What did you do on your summer vacation?
In previous summers, if you would have asked Early Childhood Education (ECE) adjunct faculty Sabrina Ball that question, you would have been entertained with tales of travel. This summer the pandemic kept her much closer to home and offered time for reflection and productivity. As a result, ECE now has a new early childhood publication! With the help of many of the educators at Pinnacle Presbyterian Preschool, Sabrina created a new book titled, Play Is Serious Business, A Day in the Life of Preschool (book cover pictured). Many vivid and colorful photographs illustrate how to begin your day with family partnerships and end with special closing routines. The in between is filled with wonder and intellectual challenge wrapped in the context of supporting relationships. Play Is Serious Business is at the printer and will be available in the PVCC bookstore in time for the Spring semester. Congratulations and thank you to Sabrina and the amazing educators at Pinnacle Presbyterian Preschool for creating this excellent compilation of the beauty of teaching and learning with young children.
What does a creative writer have in common with four-year old children?
We weren’t sure, however, adjunct faculty and First Things First Early Childhood Education Coordinator, Jennifer Hicks, wanted to find out. Jennifer has organized a year long study with Creative Writing Faculty Ryan Stone, MFA. The pair meets biweekly to study the stories children are creating in Jennifer’s preschool class. The first sessions have been full of stories from the children and lessons from Ryan. They have found an abundance of evidence of character development and elements of story. This study of children’s story development is a good match for Ryan’s teaching interests of fostering creative growth and thinking in the creative writing classroom and workshop settings. The children in Jennifer’s program just might be his youngest students.
The sketch (pictured) by Jennifer Hicks is inspired by the children’s book, I’m NOT Just a Scribble. In the block area with a red cape, you might be a pumpkin king or a vampire.
Counseling 411 for Early Childhood Education Majors
In response to student worries and concerns, ECE faculty Ana Stigsson and adjunct faculty Gilbert Romero-Mewharter collaborated with PVCC Counseling faculty, Dr. Cathy Mendoza and Andrea Macias to offer a special session for ECE majors. Students had the opportunity to express stresses including fear of illness, death and serious illness in the family, loss of employment, and much more. The evening counseling session was held on October 26, 2020. The session focused on how to identify stress in its many forms and then learn strategies to cope. Participants were offered the opportunity to schedule a one on one counseling session with the presenters after the workshop.