How will you make connections between the school, your families, and the local community? In this chapter, we will address the very important challenge of how to construct meaningful and mutually beneficial relationships with families and the community, particularly with respect to curriculum. (Note: In this chapter, all references to interactions and communications with families […]
Curriculum as a Collaboration with Families and the Community Yellow Dog Productions / Getty Images Learning Objectives After reading this chapter, you should be able to: Explain the importance of a collaborative approach to working with families. Summarize accepted principles, effective strategies, and typical challenges for understanding and working with families. Explain how teachers can
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Cognitive Domain iStockphoto/Thinkstock The cognitive development of children in the primary grades is best supported when they can engage in integrated learning that is closely related to their interests; this kindergarten child is working on her science journal. Given the characteristics of primary children previously mentioned, curriculum for this age group best complements cognitive development
Affective Domain Erikson characterizes the years when children are in the primary grades as those when they are highly motivated psychologically to be industrious but also extremely vulnerable to feelings of inferiority. The primary school curriculum should therefore provide for an individualized approach that encourages children to use their energy and motivation to become fully
Physical Domain Primary aged children still have a great need for activity, although their rate of growth slows over this time period and much of their activity serves to refine skills that have already emerged. A number of recent research studies confirm strong positive correlations between physical activity/exercise and intelligence, academic achievement, and learning (Donnelly,
Stop and Reflect In addition to development of motor skills, what other benefits do the children gain from this kind of activity? Affective Domain Human beings are social creatures, and early affective development is highly dependent on the extent to which the child learns to trust adults, form secure attachments, and feel secure that her
Development and Curriculum across the Early Childhood Years This final section of the chapter examines how the developmental characteristics of children at different times influence the way curriculum is conceived to meet their needs and interests. Infants and Toddlers Good curriculum for infants and toddlers is significantly different from curriculum for preschool and older children
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What might be the pros and cons of each? Good curriculum for infants and toddlers is significantly different from curriculum for preschool and older children in many ways, but it is grounded in the same principles of DAP (described in Chapter 1) that apply throughout the early childhood years (Gestwicki, 2011). Curricula for children from
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Stop and Reflect Can you think of other materials that might provide the kind of open-ended play described above? What might be the pros and cons of each? Scholastic Studio 10 / Getty Images Children need extended periods of time to fully develop their ideas. Block structures, for example, can take several days to complete.
A Box with Three Lives On a Monday morning, Owen’s dad brought a large cardboard box to the class after a weekend delivery of a new washing machine. The teacher, Ms. Mary, set the box in the middle of the meeting circle and said, “H-mmm, I wonder what we could do with this, would you
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