This course introduces students to essential methods and materials designed to facilitate the learning process for young children aged three to five years old. Primary emphasis is placed on child learning assessment, the strategic arrangement of indoor and outdoor learning spaces, and the effective integration of specific curriculum areas including music and movement, dramatic play, and creative media. Students will actively practice the ECE planning cycle by learning to locate, plan, implement, and evaluate creative, developmentally appropriate activities utilizing a wide variety of methods and materials.
Prerequisites
None
1. Analyze and describe the essential elements and benefits of a child-oriented indoor learning environment for both children and adults.
2. Select, arrange, and stock appropriate materials within designated learning centers and activity areas.
3. Integrate music, dramatic play, and creative media activities into learning center setups.
4. Utilize outdoor space as an integral, curriculum-extending component of the total learning environment.
5. Evaluate and implement modifications to the outdoor environment to address children's changing developmental needs and enrich the curriculum.
6. Incorporate community resources as a vital, integrated component of the total learning environment.
7. Identify the values of music and determine the developmental appropriateness of music activities in the early childhood curriculum.
8. Model and facilitate children's self-expression through creative movement, offering a variety of rhythm and listening experiences.
9. Define creativity and explain its value in early childhood; design, set up, and stock a creative media area using a broad variety of materials.
10. Develop and apply guidelines for effective supervision of the creative media area, focusing on adult responses that foster creativity and responsibility.