Body Paintings!

The activity that I chose to do is called, Body Paintings. Before I started this activity I read the book, Here are My Hands, by Bill Martin.

This is a children’s book that briefly describes body parts in a rhyming way. This book will help me trigger children’s thoughts about differences and similarities between them and their peers. It can also initiate different themes such as: I’m me and I’m special, boys and girls, alike and different, colors, and bodies. For my particular activity we concentrated on the theme, this is my body and I’m special.

Two more books that I think will go well with this activity are: My Noisy Body by Liza Fromer and Francine Gerstein M.D., and I am a Loveable Me, by Sharon Penchina and Dr. Stuart Hoffman. Both of these books connect with this activity by discussing the body and promoting a positive self esteem.

For this activity, I used large white butcher paper, paints, large paint brushes, paint platters, and tape. When I presented this activity, the children were very excited. It is important to be prepared for this part of the activity because there is a lot of energy. Also, I did this activity inside, I would do it outside in the future for an easier cleanup.

Have the children get into groups of two. Give each group a plate of paint and a paintbrush and two long pieces (long enough for each child to lay down on and have their whole body on the paper) of butcher paper. Have each child trace around their partner with the paint. After the paint is dry, the children can cut out the outlined person of themselves. Hang them up on a wall and ask children questions to trigger thoughts about the similarities and differences between the cutouts.

This activity meets anti-bias goals by helping to minimize and heal damage to children’s cultural identity. (York, 126 - 127) It is teaching children how to relate to one another and how to play fair by taking turns. (York, 127) Early education is a time when children acquire a self - concept, build their self esteem, learn how to make new friends, become aware of community, and learn to use new words to express themselves. (York, 129)

This activity promotes all of these, which will help them to grow up functioning well in society.

Another activity to do as an extension to this one is skin color match up. This will promote the theme, this is me and I’m special. It includes comparing different skin colors to different skin tone paints by painting it onto their skin. Each child gets to find their personal skin color. The children seem to really enjoy this activity, probably because they get to paint on themselves.

I also like to use a hair activity as an follow up. In this activity, the children get to compare their hair color and texture to their peers and then to different items such as yarn, material, fake fur, feathers, magazine cut outs, and glitters. When they think they have found a match they will get to share it with the rest of the class; they get to explain why they think it matches their own. It is fun to write down these things and post them next to the imposter hair items. If the Body Painting activity has already been completed, this hair could also be glued to it by the children, along with the captions. It makes a nice addition to the paper people. Children really seem to enjoy it.

The appropriate age for this activity is early childhood, ages 3 - 6 years old. The reason for this age group is the children are asking questions about their body during this time and are interested in themes about the body. (York, 180)

This is an appropriate theme because children learn best when they are exploring materials, experiencing the world with their whole bodies, as well as interacting with a variety of people. (York, 188)

The goals that this activity address are: recognize, appreciate, and respect the uniqueness, beauty, value and contribution of each child, foster positive self-esteem and a positive self-concept in children, promote respect towards others, increase children’s ability to interact, talk and play with people who are different form them, and help children live happily and cooperatively in a diverse world. (Goals for Anti-Bias Curriculum)

In conclusion, I chose this activity, not only because I thought the children would have a great time with it, but because it is a great tool for teaching anti-bias curriculum.

Peter Pan Critique

Peter Pan by Disney 1953

I have watched this movie hundreds of times in my life.  It has been one of my favorites for years.  Today however was the first time I watched it with my eyes wide open. 

I noticed a few interesting things.  The first thing I noticed were the stereotypes that were displayed about women.  It showed that women were in charge of all of the domestic responsibilities, including taking care of the children in the movie.  The mother was doing it.  Then, the oldest daughter was very motherly to her brothers.  People might be concerned with this because she is doing the mothers job instead of being a child.

 

It depicted that a woman is to be quiet when her husband makes a decision in the family.  I saw this in the part when the children all ran over to make sure Nana the dog wasn't  hurt when Father tripped over the toys and Nana crashed.  Then Father drug the dog outside.  Mother just watched even though the children were all sad.

The next thing I noticed was a lot of dangerous activity and smoking. Captain Hook is smoking not one but two cigars.  In one of the the pirate scenes they were putting knives in their mouth and throwing them.  I know that this is not something that parents want their children watching. It is interesting that now my son thinks that only bad people smoke cigarettes.  Such a hard thing to try to explain.

Please listen to the following video on mute.

 

The movie continues on to a part where Captain Hook kidnaps Tiger Lily, the Indian Chiefs daughter.  How extremely terrifying for a child to think that they might be kidnapped by a pirate! 

Then the whole tribe comes after The Lost Boys and the Darlings to try to get Tiger Lily back.  They take them as prisoners and tie them up with plans to burn them at the stake.  This is when the worst stereotyping comes into play in the movie.  Disney has the "Indians" all very large in the belly, toothless, and they seem ignorant.  Not to mention that they are colored red and singing about it.  It doesn't show a lot of respect to the culture or the race.   

Plus, they have the children smoking pipes!

There are also parts where they show bullying between Wendy and the mermaids.  The mermaids make Wendy feel so bad about herself that she wants to leave Neverland.  This kind of behavior is very unacceptable in our schools today.  As a parent I don't love this.  I remember how hard it was, too.

Peter Pan is talking to the mermaids about how he cut off Captain Hooks hand.  Throughout the whole movie there is an extreme amount of violence.  The bomb that was sent as a present to Peter Pan that blew

up Tinkerbell, please mute

the sword fights, the knife fights, gun please mute

fights, and the alligator that is hunting and continually is trying to eat Captain Hook.  It is hard to explain to a child not to fight when the hero in the movie is considered good for doing it. 

Book Analysis

The book I chose is called Everywhere Babies. It was written by Susan Meyers and illustrated by Marla Frazee in 2001. They are both mothers and have a lot of experience in the subject of babies.

The book is a description about babies and what they do from age to their first birthday.

I originally purchased this book because it shows all races, gender, and age blended together in a happy community.  The narrative in this book shows that the characters, babies, are born, fed, cuddled, played with, kissed, dressed, rocked, carried, and have the same basic physical abilities, regardless of race.  It does this well. It represents families in their everyday ways.  Everyone is dressed similarly to the style of today.  They are wearing casual attire. 

It depicts people of all races well.  Almost everyone has distinctive features. 

I did find some stereotyping.  The grandmothers and old people were all very old and mostly overweight.

 

I also noticed that the two African American mothers had twins. I found this interesting because statistically, African American have more twins fraternally. (Berk, 55)

The lifestyles and everyday activities were non stereotyped. It has a picture of a father feeding a baby, a grandfather feeding a baby, as well as a mother. It even has a picture of a baby being breastfed.

I noticed that the same consistent standard of success in class of across cultures .  They depict this by giving all the characters a general amount of materialistic things. 

I did notice that the parents, when shown together, are from the same race.  They are not interracial.  With the exception of the same sex couples. 





This book has a great page with a chaotic pool scene.  I love this page the most.  I work with babies and this is a normal scenario when having a pool day.  Everyone is in their own little world.  Some babies are having a great time, while others are not.  A Caucasion baby wants out of the pool so she is reaching for help.  An African American hand is offering assistance.  Then, on the other side of the pool, an African American baby is falling out of or over in the pool and a Caucasion adult is resolving her conflict by helping her up. It again shows a blend of races coming together.

Works Cited.

Berk, Laura E. Infants, Children, and Adolescents. Boston. Allyn & Bacon. Print.

Who Am I?

Hello. I am Mindy. I speak English as my first language. I have taken many years of language classes but I still fail to be fluent in any of them.
I was born in Grass Valley, Ca. I grew up here, and I live here still. I love it here. It is beautiful.
I am Caucasian. I am mostly from German and Irish descent however I am also Native American and English.
My paternal Grandfather was Irish. My paternal Grandmother is Native American and Irish. My maternal Grandmother is English and German. My maternal Grandfather is German.
My paternal great great Grandmother was 100% Cherokee.
My paternal Grandparents were from West Virginia.
My maternal Grandparents were form Colorado but my Grandfather was born in Germany.
My culture has been strongly influenced by religion. It is the basis of all our family holidays and get togethers.
My family is the most important thing to me. I live my life for them all.
I think the most important thing teachers can do to provide for young children is to make them feel accepted amongst their peers regardless of race, or disabilities. I also feel it is important to make sure everyone has the opportunity to be included in all activities.
I define myself as loyal, fair, passionate, and genuine.
I have a blended family. I have two step daughters 15 and 17. I gave birth to two boys 11 and 3.  Our girls are both cheer leaders at Nevada Union. My older son is a wrestler, and a baseball player. He is also in the band at school and raises hogs in 4-H. I love being a mother. It is very rewarding. Although very trying at times as well.
I have been working with children for 11 years now. I started out at a center where I worked with infants. I continued on after that with my own in home, small family child care business. I still have my business but only part time while I get my degree.
In my business I have all ready learned a lot about other families cultures. This class will help me in the future by allowing me to understand people better. To have an open mind.
I love music. I love to exercise at the gym.
In my spare time I like to travel with my family, ride quads, go camping, and watch my kids in their activities. I call it making memories.

just checking

Hello all....