Beloglovsky Miriam - Loose parts 3: inspiring culturally sustainable environments

Published by Redleaf Press

10 Yorkton Court

St. Paul, MN 55117

www.redleafpress.org

2018 by Lisa Daly and Miriam Beloglovsky

All rights reserved. Unless otherwise noted on a specific page, no portion of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or capturing on any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a critical article or review to be printed in a magazine or newspaper, or electronically transmitted on radio, television, or the Internet.

First edition 2018

Cover design by Jim Handrigan

Cover and interior photographs by Jenna Knight

Interior design by Erin Kirk New

Typeset in Berkeley Oldstyle and Trade Gothic

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Daly, Lisa, author. | Beloglovsky, Miriam, author.

Title: Loose parts 3: inspiring culturally sustainable environments / Lisa Daly and Miriam Beloglovsky.

Other titles: Loose parts three

Description: First edition. | St. Paul, MN: Redleaf Press, 2018. | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017053657 (print) | LCCN 2018001731 (ebook) | ISBN 9781605544670 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Play. | Early childhood educationActivity programs. | Creative activities and seat work.

Classification: LCC LB1139.35.P55 (ebook) | LCC LB1139.35.P55 D36 2018 (print) | DDC 372.21dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017053657

To all who believe in equity

To all who advocate for social justice

To all who honor and value childrens identities

To all who strive to understand and create culturally sustainable environments

To all who aspire to build relationships and create a sense of belonging

To all who desire to represent culture with authenticity, respect, and humanity

To all who seek authentic connections to real people and experiences

Table of Contents

Contents

Part of our love for writing includes the opportunity to work with a wonderful group of colleagues, family members, friends, and students who support, inspire, and challenge us. Without them, our work would be harder and less rewarding. This book has been a powerful journey. We learned from each other and from many voices that validated and provoked our work and thinking.

We value the contributions of so many. Iris Dimond, thank you for your passion and relentless guidance, and for sharing your beautiful ceramic work with us. We are grateful to Jeanette Mulhern, Laurel Doyle, and Hannah Dimond for giving us their time and commitment to clean and design early childhood environments. To Eunyoung Hwang, we thank you for teaching us about your Korean culture and for sharing beautiful Korean artifacts and your amazing artistic abilities. Tim Craig, we are appreciative of our conversations and for the new knowledge and in-depth perspectives you shared. Cheri Quishenbery, we want to express thanks for all your support and assistance and acknowledge your reflective capacity and courage to do what is right for children. Denyse Cardoza and Gail Nadal, we thank you for your vision, leadership, and extraordinary support. We are indebted to Annette, Cassandra, Cheri, Jana, Josie, Leslie, Michael, Michelle, Sara, and Whitney for welcoming us into their learning environments and joining us in a culturally sustainable journey. Peggy at Asylum Down and Yabobo, thank you for opening your basement and for authentic baskets and instruments.

We want to acknowledge the contribution of our wonderful advisory members: Shawn Bryant, Kellie Cunningham Bliss, Joyce Daniels, Iris Dimond, Michelle Grant-Groves, Michael Leeman, Lorraine Lima, Cindy Linhares, Patrick Pieng, Tu Bears, and Esther Villa. We are forever grateful for your time, dedication, and wisdom. Our time together was powerful, moving, hard, and rewarding. You pushed us beyond our limits, revealed sticky issues, and provided valuable guidance. We look forward to our collaborative and significant work continuing and unfolding with deeper richness and delight.

Michelle Grant-Groves, you touch our hearts in so many ways. We want to give special recognition to you for being our reflective partner, asking the tough questions, and facilitating our advisory meetings. We are forever grateful to you for helping us articulate our design concepts. Thank you for being the change.

Jenna Knight, you give us hope for the next generation of educators. Your advocacy voice resonates loudly to shape the future of policy decisions that will positively impact young children and families and ensure that all children have access to high-quality education. Once again, your photography is inspiring and captures the vision of the manuscript.

We want to thank the staff at Redleaf Press for their ongoing support. David Heath, you are an incredible editor whose deep involvement strengthened the manuscript. Your encouragement means more than we can ever express. Laurie Herrmann, thank you for believing in us and for encouraging us. Kara Lomen, your wisdom continues to inspire us. Jim Handrigan, your cover design and creative direction on the interior have given us another beautiful book. Douglas Schmitz, we value your publishing insight and careful oversight of our manuscripts from start to finish. Sue Ostfield, your energy and ideas are remarkable. Eric Johnson, your marketing creativity is exceptional. Meredith Burks, we appreciate all you do to keep us informed. Steven Rhoden, we appreciate all your support and assistance.

Lisa: Words cannot express how grateful I am to Dan and Jenna for always being there and going the extra mile to help in every capacity throughout the writing and photographing of this manuscript. Thank you for your continued faithfulness, generosity, and support.

Miriam: For me this is a bittersweet book, because I wrote most of it as I supported my mom in her last days of life. I dedicate this book to her for always believing in me and for letting me know Everything will work out, and you will be okay. Thank you, Mom and Dad.

We, the authors, have a vision of early childhood environments that not only support childrens academic knowledge but also embrace and celebrate childrens cultural identities. We believe that children deserve to learn in environments that are supportive of their identities. We want to inspire early childhood educators and families to empower children to engage in critical inquiry as they learn about people who are different from them.