3 Credit(s)

Methods in planning and implementing an integrated curriculum using projects and thematic units and developmentally appropriate instruction for children’s learning. Assessment strategies and data collection, both formal and informal, for use in evaluating the progress of children in kindergarten and primary grades, meeting individual needs and reporting progress to parents. This course requires a three-hour per week practicum in addition to class time. (Fall, Spring) [Graded (Standard Letter)]

Prerequisite(s): ECED 2920  OR FLHD 2600- Prerequisite Min. Grade: C
Registration Restriction(s): None

• Bredekamp, Sue, (2020). Effective Practices in Early Childhood Education: Building a Foundation. Fourth Edition. Pearson. ISBN:10: 0135179904

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

1. Locate Utah Core Curriculum and become familiar with the various content area standards and objectives.
2. Prepare developmentally appropriate lesson plans for early childhood instruction in core content areas.
3. Prepare an integrated unit of instruction based on a theme appropriate for grades Pre K-3.
4. Prepare formative and summative assessments as appropriate for Pre K-3 instruction.
5. Acquire practicum experience in a state-licensed preschool or in a kindergarten classroom.
6. Practice effectively communicating and collaborating with parents, mentor teachers, administration, and colleagues.
7. Practice establishing and maintaining a positive learning climate in a practicum setting. 

Quizzes & Exams

Weekly quizzes will be a part of this class and will be based on readings and in-class discussions. *All quizzes are due on the due date.  

Practicum

SUU’s focus for our students is to engage in experiential learning. To that end, you will be involved in a weekly practicum for 3 hours each week in a state-licensed preschool or in a kindergarten class. You will engage with students and teachers in the classroom setting. You are required to complete 39 practicum hours and are expected to attend weekly throughout the semester. This is a professional experience in your chosen career.  You are expected to be professional: be on time, call if you are late or sick, dress appropriately. Be confidential, cooperate with your colleagues, be respectful of children and adults, perform duties as requested. You will need to make up any missed hours. Following your teaching day, you will sit with teachers and debrief your day. All of this will make you a strong and capable teacher.

Teaching Day

As part of your capstone early childhood training, you will prepare and teach one preschool session on your own.  You will coordinate with the mentor teacher as to the day you will teach, theme, planning, etc. You will need to get your planning ideas to them and me in advance so that we can give you feedback on your ideas.  We try to avoid repetitive lessons, overkill in one area over another, etc. They will be happy to sit with you and help you plan your day so you can be as successful as possible. Please arrive 30 minutes before the children so you can adequately prepare for your day!!! You will be required to prepare the following:

• Daily Schedule: This maps out what you will be doing during the day with times indicated. For each activity, indicate which domain is addressed. You may use the schedule form that your mentor teacher uses. 
• Planning Form: This form allows you to plan for each of the domains/content areas for your teaching day. 
• SUU Daily Lesson Plan: for a large-group instruction lesson. (send to me two weeks in advance so I can give you feedback. Your lesson can be from any content area.
• Quiet Signal and Transitions
• Photos: for documentation, have someone take pictures of you teaching your session.
• Teaching Day: For your teaching day, you will submit the following. For feedback before your teaching day, submit it two weeks in advance. For grading, submit it as soon after your teaching day as possible.
  • Planning Form
  • Daily Schedule w/ Domains
  • SUU Daily Lesson Plan/ Reflection of Lesson
  • Photos
  • One Page Reflection of Full Day

Case Study Folder of Preschool Child Examining Four Domains

The major focus of this class is for you to develop a foundation of what the field of early childhood education entails.  Working with young children requires specific knowledge of child development as well as knowledge of developmentally appropriate practices in the classroom. You will spend your practicum time observing and interacting in an early childhood setting so that you can see, firsthand, best practices when working with young children. You will also conduct an in-depth case study on one child at the preschool.  You will prepare an organized folder with each of the four domains labeled.   Each section will include a one-page summary (double-spaced) of what you observed of this child in this area during the semester at your practicum. Give specific examples where appropriate and feel free to add photos. Provide the  Observation Checklist data, notes, samples of work over time, charts, and any other documentation you collected to make your recommendations. The areas you are examining are:

• Social/Emotional Development

• Cognitive (Academics) Development
• Language and Literacy Development
• Perceptual, Motor, and Physical Development
• Overall Impressions and Recommendation for this child (strengths/weaknesses)
• One DAP activity in one domain for this child. This does not need to be a full ICAP lesson plan. You can list the title of the activity, the specific objective, the materials needed, and a step-by-step set of instructions: nothing too complicated for parents to implement at home.  The purpose of this additional activity is to see if you can use the data you have collected to make an informed decision about the appropriate instructional approach for this child

It will be helpful for you to keep a journal with dates and events to remind you as you complete this folder. You will be required to fill out a practicum log but I would recommend keeping track on your own as well.  

ALL OF THIS INFORMATION WILL BE USED DURING YOUR PARENT/TEACHER SCENARIO ROLE PLAY.

Parent Scenario Role Play

Building relationships with parents and sharing information is a key part of an educator’s responsibilities. In a practicum setting, it is difficult to allow college students to discuss such private and critical information with actual parents. Your training at this point is not complete enough to ensure that you are adequately observing the appropriate developmental skills. However, your training would not be complete if we did not address how to share sensitive information with parents. To that end, we will discuss some strategies for working with parents and you will conduct a “mock” parent conference where you share your findings from your case study with a “parent”. You will prepare your notes and submit the pertinent data/documentation, explanations, recommendations in your folder. We will try to make this experience as real as possible, so you will be expected to dress professionally on this day.

Folder must include:

1. Completed Agenda: (strengths, areas needing improvement, what we do at school, and how to help at home)
2. DAP Activity: Activity you prepared from your findings for your Case Study. Print it on the back side of the Agenda so parents can have this all on one document.

Thematic Unit

This instructional unit will be the culminating project of this class. As you work through the semester, you will search for and compile lessons and activities that will be appropriate for the content areas listed below. It is not necessary that you create the activities “from scratch” as there are many wonderful resources available to you. You will need to write a standard and objective from the USOE Core Curriculum on each lesson/activity. As a practicing teacher, you are expected to research the best that you can find to teach the content within the theme you have selected. Your best option is to look through the grade level and content areas (Science, Math, ELA, Social Studies, Art, etc.). You should avoid just a “cutesy” topic (e.g. Disney’s Frozen, Circus Fun, etc.). Something more along the line of “Fun in the Forest”, “How Big is Big”, “Under the Sea”, may be able to provide more content-rich options. 

1.  ELA: Minimum 3 Activities (2 ELA and 1 ELA/Art integrated)
2.  Math: Minimum 3 Activities (2 Math and 1 Math/Art integrated)
3.  Science: Minimum 3 Activities (2 Science and 1 Science/Art integrated)
4.  Social Studies: Minimum 3 Activities (2 Social Studies and 1 SS/Art integrated
5. Parent Letter: brief sample of activities/how parents can help at home/school with bulleted information and graphics
6. Miscellaneous Section with Bulletin Board, Books/Poems/Read-Alouds/Fingerplays/Recipes, Games, Room Ideas, etc

The following grading standards will be used in this class:

Required Extra Co-curricular Activities: Practicum hours will be completed in a PreK classroom during this course.

• Standards and Objectives, Practicum Submission

• Developmental Domain Introduction, Stages of Play

• Perceptual, Motor, and Physical Developmental Domain, Case Study Assignment 1

• Art Integration

• Language and Literacy Domain, Case Study Assignment 2

• Language and Literacy Thematic Unit Assignment

• Cognitive Domain, Case Study Assignment 3

• Math Thematic Unit Assignment

• Science Thematic Unit Assignment

• Social and Emotional Domain, Case Study Assignment 4

• Social Studies Thematic Unit Assignment

• Classroom Management, Miscellaneous Thematic Unit Assignment

• Caregiver Communication Thematic Unit Assignment

• Formative and Summative Assessment

• Case Study Summary, Teaching Day Reflection, Thematic Unit

Online classes provide unique challenges for interaction. For messages sent to me, I will respond within 1-2 business days. For feedback on your assignments that I provided in the specified amount of time, to find feedback look at this tutorial How do I view assignment comments from my Instructor.

Late Policy: Late Assignments will earn half credit and will only be accepted for two weeks after the assignment due date. Late Quizzes will not be accepted. All quizzes and assignments are expected to be created by the student. AI-generated submissions are not permitted and will be treated as plagiarism. 

Make-Up Work/Extra Credit: There are no extra credit opportunities for this course although the professor may choose to award extra credit for exceptional work on individual assignments. 

Attendance: Attendance is a vital part of this class and will be recorded each class period. Each day of attendance is worth 50 points which equals about 700 points for the semester. Students with 95-100% attendance will receive all of the attendance points. Students will less than 95% attendance will be deducted 50 points for each absence. On the 3rd absence, your overall grade will drop for every two absences.  

Program and Course Fees

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