Describe how teachers support the visual arts in early childhood settings.
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Learning Objectives
After reading this chapter, you should be able to:
- Explain the difference between early learning and academic standards as well as the different ways in which curricula may be organized.
- Describe concepts, skills, and interest areas that support the Approaches to Learning Standards.
- Identify four important themes in national standards for the arts and describe an arts-infused approach to curriculum.
- Describe how teachers support the visual arts in early childhood settings.
- Describe how teachers support the performing arts of music, creative movement/dance, and drama in the early childhood setting.
Introduction
You have put a lot of thought and work into creating an inviting and interesting classroom. Photographs and cultural materials throughout the room represent the children in your class and their families. Youve labeled materials and equipment with images and words in English and Spanish. To make a tentative plan for interest areas, you went through all the materials in your classroom and used information from your comprehensive curriculum resources and the interest inventories you made at home visits to select books, puzzles, dramatic play props, and other materials for activity areas that you hope will be a good match for some of the things the children might be interested in. Youve made sure that these areas are flexible to accommodate working with children individually or in small or large groups. How will you now make sure that you are incorporating activities and experiences that are consistent with the developmentally focused early learning standards for preschoolers in your state? Do those standards provide guidance and support for play?