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The Project Approach which
highlights investigation of children’s topics of interest is one of the
planning tools used at ECLC but we also have a commitment to the acquisition of
skills so that children are ready to move on to the next stage of academic
life.
The teachers assess using 2 main
theoretical formats; The Creative Curriculum and Te Whàriki
however they also apply many other theoretical tools they have gain over there
many years of training.
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The Creative Curriculum® Goals and Objectives at a Glance |
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Social/Emotional
Development |
Physical
Development |
Cognitive
Development |
Language
Development |
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1. Shows ability to adjust to new situations 2. Demonstrates
appropriate trust in adults 3. Recognizes
own feelings and manages them appropriately 4. Stands up for
rights
5. Demonstrates self-direction and independence
6. Takes
responsibility for own well-being 7. Respects
and cares for classroom environment and materials 8. Follows
classroom routines 9. Follows
classroom rules Pro-social Behavior 10. Plays well with other children 11. Recognizes
the feelings of others and responds appropriately 12. Shares and
respects the rights of others 13. Uses
thinking skills to resolve conflicts |
14. Demonstrates basic loco motor skills
(running, jumping, hopping, galloping) 15. Shows
balance while moving 16. Climbs
up and down 17. Pedals
and steers a tricycle (or other wheeled vehicle) 18. Demonstrates
throwing, kicking, and catching skills
19. Controls small muscles in hands 20. Coordinates
eye-hand movement 21. Uses
tools for writing and drawing |
22. Observes objects and events with curiosity 23. Approaches
problems flexibly 24. Shows
persistence in approaching tasks 25. Explores
cause and effect 26. Applies knowledge
or experience to a new context
27. Classifies objects 28. Compares/measures 29. Arranges
objects in a series 30. Recognizes
patterns and can repeat them 31. Shows
awareness of time concepts and sequence 32. Shows
awareness of position in space 33. Uses
one-to-one correspondence 34. Uses
numbers and counting Representation and Symbolic Thinking 35. Takes on pretend roles and situations 36. Makes
believe with objects 37. Makes
and interprets representations |
38. Hears and discriminates the sounds of language 39.
Expresses self using words and expanded sentences 40. Understands
and follows oral directions 41. Answers
questions 42. Asks
questions 43. Actively
participates in conversations 44. Enjoys and values reading 45. Demonstrates
understanding of print concepts 46. Demonstrates
knowledge of the alphabet 47. Uses
emerging reading skills to make meaning from print 48. Comprehends
and interprets meaning from books and other texts 49. Understands
the purpose of writing 50. Writes
letters and words |
Te Whàriki
Early Childhood Curriculum
Ministry of Education
Learning Media
Early childhood is
“…a period of momentous significance for all people growing up in
[our] culture… By the
time this period is over, children will have formed conceptions of
themselves as social
beings, as thinkers, and as language users, and they will have reached
certain important
decisions about their own abilities and their own worth.”
Donaldson, M.,
Grieve, R., and Pratt, C. Early Childhood Development and Education:
in Psychology.
CONTENTS
Introduction
The
Purpose and Structure of the Document
The
Principles
Development
of Learning and Capabilities
Planning
Evaluation
and Assessment
The
Strands
Strand 1
– Well-being
The Goals
Learning
Outcomes; Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes
Strand 2
– Belonging
The Goals
Learning
Outcomes; Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes
Strand 3
– Contribution
The Goals
Learning
Outcomes; Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes
Strand 4
– Communication
The Goals
Learning
Outcomes; Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes
Strand 5
– Exploration
The Goals
Learning
Outcomes; Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes
Introduction
This curriculum is founded on the following aspirations for
children:
To grow up as competent and confident learners and
communicators, healthy in mind, body, and spirit, secure in their sense of
belonging and in the knowledge that they make a valued contribution to society.
This curriculum defines how to achieve progress towards this
vision for learners in early childhood learning environments. It is about the
individual child. Its starting point is the learner and the knowledge, skills,
and attitudes that the child brings to their experiences. The curriculum is
also about early childhood settings. Learning begins at home, and early
childhood programmes outside the child’s own home
play a significant role in extending early learning and in laying the
foundations for successful future learning.
Each community to which a child belongs, whether it is a family
home or an early childhood setting outside the home, provides opportunities for
new learning to be fostered: for children to reflect on alternative ways of
doing things; make connections across time and place; establish different kinds
of relationship; and encounter different points of view. These experiences
enrich children’s lives and provide them with the knowledge, skills, and
dispositions they need to tackle new challenges.
This curriculum emphasises the critical
role of socially and culturally mediated learning and of reciprocal and
responsive relationships for children with people, places, and things. Children
learn through collaboration with adults and peers, through guided participation
and observation of others, as well as through individual exploration and
reflection. In early childhood education settings, all children should
be given the opportunity to develop knowledge and an understanding of the
cultural heritages of both partners of their community.
The Purpose and Structure of
the Document
The purpose of this document is to provide a curriculum framework
that will form the basis for consistent curriculum and programmes.
It sets out the principles, strands, and goals which are distinctively
appropriate for the early childhood years, and provides examples of the links
between early childhood education and the school years.
The term “curriculum” is used in this document to describe the sum
total of the experiences, activities and events whether direct or indirect
which occur within an environment designed to foster children’s learning and
development.
These experiences, activities, and events
may be based on forward planning or may evolve in response to a particular
situation.
The Principles
There are
four broad principles at the centre of the early childhood curriculum.
Empowerment
The early
childhood curriculum empowers the child to learn and grow.
Holistic Development
The early
childhood curriculum reflects the holistic way children learn and grow.
Family and Community
The wider
world of family and community is an integral part of the early childhood
curriculum.
Relationships
Children
learn through responsive and reciprocal relationships with people, places, and
things.
The strands and goals arise from the four
principles. The whàriki is woven from these four
principles and from the following five strands, or essential areas of learning
and development. The principles and strands together form the framework for the
curriculum. Each strand has several goals. Learning outcomes have been
developed for each goal in each of the strands, so that the whàriki
becomes an integrated foundation for every child’s development.
Development of Learning and Capabilities
Although the patterns of learning and development are sometimes
seen as a progressive continuum linked to age, such patterns vary for
individual children in ways that are not always predictable. The direction and
speed of learning and growing will often fluctuate from day to day, according
to where the child is and the people they are with. During the early childhood
years, children often demonstrate needs and capabilities at a variety of
stages.
For example:
Within
minutes, a child can be both dependent and independent, according to changes in
temperament, environment, or adult expectations.
A
young infant needs an environment that is predictable but also needs and enjoys
challenges and surprises.
A
child may be using language and reasoning to order the world while continuing
to use the sensory skills used in infancy.
Children
learn through a combination of imagination and logic.
The curriculum for the early childhood years must, therefore, be
flexible enough to encompass the reality of:
Fluctuations
in individual behaviour and learning;
The
need for repeated, familiar experiences to consolidate concepts and reassure
the child;
The
need for challenge as a medium for growth.
Planning
Planning the curriculum whàriki should
be a continuing process, involving careful observation, identification of needs
and capabilities, provision of resources, assessment, and evaluation.
Discussion and debate about planning programmes are a
crucial part of the process of improving it, by ensuring that people think
about, and are able to justify, their beliefs and practices. Each programme should be planned to offer sufficient learning
experiences for the children to ensure that the curriculum goals are realised. Planning will usually begin from observations of
the children’s interests, strengths, needs, and behaviours.
Planning experiences or events can focus on the environment, the setting,
particular age groups, and on groups of children or individual children. The
focus could also be on a routine or regular happening, such as planning for
mealtimes. Planning should help adults who work in early childhood education to
understand what young children are learning, how the learning happens, and the
role that both adults and other children play in such learning.29
Evaluation and Assessment
The purpose of evaluation is to make informed judgments about the
quality and effectiveness of the programme. A system
of evaluation will ask: In what ways do the human relationships and the programme provide a learning environment which is based on
the goals of the curriculum?
Evaluative procedures emphasise the
quality of provision and make use of all the forms of assessment that can be
carried out by both adults and children. Assessment of children’s learning and
development will be part of the information needed to evaluate the programme. Evaluation processes will identify whether the
environment and programme are providing for the needs
of all the children in the early childhood setting.
The programme will be continually or
regularly modified in the light of evaluation, to ensure that it meets the
needs of the children within the curriculum goals. It is important that the
curriculum whàriki as a whole, or a particular range
of experiences in the programme are modified if they
are not working well to meet the needs of the children and the goals of the
curriculum.
The purpose of assessment is to give useful information about
children’s learning and development to the adults providing the programme and to children and their families. Assessment of
children’s learning and development involves intelligent observation of the
children by experienced and knowledgeable adults for the purpose of improving
the programme.
Children are increasingly able to assess their own learning, to
outline their own goals, and to decide how to achieve these goals. They work
hard to achieve such goals as learning to walk, forming letters and numbers,
and contributing to group interaction. The learning environment should enable
children to set and pursue their own goals within the boundaries necessary for
safety and to reflect on whether they have achieved their goals.
Assessment of children’s learning and development should always
focus on individual children over a period of time and avoid making comparisons
between children. Even where there are pathways of increasing knowledge or
skill, children’s responses and behaviour will be
subject to swings and variations in development according to a number of
factors, including where the children are, the people they are with, and how
they are feeling. A single observation is a snapshot of that occasion only, and
adults should be wary of generalising from individual
pieces of information.
The Strands
The strands and goals of the curriculum arise from the principles.
Each strand embodies an area of learning and development that is woven into the
daily programme of the early childhood setting and
has its own associated goals for learning.
There are five strands.
Well-being
Belonging
Contribution
Communication
Exploration
The strands are defined in terms of the
goals and learning outcomes needed to achieve them, of each strand’s
relationship to the principles, and of adult responsibilities associated with
each strand.
The Goals
The goals identify how the principles and strands can be
incorporated into programmes at a practical level.
The goals for learning and development within each strand are described in
terms of learning outcomes for knowledge, skills, and
attitudes.
Learning Outcomes: Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes
The outcomes of a curriculum are knowledge, skills, and attitudes.
The list of outcomes in this document is indicative rather than definitive.
Each early childhood education setting will develop its own emphases and
priorities.
The Strands
Strand 1 – Well-Being
The health and well-being of the child are
protected and nurtured.
Goal 1
Children experience an environment where their health is
promoted.
Learning outcomes: knowledge, skills, and attitudes
Children develop:
increasing understanding of their bodies
and how they function;
knowledge about how to keep themselves
healthy;
self-help and self-care skills for eating,
drinking, food preparation, toileting, resting, sleeping, washing, and
dressing;
positive attitudes towards eating,
sleeping, and toileting.
Goal 2
Children experience an environment where
their emotional well-being is nurtured.
Learning outcomes: knowledge, skills, and
attitudes
Children develop:
an increasing ability to determine their
own actions and make their own choices;
a capacity to pay attention, maintain
concentration, and be involved;
a growing capacity to tolerate and enjoy
a moderate degree of change, surprises, uncertainty, and puzzling events;
a sense of personal worth, and knowledge
that personal worth does not depend on today’s behaviour
or ability;
an ability to identify their own
emotional responses and those of others;
confidence and ability to express
emotional needs;
trust that their emotional needs will be
responded to.
Goal 3
Children experience an environment where they are kept safe
from harm.
Learning outcomes: knowledge, skills, and attitudes
Children develop:
increasing knowledge about how to keep
themselves safe from harm;
confidence that they can participate and
take risks without fear of harm;
ability and confidence to express their
fears openly;
trust that their fears will be taken
seriously;
a sense of responsibility for their own
well-being and that of others;
&