Baby Pictures

Every child looks different. Every child comes from a different culture and a different part of the world. I think one of the best ways to explore this with preschoolers is by the activity “Baby Pictures”. All you need is baby photographs of each child as well as a current photograph of each child. During circle time, tell the children you have pictures of them as babies. Say, “I’m going to hold up the baby pictures, on at a time. Look at it carefully and see if you can guess who it is.” When the children make a guess, ask them to explain their reasoning. Then set out all the baby photos and all the current photos and allow the children to match the baby to the current. You may then make copies, putting copies on index cards, and make a memory matching game out of it. You then may post the baby picture and current picture side by side on a bulletin board in the classroom. “As a teacher, you have a lot of control over the environment” (York 52). In putting these up around the classroom it helps to promote a non racist classroom. An extension to add to this activity is baby photos and current photos of the staff. The objective of this activity is to help children recognize and celebrate everyone’s physical features, as well as help each child feel unique and special in their own way. The theme of this activity is bodies, families, and our class. This is an appropriate theme for preschool aged children because it teaches them to learn about different features on different bodies, how different families look and their cultures, and the differences and similarities between their classmates and friends. This is a wonderful way to teach children about diversity, in a non stereotypical way! The children may have many different responses to this activity, especially when they explain why they chose which pictures to match. They may talk about the different features like eye shape, color of the hair and skin. Some children may blurt out stereotypical remarks, and it is a great time to correct them. Other children may have a hard time participating because they just can’t picture their friends as a baby. This activity will help children “learn about human diversity, gain respect and appreciation for diversity, learn to recognize and resist stereotypes and unfair behavior, and learn to work with others to stand up for oneself or to challenge bias” (York 137). There are many anti-bias activity goals. For one, this activity will help children Recognize, appreciate, and respect the uniqueness, beauty, value, and contribution of each child. Children will be able to identify each baby and talk about all the features of that precious child. They will be able to realize that each photo is different and beautiful in its own way. This activity will also provide children with a positive experience exploring similarities and differences. This will also help children work as a group and cooperate and communicate with others to match photos. This is also a great activity to increase children's ability to interact, talk and play with people who are different from them. I don’t know if there is a better way than to set out baby photos and current photos and allow children to talk about their differences and similarities. In conclusion, a wonderful way to teach children diversity in an anti-bias way is to look at baby photos and current photos of the children and talk about them. Children learn best when you do activities that interest them. What more fun could preschoolers have then to match their friend’s baby photos to current ones and talk about their features? While doing this, the class can talk about each individual child and what makes them unique and special. Friends can tell friends the features they like about each other. Two books to go along with this activity are, David's Drawings by Cathryn Falwell and Colors Come from God . . . Just Like Me! By Carolyn A. Forché.

The Little Mermaid

I chose to do a film critique on the movie “The Little Mermaid”, originally released in 1989. The Little Mermaid is a movie about a very rebellious mermaid teenager who falls in love with a human. Animals and humans can talk in this movie. As a child I remember thinking Ariel was so pretty and she could sing amazing. I wanted to be a mermaid. I thought it was cool that tridents could blow things up. I am not sure children learn much from this film, it is more of entertaining. I guess if a child is smart enough he or she would not be taught a good lesson. Throughout watching the film, I recognized some lessons that are being taught, some racism, and some stereotyping.
One thing that is typical of a teenager is being unsatisfied with his or her life. Ariel wants a different world, she is not happy with the life she has with her family. She makes excuses for everything. She does not take responsibility for her actions. There are certain parts of this movie that teach children it is ok to be disobedient, and to talk back. Ariel is disobedient, when her father reprimands her and tells her to go to her room; she goes to her secret room full of human things. Sebastian is sent to watch over her and to make sure she listens to her father, but instead he does not tell the king of her secret collection room and follows her when she goes to Ursula to become human. Sebastian says, “We will keep this from the king I won’t tell him and you won’t, and I’ll be in one piece”. Helps keep secrets from her father. Sebastian stereotypes teenagers when he says to King Trident, “Teenagers, you give them an inch they swim all over you”.
The image of being thin a beautiful is portrayed in all characters of this movie. Ariel is this amazingly skinny, beautiful girl who can do whatever she wants, and in the end she is rewarded. Eric is a handsome, fit young man. The message being taught to children is that everyone is thin and beautiful.
In this movie, all the sea creatures are “racist” against humans. Sebastian says, “I told her to stay away from humans; they are bad, they are trouble”. When the King first finds Ariel’s secret room of collections he says, “They are all the same, spineless, savage, harpooning fish eaters”. After the film pretty much gets you to be on the sea creature’s side, it brings you to the human castle and one of the first scenes is in the kitchen with nothing but dead fish and crabs!
If Ariel chooses to be human, she will be away from her father and sisters forever. She is ok with choosing a man over her family.
After doing some research on the internet, I found out some more things. According to the website, http://www.cracked.com/article_15677_the-9-most-racist-disney-characters.html, “a Jamaican-sounding crab teaches Ariel that life is better "Under the Sea," because underwater you don't have to get a job.” This is clearly shown in the song “Under the Sea” lyrics; “Up on the shore they work all day, Out in the sun they slave away, While we devotin', Full time to floatin', under the sea”. This teaches a person that under the sea is better, and you don’t have to get a job. Ursula offers Ariel a way out for her desires. She states this clearly in the song she sings,” "You'll have your looks! Your pretty face! And don't underestimate the importance of body language!"
In conclusion, there is a lot more to this movie than children realize. The way this movie portrays humans is that they are bad, and slave away everyday instead of enjoying life. The movie paints the picture that everyone is skinny and beautiful. Ursula makes a way for Ariel to get out of the life she lives and follow her desires. If as a child I could watch this movie and love it, and not think of all the stereotyping and racism, I would definitely recommend the movie.

The Colours of Us

I chose to do an analysis on the book, “The Colours of Us” by Karen Katz. This is a story, read by a child online who is not white. The story is about a little girl who goes on a walk with her mother and she talks about each person and friend they see and the color of his or her skin. Her mother describes the mixed colors and compares it to something a child would understand, like French toast. Each character in this story is depicted as different individuals who come from different cultures. There is no cultural information, just describes the different colors. As far as power in this story, I would say the mother has the power. She is uses it in a good way to describe to her daughter each friends color. After each time the mother explained the colors mixed and related it to something in the world, there was a good illustration of what this child would look like. Each individual in their own way with their own mixture of colors. Karen Katz wrote this story and illustrated it. The only voice heard is the voice of the child. The mother’s voice as well as each individual described voice is missing. These pictures definitely portray race and culture. The illustrations may portray a stereotype by the color of their skin. I would recommend this book to others. It is a great way for children to learn the different colors mixed to get their friends skin colors.

All about me

Hello, my name is Andrea Fernandez. My parents thought for sure I was going to be a boy, and my original name was Danny, until I came out and was a girl. The name Andrea, ironically, means, “Strong, manly, and brave”. My first language is English. I also speak some Spanish, but understand it better than I can speak it. Both of my parents are fluent in Spanish, and growing up we had a Spanish speaking nanny for about ten years. I was born in Orange, Orange County, California. I lived in Fullerton until about five, then lived in Yorba Linda until I was fourteen, then Grass Valley until eighteen, and ever since then been in Sacramento/Rocklin. I would give anything to go back to Yorba Linda! I currently live in Rocklin. I am Caucasian/Spanish.
Many things are important to me. The most important is God and having a personal relationship with Jesus. Next comes family and friends. It is important to me that I live life to the fullest everyday! The most important thing for teachers to provide for young children is a safe environment, a friendly-like personality, and a guided hand in learning. It is important for teachers to help children learn through hands on experience and taking initiative. After reading this week’s readings, it is also important for teachers to teach children that everyone comes from a different culture, it is good to learn and study their culture, but it does not mean that they are different.
I define myself as a family oriented, strong, goal oriented young lady. I come from a large family; a mother, father, two brothers, and three sisters. We are very family oriented. We grew up in the Christian church, but now that we are all mostly grown, we have each made our own decision to continue our faith in Jesus. My father loves to share his Spanish culture through cooking that he learned from his grandfather. I do not have any children of my own yet, but one day!
I currently nanny for a family that has two boys; one is now seven months and the other boy is two. I love it! We love to read and learn together. We do a lot of playing, because I feel children learn best through play. We set up play dates so the children can interact with others. We often go to wacky tacky, a play place, and the children’s museum in Sacramento. We also go to the park a lot.
Learning about culture and diversity has always intrigued me. It is useful in our day to day life. I am very excited how to teach/tell children about diversity both now and in our future. I would love to learn how to teach kids about diversity when they say, “Nanny, why does that person look like that?” Diversity is changing every day. There is more and more diversity as we grow older and soon white will be the minority.
In my free time I love to play with children, hang out with family and friends, travel, play water polo, and tan. I love all kinds of music.