PS4: Implements curriculum using a variety of learning strategies, including play-based and teacher-directed approaches, in order to meet the needs of all young children
Evidence 1: Apple Web
Description: I created this web after one of my students returned to the preschool having experienced a weekend apple picking trip with her family. A month long unit of study resulted.
Analysis: Webbing is a useful tool in curriculum planning. When a child shows interest in a specific topic (like apples), I can then plan various activities that touch upon the core areas of curriculum development as well as the developmental domains. As children engage in picking apples off a tree at a local apple orchard, they not only learn more about the community in which they are a part of, but also are able to explore gross motor and science skills as they grab an apple and experiment with the force needed to successfully remove it from the tree.
Evidence 2: Apple Documentation
Description: Upon completion of our study of apples, I created this documentation panel detailing some of the activities that the children engaged in along with some of the core standards and developmental domains being explored.
Analysis: The curriculum involving apples began based on the interest of the children within my classroom. As we continued to expand upon that theme, my interactions with the children took many forms. At times I took the less intrusive method, and merely spent time describing what I saw the children doing. I also spent time asking many open ended questions so that children could apply knowledge that they already had and then build upon that understanding.
Evidence 3: Hannah's Collections Lesson Plan and Photographs
Description: One day during clean up, I observed a child placing toys on a shelf. As she would place an object, she would state, "You go here because you're a dinosaur. You go here because you're a car." As she continued to group objects based on their characteristics, I began to think about how I could encourage this burgeoning math skill. This lesson and photographsresulted.
Analysis: Although play is the work of young children and aids in building many skills, there are some concepts that require a mixture of play-based exploration and teacher instruction. It is my job as an education to plan , gather materials and determine whether that skill or concept should be taught individually, in a small group or to the entire class. In the beginning this lesson was very much teacher-directed, but as the materials used were left on our manipulative shelf, children began to explore and discover other ways to sort them based on color, number of holes in each button, and by size. As the student's understanding of classification increased, this activity started to become child-initiated.
