!E9s2f!qQdBR-7e43t5w~~60_37.JPG?set_id=880000500F "Red Sand Shovels")
Being five (5) years old has been the best year of my life.
I get to play, have fun with my friends, and my mommy takes me to my favorite
place ever called Virginia Beach Ocean Front. Every Saturday, my mom takes me and my best
friend Candyce to Virginia Beach Ocean Front to make sand castle and to play in
the water. I am so excited because guess what today is? Today is Saturday, Beach Day!
Today, I am
going to spend my time in the white sand making sand castle with my mommy and
Candyce. I packed up my towel, my mommy packed up lunches for us, sun screen
lotions, and she brought us both sun glasses. Now all I have to do is slip on my
pink and blue flip flops and head to my mommy’s car so we can head down to the
beach. When we arrive at the beach, I am going to make some gigantic sandcastles that’s going to be this much bigger than Candyce. Candyce sand castles
are going to be tiny compare to my big humungous sand castles. While at the
beach, I hope my mommy takes us to the board walk so we can get some Dairy
Queen ice cream on a tan cone. Yummy in my tummy.
I am so
excited that we finally made it to the beach. I am ready to build my sand
castle but first, I need my materials to get started. I learned the words
materials in school from my teacher. First I will need three (3) buckets, two
(2) shovels (one tiny and big), and lots and lots and lots of sand. Now that I
have my materials, I can get started on making my gigantic sand castle.
Today was an
awesome day. I made five huge sand castles, my mom took us to get ice cream,
and I got a lot of resources from my mom. A lot of people do not know but my mom is also my teacher. She gives me a
lot of advice, resources such as books, pictures, websites that I can learn on
she takes me on field trips. I had an awesome day at the beach and I cannot
wait until next Saturday to go again.
Back in my younger days, play was encouraged more as a privilege then it is today. Today in schools, play is more mandatory by the state and children are required to get at least 30 minutes to an hour of play each day. Compared to play today versus 20 plus years ago, most parents have to make their children go out to play due to the latest gadgets such as iPhones, iPad, iPods, computers and various video games. According to Wardle, "School administrators, many parents, and most politicians believe play is a waste of time, off task behavior, needless coddling of young children, messy and noisy, unstructured and uneducational – an unaffordable luxury in an ever-more competitive world." (Wardle, 2010) As a teacher and a mother, I have learned that play is very important to children and their development. Many children who engage in play learn social skills, cognitive development, and various language. Bergen, Author of the article, " The Role of Pretend Play in Children's Cognitive Development" expressions at the preschool level, "make-believe play serves as a vital context for the development of self-regulation" (p. 637). I believe play Is important and it will be apart of my curriculum each day.
References
Bergen, D. (2002). The role of pretend play in children's cognitive development. Early Childhood Research and Practice, 4(1). Retrieved fromhttp://ecrp.uiuc.edu/v4n1/bergen.html
Wardle, F. (n.d.). Play as curriculum. Retrieved August 1, 2010, from http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/article_view.aspx?ArticleID=127
Ashley,
ReplyDeleteFirst, I am so jealous that you lived near a beach and could go every Saturday. I have lived in Cincinnati my entire life and my first time at the beach was when I was 18 when my Aunt took me to Florida for vacation.
It amazes me how people think play is such as waste. Look at your example. Building sand castles utilized many math skills. You counted your castles, you compared the size of your castles to your friends and you counted and organized your materials. People have the misconception that because someone is having fun, it means they are not learning. In reality, learning should be fun! Play provides a wonderful opportunity for children to use what they have learned and take the information a step further while having fun doing it.
Being engaged in play with someone who is very special to you, makes the moments that much more enjoyable. Your trips sound like they were so much fun. I remember when my parents took me to Kings Island, and the water resort. I was very young, but I can remember every detail of that trip like it was yesterday. As I became older, before my parents passed away, we would discuss our family vacations, and I would always want to talk about our Kings Island trip, and my parents and older sister would just laugh, and be amazed at how much I could recall, because I was only 2 or 3 when we went. But being with some of the most important people in my life, made that trip a memory for a lifetime.
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