“Creating an Anti-bias Learning Community”

Imagine that you want to open your own Family Child Care Home. Reflect on what your setting would look like, what elements you think you might want to include and for what reasons, and the various ways that you will strive to ensure that every child and family feels welcome and respected.
“The environment rich in anti-bias materials invite exploration and discovery and supports children’s play and conversation in both emergent and planned activities.” (Derma-Sparks & Edwards, 2010)
A family child care home that I feel would welcome children and their families would be very similar to Ms. Castillo’s home. The entrance would have a warm and friendly atmosphere that when you walk into my home there will be a place for children’s special belongings like a place to put their coats in the winter months and where parents can pick-up information for students.
The looks around the rooms: “anyone who enters your classroom can tell immediately who is in your program at that time.” (Derma-Sparks, 2010) The will be pictures of the children in my program and pictures of each child’s family. There will be a welcome to our school sign posted with bright welcoming colors and my name in many different languages. Ms. Castillo has some wonder rooms in her home and it gave me a lot of ideas to use when setting up my family child care home.
I would have many rooms for learning and fun. Anti- bias materials are important for all the rooms because it teaches children that anti-biases are present everywhere. The reading rooms will have shelves filled with books that teach children about children and their relationships with other children and other people. The play room will be filled with toys and books that represent children and families. The area for curriculum activities will represent people that have made a different in the lives of children and have made a mark on the world. All the materials will be appropriate for the classroom and will be centered on the curriculum for that room.
I would like to include in my family child care home, picture that display working families and pictures that demonstrate the community in which they live and where other children like them live too. There will be an area for rest and an area for play: An area for learning an area to start the day. Pictures of children learning in the classroom and displaying diversity a message of what happens in everyday life around the world. It is important that children learn about other cultures and how children learn and play, and how they interact with other and the many different ways that children live in other cultures.
“The first step in creating an ideal caring learning environment in classrooms and schools is to pose the following question to the policy-makers, teachers, leaders and parents of the school community: Are you aware that the daily culture of the school is the primary factor that supports students’ development and academic learning?” (Gibbs, 2013)