Child Development Articles from Kumara School's Newsletter
These articles on themes concerning child development are provided as a resource to help Kumara School parents better understand both our philosophy of education and how we put that philosophy into practice every day. We hope these articles will also serve as a reference to the greater early childhood education community. Please link to these pages if you feel they would be of interest to your site's readership, or contact us if you would like permission to reprint an article for your school's newsletter.
In each issue of our newsletter we try to provide an article about childhood development that we feel will be of interest to parents. Following is a selection of these articles. They're important not just for the theories and ideas that they represent—although these are important too—but because they touch on the core of our philosophy. It's a philosophy we put into practice every day in the ways we teach the children to understand their own emotions, the world around them, and how they relate to each other.
"What Did You Do At Kumara Today?" "I Played!"This article explains in an accessible fashion aspects of Vygotsky's theory on play in early childhood and the ways in which play enhances children's lives and development. References follow.
The Artful ClassroomWhy art is important, and how we implement art in our classrooms.
DisciplineThis article on discipline is written by Maureen Pinto and based on information from her studies, experience and from several workshops she attended at the CAEYC conference in Sacramento March 8–10, 1996.
EmotionsIn this article Maureen discusses preschoolers and their emotions, and how it is the mastery over emotions—not the absence of them—that enables the child to feel good about him or herself.
Preschoolers and FearIn this article Maureen helps parents understand how to help young children through their fears.
The Value of Outdoor PlayThis article discusses the many ways our yard facilitates educational, social, physical, and creative development for our students.
Child-Initiated EducationIn this article Maureen Pinto reviews an article from the magazine "Young Children".
Fruit Drinks and Meal TimeThis is a summary of an article from the journal Child Health Alert from September 1995 entitled "The Squash Drinking Syndrome- Does it Explain Some Common Childhood Problems?" (In England "Squash Drinks" are fruit flavored beverages ie. fruit drinks)
