Learning is Everywhere

Posted by admin in Preschool      No comments

May
4

A great resource for families, complete with appropriate, fun and educational activities for children is the Learning is Everywhere calendar, which comes out of the Pennsylvania’s Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL).

Every month this activity guide provides suggestions for families to use at home with children from infancy through kindergarten. It also provides suggested books for young children as well as helpful hints for parents.

The recommended activities are aligned with Pennsylvania’s Early Learning Standards for Infants and Toddlers, Pre-kindergarten, and Kindergarten children.

Although developed by the Pennsylvania Department of Education and the Department of Public Welfare, these early learning standards are highly consistent with early learning standards from states around the country and, quite frankly, with the curriculum framework that you should be able to see at any early childhood education program that your child attends. They are designed to ensure that children in early care and education programs receive the skills and experiences they need to enter school ready to learn, but also to ensure that children learn these skills in a developmentally appropriate, fun and engaging way.

Pennsylvania’s Early Learning Standards cover key learning areas including Approaches to Learning through Play, Creative Thinking and Expression, Social Studies Thinking, Health Wellness and Physical Development, Cognitive Thinking and General Knowledge, Mathematical Thinking and Expression, Scientific Thinking and Technology, Early Literacy Foundations, Partnerships for Learning, and Social and Emotional Development.  Thus, they are quite comprehensive as are the suggested activities in the Learning is Everywhere calendar.

It’s a great resource and very well done—not just for families from Pennsylvania—and we all appreciate the great work of Pennsylvania’s OCDEL on behalf of children everywhere.