CURRICULUM MODEL/APPROACH: HIGHSCOPE

SHERIDAN PLANNING FORM

NAME OF STUDENT

Sylvia Siemaszko

DATE OF ACTIVITY

Friday, November 6, 2015.

Dinosaur Hunt: This will be an activity during outdoors time.

NAME/FOCUS OF

Dinosaurs will be hidden in the sand in the sandbox. Children will

ACTIVITY

have the opportunity to dig and discover the hidden figures.

18 to 30

NUMBER OF CHILDREN

10

AGE RANGE OF CHILDREN

months

Several children played hide-and-seek outdoors around the climber.

ORIGINATING IDEA

They hid behind the climber and others found them. They ran around

BASED ON OBSERVATION:

to find me hiding behind the climber, and extended the activity by

saying Again several times.
HIGH SCOPE KEY

LEARNING ANTICIPATED
(MUST be completed,
according to program
model/approach)
(REFERENCES INCLUDED)

DEVELOPMENTAL

DEVELOPMENTAL

SIGNIFICANCE

INDICATOR (KDI)

4. Cognition

A. Approaches to Learning

[4.5] Spatial problem solving:

[2] Problem solving: Children

pushing obstacles out of the way,

solve problems encountered in

using tools to overcome barriers

exploration and play (High

(Best Start Expert Panel on Early

Scope Educational Research

Learning, 2014, p. 33).

Foundation, 2010).

Children have the

Children have the

opportunity to explore the

opportunity to explore and

sandbox in a new way. They

search the sandbox, in the

will have a goal in mind and

process developing problem-

will develop problem-solving

solving skills. They will use

skills in pursuit of that goal.

these skills to figure out

They will dig through the

ways to find the dinosaurs,

sand to find the dinosaurs,

pushing aside obstacles and

pushing obstacles (i.e. sand,

using shovels and various

leaves, and various sand

sand toys as tools to aid in

toys) out of their way. They

their problem-solving.

will use shovels as tools in

their search.

CURRICULUM MODEL/APPROACH: HIGHSCOPE

WHERE WILL THE
ACTIVITY TAKE PLACE

MATERIALS: (Be Specific)

In the outdoors

WHEN IN THE DAILY

environment at the

ROUTINE/SCHEDULE

At outdoors time

sandbox.

WILL THIS OCCUR

in the afternoon.

Dinosaur figures which will be hidden, and shovels which will be

used in the course of digging to find them.

BEGINNING
I will begin the activity by showing the children a dinosaur, and saying Do you remember when we
played hide-and-seek? I hid behind the climber outside and you found me. I will walk over to the
sandbox and say, Ive hidden some dinosaurs in the sandbox, under the sand. Can you find them?
MIDDLE
If the activity goes as planned, I expect the children will search for the dinosaurs. They will explore the
sandbox, and may ask me where the dinosaurs are. I will support their exploration by encouraging them
to continue, and making suggestions such as, Maybe theres a dinosaur in the corner here. Why dont
you try digging in this area? I will provide ongoing support by acknowledging each childs efforts.
If the activity does not go as planned, the children might gather some of the dinosaurs and begin to use
them for pretend play, as opposed to continuing their search for other dinosaurs. The children might
choose to dig using shovels, and may create sand castles and mountains instead of searching for the
dinosaurs.
If children are not interested in the activity, I will support their choice. This activity is occurring during
outdoors time, and children will be able to engage in any activity of their choosing. I will ask, What
would you like to do? I will then follow their lead and join them in their chosen activity.
END/TRANSITION
I will follow the childrens lead in deciding when to end the activity. I will support their
experimentation as long as they are interested in the materials, or until outdoors time ends. If they lose
interest in the activity, I will then ask them, What would you like to do next? When it is time to go
inside, I will encourage them to clean up the toys, placing the dinosaurs in the appropriate bin.