiment with creative body language for dramatic performances. Finally, the teacher tells the story in its entirety, and once again guides the children to fully recall the plot of the story. In the following class, the teacher and the children can use clay and disposable chopsticks to make little dolls in the story based on the characteristics of the characters in the play and put the little dolls they made in the performance area to perform on the stage drama.

zjia8725 — 2023-05-20 11:21:10 UTC

Reading is a kind of ability that a person must have, and it is also the basis for a person to acquire knowledge in modern social life. Early childhood is a critical period for the development of a person's reading ability. Therefore, developing children's early reading ability can help children expand their knowledge (Flint & Adams 2018). As a teacher, I can help children develop the habit of reading more and enjoy reading. In the Glenroy library, I saw a book called "Animal ABC", which introduced the traditional Chinese zodiac signs and the characteristics of each animal in the form of pictures (Lambert 2018). At the same time, it also teaches children the English alphabet in a very vivid way. As a teacher, I will lead children who are new to the language to read this picture book. Because whether it is for children whose mother tongue is English or for children who use English as an additional language, reading picture books can help them learn the language better. Reading picture books not only helps to stimulate children's interest in reading but also helps to improve children's language expression ability. For young children with immature language development, abstract words such as "love", "happy" and "pain" are difficult to understand, but picture books can convey these concepts in the form of pictures, which is easier for children to understand.

zjia8725 — 2023-05-20 11:54:08 UTC

Edwards, CP, Gandini, L & Forman, GE 2011, The hundred languages of children: the Reggio Emilia experience in transformation, 3rd edn, ABC-CLIO, LLC.

Flint, TK & Adams, MS 2018, ‘“It’s like playing, but learning”: Supporting early literacy through responsive play with wordless picturebooks’, Language Arts, vol. 96, no. 1, pp. 21–36, viewed .

Gallagher, M, Prior, J, Needham, M & Holmes, R 2017, ‘Listening differently: A pedagogy for expanded listening’, British Educational Research Journal, vol. 43, no. 6, pp. 1246–1265, viewed .

Lambert, J 2018, Jonny Lambert’s Animal ABC. DK Publishing.

Mages, WK 2018, ‘Does theatre-in-education promote early childhood development?: The effect of drama on language, perspective-taking, and imagination’, Early Childhood Research Quarterly, vol. 45, Elsevier, pp. 224–237, viewed .

Pacini-Ketchabaw, V, Kind, S & Kocher, LLM 2016, Encounters with materials in early childhood education, Routledge.

Roach, A, Hunter, R, & Hudson, P 2010, Took the children away. One Day Hill.