Learning Centers and Play

Week 4 - Discussion 2

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Your initial discussion thread is due on Day 3 (Thursday) and you have until Day 7 (Monday) to respond to your classmates. Your grade will reflect both the quality of your initial post and the depth of your responses. Refer to the Discussion Forum Grading Rubric under the Settings icon above for guidance on how your discussion will be evaluated.

Learning Centers and Play

A highly debated topic in early childhood education is the role of play in the classroom. Although early childhood educators understand the importance of incorporating play into a developmentally appropriate curriculum, many parents have a difficult time understanding why their child is “playing” in the classroom. Watch the video titled The Role of Play in the Overly-Academic Classroom (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site..

Now, imagine that you have recently had several families in your classroom ask you about why their child is playing in the classroom. You have decided to write a letter to the parents to help them understand why play has been incorporated into your classroom and how it is benefiting the development of their children. Please post your letter as your initial response to this discussion. Your letter should include the following:

• A description of why play is an important part of a      developmentally appropriate curriculum. Support your statements with at      least one scholarly source (see the Scholarly, Peer      Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external      site.)Links to an external site.      table).
• An explanation of how play can help to support a      child’s physical, cognitive, and affective development.
• An example of one play-based activity that demonstrates      to parents how play supports their child’s development. For instance, you      could explain how playing a game of hopscotch can help a child with their      gross motor skills (physical development) and counting (cognitive      development). Please make sure that your play-based activity is an original      idea or that if you use an idea from an outside source it is properly      formatted according to APA as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.      Also, this should be a brief description of an activity. It is not a      lesson plan.

Guided Response: Respond to at least two of your peers. In your response, imagine that you are a parent who was skeptical of play being used in the classroom and you just received this letter from your child’s teacher. For each response, write a letter back to your child’s teacher (your classmate) letting him or her know whether or not the letter has changed your perspective. Include specific reasons as to why you have or have not changed your point of view.