A very interesting question, Deborah. I agree with DeAnn's response where it seems to me she is responding to your question using athe evidenced-based curriculum she is following to create a high quality learning environment to support the growth, development and achievements of the children that will provide them with the foundation they need to succeed in school and life.
I am curious to know what evidenced-based curriculum used by the Early Childhood Education Program where you are working.
As a former kindergarten teacher and Director of several Early Childhood Education Centers, I am reminded early childhood education is focused on the children. Therefore, I always start with what do I know about how the children learn, what is of interest to them and then how do I plan meaningful activities and experiences to support the children in meeting the goals and, if applicable, Early Learning Standards in the state.
Next, I think about best practices I am aware of to support what the children are learning as they engage in activities and experiences included in the curriculum and the activities and experiences I create that are based on my observations of the children as I engage with them in these activities and events, in small groups and individually, connected to the goals for each experience.
I happen to enjoy planning Projects with young children that are based on the interests of the children. The "Project Approach" developed by Lillian Katz and Sylvia Chard. I happen to enjoy following the steps included in information about the Project Approach. I found I was able to design a project that included a variety of activities and resources that helped reach the goals for the project. For example, getting books from the local library for the Project selected and reading the books with the children helped identify new words for the children that I included on a Word Wall I created with the children that included new words they identified as we read the books associated with the project. In addition, I was and am always sensitive to listening to questions the children ask about words they hear and ask, "What does that word mean?"
I love to read about whatever I was studying with the children led me to books, articles and other resources to help me go deeper into understanding what we were studying and I would engage in conversations with the children about what I learned.
So, all this to say, I think when I planned activities and experiences linked to the curriculum and/or a project that were driven by my observations and interactions with the children, new words that went on the Word Wall responded to your question about what words to teach the children.
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Robert Gundling, Ed.D.
Better Futures LLC
Senior Consultant
Washington, DC
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Original Message:
Sent: 11-16-2019 01:04 PM
From: Deborah Cutshall
Subject: What should I teach?
What words should I be teaching 4-year-old/5-year-olds? I'm a new teacher and while all of my education has stressed the importance of play the new school I'm working at stresses academics as well. What words should I be teaching my students? They know their ABC's, phonetic alphabet sounds, common shapes (square, circle, oval, triangle, trapezoid, diamond or rhombus, rectangle, hexagon, octagon, pentagon, crescent, star, heart), they can count forward and backward from 1-20 .
by sight.
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Respectfully
Deborah Cutshall
Phi Theta Kappa Member
Early Childhood Education Major