Curriculum & Play

-It is a curriculum that uses the power of play to foster children's development. - It is an emergent curriculum in which teachers take an active role in balancing spontaneous play, guided play, directed play, and teacher-directed activities.

1.Play Centers (also called "Learning" or "Interest" Centers) -Modified Open-Plan Design Promotes children's play persistence and play quality -Logical arrangement of space and materials -Stimulus Shelters 2.Balance of Play Materials -Open-Ended vs. Closed -Complex vs. Simple -Realistic vs. non-realistic 3.Schedule of the Day - (Balance of active/quiet activities; outdoor time) 4.Divergent Activities & Creative Expression -Focus on process more than product. 5. Observation -of Children's Play 6.Teacher Interaction -(varies based on teaching/curriculum philosophy).

Dramatic Play Blocks Art Music Book Writing Manipulatives Math/Science Sensory Gross Motor

Portfolios- A way to document or keep track of a child's ongoing development. By saving samples of a child's work and writing anecdotes about his interactions, a teacher puts together evidence of a child's learning and accomplishments. -Typically includes written observations of children's actions and activities in the form of anecdotal notes, running records, checklists, or time samples. -May include photos, samples of the child's work (such as writing or art samples), developmental profiles, etc.

Trust-in-Play Facilitate-Play Learn-and-Teach-through-Play

-Play is the curriculum -Influenced by psychoanalytic theory -Educational goal is to promote social and mental health -Teacher is primarily an attachment figure or informal therapist and interacts with children in play very rarely -Belief that play has an important, although indirect, influence on academic learning- through play, children gain the emotional well-being to learn effectively -Not fully supported by current research

-Teacher strives to enhance specific play activities with the assumption that enhancing these aspects will lead to high-quality play interactions over time. -Focus on certain types of play that are known to support children's development (i.e. sociodramatic play, block play, board games, etc.) -Belief that play influences academic learning indirectly- when children play they acquire specific play abilities that contribute to reading or math skill.

-Teacher provides many opportunities for play, but intervenes regularly to promote certain non-play concepts and skills. -Play is an enjoyable medium through which teachers can enhance certain areas of development and learning. Inspired by the "standards movement"- the national trend toward identifying an assessing mastery of specific academic standards in public schools. -Teachers provide materials and intervene in children's play to enhance a wide range of concepts and skills- most particularly literacy, math, and language.

Trust-in-play: Early nursery schools of the 1920's. Facilitate-Play: Smilansky- Sociodramatic Play Intervention Kamii and DeVries- Group Games Bedrova & Leong- Tools of the Mind Learn-and-Teach-through-Play: Bank Street Model Creative Curriculum High/Scope Roskos & Neuman- Literacy Play Model Reggio Emilia-Inspired Programs Project Approach

Step 1 Provide unique experiences for children to re-create in play Step 2 Create a special play center with thematic props that relate to these unique experiences Step 3 Observe children's play, and note play strengths and deficits; identify children who need special support in play Step 4 Intervene in children's sociodramatic play

-Based on Piagetian theory. -Group games contribute to cognitive and social development. -Games encourage children to acquire specific concepts of number, space, literacy, and decentration. -Games lead children away from pure egocentricism toward more social, rule-governed thoughts. -Propose detailed guidelines for teaching interactions during group games.

-Based on Vygotskian theory. -"important mental tools are sharpened through make believe" -Focuses primarily on supporting pretend play with the goal of bringing it to a more mature level. -High priority on peer interactions.

-One of the most well-known and fully elaborated play-based approaches in early childhood education -In its earliest design, resembled a trust-in-play program -First examples of activities like: pretend, sand & water, blocks, clay, puzzles, painting -Modern classrooms include goals for learning in all major academic subjects with play being a vehicle for enhancing "cognitive proficiency" -Use of "interest" centers -Flexible schedule

-10 permanent play centers -Lesson plans format includes both planned activities and "changes to the environment" -Materials and activities developed to address 50 specific academic and developmental outcomes aligned with national standards -Teachers conduct small and large group lessons, but also have an important role during play periods (to interact with children to extend their learning and to observe and assess learning)

-Stated goal of the of the program is to promote cognitive development based on Piaget. -Originally 4 major play areas- dramatic, blocks, quiet, art. -Later added more literacy activities and computers -Key feature is the Plan-Do-Review (quiet-active-quiet) schedule. -Provides teachers with a way of being free from the use of workbooks in curriculum management.

-Focuses on children's literacy -Literacy routines in sociodramatic play -Views sociodramatic play as an ideal context for practicing functional uses of print -Utilizes literacy props.

-Has been implemented for decades in infant, toddler, and preschool classrooms in a region of northern Italy -Community movement began in the aftermath of WWII -It is designed to enhance all areas of development, not just play -The major goal is intellectual adaptation

DISCUSSION- throughout the process, discussion is used to exchange information, generate ideas and collaborate FIELD WORK- out in the community or on-site; what you might bring in INVESTIGATION- hands-on explorations and experimentation; as children get older from books, video, internet, REPRESENTATION- children can represent their knowledge in a variety of ways- dramatic play, drawing, art, construction, writing DISPLAY- the representations of the project (on bulletin boards, display boards, shelves, or tables) such as photos, graphs, bar charts, drawings, written descriptions, reports of interviews, children's reports