Early Childhood Education Assignments

Early Childhood Education
Portfolio Assignments

Please note that the following assignments are a partial list. Although I have made the effort of including all assignments for the semester, I reserve the right to give additional assignments and to modify or delete existing assignments.

All assignments must be completed on a separate sheet of paper. Your name, the class time and the title of the assignment should be single spaced in the upper right hand corner. All assignments should be typed, double spaced with standard size margins and be at least one full page in length (unless I have noted otherwise). Use 12 font for all assignments, you may choose the font style. The due dates will be distributed on a calendar.

Some of these assignments have come from your text. The page number and/or reference are given.

Ų Chapter 1 - Teacher Assessment (p. 32). Review the qualities of a successful teacher given in the chart on page 21. Make a list of qualities from the chart that you possess. Add any additional characteristics that you feel would make a successful teacher.

Ų Chapter 1 - Reflection Paper (p.32). Write a one-page paper on why you want to teach. Were you inspired by a teacher or an event? What age or subject would you like to teach?

Ų Chapter 28 - Different Perspectives Compare two of the early childhood programs discussed in chapter 28. State the differences and similarities. If you were going to open up a childcare facility, what type of program would you use? Explain why.

Ų Chapter 4 - Fears Research the typical fears of five year olds and ways of helping these children handle their fears. Interview at least one teacher and one parent of a five-year-old. Write a one-page paper on your findings.

Ų Chapter 4 - Development Diagram. Identify activities that would promote physical, intellectual, social and emotional development in a five-year old. Use a diagram to illustrate these activities

Ų Chapter 6 - Personality Web. Create a web of ten personality traits you possess. You may type this on the computer or draw by hand. Work must be neat, free of eraser marks and well organized. Describe in a few paragraphs how your personality may affect children in your classroom.

Ų Chapter 6 - Personal Philosophy of Guidance. Discuss your own feelings about discipline. Do you feel comfortable about managing individual and group behavior? Have you had opportunities to observe many positive models of behavior management? Describe your observations. Remembering that teachers must make immediate decisions about guidance situations, recall a guidance situation that you have observed. Describe the teacher’s action. After thinking about the situation, what would you have done?

Ų Chapter 8 - Teacher Survey. Compile a list of 10-15 guidance techniques used by teachers in the classroom. You may ask teachers from any grade level for this activity. What techniques will you use in your own classroom? Explain why the techniques would be good or bad to use with five-year olds.

Ų Child Observation at RHPS. Observe one child for at least 20 minutes. Keep a running record of everything the child says and does. When your observation is complete, identify the information as it relates to social, emotional, physical and intellectual development. Color-code each of the four areas of development with a different color. For example, you may observe a child talking to another student while actively writing something. Highlight the verbal language with green and the writing with blue to distinguish between social and physical development. Note: A running record of a child’s behavior covering a twenty-minute time span will probably be longer than one page (maybe even two).

Ų Chapter 9 - Room Arrangement. Visit your assigned classroom. Measure the classroom and make a sketch of it, marking the doors, windows, electrical outlets, permanent fixtures, and water sources. Indicate furniture placement on your sketch (include the teacher’s desk and student desks). Illustrate the different areas of learning in the classroom. Is there a separate area for science activities? Does the teacher have a rug for story time?

Ų Chapter 13 - First Aid Kit. Create a first aid kit that would be appropriate for a classroom. Type a list of first aid supplies that you would put into your kit. List will be placed in your portfolio (daily grade). First aid kit will be worth one extra credit test grade.

Ų Chapter 11 - Guiding Children’s Safety. Work with a partner to create a puppet play addressing safety issues outlined in Chapter 11. Play will be presented and taped. The object of this assignment is to teach children about safety. Choose a topic from the chapter. Topic must be submitted to Mrs. Keith 1 week prior to presentation. You are responsible for creating the puppets and a backdrop for your play.

Ų Chapter 24 - Apple Flowchart. Create a flowchart for an apple theme. Write goals based on the flow chart. Develop a list of activities or each of the areas from your theme. Write a lesson plan based on one of your activities from your apple theme.

Ų Chapter 12 - Meal Planning. Plan a nutritious snack using the guidelines in chapter 12. Snacks will be brought in to the class on assigned due date. Remember you are planning a snack that is of good quality and will provide a healthy benefit. Recipe and directions should be typed for your portfolio.

Ų Chapter 17 - Writing Practice. Use the Zaner-Bloser Writing System to practice writing letters. Please use the correct paper provided to complete this activity.

Ų Chapter 17 - Writing Lesson Plan. Using the lesson plan format, create a lesson that focuses on writing.

Ų Chapter 18 & 19- Math & Science Observation (Lab). During your lab time watch the children and record those activities that might be labeled as either math or science. Be sure to record the language of the children involved in the experiences. Science activities may include: observing, comparing, presenting, exploring, experimenting, classifying, measuring or other forms of science. The math activities may include: counting, measuring, graphing, creating patterns, seriating, grouping, dividing, and estimating. After recording your observations, feel free to express your personal reactions to the experience.

Ų Chapter 19 - Math Lesson Plan. Using the lesson plan format, create a lesson that focuses on math.

Ų Chapter 19 - Integrating Science. The chapter stresses the importance of integrating science activities into the curriculum. Since we live in a coastal region, identify at least five science activities that you would incorporate into a thematic unit on the coast. Your activities should be described in paragraph format in at least one page.

Ų Chapter 20 – Holidays. Given the holidays of Halloween, Christmas, St. Patrick’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Thanksgiving, explain why you would or would not celebrate these holidays in your classroom. Would the age of children play a role in your decision? If so, at what age would you celebrate these holidays? Do the activities honor the diversity of the children and their families? Will stereotypes be reduced rather than increased through participating in these activities?

Ų Chapter 20 - Survey a person from your assigned occupation, ask them to describe their role in society. Construct a chart describing the role and ways to introduce the role to children. Create an activity that could be used to teach this role in your classroom. For example: police officers have a duty to serve and protect. An activity to introduce this role to the students could be to have a role-play.

Ų Chapter 14 Art (Packet). There are seven art pages in your packet labeled crayons, chalk, paint, pencils, markers, watercolors and collage. Using each page, create a picture using the designated medium. The purpose of this assignment is first to have fun and remind yourself of the joy that doing art can bring. While you are doing the art, look at the activity from the perspective of a child. Would this medium be easy for a five-year old to use? At what age would you encourage the use of each medium? What preparations would you need to make before allowing the children to use markers, paints, or to do a collage? ½ page.

Ų Chapter 14 - Play Dough. Prepare each of the play dough recipes on p. 219. Compute the cost to make each recipe. Compare these prices to the price of store bought dough. Type the recipe you like best and place it in your portfolio.

Ų Chapter 22 - Finger Play. Select a finger play and teach it to the class. You must sign up for a finger play 1 week prior to presentation date. Type your finger play for your portfolio.

Ų Chapter 22 - Learning with Music. Discuss how music an be used in other types of learning settings. How can music be integrated into mathematical, language arts, science and social studies lessons? Give examples to support your ideas. 1-page

Ų Chapter 27 - Special Needs. Discuss the teacher’s role in guiding special needs children. What are some of the resources available to help teachers successfully integrate special needs children into a childcare program? Choose 3 of the special needs discussed in chapter 27 and describe how you will integrate these children into your classroom.

Ų Chapter 25 - Parent Newsletter Create a newsletter for an imaginary classroom. Identify events for the month that parents can participate in. Discuss the activities children participated in from the previous month. Describe the events for the month that students will be involved in. If students need to bring in items from home, include a short list of things to bring. Highlight birthdays and any other special days.

Ų Chapter 25 - Discuss ways you might build a positive relationship with a shy parent, a worried parent, an angry parent and an unconcerned parent. Identify steps towards building a stronger relationship with each type. 1-page.

Ų Ten Minute Lesson-Part 1 (Lab): This activity must be planned more than one week in advance. In cooperation with the classroom teacher, identify a 5-minute block of time when you can take over the classroom activities. The time you select should be a time when the children are normally engaged in learning activities. You will be responsible for planning, preparing and facilitating everything that happens in the classroom during that time. Be sure that your activities are based on the children’s needs, are developmentally appropriate, fit into the class theme and the sequence of activities planned by the classroom teacher. The classroom teacher will be there to assist you, but you should take the lead. Your activity plans should be approved by the classroom teacher and Mrs. Keith, a week before you do the activity. Your lab report should include a brief review and evaluation of the experience. If you were to do the experience again, what would you do the same? What would you do differently?

Ų Fifteen Minute Lesson-Part 1 (Lab): This activity must be planned more than one week in advance. In cooperation with the classroom teacher, identify a 5-minute block of time when you can take over the classroom activities. The time you select should be a time when the children are normally engaged in learning activities. You will be responsible for planning, preparing and facilitating everything that happens in the classroom during that time. Be sure that your activities are based on the children’s needs, are developmentally appropriate, fit into the class theme and the sequence of activities planned by the classroom teacher. The classroom teacher will be there to assist you, but you should take the lead. Your activity plans should be approved by the classroom teacher and Mrs. Keith, a week before you do the activity. Your lab report should include a brief review and evaluation of the experience. If you were to do the experience again, what would you do the same? What would you do differently?