Observing Young Children The role of observation and assessment in early childhood settings S Smidt, (2015). Abingdon: Routledge. Smidt offers us in the short compass of 90 small pages an introduction to the subject which makes reference to almost everything. The important names are all there: Piaget, Vygotsky, Bruner and so on. There is reference to sustained shared thinking, scaffolding…
O Lord. You have searched me and you known me! You know when I sit down; and when I rise up. You discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Psalm 139: 1-3 In Psalm 139 we find a beautiful description of the Father’s detailed knowledge of…
Monitoring well-being and involvement by Rev Peter Michell In the UK the most immediate association made with assessment is the Early Years Foundation Stage and the ‘outcomes’. We also think of endless laborious record keeping. This first association has to be called into question because it is not the only kind of assessment and it is not the most important either. If…
We know that each of the children in our care is uniquely created by our loving God and Father and that He has a plan and a purpose for each of their lives. We know that their needs and interests and learning styles will be different. Psalm 139 says: “For You shaped me, inside and out. I am Your unique…
Nurturing creativity Rebecca Isbell and Sonia Akiko Yoshizawa (20:1.6), National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) The NAEYC offers us a well organised and, at a basic level, comprehensive account of creativity in young child’s learning. The book is generously illustrated with photographs, diagrams and lists, and stories from nurseries. The chapters are concluded with questions to prompt…
Intelligence and creativity should not be considered as opposing alternatives , and imagination and learning are nurtured together. Albert Einstein supposedly once said: “creativity is intelligence having fun”. What a wonderful statement – and yet we often see a rivalry between ‘art’ and ‘science ‘. We can probably all name some distinctively imaginative people who ooze creativity, as well as…
