The Skills Children Should Know
Certain skills and knowledge are essential to lead struggle-free
life.children’s skills and abilities will be their most valuable asset
throughout their lives.
Skills are behaviors that we can learn and improve through practice. At the Regional Thematic Consultation on Education, participants shared their opinions which are the important skills children should be learning
 |
| Urvashi Sahni, |
“Children should be thinking critically about who they are and how they
relate to their world around them, in a social and political perspective
with a focus on peace, equity and sustainable development. They must be
learning how to be literate and numerate, be problem solvers and be
resilient.”
 |
| Sikander Sabeer |
Firstly, they need to learn about culture – culture is a kind of glue,
it keeps us together. It’s like tea with sugar – it creates flavour and
the colour we need. Secondly, values and respect. Do we respect our
parents and elders enough? Are the gaps here increasing? We need to keep
in mind that education comes from home – our families are the first
“teachers” in our lives. They are crucial to us so respect and values
are important. Thirdly, history – we should know our past so we can
improve our future.”
 |
| Govind Sungh, |
|
 |
| Vutha Lay |
“They need soft skills to be good citizens, vocational skills for employment and basic education to equip them with knowledge.”
For a child to work across a huge spectrum of life, they will need life
skills, core values and the opportunity to unlock the treasure within.”
Getting along with others is a skill that is developed in early childhood. Much of the current research on the importance of social-emotional
learning points to the pre-school years as the sensitive period for
social development. The awareness of self and others,
Having their first social interactions inside and outside the home is on of the most important factors in a successful, strong and healthy relationship between home and school. Therefore, these skills that these people are suggesting are part of the early childhood curriculum and environment. What do you think?
Teaching pre-school children about 
The rationale for environmental education
during the early childhood years is based
on two major premises. First, children must
develop a sense of respect and caring for
the natural environment during their first
few years of life or be at risk for never
developing such attitudes. Second, positive
interactions with the natural environment
are an important part of healthy child
development, and these interactions enhance
learning and the quality of life over the
span of one's lifetime.
Children who are close to nature relate to
it as a source of wonder, joy, and awe.
Wonder -- rather than books, words, or learning
all the facts -- provides the direction and
impetus for environmental education in early
childhood. Environmental education during the
early years should be based on this sense of
wonder and the joy of discovery.
Because young children learn about the
environment by interacting with it, educators
and other adults must attend to the frequency,
nature, and quality of child-environment
interactions during the early years. Many
young children have limited opportunities
for these experiences. In fact, regardless
of where they live, young children spend
most of their time in settings or doing
activities that keep them essentially
isolated from the natural world.
Recreation tends to be indoors (such as
watching TV); transportation tends to be
by car or other motor vehicle rather than
walking; and early childhood centers -- where
many children spend most of their waking
hours -- tend to be oriented more toward
the classroom than the outdoors. The result
is that many young children are at risk of
never developing positive attitudes and
feelings toward the natural environment
or never achieving a healthy degree of
familiarity with their environment.
Earth Day is April 22, 2013
Here are some ideas to celebrate Earth Day with the Children:
1) Make a nature collage
2). Clean up the garden, backyard or the sidewalk.
3). Turn off the lights for a while and read a story with a flashlight. (conserve energy).
4). Read the LLorax ( MY Favorite). Ask the children to draw what they may think the Onceler may look like. ( You only see his hand in the book and in the original Dr. Seuss cartoon).
5.) Visit a park, talk about what you see.
Children's Rights are Human Rights
Did you know that the rights of children was recognized after World War 1? And thanks to the United Nations the recognition of these rights was adopted in the Declaration of Children's Right in 1959. The recognition of the child’s interest and his rights becomes real on 20 November 1989 with the adoption of the
International Convention on the Rights of the Child which is the first international legally binding text recognizing all the fundamental rights of the child.
Many children still do not have access to education. Factors linked to poverty such as unemployment, illness and the
illiteracy of parents, multiply the risk of non-schooling and the
drop-out rate of a child by 2.
Undeniably, many children from disadvantaged backgrounds are forced
to abandon their education due to health problems related to
malnutrition or in order to work and provide support for the family. Many countries do not allocate the monies for schools and fail in training teachers also. Quality education between boys and girls still remain unbalanced. In some countries girls still do not have access to an education.
As an early childhood preschool teacher there is still some concerned about the degree to which my role is still widely misunderstood by both members of the general public and my colleagues in primary and secondary schools. I feel as time progresses and continued research will support the important role we have in early childhood and the contributions we provide toward the world of education as well.
