Sitter in Cherryville, North Carolina

I have worked in Child Care since 1996. I started out as an assistant and loved it so much that I went back to Pasadena City College and took all the Child Care Courses they had. I have taken a seminar for Autistic Children (Floor Time), 6 units for literacy in early childhood at Pacific Oaks Collage. I enjoy reading stories and try to put as much life into them as possible. While we are on the subject of stories, I do puppetry as well. Reading is such a complicated skill. It takes being able to recognise letters as well as draw them and understanding that they make up words and can recite the ABCs. It is amazing how much a under 5 year old grasps these skills. Each child is different and learns at there own pace. Crafts are always fun and should be simple enough for the children to do by themselves. I like to have children cut and tear paper for colliages, do messy paint. Science and cooking go hand in hand. Volcanoes, play dough and cookies all have to be mixed and measured. Learning the seasons and how the sun and moon go around us is fun to do as crafts, reading books, and playing at being an astronaut and making a rocket out of a big or little box. One must not forget Math and counting, like reading it has many stages of learning. In the past I have used and abacus to demonstrate adding and subtracting and counting by tens. Some of them get it and some don’t but they have been introduced. Algebra in 9th grade made no since for me but algebra in college was very understandable. Children learn and understand at different times. For all that us teachers put forward for the children, play is were they learn to practice what they learn and put it to social use. So let them play, it is important. I have a great love of children. If there is a child that I don’t warm up to I try to get to know him or her. To make a friend of a child is to make a bright spot in your life and bring you closer to Christ. Leslie