Education Essay: Winter and Dinosaurs as Chosen Topics for Three and Eight Years Old Students

CHAPTER 16 SUMMARY of: Developmentally Appropriate Curriculum
BEST PRACTICES IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
SIXTH EDITION
Summary
Creating and implementing an effective daily schedule requires thoughtful planning. It is important to consider all aspects of the day, including transitions, when developing schedules. Planning for multiple days requires the same careful consideration as the daily schedule. Planning for multiple days allows teachers to connect experiences for children and integrate learning over time and form more comprehensive, accurate concepts. One way this can be accomplished is through the use of themes and projects.
Effective themes are based on children’s interests and emphasize firsthand learning. Teachers facilitate concept development using an accurate, thorough body of factual information and integrating thematic activities across domains, subject areas, and parts of the day.
Creating effective thematic units involves several steps. The first is to select a topic. Ideas for topics most often originate from the children. Themes may also reflect special events or unexpected happenings, school-mandated content, or teacher or family interests. The best themes are relevant to children and include many hands-on experiences. They contribute to diversity and balance across the curriculum, include a variety of topic-oriented resources, and prompt children to engage in projects of their choosing in order to extend their learning.
Once an idea has been selected, the second step is to create a topic web as well as an accurate information base to support the concept under study. To do this, teachers must research relevant terms, facts, and principles (TFPs). These serve as the basis for developing activities. To increase their educational value further, activities should also address a variety of domains and modes of learning. Creating a plan is the third phase of theme teaching. It involves distributing theme-related activities throughout your weekly lessons and across all parts of the day. Although having several theme-related activities in the plan is important, not every activity in a day or week must focus on the theme. The last phase of theme teaching involves implementing, evaluating, and revisiting the theme as children become engaged in the topic.
Themes may evolve into child-initiated projects. Projects have three phases: (1) beginning the project, (2) developing the project, and (3) concluding the project. Within this chapter, a theme-teaching checklist is provided as a tool for assessing theme implementation in classrooms as well as children’s theme-related learning. Educators’ potential questions regarding theme teaching and project work are also posed and answered.
In sum, theme teaching and project work are valuable instructional tools when used properly. Practitioners who have never engaged in this kind of teaching may find it time-consuming at first. In fact, it may feel more complicated and demanding than a more traditional teacher-directed approach. Nevertheless, as familiarity with the process increases, so will the teacher’s speed and efficiency in carrying it out. Helping to make sense of what could otherwise be fragmented educational events is an advantage both children and teachers will enjoy.