4.3: Contexts for Written Plans
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- Jennifer Paris, Kristin Beeve, & Clint Springer
- College of the Canyons
Early childhood teachers write plans sometimes for an individual child, sometimes for a small group of children, and sometimes for the entire group of children. [1]
Individual Plans
One-on-one moments of teaching and learning play a major role in early childhood settings. Early childhood teaching requires that teachers be present to guide individual children when needed, adapting their teaching to support each child’s individual learning. For example, some children may be somewhat cautious in joining others in play, but may become excited about the possibility if the teacher accompanies them into the area where a group of children are playing together. An early childhood teacher will note this cautious aspect of a child’s temperament. The teacher may make a plan to include watching for opportunities to be a “social bridge” of support for the child who tends to be cautious, helping that child with joining the other children’s ongoing play. The following vignette taken from volume 1 of the California Preschool Curriculum Framework (CDE 2010a, 76) illustrates the teacher’s role.
Vignettes
Lucas stands close to his caregiver, Ms. Mai, who is sitting in the block area. Ms. Mai observes Lucas watching his peers at play as they build a large train. “This train is getting really big,” she comments to Lucas with a soft smile and a gentle hand on his back. Lucas nods his head slowly. “I wonder if Martin needs a helper. He said he is the engineer, but an engineer needs a conductor. Would you like to hand out and collect tickets?” Lucas nods his head again and reaches for Ms. Mai’s hand as she gets up to move closer to the train. Ms. Mai provides Lucas her hand and another reassuring smile. “You could let Martin know you want to help. Tell Martin ‘I can collect the tickets.’’ Lucas pauses and then mumbles (or signs), “Martin, I can collect tickets.” “You all look like you are having fun over here. Lucas wants to help too. Where are the tickets for Lucas to pass out to your riders?” restates Ms. Mai. “Oh! Over there,” responds Martin, pointing over to the basket of torn pieces of paper.
“Thanks, Martin, for your help. Lucas, let’s go get the tickets and hand them to our friends. I think these builders will want to fill the train with passengers,” observes Ms. Mai excitedly.”
In this vignette, the teacher is aware of Lucas’ caution in entering the play, yet his strong awareness and most likely his desire to enter the social play become part of his individualized curriculum plan. Because such individualized curriculum is a component of early childhood teaching, the teacher–children ratio must be kept sufficiently low to allow the teacher to know in depth how each child is developing and learning. In infant/toddler programs, assigning a primary care teacher who stays with three or four children throughout infancy, makes it possible for teachers to know each child well and tailor individualized plans to support each child’s learning and development.
Many programs use a child portfolio system to record ongoing individualized curriculum plans. A portfolio tells the story of a child’s developmental progress. It may include periodic psychometric assessments of the child as well as planning notes specific to the child. It may also include notes of what the child did in response to the plans, photos, or work samples that give insight into the child’s progress. A child’s portfolio allows a teacher to track a child’s individual needs, keep a record of what is planned to support those needs, and document progress in learning. Such individualized planning is not posted, like the plans designed for groups of children, but the plans in each child’s portfolio are regularly reviewed and shared with families. Here is an example of an individualized curriculum plan:
Observation Notes
Observation: Lucas is somewhat cautious in joining others in play. He stands to the side and watches others as they play.
Interpretation and Plan: Lucas appears to want to join the play, but may need just a little bit of support. I plan to watch for moments when he is on the side- lines of play, find ways to invite him into the social play, and stay with him to support him in his encounters with the other children.
In this example, the teacher knows about temperamental differences and knows how to assume the role of “social bridge” to assist the child to join other children’s ongoing play. Planning to be a “social bridge” for a child with a cautious temperament is part of a larger individual plan. Lucas’ teacher recognizes that Lucas will have opportunities to learn various skills in an integrated way when he joins the social play. The teacher watches for ways in which this social context prompts the child to express and manage emotions, to understand and use language, to collaborate with others, and to solve problems. Individualized planning applies to all areas of learning and tends to highlight those concepts and skills that children would otherwise miss the opportunity to build if teachers developed plans only for the large group of children.
Another of the over-arching principles from the California Preschool Curriculum Framework states that individualization of learning includes all children. Of course, some children have individual plans developed by specialists to address the children’s developmental needs. For children under age three, those plans are called Individual Family Service Plans (IFSPs), and for children over age three they are called Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). For children who have one of these, it is helpful for the teacher to know how to support the identified goals, outcomes, or objectives in the early childhood setting. With parental permission, the teacher can either be a part of the planning process or communicate with the team that developed the plan. More information on this process can be found in chapters 1 and 5 of Inclusion Works! (CDE 2009b). [2]
Group Plans
Teachers also regularly prepare written plans to organize experiences for the full group of children in a classroom or program. These plans are posted in a predictable place and referenced throughout the day or the week by the teachers and the families. These group plans may be daily or weekly plans. Group plans describe possibilities for experiences that relate to either a small group or a large group of children. A small group is typically a teacher-guided experience with four to eight children. The following vignette from volume 1 of the California Preschool Curriculum Framework (CDE 2010a, 17) illustrates how teachers plan for a small-group context:
Vignettes
During one of their discussions about their observations of the children’s interest in the snails, the teachers . . . decided to do focused exploration of snails, with small groups of four to six children. In a small group, children would have an easier time building relationships with each other and with the teacher, a learning goal for the whole class. With each small group, the teacher helped the children create a snail habitat in the science interest area. The children could return to the interest area throughout the day for exploration. The teacher and small group worked together over days to transform a glass terrarium into a habitat for snails, with dirt, plants, and enough space for other small creatures.
Planning for a Large Group Context:
The /s/ sound in the new and now popular words— snails and slugs—“slippery snails and slugs slowly slithering make slimy stripes.” She knew how much the children enjoyed chants, songs, and finger plays. She also knew the value in helping children to hear and make distinct sounds of oral language.
In the large group, the teachers pointed out that a new kind of helper had been added to the helper chart. Now, two of the children would be “snail helpers.” From then on, each day during large-group time, children checked to see whose name cards had been placed next to the snail photo on the helper chart. In the large group, children reported on some of the things they had been doing in their small-group explorations of snails.
Posting the daily or weekly group plan is important. What teachers record on the posted daily or weekly curriculum plan organizes the possibilities for that day or that week and makes the plan for learning visible to anyone who reads it. The posted plan should serve as an organizing tool for teachers to know easily what comes next. In an early childhood setting, unless the program is a small family child care home, there are typically two or more staff members who care for the children. A written plan posted in a central location serves as a useful reference throughout the day for all those involved in supporting the children’s learning.
Some parts of the day that support children’s learning remain the same each day. For example, in preschool washing hands before meals, inviting the children to notice or to count who is present and who is absent, or setting up the outdoor painting
To build upon the children’s interest in snails, the teachers announced to the children during large- group circle time that the snail trays would be available for exploration. The teachers also used the large-group circle to read books and tell stories about snails. One teacher invented a simple clapping chant to play with easels, which usually occurs each day. These routine experiences do not need to be written into each daily plan. Rather, a record of these regularly occurring opportunities for learning can be included in a description of the program schedule, along with a description of the distinct interest areas set up inside and outside. For example, the California Preschool Curriculum Framework (CDE 2011b, 16–19) provides a guide for the design of specific interest areas that support children’s learning as they enjoy self-initiated play. Written descriptions of how teachers plan for each interest area should be included in the program handbook and shared with families when they enroll in the program.
Teachers write on the posted daily or weekly plan what they expect to do to supplement the ongoing learning experiences built into the well-supplied interest areas, the thoughtfully designed daily routines, and the interactions and conversations that lead to “teachable moments” that occur spontaneously during the day. The posted curriculum plan for preschool typically includes the following items:
- Topics to discuss or books to read at group time
- A focus of small-group activities planned for the day
- Materials to add new challenges and experiences to the interest areas both inside and outside
Similarly, the curriculum plan for infants and toddlers includes the following items:
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Books to look at or read with children
Songs, finger plays, and rhyming games that will occur during the day - Materials to add new challenges and experiences to the environment both inside and outside [3]
Pause to Reflect
“Being in the Moment with Children”
Meaningful experiences are also created spontaneously in the moment with children. Sometimes teachers must act in the moment, without a preexisting plan, to foster the ideas of children.
For example, I was observing a child building a structure with blocks. After observing the child and talking to him about his work, the child said to me "I need more stuff for my project!" So I simply asked him what he needs and how I could help. He listed some items (glue, popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, tape, cardboard). We went on a 'mission' together and gathered all of his materials, which he went on to build with for quite some time. He was proud and satisfied with his work, which he took home.
There are countless ways that teachers can be in the moment with children and foster their ideas without a "plan." Plans often times don't go the way we expect. When we are flexible we can honor the decisions and ideas of the children.
Reflect
Why is it important to follow the child's lead in their play? How can teachers reflect on these spontaneous experiences, and document the learning that took place for the children involved in these spontaneous experiences? [4]
Family Focus
Children’s experiences with their families also inform the curriculum. Teachers look for ways to connect the children’s learning in the early childhood program to their experiences at home. The following moments in the investigation of fresh foods that come from the garden illustrate how teachers make connections to the children’s lives at home (CDE 2011b, 33):
Vignette
Once the investigation of fresh fruits and vegetables from the garden was under way, the teachers from the four-year-olds’ room wondered whether they might tap the life experiences of the families for stories that related to fresh fruits and vegetables from the garden. The teachers decided to place a photo documentation of the children’s cucumber-tasting experiences near the classroom’s entryway. They added a note and a clipboard. The note was an invitation for families whose home language was other than English to write down in their home language the name for cucumber (or a similar vegetable eaten in their culture). Once gathered, the teachers added these names to the laminated photo cards of cucumbers stored in the food box in the writing area. If a family had described a vegetable that was similar but distinct from the cucumber, they were invited to bring a picture of this vegetable, or even the vegetable itself, for children to compare with the cucumber. [5]
From the perspective of developmental scientists who study how the mind of the child develops, early childhood curriculum is most effective when teachers provide generous opportunities for children to engage in meaningful play, well supported by materials and experiences that fascinate them and engage their natural ways of making meaning (Gopnik 2009; Hirsh-Pasek et al. 2009; Rinaldi 2001; Singer, Golinkoff, and Hirsh-Pasek 2006; Zigler, Singer, and Bishop-Josef 2004). When early childhood teachers are asked or attempt to follow a prewritten scope and sequence of instructional activities, the essential features of an integrated curriculum—co-constructed, responsive, and dynamic—are often lost.
However, even when using a prewritten scope and sequence of activities, early childhood teachers can find ways to modify the planned activities to respond to the unique cultural and family context of their program and their unique group of children. For example, the investigation of fresh foods that come from the garden could be implemented within a curriculum that includes a theme about plants or spring. [6]
Connecting Families to Curriculum Planning
Documentation is an invitation to families. Family and community partnerships create meaningful connections. Documentation not only guides curriculum planning and provides evidence of children’s learning, it also offers an easy and effective way to engage families in participating in planning for children’s learning. A note, a photo, or a work sample serves as an invitation to families to participate in interpreting the observed play and exploration made visible by the documentation. The following example illustrates how teachers use documentation to invite families to join them in the work: [7]
Vignette
During the small-group face-drawing activity, Clayton was picking out pencils for his skin color when his mother arrived to pick him up. She knelt near the table as Connie read the name printed on the colored pencil that Clayton had selected. “This one says, ‘sienna brown.’ What do you think, Clayton?” Connie asked, as she moved the tip of the pencil near his arm. “Is that your color?” Clayton smiled at his mother, “I’m sienna brown, mommy. Which one do you want to be?” A few minutes later, when Clayton was retrieving his things from his cubby, his mother confided in Connie how much she had enjoyed picking out her skin color with Clayton. She had been uncertain about how to talk with Clayton about skin color, because she was of European–American background and Clayton’s father was African American, and most of the family members living nearby were Caucasian. They discussed the possibility of doing an activity at the next parent meeting in which all the parents could explore the variety of flesh-toned colored pencils and even to blend different tints of homemade play dough that they could take home to enjoy with their children.
References
[1] The Integrated Nature of Learning by the California Department of Education is used with permission
[2] The Integrated Nature of Learning by the California Department of Education is used with permission
[3] The Integrated Nature of Learning by the California Department of Education is used with permission
[4] Clint Springer is licensed under CC BY 4.0
[5] The Integrated Nature of Learning by the California Department of Education is used with permission
[6] The Integrated Nature of Learning by the California Department of Education is used with permission (pg. 52-57)
[7] The Integrated Nature of Learning by the California Department of Education is used with permission (pg. 43-50)