By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE and Cindy Green, BSc, RECE. As we age, it is healthy to give advice and to feel that our long careers in the profession of early childhood education has been meaningful. We have both retired from full-time work teaching early childhood education at the same community college. There, the working … Continue reading
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Responsive Relationships: Expanding Our View of Reciprocity
By: Diane Kashin, Ed. D, RECE. and Rosalba Bortolotti, RECE. What does it mean to be responsive? The dictionary defines responsiveness as acting quickly and positively. We often speak of responsive relationships in early childhood education. Our province’s early learning framework, Early Learning for Every Child Today was based on principles that included Principle 6: Knowledgeable, responsive, … Continue reading
Child-Initiated Play and Learning: Teacher-Framed Documentation and Reflection
By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE. When I began the journey to learn and understand emergent curriculum, I would not have believed that 20 years later, I would still be reflecting and wondering. Now, I know that I can never arrive at a place where I can say that I know everything that there is to … Continue reading
Early Childhood Education Rocks
By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE. The end of the year is a time to think back and reflect. Rather than considering just 2018 I decided to go way back to a time when I discovered emergent curriculum. It was twenty years ago that my quest for an alternative to themes lead to the discovery of a … Continue reading
From Across the Pond: What Early Childhood Educators Can Learn
By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE. When I began this blog six years ago, I had just started on a journey of professional learning through social media. Prior to 2012 I was not engaged on any platforms. Now I manage three Facebook pages, Technology Rich Inquiry Based Research, Resources to Support Early Childhood Development and York Region Nature … Continue reading
Loose Parts: Children as Creators rather than Consumers
By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE. Have you ever heard something that you felt was so profound that years and years later, you remember what it was and where you were? It was twelve years ago, when I first met Margie Carter and Deb Curtis and heard them speak at a conference I helped organize in … Continue reading
Themes in Early Childhood Education: Will They Ever End?
By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE. It was about fifteen years ago that I embarked on a journey to research, write and defend a doctoral dissertation on emergent curriculum. I wanted to write about a topic that reflected my practice as an early childhood educator and focused on an unresolved problem. I graduated with an early … Continue reading
Science in Early Learning: The Root of STEM Education
By: Diane Kashin, Ed. D, RECE. Young children have the capacity for scientific thinking and learning. Science, I would suggest is the root of the stem. Scientific skills such as observing, describing, comparing, questioning, predicting, experimenting, reflecting, and cooperating are core concepts that support learning in all areas. However, when I reflect back on the … Continue reading
Blocks are Essential for Play and Learning: Every Learning Environment Should Have Many of Them!
By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE and Cindy Green, BSc, RECE. If we were to sit down and calculate how many early learning environments we have visited individually and together it would boggle our minds, reminding us of our (almost) senior citizen status! We met many, many years ago when we were both teaching early childhood … Continue reading
On Being Mindful, Grateful and Joyful: It Matters!
By: Cindy Green, RECE (with contributions from Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE). As an antidote to the last blog post where there was focus on ranting while reflecting on words that cause agitation Cindy offers some thoughts on being mindful, grateful and joyful. Then as promised there will be a return to the ranting as this … Continue reading