Hi Christa,
I have been a part of several reaccreditations for centers which serve birth through kindergarten. While the centers I worked in used weekly lesson plans, I do not believe it is "required" to be weekly. Bi-weekly sounds fine for infants, especially since most of the time our infant teachers would be doing similar activities over the course of a month. I'd like to mention that just because it is a new lesson plan doesn't mean that new additions to the environment or activities have to take place. The philosophy behind NAEYC is that we are providing children with developmentally appropriate and engaging experiences that enrich their days/lives. With that comes flexibility in the day and lessons, we must always respond to the children's wants and needs. Sometimes we plan active days and realize the children are not up for it, in that moment we adapt and select a different activity.
The goal of lesson planning is to ensure that intentional experiences are being planned for all children. This can mean both structured and open-ended activities. Teachers take the time to plan activities and environment additions based on the needs and interest of the children. For example, there may be an infant who loves throwing balls and the teacher will plan to add different types of balls into the environment for them to explore. As that infants are touching/throwing the balls, the teacher will ask them questions about their experiences and practice self-talk. Another activity that can be done with balls is painting. Maybe the teacher plans an activity where there is paint on a paper and balls get bounced on top, or the infant paints their own ball.
I'd be happy to answer any other questions you have about what I've written. I've worked with many infant teachers and have written my own infant lesson plans over the years.
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Erin Daddio
Carlsbad CA
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Original Message:
Sent: 07-11-2019 03:58 PM
From: Christa Edwards
Subject: NAEYC Lesson Plans
Hi all,
We came up with bi-weekly lesson plans for each classroom to meet some accreditation criteria and I'm wondering if the lesson plans are required to be weekly or could be a longer time-frame. For our infant classroom I don't actually want our teachers changing all the toys every week; it can be disruptive to the children's exploration of what's there and can be overstimulating. I looked through the NAEYC website and can't find a requirement about the amount of time a lesson plan has to cover and am hoping it is flexible! I'd also be interested in seeing some successful lesson plans that are developmentally appropriate for infants! Thanks in advance for any evidence, thoughts, or resources you have.
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Christa Edwards
Assistant Program Director
BlueSkies for Children
Oakland CA
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