2/23/12

Hope everyone's having a good Mardi Gras break! Okay so in my recent work, I'm getting pretty excited about some things that I want to share.

First of all, Mrs. Casey from the Episcopal daycare gave me the go ahead to email Mrs. Cheryl some questions for my study. I'm currently working on some questions to send her. I listed them below in case anyone has some suggestions or input.

Y'all may not know much about the different types of preschools, but there is a style called Montessori. It was developed many years ago by Maria Montessori, and it expresses her philosophy on education. Anyway, this theory focuses on the children's liberty. Ideally, they are supposed to work more freely in their environment. I want to use a Montessori school in my study, and I found one on Perkins that seems to provide a good contrast. Not only will it most likely show in the interviews the differences in play philosophies, but they seem more academic based as well. The curriculum of this place consisted of topics such as computer, beginning Chinese, introduction to the violin, and something called Brain Gym. The age range is a bit higher, being 2 1/2 to 6 years, but nonetheless it's still in my range and I foresee it providing viable information. I need to work on contacting them, and hopefully they will give me consent to use them as apart of my study.

Tentative Questions for Mrs. Cheryl:

1. What role do you find yourself playing in the children’s lives? In their development?
2. What is your philosophy on play?
3. How would you define play? What does it mean to you?
4. What role does technology play in your learning environment?
5. How much free play time do the children have in a day?
6. What does a general daily schedule look like for the infants/toddlers?
7. How do you feel about flashcards as a learning tool? (Considering throwing this one out)
8. What factors do you stress in your learning environment?
9. Are you bound by any federal or state laws to include topics in your curriculums?
10. What is the range of activities the children participate in?
11. Do the children ever go on trips offsite?
12. How are the parents involved?

Please give me feedback on my questions if you have any input or suggestions!

Greetings from Rhode Island!