Integrated Curriculum

Michelle Ong April 18, 2014

Nursery Rhymes
Unit and Classroom Logistics General Goal and Purpose: Students will be exposed to and learn skills that cover all developmental domains. Standards reference: Virginia Department of Social Services Milestones of Child Development Class demographics: 18, 3-4 year olds with 2 teachers Classroom environment: The classroom is set up in centers which includes areas for dramatic play, writing, sensory exploration, art, library, and manipulatives.

The Process
Parent and Management Permission Student observation, documentation, and assessment In order to know what strategies to put into place, I needed to understand the students current abilities and how they learn. What excites them? I used a running record to observe and also did some assessments on the students to get specific results on abilities. When I assessed for gross motor, I used a checklist with notations of observations. Through previous observations and knowing this class, they enjoy music and movement and game activities. Material inventory and research of new ideas Review of the Virginia Department of Social Services Milestones to determine standards and indicators
I included detailed lesson plans for 3 activities.

Acquisition of new materials and special activities

Content
I used the VA DSS Milestones of Child Development as my standard reference.
I have provided an overview of the domains and the specific strands I focused on in my integrated curriculum. I have highlighted three activities in which I provided specific objectives and strategies.

Approach to Learning
Strands: Persistence (1), Curiosity & Initiative (2), Creativity & Inventiveness (3), Reasoning & Problem Solving (4)

Social and Emotional Development

Strands: Relationship with others (1), Learning about self (2), Emotion Regulation and Self-Regulation (3)

Language and Literacy

Strands: Listening and Speaking (1), Phonological awareness and alphabetic knowledge (2), Comprehension (4), Early Writing (5)

Physical development and Health

Strands: Gross Motor (1), Fine Motor (2)

Cognition and General Knowledge

Strands: Numbers and Operations (1A), Spatial Sense (1E), Scientific Inquiry (2B)

Fine Arts
Strands: Music (2), Theatre (3), Visual (4)

This classroom set up allows for students to explore different content areas.

Detailed Activities

Hickory Dickory Dock

Domain Area: Fine Arts Related Strands: Music (2) Indicators: Participate with increasing interest & enjoyment in a variety of music activities, including listening, games, and performances (2:B7) Teacher Strategies: Model and teach the Hickory Dickory Dock rhyme in song. At the point where the clock strikes 1 the students with strike their rhythm sticks 1 time.

Student Objectives: imitate movements and sing/repeat repetitive parts of songs or rhymes
Prior Experiences and Knowledge: Students have daily exposure to music, songs, and finger play activities. They repeat repetitive phrases and fill in missing words intentionally left out by the teacher. Environmental and Classroom Considerations: Rhythm sticks will be accessible to students along with their typical instrument availability to do activity on their own

Hickory Dickory Dock

Extension and expansion of skills: After we mastered 1, I asked what other numbers are on a clock. The students yelled 2 so we did the song changing it to 2. One student said 20 and I showed the clock to show that 12 was the highest number on a standard clock.

This is a small group that initiated the activity during center exploration. This was after the large group introduction of the activity earlier in the class.

Jump Over/Crawl under the Candlestick

Domain Area: Physical Development and Health Related Strand: Gross Motor (1) Indicators: Increase levels of proficiency in control/coordination and balance in walking, jumping, hopping (1:A6)

Teacher Strategy:
provide students gross motor game to promote jumping/hopping and crawling for control/coordination (1:A6) Student Objectives: Jump from one side to another while maintaining balance when they land (1:A6) Crawl under blocks while maintaining balance and coordination (1:A6) Prior Experiences and Knowledge: Some students use two feet hopping together while others are using a one foot then landing on both feet or straddling an object. Students are continuing coordinate their movements to reduce knocking down barriers and obstacles. Environmental and Classroom Considerations: The block area will be used to re-enact Jack Jumping over the Candlestick and then crawl under the candlestick.

Jump over/Crawl under the candlestick

Jump Over - The first attempt we used 1 small block. The students began straddling and walking around instead of jumping. The second time, we used wider blocks and raised it up. That eliminated the straddling

Crawl UnderEach time we lowered the height and reduced the width. Most students slowed down on the last set.

Extension: We also changed out Jacks name with each of the students names. The students repeated the rhyme each time. They initiated clapping for their peers.

Fill the pail with pompoms

Domain Area: Physical Development and Health Related Strands: Fine Motor (2)

Indicators: Demonstrate advancing strength, control, eye-hand coordination (2:B5)

Teacher strategies: provide students various manipulatives and materials in art to use fine motor muscles. One particular activity will be various sizes of pompoms and a variety of tools to transfer them from a bowl to a pail.

Student Objectives: Us e pincer grasp, tweezers,, chopsticks or tongs, to move a variety of objects from one container to another.
Prior Experiences and Knowledge: Students continue to build fine motor muscles. They have been provided a variety of tools to manipulate objects. Some students use 2 hands to use tools but, readily attempts (when prompted) to try with 1. Environmental and Classroom Considerations: Tabletop activities will include tweezers, tongs, and activities where students need to use their fingers to manipulate objects.

Fill the pail with pompoms

The students were presented with a bowl of pompoms, an empty pail, and throughout the week different tools to pick up the pompoms and put them in the pail. While the gator tweezers were harder to squeeze, the students had a firmer grip on the soft pompoms. The chopsticks and tall tweezers were easier to close but, made it challenging to keep the grip. Progression of skill and extension: For some, their first response was using their hands to scoop. We modeled the use of the tools and saw a transition from two hand use to one hand. The bigger poms were easier to grab at first. Smaller poms can be used to increase the skill. We use this activity with other objects/materials as well.

Other Activities

Reflection
I have done lesson plans for my classes and am confident that my activities are meaningful and have a general purpose. After doing this project, I feel I had a professional focus and specific goals for the class not just the generic we are working on skills to promote a domain area. Tying it in directly with the standards allowed for me to feel that my activity choices were developmentally appropriate and effective for the class. The students were eager and excited. I have to say that having some great new ideas this year made me excited to share them as well. The students made me laugh when they informed me that the cake was missing. I looked over and a student was pointing at the candles. As with any curriculum planning, having the materials to meet the needs of such a wide variety of abilities is challenging. This was the most difficult part of the task for me. As I looked through the developmental milestones, and after observing my students, there were domains where there were wider gaps in the continuum that I had to make sure to provide enough materials to capture challenges for all stages. For example, I had an activity to find the mouses house. I have some students who are just beginning to speak and those who said the game was too easy. I suggested they come up with way to make it harder for them. In their small group, they came up with hiding the houses around the classroom. For the other students, I was modeling how to say the rhyme and then encouraging them to answer using words instead of pulling at the cards. The intent of this activity was communication and small group interaction. Those who found it too easy, it became more of a hide and seek game which expanded on communication and into cooperative play. My current program does not have a set curriculum or standardized lesson plans. We follow the guidelines of a particular curriculum. However, it is left up to us as to what we want to teach. After doing this project, I feel the only way to ensure that activities and strategies are appropriate, there must be some standards we follow and align them so they follow an appropriate developmental continuum.

Sources
Virginia Department of Social Services Milestones of Child Development Microsoft clipart for presentation graphics
www.preschool-plan-it.com for activity ideas