Best Practice-Early Childhood Curriculum

Summary

This presentation focuses on best practices for early childhood curriculum development. It emphasizes the importance of a well-planned curriculum for children's learning and outlines factors influencing curriculum choices. The presentation discusses the necessity of assessment, scope and sequence, teaching strategies, and progress monitoring. It also highlights the significance of aligning curriculum with societal values, developmental stages, and children's interests, while ensuring it is comprehensive, developmentally appropriate, and research-based.

Takeaways

• 📚 Early childhood curriculum is complex and includes various components such as goals, content, and pedagogy.
• 👶 Administrators play a crucial role in selecting a curriculum that maximizes benefits for children and implementing it effectively.
• 📈 Research by Green and Cocoa shows that children learn more in programs with a well-planned and implemented curriculum.
• 📝 A high-quality curriculum should be in written form and guide teachers and caregivers in planning and implementing learning experiences.
• 🌟 The curriculum should be based on child development and learning, taking into account various developmental stages.
• 📈 Developmentally appropriate practice means teaching children at their individual and group developmental levels.
• 📖 A good curriculum is a written document used for planning experiences and is influenced by societal values, content standards, accountability systems, research findings, community expectations, culture, language, and individual children's characteristics.
• 🔍 Choosing a curriculum involves considering various factors and models, such as Montessori or play-based learning.
• 📊 Assessment is the first element of a curriculum, used to determine children's developmental levels and guide instruction.
• 📈 Scope and sequence define the developmental domains or content areas and present learner goals in a developmental sequence.
• 📅 Lesson planning involves determining daily activities and experiences, including both indoor and outdoor activities, and may target individual or group goals.
• 🌐 The curriculum should be comprehensive, covering all areas of development, and validated by professional standards and research.

Q & A

What is the primary role of administrators in relation to curriculum development?

The primary role of administrators is to choose a curriculum that has the greatest benefit for the children in their program and to implement a system for putting that curriculum into practice.

Why is it important for early childhood settings to have a well-planned curriculum?

Research shows that children learn more in programs where there is a well-planned and implemented curriculum, making it essential for every early childhood setting to have a high-quality curriculum.

How is curriculum defined according to the NAEYC position statement?

Curriculum, according to the NAEYC position statement, is more than a collection of enjoyable activities. It is a complex idea containing multiple components such as goals, content, and pedagogy or instructional practices.

What does developmentally appropriate practice mean in the context of early childhood education?

Developmentally appropriate practice means teaching children where they are developmentally as individuals and as a group, and helping each child reach challenging but achievable goals.

What factors influence the curriculum in early childhood education?

Factors that influence curriculum include society's values, content standards, accountability systems, research findings, community expectations, culture, language, and individual children's characteristics and skills.

What should a good curriculum be according to the script?

A good curriculum should be a written document used in planning experiences for children, guiding what knowledge, skills, and attitudes children should learn and develop.

Why is assessment important in early childhood curriculum?

Assessment is important to determine children's developmental levels, serving as a starting point to guide instruction, program planning, choice of materials, and developmental goals.

What does the scope and sequence in a curriculum define?

The scope and sequence defines the developmental domains or content areas such as social-emotional, motor, language, or literacy, and the learner goals, which are usually presented in a developmental sequence from simple to difficult.

How does progress monitoring differ from assessment?

Progress monitoring, sometimes referred to as ongoing assessment, is a systematic process of collecting information about a child's learning over time to measure progress toward identified learning outcomes.

What are some considerations when choosing a theme for lesson plans?

When choosing a theme for lesson plans, it should be relevant to the children, related to their experiences, based on their interests, connected to the larger community, consider the available materials and resources, and allow for integration of skill building and addressing developmental needs.

How should a curriculum be evaluated for effectiveness?

A curriculum should be evaluated for effectiveness based on whether it motivates children to be actively involved, supports learning through imagination, creation, and investigation, builds on what the child already knows, is relevant to their experiences, includes all areas of development, and is validated by professional standards.