I believe that children should be allowed to grow at their own pace and learn in ways that help them become confident in themselves. As a teacher, I help children learn about themselves and the world around them and encourage them to feel good about who they are and where they came from. I also believe that children learn by doing hands on activities. To support this, I provide a variety of quality learning material throughout a set schedule that should be followed each day. This makes the children know what comes when and at the same time, helps them feel secure when they know that every day I will read to them at circle time and that we go outside for snack, etc. I believe that children need free choices throughout their daily routine. But they also need planned activities that help them learn new things as well as feel good about what they can do. As a teacher I encourage children to do things on their own, be curious, and be interested in everything that is going on around them. I talk to them, ask them open ended questions, and answer their questions to help them learn new words, and to express their ideas and feelings. I also value working with families and parents as partners. I believe that parents are the child's first teacher so we both need to work together to help the child enter school and succeed in their future life.