Curriculum Project

Wendy Ratkovec

Group Description:

Full day Kindergarten

8:45-3:00

22 students

Aide from 10:00-12:30

Philosophy Statement:

As an Early Childhood Teacher, I believe:

·        Each program is different and must be flexible.

·        An Early Childhood Program should be developed based upon the students needs and interests.

·        The program should provide a child centered positive, comfortable, stable, and loving environment where students are able to interact with the teachers and their peers to enhance their self-esteem.

·        Experiences should foster social, physical, cognitive, and emotional growth and development.

·        Each child learns at his or her own pace; when he or she is maturationally ready.  Meaningful experiences and social interactions with peers and adults foster this readiness.

·        That children learn best through hands-on experiences that are both teacher-directed and student-directed.

·        In order for the learning to be meaningful, outside resources, especially families need to be involved in the learning process.

·        A child’s family should be continuously informed, and encouraged to participate in their child’s learning, through meetings, conversations (conferences), visits (by teacher to child’s home and by family member to school), newsletters, etc…

·        My duty as a teacher is to plan a variety of experiences and activities for the children to choose from to foster each student’s level of learning or maturation.

·        It is also my duty to help teach appropriate social skills and discipline, while assessing and evaluating each child’s developmental level to meet his or her needs and interests, determined through observations, interviews, parent conversations, checklists, and portfolios.

Program Goals:

The goals of my program are to:

1.)    Individualize experience of instructional activities by gearing it to the abilities and interests of each child.

2.)    Stretch children’s current levels of thinking into the “Zone of Proximal Development.”

3.)    Welcome parents and family members as partners in their children’s learning process and involve them through:

·        Meetings

·        Conversations (Conferences)/Open Houses

·        Home visits

·        Newsletters

·        Activities

·        Classroom or Class projects/Fieldtrips…

4.)    Provide a variety of experiences to foster the child’s ability to express his or her ideas, knowledge, concerns, and questions about himself or herself and the world.

5.)    Provide experiences that are multicultural, embrace diversity, and are inclusive of ethnic and racial groups, personal styles, differences, languages, and family cultures and styles by recognizing and appreciating each child as an individual.

6.)    Design a curriculum that is child-centered and both student and teacher directed, and also supports teacher’s planning and duties but remains flexible enough to acknowledge and adapt to children’s interests and needs.

7.)    Encourage discovery and learning through play (the primary source of learning) in all curriculum areas including Language, Expressive Arts, Physical, Social and Emotional, and Cognitive.

8.)    Stress child-generated solutions to problems by

·        Enhancing communication and social skills

·        Developing good self-control and respect for others

·        Encouraging feelings of self-worth

·        Providing activities and opportunities for expressing feelings

·        Encouraging creative and abstract thinking

·        Emphasizing the value of children’s contributions to their own learning.

Curriculum Framework:

As an Early Childhood teacher, I believe in a combination of both Pestelossi’s Maturationist and Piaget’s Constructivist views.  My curriculum framework model supports the diverse developmental levels of all students.  It emphasizes both the environment and social interactions to foster this development.  Play is the primary form of learning, and teacher interaction with the students leads to the “Zone of Proximal Development” and Higher-Order thinking.  The role of the teacher is to evaluate each child’s developmental level and provide appropriate materials to encourage learning.

Framework:

1.)    Cognitive Development

2.)    Expressive Arts

3.)    Language Development

4.)    Social/Emotional Development **

5.)    Physical Development *

** Denotes Framework Areas with goals

4.) Social and Emotional Development Goals will be fostered through everyday experiences and opportunities to:

1.)    Develop a positive self-esteem and feeling of satisfaction with accomplishments.

2.)    Learn to express feelings appropriately.

3.)    Develop friendships and cooperative social skills

4.)    Express ideas, knowledge, concerns, and questions about himself or herself and the world.

5.)    Recognize and appreciate personal differences and differences of others.

6.)    Enhance communication and social skills through adult and peer interactions.

7.)    Develop self-control and knowledge of sharing, taking turns, etc…

8.)    Encourage creative and abstract thinking and problem solving.

9.)    Develop a positive attitude for learning.

10.) Develop respect and appreciation for the environment.

5.) Physical Development goals will be fostered through daily experiences and opportunities to:

1.)    Develop awareness and respect of their bodies.

2.)    Develop lifelong learning skills and understanding of good nutrition, safety, and exercise.

3.)    Recognize capabilities of their bodies in motor and sensory areas.

4.)    Experience large and small muscle use in indoor and outdoor environments.

5.)    Develop an appreciation and enjoyment of movement and learning through movement.

6.)    Develop social/emotional, language, cognitive, and expressive arts skills through physically active opportunities.

7.)    Experience world through physical opportunities by exploring, manipulating, experimenting, and all sensory areas-taste, smell, tough, hear, sight.

8.)    Enhance gross and fine motor coordination, flexibility and agility.

Core & Supplementary Materials:

Language:

Listening: headphones, tape recorder, tapes (blank and pre-recorded)

Reading: books, child-authored books, big books, catalogs, magazines, newspaper and comics, telephone, poetry books, comfy quiet private reading space, good lighting and/or lamps

Writing: letters, letter stencils, chalkboard, various sizes of envelopes, various sizes and colors of paper, magnetic letters, chalk and chalkboard, variety of writing utensils, stamp pad, stamp set (including letters and numbers), overhead, transparencies, washable markers

Other materials to include: flannel board with letters and numbers, alphabet guides, children’s work file, bulletin board for student work, typewriter, encyclopedia, dictionaries, thesauruses, lists of “use a lot” words

Teacher Materials:

Assessment tools

Machado, Jeanne M.  Early Childhood Experiences in Language Arts, 6^th Ed.  Delmar Publishers; Albany, 1999.

Unit Themes:

٠ The Five Senses

٠ Airplanes & Flight

٠ Exploring Space

٠ Scientists & Inventors

٠ My Family

٠ Art & Artists

٠ Dinosaurs

٠ Our Neighborhood

٠ Fossils & Rocks

٠ The Rainforest

٠ Machines

٠ Storytelling

Criteria for Theme Selection:

·        Is the theme developmentally appropriate?

·        Does it allow opportunity for change to follow the children’s interests as they develop?

·        How will I adapt for special needs and/or situations and learning styles?

·        How does it allow for each of the following:

-         Multiculture

-         Gender Diversity

-         Individual Differences

-         Cultural Backgrounds and Home Experiences

·        How will it involve my students’ families?

·        Does the theme make a connection to real life experiences for my students?

·        How will I provide hands-on experiences with real objects?

·        How will the children acquire knowledge through the use of all five senses?

·        In what ways will the theme address all areas of development: social, emotional, cognitive, physical, and expressive arts?

Curricular Strands:

٭ Math

٭ Computer

٭ Art

٭ Blocks, Building/Construction

٭ Dramatic Play

٭ Language Arts

٭ Natural & Social Science (Discovery)

Theme/Unit:

Our Neighborhood

Rationale:

Children are naturally curious about the world they live in.  By building on this curiosity, the Kindergartners will learn about their neighborhood and it’s people, environment, community helpers, buildings, transportation systems, etc…

Goals:

My goals are developed according to a developmentally appropriate curriculum.  Not all students have the maturity or potential to learn everything in as much detail or the same as another child.  For this reason, my goals are divided into three different categories:

1.)    Goals some students will reach

2.)    Goals most students will reach

3.)    Goals all students will reach

Vocabulary:

1.)    Community

2.)    Neighborhood

3.)    Business

4.)    Environment

5.)    Occupations

6.)    Pollution

7.)    Community Helpers

8.)    Recycle

Concepts:

1.)    Cooperation

2.)    Problem Solving

3.)    Social Skills

4.)    Creativity

5.)    Respect and Acceptance

6.)    Area

7.)    Matching/Sorting

Large Group:

F *Neighborhood Walk                      

I *Parent and/or Adult Speakers

F *Important Neighborhood Area sketching

F *Books and Videos

 F *School Yard Beautification Project

I *Field trip to a Community Business

Small Group:

S *Construct Community buildings out of blocks or clay and toothpicks

F *Make a map of the Neighborhood

F *Design a business in the play house area

S *Neighborhood Sights book

I *When I Grow Up, I Want to Be…books

S *Pollution survey

S *Design a Community Newspaper

Self Selection:

F *Read books

F *Listen to audio stories and songs

S *Neighborhood Pollution collages (Clean and Polluted)

** F,S,I  identify either a foundational, skilled, or impressional activity

Materials and Resources:

Large Group activity materials:

Camera, parent/adult speaker letters, clipboards, pencils, personal space, trashbags, gloves, permission slips

Small Group activity materials:

Blocks, clay, toothpicks, postcards and pictures of buildings, small human figures, small vehicles, drawing and art materials, rulers, butcher paper, many different sizes and shapes of boxes, toilet paper tubes, other recycled materials, computer, printer, My Own Story software, magazines, periodicals, glue, paper, tape, pencils, large graph paper, recording data sheets, example of a community newspaper, paper

Self Selection activity materials:

Good lighting, comfortable space, headphones, blank tapes, pre-recorded tapes, scrap materials, recycled materials, paper, drawing and art materials, magazines, newspapers, glue, tape

Bibliography of Teachers Resources and Children’s Books

Children’ Books:

Albert, D.  Where Does the Trail Lead?.  New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991.

Brown, M.W. The Little Farmer.  New York: Young Scott Books, 1948

Brown, M.W. The Little Fireman.  New York: Young Scott Books, 1952

Brown, R.  100 Words About Working.  San Diego: Gulliver, 1988.

Christiansen, C.B.  My Mother’s House, My Father’s House.  New York: Athheneum,

            1989.

Florian, D.  A Carpenter.  New York: Greenwillow Press, 1991.

Florian, D.  A Potter.  New York: Greenwillow Press, 1991.

Florian, D.  An Automechanic.  New York: Greenwillow Press, 1991.

Greenfield, E.  Night on Neighborhood Street.  New York: Dial Press, 1991.

Koss, A.G.  City Critters Around the World.  Los Angeles: Price Stern Sloan, 1991.

Sargent S. & Writ, D.A.  My Favorite Place.  New York: Abingdon, 1983.

Scarry, R.  Richard Scarry’s Cars & Trucks & Things that Go.  New York:

            Western, 1974.

Children’s Audio Tapes:

My Community by David C. Cook

Teacher Materials:

Filmstrips & Videos:

People Serving Your Community by National Geographic

What is a Neighborhood?  By Coronet Films

Pictures:

From the Society for Visual Education:

Communities Provide Resources

            Communities Provide Services

            Fire Department Helpers

            Hospital Helpers

Police Department Helpers

            Postal Helpers

            Supermarket Helpers

            What is a Community?

From The Child’s World

            Going Places by Air

            Going Places by Land

            Going Places by Water

From David C. Cook

            Home and Community Helpers

            My Community

            Transportation

Teacher Resources:

Seeger, R.C., American Folk Songs for Children.  New York: Doubleday, 1980. 

Hohmann, Charles.  Learning Environment.  Ypsilanti, Michigan: High/Scope Press, 1992.

Kostelnik, J. Marjorie, Ed.  Themes Teachers Use.  Glenview, IL: Goodyear Books, 1996

Mayesky, Mary.  Creative Activities for Children in the Early Primary Grade.  New York: Delmar Publishing, Inc., 1986.

McKinnon, Elizabeth.  Learning & Caring About Our Town.  Everett, WA: Warren Publishers, Inc., 1992.

Wenning, J., & Wortis, S.  Made by Human Hands: A Curriculum for Teaching Young People About Work and Working People.  Cambridge, MA: The Multicultural Project for Communication and Education, 1985.

Wortham, Sue Clark.  Early Childhood Curriculum.  New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1998.

Wortham, Sue Clark.  Measurement and Evaluation in Early Childhood Education.  New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1995.

One Day Schedule:

Tuesday, 25 April, 00

8:45-9:15:        Gathering time and opening.  Review Monday’s activities, Introduce Tuesday: Neighborhood Businesses

9:15-10:00:      Video- What is a Neighborhood?  Discussion following video about our what makes our area a neighborhood.

10:00-10:20:    Description and discussion of a business

10:20-10:40:    Recess, Snack available

10:40-11:15:    Group breakdown—Groups design a business

11:15-11:30:    Leave for Fieldtrip to Restaurant

11:30-12:00:    Tour of Restaurant.  Restaurant will be very busy, so students will only be able to tour in very small groups.  But I want them to see how busy it gets and how much work it requires to run a business.

12:00-12:30:    Lunch at restaurant

12:30-12:45:    Return to classroom

12:45-1:30:      Reading and Rest Hour

1:30-1:45:        Music and Movement—Outside

1:45-2:00         Vote for one business to be in the Playhouse area

2:00-2:40:        Individual or group time in centers of choice

2:40-2:50:        Center Review and sharing

2:50-3:00         Prep for Dismissal, Dismiss