I chose the topic of play and how it relates to child development,
what types of play best support child development, and is teacher-directed
play more effective than children’s free play. I am a huge proponent of play time in preschool. I taught in a three year old classroom last year and had a 45 minute free play time frame. This fall I will be teaching in the four year old classroom and I plan to do the same exact time frame. I observed my children develop fine and large motor skills, social skills, and cognitive skills during this time and then apply these skills to small and large group activities.
Through our course so far I have learned to pay close attention to a variety of objectives while researching articles. The URL seems to be one of the most important components of researching as well as authors, dates, and legitimate resources/agencies/ etc...
If anyone has any research articles supporting play, I would really appreciate your thoughts and links. I would also like to know your own personal thoughts on play time, your time frame of play, and if you are able to still keep it in your daily routine.
Lori,
ReplyDeleteI would love to have more time for my students to play. In kindergarten, the program has become so to the minute that they never have time to play. I put play in their centers but aside from recess they have very little child directed play. I chose to look at play from the perspective of its importance in achieving the new standards.