Chapter 3 - Debbie Laffranchini

CLDDV 107: Intro to Curriculum
Chapter 3: What Children Learn
Prepared by: Debbie Laffranchini
From: Creative Curriculum
Dodge, Colker, Heroman

• Textbook
Things I Need
• Play: A Vygotskian Approach (26 minutes)
• Growing Minds (25 minutes)
• Concept Development in Outdoor Play (17
minutes)
• Children Learn by Doing (39 minutes)

“Learning teaches
us what is
known, play
makes it
possible for new
things to be
learned. There
are many
concepts and
skills that can
only be learned
through play.”
David Elkind

Circle Time Activities
• Breathing exercises
– Breathe in through your nose
– Exhale through your mouth
• Name Songs
– Hickity Pickity Bumble Bee
• Who can say their name for me?
• Bzzzzz ________
• Say it
• Clap it and say it
• Whisper it
• Turn your voice off and just clap
– Roll ball, say child’s name, roll it to them, they say their name and
they choose child to roll to and say their name
– Whoops
• Put your hand up, point to each finger and say child’s name, four
times and then “whoops” name again, “whoops” and four more times
– Alice in the box, oh so still, will you come out? Yes, I will!
• Child pushes up and involves them without having to talk

What Children Learn
• Literacy content area:
– Vocabulary and language
• Informal conversations, songs, rhymes, finger plays, read aloud
– Phonological awareness
• Not the same as phonics
• Simple to complex, rhymes, noticing how words begin with the same
sound, ability to hear, identify and manipulate individual sounds
– Usually kindergarten and first grade
– Letters, words, print
• What I say can be written down and later read = literacy!
• Left to right, top to bottom, right side up
• The most important letters are the letters in a child’s name, so begin
there
– Comprehension
• Books that ask questions
– Books and other texts
• Stories have beginning, middle, end, have characters, there is a
setting, there is a sequence
• Have children “retell” a story in dramatic play area or with flannel
graph story
• Literacy is a source of enjoyment
– Don’t scold

Connecting Literacy Content, Teaching, and
Learning
In class activity, small group:
• Turn to pages 132, 133
• Look at each of the seven areas of the literacy
content area
• Identify at least one thing you can do to address the
seven areas of the literacy content area
20 minutes

What Children Learn
• Mathematics content area:
– Numbers
– Patterns and relationships
– Geometry and spatial awareness
– Measurement
– Data collection
– Organization
– Representation (see charts)

Connecting Math Content, Teaching, and
Learning
In class activity, small group:
• Turn to pages 140, 141
• Look at each of the five areas of the math content
area
• Identify at least one thing you can do to address the
five areas of the math content area
15 minutes

“It's all very
misguided.
They're
starting too
early, and
getting
burned out.”
David Elkind

What Children Learn
• Science content area:
– Physical properties of objects
• Sink, float, heavy, light
– Living things
– Earth
– Environment

Connecting Science Content, Teaching, and
Learning
In class activity, small group:
• Turn to page 145
• Look at each of the three areas of the science
content area
• Identify at least one thing you can do in each of the
three areas of the science content area
10 minutes

What Children Learn
• Social studies content area:
– How people live
– How people work
– How people get along with others
– How people are shaped and influenced by their
surroundings

Connecting Social Studies Content, Teaching,
and Learning
In class activity, small group:
• Turn to pages 150, 151
• Look at each of the four areas of the social studies
content area
• Identify at least one thing you can do to address each
of the four areas of the social studies content area
10 minutes

• Art content area:
– Dance
– Music
– Dramatic play
– Drawing
– Painting
What Children Learn

Connecting Content in the Arts, Teaching, and
Learning
In class activity, small group:
• Turn to page 155
• Look at each of the four areas of the arts content
area
• Identify at least one thing you can do to address each
of the four areas of the arts content area
10 minutes

What Children Learn
• Technology content area:
– Tools and their basic operations
– Use of technology

Connecting Technology Content, Teaching, and
Learning
In class activity, small group:
• Turn to page 160
• Look at each of the four areas of the technology
content area
• Identify at least one thing you can do to address each
of the four areas of the technology content area
10 minutes

• Process skills:
What Children Learn
– Observing and exploring
– Problem solving
– Connecting, organizing, communicating and
representing information