Whole Child Development
Montessori, Piaget, and Martha Stewart all have one thing in common. All three would agree that a room should be a thoughtfully prepared environment, one that creates an invitation to those that enter. Martha’s rooms may invite you to sit down and sip mint julep, but the other two postulated more about environments that invite children to learn.
Ask your average parents what they hope their child will learn in preschool, and most have learning the ABC’s somewhere in their tops 5 goals. Many preschool teachers respond to this by implementing a “letter-of-the-week” curriculum. One week may be the letter “M”, so we eat marshmallows, draw maps, read books about monkeys, and write letters to our moms. While this certainly gives a lot of exposure to the letter “M” and invites a variety of activities and learning opportunities, it creates a very incoherent curriculum. Children learn by making connections. It is a little difficult to make a quick connection between a white, sweet, gooey marshmallow and a folded up map of the nearest bus stops. (Though my own children could probably make some great connections between “monkeys” and “Mom”!) Additionally, when the primary focus is on the almighty “letter-of-the-week”, it is easy to lose sight of other important literacy goals or to begin teaching them in isolation as well. That is not how reading happens. The whole purpose of reading and writing is to obtain and convey meaning. Therefore, reading and writing should be taught through coherent, meaningful experiences.
Ask your average parents what they hope their child will learn in preschool, and most have learning the ABC’s somewhere in their tops 5 goals. Many preschool teachers respond to this by implementing a “letter-of-the-week” curriculum. One week may be the letter “M”, so we eat marshmallows, draw maps, read books about monkeys, and write letters to our moms. While this certainly gives a lot of exposure to the letter “M” and invites a variety of activities and learning opportunities, it creates a very incoherent curriculum. Children learn by making connections. It is a little difficult to make a quick connection between a white, sweet, gooey marshmallow and a folded up map of the nearest bus stops. (Though my own children could probably make some great connections between “monkeys” and “Mom”!) Additionally, when the primary focus is on the almighty “letter-of-the-week”, it is easy to lose sight of other important literacy goals or to begin teaching them in isolation as well. That is not how reading happens. The whole purpose of reading and writing is to obtain and convey meaning. Therefore, reading and writing should be taught through coherent, meaningful experiences.
When I talk about starting with the end in mind, I’m not talking about those days where you begin to fantasized about the last day of school, giving all the little darlings a soft pat on the head as you seek refuge at the nearest source of sand and surf. What I mean is starting your planning by thinking about where you want to end up. This backwards planning helps to keep you focused and purposeful, rather than just flitting around from one “cute” activity to the next.
As you begin to plan out your preschool curriculum for the year, it helps to know where your children are developmentally so that you know where you want to “go”. One way I like to do that is with a developmental checklist. You can buy developmental checklists and programs like the POCET or the Portage Guide ,or if you’re a nerd like I am, you can look through position statements and curriculum guides and develop your own. I put together one based on several resources, as well as my own philosophy and program. It seems best to fit my needs. If you accept the caveat that I have not been commissioned by a higher authority to create this as the perfect assessment piece, you’re welcome to use it as well. Just click on Broad Developmental Assessmentto find the PDF file. (Feel free to comment with any questions you may have about using this checklist, or comment on how you’ve adapted it to meet your needs.)
As you begin to plan out your preschool curriculum for the year, it helps to know where your children are developmentally so that you know where you want to “go”. One way I like to do that is with a developmental guide. You can buy developmental guides and programs like the POCET or the Portage Guide ,or if you’re a nerd like I am, you can look through position statements and curriculum guides and develop your own. I put together one based on several resources, as well as my own philosophy and program. It seems best to fit my needs. If you accept the caveat that I have not been commissioned by a higher authority to create this as the perfect assessment piece, you’re welcome to use it as well. Just sign up for the NJC Newsletter. (Feel free to comment with any questions you may have about using this checklist, or comment on how you’ve adapted it to meet your needs.)
Fall is in the air! I can smell those freshly sharpened pencils now! Preschool teachers everywhere are charting a course for a fantastic new school year. This week, I’ll be writing on ten topics that will help get that new year started right!
Fall is in the air! I can smell those freshly sharpened pencils now! Preschool teachers everywhere are charting a course for a fantastic new school year. This week, I’ll be writing on ten topics that will help get that new year started right!
I thought Stacy brought up a good question in regards to the Dinosaurs Invade the Block Area activity. I thought I’d share it with you and get some of your great ideas as well. [Read more…]
Here’s a fun and noisy way to paint without much of a mess.
To start, you need large containers with lids, paper, and paints (I used craft paint just because I had it and need to use it up. It’s more permanent on clothes, but most of the mess stays inside the cans, and I was doing this on a messy clothes day anyway. You could certainly use the more friendly tempera paint.) Oh, and you’ll need rocks! Lots of little rocks. Doing this activity outside is certainly helpful!
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