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Essay on the importance of play in early childhood education
The importance of play in early childhood programs
Importance of play in early childhood education: theory
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Regardless of how the curriculum is organized, administrators must assure there is a balance of content areas addressed in the curriculum so that children develop a broad foundation of skills and knowledge that will prepare them for success in kindergarten and beyond (Gadzikowski 2013). Everyone has a role to play and giving children the opportunity to learn is the main reason why the education field has set standards and guides to help plan a high-quality program and effective curriculum. Make decisions based on the learning and developmental needs of children, focus on their cognitive, affective and physical domains, use classroom management techniques and daily schedules to enhance their experience and pay attention to your programs philosophies, …show more content…
Through the use of teacher directed and student initiated activities, students become more engaged in learning and therefore develop the skills necessary to become self-directed learners. By stimulating their interest and motivating a love for learning, teachers can use preschool curricula to build school- and life-related skills. There have been links between play and child development, especially in the areas of creativity, reasoning, executive function, and regulation of emotions (Bodrova, Germeroth, & Leong 2103). Active play is needed for healthy brain growth and not only strengthens muscles, but stimulates brain activity leading to higher levels of interest and curiosity. Through play children are able to try out different ways to handle and address stressful or hurtful situations and stand strong when facing challenging situations. Play enhances children’s memories and attention spans and allows children to connect their ideas into realities and realities into deeper understandings. Play supports children’s language development by improving their verbalization and receptive/expressive vocabularies. Using preschool curricula to build school- and life-related skills is a great practice as long as it is developmentally …show more content…
Indicators of effective curriculum that my program will align to are: children are active and engaged and curriculum builds on prior learning and experiences. Through the use of the hands-on activities, physical education and relevant material, students will be able to be active and engaged during their time at my program. With various means of communication with parents and collaboration with other educators, children in my program will be able to build on prior learning and experiences. Taking what they know and have recently learned and building on that will ensure children fully grasp concepts and understating of what they are being
An educator must have the ability to notice the value of extending planning and subject matter. In addition, educators need to be flexible enough to change the curriculum based upon state standards and the student’s ability to absorb information.
Applying principles in curriculum, such as: balance, rigorou, coherent, vertical, integrate, appropriate, focuse and relevant make curriculum transparent and effective. These making clear of purpose of my curriculum in educational and sociological terms, being easy to understand and applied in measurable way. And I can say that learning is planned, ideas is introduces and learning is experienced.
The resources that support my curriculum plan are described in these articles. The first article that I chose to read is The Power of Play. The article focuses on the importance of how children can learn and grow through playand self-directed play as well as how play is vital to young children’s development.According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), play is a vitally important part of child development and is essential for every child’s health and well-being. Play provides a wide range of benefits, including socio-emotional health, physical health, social learning, improvement of problem solving skills, and improved self-regulation. Self-directed play also, creates success in creativity, problem solving, and decision making skills.
..., J., & Garzoli, E. (2007, November 11). The Effectiveness of a Play-Based Curriculum in Early Childhood Education. Retrieved from http://teachplaybasedlearning.com/8.html
The importance of having a curriculum that accommodates diverse learners, it allows the child to learn at their own level or ability. A child with emotional and intellectual challenges may not have the verbal or comprehension skills or the ability to control their body as their peers. With this in mind, classes with diverse learners can excel with an adjusted curriculum. An activity for example, using large Legos to teach the entire class their colors or numbers can help the intellectual challenge by asking to build a building by using on certain colors or amounts. By doing this activity the students can have fun and learn at the same time with using very little words. Also in a group activity the emoti...
Over the years, kindergarten has become less play oriented and more academically focused. While some believe that this is good for the students because they will be learning more and will be more prepared for 1st grade, others believe that the play time they are eliminated is doing more harm than good. In the essay, “Kindergartners get little time to play. Why does it matter?”, Christopher Brown believes that by eliminating this play time, the students are missing out on chances to grow not only academically but also socially and emotionally. Brown states, “Giving children a chance to play and engage in hands-on learning activities helps them internalize new information as well as compare and contrast what they’re learning with what they already
An Article by Dr. Leong and Dr. Bodrova (2016) stated that play is beneficial to children’s learning especially when it reaches a certain degree of complexity. When they engage in play activities most of their early years, they learn to delay gratification and to prioritize their goals and actions. They also learn to consider the perspectives and needs of other people and to represent things significantly to regulate their behavior and actions in a cautious, intentional way.
Curriculum committees are a district staple. They are implemented as District-wide, building-specific, subject, and behavior for evaluation and revision of current curriculum and accompany resources. Feedback is solicited from Parent-groups, maintaining responsiveness to community priorities. Textbooks are adopted as tools to support concept application and generalization. However, they are not considered thee source of knowledge. Instructors are empowered to create and differentiate multi-faceted lessons. Cross-curricular collaboration aids this objective as well as promotes critical-thinking and creativity for students. Joint planning periods as well as on going and embedded profession development are also essential elements. Curriculum development and execution cannot be separated from professional training. They are interlocked facets of
Childhood play behavior is an important part of every child’s life. Starting in infancy, children begin to explore their world through play. This behavior can serve as an indicator of the child’s cognitive and social development. The research on play and development is a key to helping caregivers understand the importance of childhood play. This paper will focus on the psychological aspects of childhood play behavior and its relation to cognitive development.
...s using “progress” and “growth” for others to understand how children are learning. Parents are not around during center time, and they may think a block center is only made for playing. However, a teacher can open a parent’s mind to the learning opportunities by incorporating learning standards into the center, parents can have an idea of how their child is learning through center time. Incorporating the learning centers with the curriculum supports the standard because teachers are creating learning opportunities outside of lessons. This encourages children to learn more and show interest of class lessons and topics in a child-centered environment. It helps reinstate what children learn, and they can put it into practice at the centers. Learning opportunities that are integrated into centers supports Standard 6. A. 02.C., providing children with the opportunities.
This comprehensive plan provides the structure to ensure quality control of the designed and delivered curriculum, internal consistency, and resources necessary to address the School’s mission, vision, and motto. The plan also conveys the procedural intent of the school’s leadership with respect to curriculum development, adoption, implementation, evaluation, and revision. It provides clear direction for students, parents, teachers, and administrators in the system, establishing a framework that outlines guidelines and procedures for the design, delivery, monitoring, and evaluation of curriculum. At Goodwill Secondary we offer a variety of courses to suit students of varying ability. Instructional differentiation is therefore, expected to occur to address the unique needs of specific students. Instruction however, shall be derived from a set of curriculum skills common to all students. There shall be equitable access to the curriculum for all
...ctive. Play is an essential learning tool and one that must not be ignored within the classroom. It is a catalyst to help children develop socially, emotionally, physically and cognitively. It is not only an important part of a child’s development as a pupil but also a child’s development as an individual.
Emergent curriculum is also important to early childhood professionals because it allows teachers to focus on the process of learning. Through this kind of curriculum the individual needs of the child are met. Because children have different weaknesses and strengths, emergent curriculum gives that flexibility for early childhood professionals to build on the strengths and work on the weaknesses of the children. According to Gestwicki (2014) emergent curriculum is a process that grows from real actions and interactions that keep both children and teachers highly motivated and learning.
Since then, Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction has been a standard reference for anyone working with curriculum development. Although not a strict how-to guide, the book shows how educators can critically approach curriculum planning, studying progress and retooling when needed. Its four sections focus on setting objectives, selecting learning experiences, organizing instruction, and evaluating progress. Readers will come away with a firm understanding of how to formulate educational objectives and how to analyze and adjust their plans so that students meet the objectives. Tyler also explains that curriculum planning is a continuous, cyclical process, an instrument of education that needs to be fine-tuned.
Evidence from a publication from Montana State University (2010) sug-gests that play enables children to develop the skills of negotiation, problem solving, sharing, and working within groups. Students who engaged in play were more advanced in reading and mathematics and were better adjusted socially and emotionally in school. These students excelled in creativity and intelligence and oral expression. From this finding, it is apparent that these aforementioned skills are all vital to humans as they are the tools we utilize on a daily basis to interact with others from our early years, through adolescence and well into adulthood. In addition, further evidence suggests DAP pro-grams improve children’s early language, literacy, and mathematics skills (Foundation of Child Development, 2013). Play is an inherent character of a child and through this method caregiver can capitalize on the child’s ability to garner complex knowledge. Children need this knowledge to be successful in their later years not only in their aca-demic surrounding but also in their social environment. It is plausible that DAP provides a solid framework for teaching which demystifies any notion that play should be a hap-hazard act serving little purpose, but instead it is time for carefully created activities fo-cused on