The Assignment
You will develop two (2) activity plans, one (1) for each of the following age groups (Infants or toddlers and Preschool or Pre-Kindergarten).
Create an activity plan for children from each of the assigned age groups. The activities MUST be developmentally appropriate and encourage active exploration of materials and ideas. For the most part, the children should be able to do the activity with minimal guidance from their teachers, although teachers should interact with children, asking questions to encourage exploration, curiosity, problem solving, language development and deeper thinking. Dittos/coloring sheets, flash cards, product oriented projects (crafts), etc. will not be considered developmentally appropriate activities. The activities should be open-ended, encourage exploration, discovery, creativity and allow the children to build their own knowledge. These should be planned for centers or small groups, not the entire class (whole group). They can also take place outside. Each plan should focus on a different area of development (Emotional and Social Development, Health and Physical Development, Approaches to Learning, Language Development and Communication, or Cognitive Development).
Each activity plan should include the following and follow the format below:
1) Title of the Activity and age of the children participating
2) Area of Development (Domain) (Emotional and Social Development, Health and Physical Development, Approaches to Learning, Language Development and Communication, or Cognitive Development) PLEASE CHOOSE ONLY ONE AREA.
3) Goals addressed: If you do not have a goal listed you cannot get full credit for other sections. The goal is what you want the children to learn from the activity. Be sure to list the goal (with letters and numbers included) EXACTLY as it is worded in the original NCFELD document.
Example:
Goal APL-1: Children show curiosity and express interest in the world around them
4) Materials – List all of the materials you will need to do the activity. Pretend that you are planning an activity for a substitute to do in your classroom. He or she will not be familiar with the activity, so you will have to state everything for them.
5) Procedures – Step-by-step instructions for doing the activity. Also include how many children will be doing the activity with you. These should always be for a center or small group of children (ex-5 preschoolers, 3 toddlers). Be sure to include what THE CHILDREN will do in the activity. Watching you do an activity is not an open-ended activity for the children. Again, think of that substitute. If you don’t tell him or her the procedures, your goal for the activity may not be accomplished. Write down everything! (Crafts are not acceptable for this Key Assessment)
6) Higher Level Questioning- What open ended questions will you ask the children to encourage them to think about their activity and guide them toward meeting the standard? What questions can you ask to identify if the goal has been mastered? (minimum of 5)
7) In addition to your 2 plans, you will need to choose one of the plans and focus on an aspect of the activity that you can present in a hands on fashion. Your options for this piece of the Key Assessment are:
**Photos of the activity: For example: if your activity is a game you will need to make the game or an example of it and submit photos along with your submission. You could also include photos of actual children completing the activity.
Grading Criteria
The attached rubric will be used to grade this assignment. In addition 20 points will be deducted if the hands on component is not included
Resources are attached.
