7.7: Appropriately Challenging Learning Experiences

Appropriately Challenging Learning Experiences Aligns with the Following Head Start Guiding Principles:

1. Each child is unique and can succeed.

2. Learning occurs within the context of relationships.

4. Children learn best when they are emotionally and physically safe and secure.

5. Areas of development are integrated, and children learn many concepts and skills at the same time.

6. Teaching must be intentional and focused on how children learn and grow.

For more information see the Interactive Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework: Ages Birth to Five

Once again, by observing the children in the group, teachers can plan learning experiences and activities that are individually appropriate for the group of children and individual children in the group by noticing their interests and developmental levels. Remember the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) from Vygotsky. Children learn best when the activities and learning experiences are just slightly above their current level of development and they have the guidance and support of a More Knowledgeable Other (MKO), meaning we don't want the activities to be too easy or boring for them or overly difficult or too challenging for them.

To begin to understand how to plan effective, developmentally appropriate curriculum for children, we must look at the context in which that planning should happen. Planning everything, from the flow of the day, to how teachers design and stock the classroom environment, to the way the spontaneous (unplanned) experiences of children are recognized and valued, to the experiences teachers thoughtfully plan and intentionally implement, happens in a continuous cycle. As we will discuss in this chapter that cycle begins with observing and continues through documenting what was observed, reflecting on what it means and how to plan to best support children, and then implementing those plans, before returning back to observing.[1]

Planning curriculum for young children begins with teachers discovering, through careful listening and observation, each child’s development. Observation is an essential skill for a teacher. When teachers mindfully observe, they discover how individual children make meaning in everyday moments of play and interactions and how to deepen their relationships with children. Observing for the purpose of assessing individual children’s learning means carefully watching and listening, with thought and reflection. In doing so, teachers find the knowledge, awareness, and strategies that individual children have formed during their experiences. It may be evidence that pertains to individual children’s emotional, social, cognitive, or physical development. If the evidence is clear and significant, teachers can preserve it through, for example, a note, a photo, or a sample of a child’s work.

Consider this example in which a teacher plans a relevant, meaningful, and appropriately challenging language and literacy activity.

Vignette

Garden Theme Example

Below is an example of a unit that is appropriately challenging for preschool children.

Theme: Growing a Garden
The unit's central topic is plants and gardening, with connected experiences across disciplines. The activities are designed to be developmentally appropriate while also challenging enough to promote critical thinking and problem-solving.

1. Science: Observing Plant Growth
Activity: Plant seeds in small cups and observe their growth over time.
Challenge: Encourage children to predict what will happen to the seeds and why, fostering early scientific reasoning. Use magnifying glasses to observe the seeds, roots, and stems closely.
Support: Provide vocabulary words like roots, stems, leaves, and grow, introducing new terms in a meaningful context.

2. Math: Measuring Plants
Activity: Measure the plants' growth using non-standard units (blocks or string) and compare measurements over time.
Challenge: Ask the children to predict which plant might grow the fastest or tallest and why. Incorporate basic graphing activities to chart the growth.
Support: Offer visual aids, like charts, to help children understand the concept of measurement.

3. Literacy: Garden-Themed Story Time
Activity: Read books like *The Tiny Seed* by Eric Carle and discuss the journey of a seed.
Challenge: Engage the children in a dialogic reading by asking open-ended questions like, "What do you think will happen next?" or "Why do you think the seed needs sunlight?"
Support: Encourage the children to retell the story in their own words and introduce new vocabulary related to plants.

4. Art: Creating a Garden Mural
Activity: Create a large mural of a garden with different plants, flowers, and bugs. Each child can contribute by drawing or painting a part of the mural.
Challenge: Ask the children to include details they have learned about plants in their artwork (e.g., roots underground, flowers on stems).
Support: Provide pictures of plants and bugs to guide their work and assist with identifying different parts.

5. Music & Movement: Growing Like a Plant
Activity: Have the children engage in a movement activity where they pretend to grow from a small seed into a tall plant, moving through different stages of development.
Challenge: Guide them through the sequence of growth, introducing concepts like *sprouting* and *blossoming* through movement.
Support: Use a song or rhythmic clapping to help the children stay engaged and focused on each stage.

By connecting each experience to the central theme of gardening, children are encouraged to think critically and apply their knowledge across disciplines.

Play Center Examples for a Garden Theme

1. Dramatic Play Center: Garden Shop

• Setup: Transform the dramatic play area into a "garden shop" or farmers' market. Include props such as toy fruits and vegetables, gardening tools (kid-safe trowels, watering cans), baskets, seed packets, aprons, and cash registers.
• Activities: Children can role-play as gardeners, farmers, or customers buying plants and vegetables. They can plant and harvest pretend vegetables or flowers, "sell" their produce, and practice customer interactions.
• Skills Developed: Language development through role-play, social skills, early math skills (money exchange), and vocabulary related to gardening (e.g., plant names, tools).

2. Sensory Table: Planting Station

• Setup: Fill the sensory table with soil, small containers, real or fake plants, seeds, and child-sized gardening tools. Add watering cans and pretend worms or bugs for a tactile experience.
• Activities: Children can dig, plant seeds, water them, and watch their pretend garden grow. You can include flowers or plants they can stick into the soil for creative planting.
• Skills Developed: Fine motor skills (scooping, planting), sensory exploration, scientific inquiry, and vocabulary related to plant life.

3. Block Center: Garden Design

• Setup: Provide building blocks, toy trees, flowers, animals, fences, and other accessories that can be used to create a garden or farm. Include small toy people to act as gardeners or farmers.
• Activities: Encourage the children to design and build their own garden spaces, complete with plant beds, greenhouses, and garden paths. They can work together to construct larger structures, such as garden sheds or barns.
• Skills Developed: Spatial reasoning, problem-solving, collaboration, and creativity.

4. Art Center: Nature-Inspired Crafts

• Setup: Set up an art area with materials like paper, paint, tissue paper, glue, natural materials (leaves, flowers), and flower stamps. Provide pictures of different flowers, trees, and plants for inspiration.
• Activities: Children can create flower collages, leaf rubbings, or paint their own garden scenes. Encourage them to use real leaves or flowers in their art. Another option is to create seed packets by decorating small envelopes and placing pretend or real seeds inside.
• Skills Developed: Fine motor skills, creativity, early literacy (if they "label" their seeds or plants), and artistic expression.

5. Science/Discovery Center: Growing Plants

• Setup: Include real plants, seeds, pots, magnifying glasses, measuring cups, and rulers. Set up clear containers for children to observe roots growing.
• Activities: Children can plant seeds in small cups and observe the growth process over time. Provide magnifying glasses to look closely at the parts of plants, and have rulers handy for measuring plant height. You could also display an ongoing experiment like growing beans in a plastic bag with wet cotton balls.
• Skills Developed: Observation, prediction, measuring, and an understanding of the plant life cycle.

6. Writing Center: Garden Journals

• Setup: Provide notebooks or journals, pencils, crayons, and stamps/stickers with plant or garden themes. Include pictures of plants, bugs, and flowers for reference.
• Activities: Encourage children to draw and write about their gardening experiences, either from real-life observations or pretend play. They can track the growth of plants they’ve planted in the discovery center or record what they “sell” in the garden shop.
• Skills Developed: Fine motor skills (writing, drawing), emergent literacy, and documentation skills.

7. Math Center: Counting and Sorting Seeds

• Setup: Provide seed packets with different types of seeds (real or pretend), small containers, tweezers, and counting mats. Include measuring cups and a balance scale.
• Activities: Children can count and sort seeds by type, size, or color. They can also use tweezers to place seeds in containers for a fine motor challenge. Another option is to set up a "seed store" where they "sell" seeds by counting specific amounts for each "customer."
• Skills Developed: Counting, sorting, patterning, fine motor control, and early math concepts.

8. Outdoor Center: Garden Exploration

• Setup: Create a small outdoor garden space with pots, soil, and real plants. Include a variety of child-friendly gardening tools.
• Activities: Children can help plant flowers or vegetables, water plants, and explore the life cycle of plants. They can take turns being the "gardener" and check on the growth of the plants daily.
• Skills Developed: Responsibility, sensory exploration, nature appreciation, and understanding of plant growth.

These garden-themed centers provide children with a rich, interdisciplinary experience while allowing them to explore the natural world, engage in pretend play, and develop essential early skills in literacy, math, science, and social development.