Respond to the comments of 3 students below. Each Response must be exactly 100 words.  NO WORK CITED PAGES

Each response is to be specific to the original post of the individual to whom you are responding (in other words, you cannot post the same thing for each response). Each response should be a thoughtful reflection of the original post. In other words, simply saying “good idea” is not sufficient. Your replies should incorporate terminology and details from the readings and presentation.

Tips: Be sure to…

be supportive and affirming in your responses
individualize each response
make sure your replies are consistent with the course material (readings and presentation)

TOPIC: Select one of the main topics of chapter 5 (ex. culture, special needs) and explain at least 3 ways you can plan for an inclusive and sensitive curriculum. These might be specific things you would include in the program, aspects that you would be conscientious to or of, activities you would plan, etc.  

Student #1 Comment: Response must be exactly 100 words.  NO WORK CITED PAGES!!!

I think that is very crucial to incorporate children’s culture in your classroom. Every child has their own culture and traditions that may differ from other students even though they may be from the same ethnicity. Therefore I think is important to establish a good relationship with all the families in your program so you can learn from all the families and their traditions. Families can help you incorporate items they use at home. They can help you find music they like to hear or that is from their country. You can have parents come in and volunteer in the classroom if they can and maybe do a cooking activity with the children. Is important to get to learn more about the families cultures. You want to make sure your respecting everyone culture as well as validating their beliefs or options. Some families are very sensitive about holiday’s when they don’t celebrate them. Therefore I think is best not to celebrate holiday’s at school to respect everyone’s beliefs. I like the idea of responding to the child if they have a question about a holiday as your acknowledging the children’s question but your not going into a full curriculum about it. Also is important to point out to our own differences and teaching children diversity. For this activity I would use the small mirrors to look at our faces and our color of skin and talk about our differences. Reading books about children from different parts of our world. Having posters around the classroom that represents diversity. Even though we may not have a diverse classroom is important to include diversity in other ways.

When you validate the children’s cultures they will feel proud of who they are because they been acknowledge. When a child hears their own home language spoken at school that will make them feel proud. If other teachers can’t speak the child’s language I would see if any of the family members could come and volunteer some days in the preschool. Listening to their own music part of their culture will also make them feel good about themselves.

Student #2 Comment: Response must be exactly 100 words.  NO WORK CITED PAGES!!!

The classroom is a diverse environment consisting of children who bring in their own culture. It’s a teacher’s responsibility to individualized each cultural aspect and help every family and child have a sense of belonging in the classroom. There are several manners to plan for an inclusive and sensitive curriculum. First, a child’s home language should be valued in the classroom, regardless if the teachers can speak it, learning basic words can be impactful for the children in the classroom. According to the PowerPoint presentation, families want to pass down their native language to children. Teachers can respect a family’s wishes by purposely including a child’s home language it into the daily transitions, such as when they are greeting a child and when they departure. During lunch time, a few words from a individual’s child’s language can be introduced to the classroom while they are encouraged to pass a bowl and say please, instead they will be asked to say “por favor”. Next, a teacher can plan for inclusive environment by being aware of their own actions and refer from only implementing items they feel comfortable with. Teachers should steer away from generalizing a task or role to a specific gender. During free play, one can create a woodworking area with golf pegs, wood, safety glasses and a child sized hammer.  Teachers should steer away from only encouraging boys to participate in it, as both genders should be equally invited. A conversation can be discussed that there are women out there who are also constructions workers. Lastly, the tourist approach of presenting a culture should be avoided, such as presenting a topic for a week then rarely discussing it again. For example, during Cinco de Mayo, a teacher might plan on bringing a piñata, eating Hispanic dishes and making sombreros with the children for that specific day. Instead, the implementation of this culture should be ongoing, especially if a child in the classroom can identify to it. A teacher can place a poncho and sombrero in the dramatic play area. Also, providing Spanish books in the book shelf. This can be done with any culture or celebration. 

Student #3 Comment: Response must be exactly 100 words.  NO WORK CITED PAGES!!!

At my school we have students from many different cultures. It is important for me to know what the children celebrate as far as holidays and birthdays and the type of food they serve at these celebrations. In the beginning of the year I give the parents a questionnaire which asks for information about how they celebrate a certain holiday in their culture and how they would like to celebrate their child’s birthday. I also ask if they would be willing to share a food item they serve at their celebration.

On the week of the cultural or birthday celebration, I share some information about the culture of that student each day. We talk about the country they are from and some things they believe in and their daily lifestyle, mostly the information that the parent shared about on the questionnaire. The student gets to talk about their family and whatever they feel is important to know. On the last day of that week the family brings the food for the children to taste. It is a fun event for the children.

One thing I like to point out to the children is the geographical location of the country we talk about. We look at the globe and see how far it is from where we are. The children are amazed at the distances and we talk about how the family got to our community, (by airplane, auto, train, etc.). We also talk about the climate of that country and what type of trees grow there. The children enjoy getting to know each other and sharing each other’s lives creates a bond between the children, their families and myself.