Change and sequence over time.

Change and sequence over time.

Students can:

Use words and phrases correctly related to chronology and time. Among words to include: past, present, future, before, now, later.
Select examples from pictures that illustrate past, present, and future.
Sequence a simple set of activities or events.
Identify an example of change over time that may include examples from the child’s own growth.

Source: Adapted from Colorado Department of Education, 2009

These resource materials may be accompanied by opportunities for training and professional development designed to assist teachers in planning and implementing activities. Head Start teachers might, for example, engage in several days of regional in-service workshops conducted by Creative Curriculum or High Scope trainers prior to implementation of the curriculum in their programs.

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Early childhood educators believe that the use of materials from the real world provides more meaningful learning than the use of worksheets.

In consideration of developmentally appropriate principles, teachers should evaluate and incorporate with discretion all materials supplied by any curriculum. The widespread use of worksheets, in particular, is very difficult to justify, as they often represent or contain content or images disconnected from or not representative of childrens real-world ideas and experiences and dont point to a single “right” answer (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009).

For instance, the worksheet in Figure 6.3 intended for a cut-and-paste activity to reinforce the concept of a simple “a/b/a/b/a” pattern sequence, could certainly provide a child with practice in developing the fine motor skills needed to cut out the paper squares or serve as a simple assessment to determine whether the child recognizes an a/b/a/b/a pattern sequence. However, from a developmentally appropriate perspective, these kinds of materials should be set aside in favor of those that give children opportunities to observe patterns in the natural world and to manipulate real objects to replicate and create patterns of different kinds. Apples, leaves, and small toys are all examples of real-world materials that are easily found in or around early childhood classrooms and that children could use to develop their sense of the a/b/a/b pattern sequence.