DESIGNING AND IMPLEMENTING PLANNED ACTIVITIES
At Bridgewater State University, the mission of the Early Education and Care program is to provide highly skilled and caring early childhood professionals to work in a variety of settings that support families and children from birth until they enter public schools. BSU students will develop skills to intentionally educate, positively interact, confidently lead, and passionately advocate for young children and families. What does it mean to intentionally educate? Intentional teachers act with specific goals in mind for the children and prepare the environment to facilitate these goals. As you design and implement activities consider how you will:
The template provided supports intentional teaching. You will set goals or what you want children to do. Next, decide how will determine if the child achieved the goal. Finally, what is the best way to:
- Support children as intelligent, observant, and sense-making individuals
- Intentionally stimulate thinking, explaining, problem-solving, and strategizing
- Allow for independence and practice by making the materials and activity available for several days
- Assess the children after they practiced, personalized, and internalized the new information
| HEADER | |
| Name | |
| Activity | |
| Date the activity will be introduced, and what part of the program it will be part of (e.g., circle time; teacher-led work station; art center; outdoor activity), and if this activity comes from an outside resource, credit the source here
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| Number of children and their ages | |
| JUSTIFICATION | |
| What knowledge and/or skills does this lesson help address? Include information from the program assessment tool. Supports #30 & 31 of ECPK 481/492 field evaluation rubric: Implementation of curriculum, activities, classroom routine and the learning environment is informed by child assessment; Instruction is regularly informed by child assessment | |
| Which learning standard(s) are you addressing from:
1. The Guidelines for Preschool and Kindergarten Learning Experiences (GPKLE) available at http://www.doe.mass.edu/sfs/earlylearning/resources/#curriculum 2. 2010 Massachusetts Early Learning Guidelines for Infants and Toddlers available at https://www.mass.gov/eec-learning-standards-and-curriculum-guidelines |
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| How does this activity use skills from the ECPK 481 and 492 Field Observation Rubric? What skills will you use during the lesson? (See Appendix A with the relevant criteria) | |
| Discuss children’s families, cultures, and community, as well as, recent learning experiences in the classroom related to this lesson.
How does the lesson reflect interests’ children recently expressed? |
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| OBJECTIVE(S)
Learning Outcome: What do you want the children to know and be able to do as a result of this activity?
Children will [Action Verb from page 9] . . .
Language Outcome
Children will [Action Verb from page 10] . . .
Remember language includes speaking, listening, writing, and reading |
ASSESSMENT PLAN
• How will you gather information about whether the objectives are met? Will you use detailed observations? Annotated work samples or pictures? A checklist? Attach any form you will use • What specific behaviors from the children will you look for when you assess? • How will you interpret the evidence collected? |
| PROCEDURE
· Discuss how you will introduce and guide the activity. · Be clear what parts of the activity you will supervise and what parts the children can do independently and in their own way. · How will you modify the activity? · How will you maximize child choice, motivation, independence, self-expression, and personal responsibility within the activity? · How you can make it possible for the children to repeat the activity in the future or do the activity for a longer or shorter period of time than designed? · When will you assess? Ideally after the children practice the skill for a period of time.
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| Uses multidimensional knowledge
(developmental period of early childhood, individual child, family, and multiple social identities, race, language, culture, class, gender and others) to intentionally support the whole child. (#9 of ECPK 481/492 field evaluation rubric) How will you Adapt the activity to support a wide range of developmental abilities, as well as varying strengths, and interests? Use a variety of modalities including auditory, visual, tactile and movement, as well as a variety of materials, to effectively engage children during the activity> Relate new concepts from the curriculum to the children’s everyday lives? Make sure the Procedure reflects the multidimensional knowledge. |
MATERIALS
• List what the children will need (and how much of everything is needed) • Materials or displays you need • Any handouts or assessment tools, attach copies to this plan. • Necessary to provide modifications and adaptations to reflect multidimensional knowledge |
Post-Teaching Reflection
The reflection paper describes the children’s work and interprets their actions and statements in a developmental context. The focus here is on the learning the children achieved as a result of your intentional teaching. Remember to:
- Provide details about the actions, thoughts, statements, and products from individual children as you can recall.
- Report the abilities of children relative to the activity objective.
- Attach all evidence collected. If you attach work samples, interpret them in terms of what they reveal relative to your objective.
- Conclude by summarizing the degree to which your objective was achieved and, given these results, what follow-up instruction you would propose.
Adapted ECPK 481 and 492 Field Observation Rubric to use for Activity Planning
| Criteria from Rubric
Doesn’t Include all criteria |
Acceptable | Target |
| 1. Initiates positive relations with families and colleagues | Demonstrates kindness and respect by smiling, maintaining eye contact, using polite language such as please and thank you, acknowledging other people’s presence, using a warm, calm voice, and finding something positive to say such as a compliment.
Assists families in handling separations during arrival and dismissal. |
Consistently greets colleagues and families with enthusiasm and acknowledges their arrival in a special way.
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| 4. Creates a positive classroom environment that is emotionally safe.
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Encourages children to work together, share, and take turns.
Establishes relationships with children by • Physical proximity • Shared activities • Peer assistance • Matched affect • Social conversation Shows respect with • Eye contact • Warm, calm voice • Respectful language |
Consistently acknowledges children’s efforts, without using rewards and praise. |
| 5. Supports children’s prosocial behaviors listed in the acceptable column. | express ideas;
accept the ideas of others; ask others to join their activities; pay attention to peers; offer encouragement and appropriate affection to other children; understand the impact that their words and actions have on others and their environment; greet others and enter into play with peers; share personal stories about their interests and experiences; asks other children questions about themselves |
Opportunities for children to work together are incorporated throughout the day, both through planned activities and spontaneous experiences.
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| 6. Anticipates challenging behavior.
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Guides and support children to use language to communicate needs and to gain control of physical impulses. | Provides children with expectations that are clear, age-appropriate and applied in a consistent way. |
| 7. Takes steps to prevent challenging behavior.
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Use calming strategies that work best for individual children. (Coloring, drawing, Listen to a favorite song or play calming instrumental music, drink water or have a snack, count to 10: or 50, or 100, 5 deep breaths, blow bubbles: bear hugs by wrapping arms around their body and give themselves a hug), and play with putty, sand, Play-Doh, or similar material) | |
| 3. Guides conflict transformation | Develops rules with children so they set their own climate of respect and responsibility.
Uses positive terms for rules; states expected behavior rather than what not to do. |
Provides a variety of tools to assist children in resolving their own conflicts, such as a problem wheel, solution chart, or timer.
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| 10 Offers children the chance to choose activities, materials, and areas in which to play. | Provides support for child autonomy and leadership and at other times fails to do so.
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Children are permitted to choose activities and peer relationships during free play, meal times, outdoor play and other experiences when appropriate.” |
| 11 Social studies investigates: Family, friends, community, social roles, social rules, geography, money, businesses, governments. | Supports children learning about
a variety of family structures specific details about the community in which they live the physical and geographic characteristics of their local environment. basic economic concepts |
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| 12 Supports children’s abilities to regulate their emotions.
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Actively engages individual children in conversation, both in group settings and when they are working alone.
Children have chances to learn that other people may have different feelings than they do. Teaches children to recognize and name their emotions. |
Teaches children to express emotions.
Teaches executive functioning to children. See Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University (2014). Enhancing and Practicing Executive Function Skills with Children from Infancy to Adolescence. Retrieved from www.developingchild.harvard.edu |
| 13 Physical Development | Provides time, space, and materials daily that support a variety of gross motor skills, including rolling, crawling, running, jumping, throwing, and hopping.
Provides time, space, and materials daily that support a variety of fine motor skills, including grasping, pinching, scribbling, drawing, cutting, tying, zipping, buttoning, using cutlery, opening lunch boxes and food bags. |
Facilitates indoor activities, if necessary, that allows for optimal gross motor skill development.
Conscientiously provides, maintains and facilitates learning centers designed to support fine motor development. Actively facilitates gross motor skills during indoor and outdoor play experiences. |
| 14 Integrates content Language Development
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Facilitates discussion between children or with adults to solve problems related to the physical world. For example, how to retrieve a ball that has gone over a fence, using ramps to make cars go faster or further, putting puzzle pieces together
At times, uses words that children may not understand and may provide explanations or examples of these words. The teacher asks a mix of closed-ended and open-ended questions. Student makes attempts to communicate with children in their home language(s), (Ex. learns greetings, words such as bathroom, mother, father, etc.) |
Supports children’s communication and conversation among their peers (toddler and preschool) and uses verbal mapping when needed.
Asks many open-ended questions. Often uses advanced or complex language that includes a variety of nouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, and other forms of language that are new to the child but based on concepts already understood by the child. The adult makes connections between the new forms of language and the concepts that the child already understands. |
| 15 Literacy
Examples of print: Labels, classroom rules/routines, signs, posted letters, words, or sentences.
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Connects print to spoken word.
Provides books relate to current learning topics, themes, or activities. Writing materials and literacy activities are readily available in art, dramatic play, and one or more other learning centers. Helps children write the words and messages they are trying to communicate. Posts printed words about topics of current at children’s eye level or makes available on laminated cards. Models the process of print writing. Classroom materials and learning centers are labeled.
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Converses about the many ways writing is used in daily life.
Models ways of writing is used in daily life: Shopping lists, letters, cards, journals/diaries, notes, e-mail, online-posts. Focuses children’s attention on significant learning objectives for literacy skill development. Classroom materials and learning centers are labeled in all home languages spoken by the children enrolled in the classroom. Dialogic Reading skills (Ex. C-R-O-W-D, proper introduction of the book, reintroducing books multiple times.) are utilized when reading to children. |
| 16 Mathematics
Number concepts: The understanding of cardinal and ordinal number systems as related to objects and quantities and the static and dynamic nature of these relationships. For example, teachers counting out-loud for toddlers and twos, children counting, measuring, sorting, books, games, use of manipulatives, sequencing, graphs/charts, comparing quantities, recognizing shapes. |
Supports activities that have children solve problems and apply knowledge.
Provides opportunities for children to learn mathematical concepts. Supports learning using materials available to children in the activity centers such as Unifix Cubes and counting bears |
Facilitates activities that have children solve problems and apply knowledge.
Formulates games or challenges to promote mathematical thinking throughout daily routines (e.g., counting the number of stairs to the slide, singing counting songs during transitions, etc.) |
| 17 Science/Nature: natural objects (shells, rocks, etc.), living things (plants, pets, insects, etc.), materials (magnifying glasses, magnets, water/sand, nature books, etc.), science activities (sink/float, cooking, experiments, observations, etc.), structure and property of matter (chemistry), and the behavior of materials (physics). | Supports activities that encourage children to think, ask questions, and make predictions about natural and physical facts or occurrences directly observable by the senses.
Provides opportunities for children to see and learn about science concepts. Supports learning using materials available to children in the activity centers such as sensory materials and simple tools. |
Facilitates activities that encourage children to think, ask questions, and make predictions about natural and physical facts or occurrences directly observable by the senses.
Uses the natural environment outside the classroom to promote children’s observation, exploration, and experimentation. |
| 18 Technology: Equipment and machinery developed from scientific knowledge. | Uses interactive media tools in intentional and developmentally appropriate ways, giving careful attention to the appropriateness and the quality of the content, the child’s experience, and the opportunities for co-engagement.
Uses technology to extend and support active, hands-on, creative, and authentic engagement with those around them and with their world. Offers technology that is developmentally appropriate. |
Promotes equitable access to technology and interactive media experiences for the children in their care and for families.
Understands and appropriately uses any assistive technology utilized by children with special needs. . |
| 19 The Arts: Examples of creative arts curriculum topics: Painting, drawing, sculpting, and use of other visual media; participating in music, movement, dramatic play, and puppetry; appreciation of art created by others; learning vocabulary related to the arts. | Support children’s self-expression, respecting various modes of communication
Children have chances opportunities to develop and practice art skills (Cutting, gluing, painting, sculpting, drawing, caring for tools and supplies) through various forms of art media |
Most activities are designed for children to make meaningful decisions and generate creative solutions, not follow a script.
Integrates children’s home languages and cultures into the environment through music, visual arts, dance, and theater.
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| 20 Flexible, shares control with children, and supports choice.
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Somewhat controlling of children’s movement and placement during activities.
Children are allowed to leave large and small group gatherings when needed (ex. offered choice to read a book or work on a puzzle instead). |
Children have freedom of movement and placement during activities.
Children are provided opportunities to participate in decision making (ex. choose which book to read, songs to sing, etc.) |
| 21 Individualizes interactions and supports based on children’s varying strengths, needs, interests and learning styles (visual, auditory, kinesthetic, sequential, reflective).
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Uses group time to introduce activities and make them intriguing to children, leaving the main exploration and learning for choice time. | |
| 22 Frequently uses open-ended questions and statements with children to extend and deepen their communication of ideas, experiences, desires, and intentions.
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Asks children questions that invite conversation and extended answers and attends to their responses.
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Actively scaffold’s children’s sharing of information and experiences by:
· using open-ended conversational starters; · asking for clarification; · picking up on possible desires or intentions; · asking follow-up questions. Asks “how” and “I wonder why” questions, encouraging analysis and reasoning. Makes suggestions that challenge children to go deeper with their investigation Many activities are designed for children to work together so they will communicate, compare, and coordinate their solutions. |
| 23 Recognizes and scaffolds spontaneous learning experiences
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Provides materials that increase in complexity and challenge as children’s understandings and skills develop.
Guides children to activities that will challenge them.
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Circulates as children work, routinely asking questions about their pursuits that invite them to explain their thinking or broaden their goals.
Offers materials or assistance to allow children to continue to pursue questions or goals they initiated. Facilitates interactions, curriculum sequences and materials that build from basic understandings and skills towards greater depth and complexity. Creates connections, extensions, and variations of core activities so children can pursue them in different ways and at different levels of complexity. |
| 24 Provides a supportive program structure, including organization, schedule, routine, transitions, and group time
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Has materials ready prior to starting activities with children.
Uses music, songs, or predictable noises to signal transitions. |
Turns transition times into learning opportunities with games, songs, or challenges.
Large and small group gatherings are engaging and brief (max. 10 minutes for toddlers and 15 minutes for preschool). |
| 25 Encourages Critical and Creative Thinking
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Supports opportunities for children to be creative and generate their own ideas and products
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Provides activities allow multiple solutions and approaches.
Emphasis is placed on children sharing their reasoning rather than simply coming up with the right answer. |
| 32 Uses Developmentally Appropriate Practices to improve the program structure | Encourages children and models, when washing their hands before meals and snacks, to rub their hands vigorously for at least 20 seconds, including back of hands, wrists, between the fingers, under and around any jewelry, and under fingernails
Encourages children and models washing or sanitizing their hands after playing in water that is shared by two or more people AND after touching sand or dirt. |
Encourages children to explore healthy and nutritious foods that children are not allergic to.
Learns important health terms in families’ home languages to ensure all children understand how to keep themselves healthy.
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| 36 Incorporate the resources of the children’s communities to support the achievement of program goals. | Children have opportunities to explore details about the community in which they live.
Uses local community settings and events as resources. |
Invites community resources into program or go on a field trip. |
| 37 Evaluate Developmentally Appropriate Practices to improve the program structure
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Classroom materials show persons with differing abilities, as well as different ethnic or cultural backgrounds engaged in activities that counteract stereotypical limitations.
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Plans activities that children can engage with over an extended period of time and keeps them accessible.
Provides visible and readily accessible teaching materials and equipment so children may select, repeat, and extend experiences with minimum assistance. Children can often revisit activities. Integrates children’s home languages and cultures into the environment through materials. |
Children will [Action Verb to Include in Objectives]
| Remembering | Understanding | Applying | Interpreting | Creating | Evaluating |
| Choose
Find Identify Show me Hand me Name Imitate Indicate List Locate Match Point to Recall Recognize Repeat Reproduce Retrieve Select State |
Arrange
Collect Demonstrate Describe Categorize Classify Sort Arrange Select Separate Define Determine Explain Illustrate Paraphrase Represent Summarize
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Show
Tell Write Use Make Solve Demonstrate Organize Plan Perform Apply Outline
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Compare
Contrast with Explain Relate to Predict Discover Generalize Distinguish from Hypothesize Compare to Summarize |
Construct
Create Develop Design Produce Change Combine Compose Plan Rearrange Reconstruct Reorganize Revise |
Assess
Critique Decide Judge Justify Recommend Modify Conclude Generalize Question |
