Clarisse Tingchuy

Concept Paper

Study/Selection
A theme-based curriculum with emphasis on Developmentally Appropriate Practices
and Social Skills specifically for children ages 14 to 26 months.

Summary
The current project is designed to assist toddler teachers in the preparation of
developmentally appropriate activities, which are linked, to the California Preschool
Learning Foundations. The author created this project is to develop a theme-based
developmentally appropriate curriculum specifically targeted to early childhood
programs serving toddlers ranging in age from 14 to 26 months. In the development of
the project, the author used the scholarly literature and California Preschool
Foundations were consulted. She incorporated the theoretical ideas of Vygotsky’s on
Zone of Proximal Development, Symbol Representation and the importance of social
interactions in cognitive development served as the basis for the project. The review of
literature focused on the following areas: developmentally appropriate practices theme-
based curricula, Reggio Emilia approach the preschool foundations, and social
competence skills. Toddler teachers need support and encouragement as well as
challenging activities to implement. Finding appropriate activities can be discouraging
and may lead to inappropriate practices in the classroom, therefore, the activities in this
project could be just the beginning for some teachers. The California Preschool
Learning Foundations (2008) provide teachers and educators with guidelines on key
skills that toddlers and preschool children can achieve when provided with a rich
environment and curriculum. The foundations have further encouraged the investigator
to continue searching for challenging activities for the toddlers served and for the future
teachers in the toddler classroom (California Department of Education, 2008). The
classroom should include a well-rounded environment that fosters the development of
young children. The resource materials in this theme-based curriculum will comprise of
challenging lesson plans that are in line with the current research on the best practices
in teaching young children and that complement the California preschool learning
foundations
Insights
From the study presented above, I learned how a curriculum is important and that
creating a curriculum for childcare programs is not common. It is actually hard
considering that the curriculum to be made for children below three years old should be
developmentally appropriate activities which gives every child the opportunity to
succeed in the task at hand to promote their interest and assist them in their progress
towards activities that encompasses all aspects of development. Through this, a theme-
based curriculum is proposed by the author incorporating a developmentally appropriate
curriculum that specifically targets early childhood programs serving toddlers ranging in
age 14 to 26 months. Not only that, the study also shows emphasis on how we could
use Vygotsky’s symbol representation and the Zone of Proximal Development where
the child’s area of development is led by a more accomplish adult or more
knowledgeable other. This entails how the teacher should not only teach but guide the
child on its step toward progress. The activities presented by the author highlights the
enhancement of the child’s motor skills and social skills. The study provides a clear
distinction of what is a theme-based curriculum and how it is important. A theme-based
curriculum tackles a specific theme encompassing other learning activities or domains
associated with it. A very clear example presented by the author is the theme ‘Summer’,
from this the teacher may discuss about warm or hot weather, vacations, beaches and
engaging in water play. The teacher may present pictures of a beach. There is a given
activity with a container of sand, water, shovels etc. With this activity, it enhances the
language and literacy domain with the teacher’s stories behind the presented picture,
the visual and spatial skills of the child, the mathematics domain of the child as the child
may focus on measurement. Theme-based provides a wide-array scope with only one
theme. Linking a theme-based activity which is developmentally appropriate can
increase the toddlers’ interest and can cover various domains of learning. With this, a
well-rounded environment classroom should be developed in order to foster progress or
development of the learning of young children. The theme-based curriculum should
comprise challenging lesson plan which are in line with the current research on the best
practices in teaching young children.