Lesson Plan Ecd Lesson Plan:

Lesson Plan

ECD Lesson Plan: Progressive Preschool Education

Developmental Level

The rate of a child's development is impacted as much by its environmental surroundings as by its individual capabilities. With the right lesson plan and support structure, it is possible to facilitate the proper dual education and socialization in a preschool child, thus encouraging the appropriate development of physical, emotional and cognitive abilities. It is largely up to the teacher to create a suitable setting for the realization of these faculties. The preschool setting can be a key role-player in shaping the early capabilities of children toward all manner of learning. By offering children the first of such settings, which demands the refinement of social instincts, promotes the composition of problem-solving skills and demands participation in fitness activities, a preschool can serve as an ideal lens through which to monitor the early emergence of either talents or handicaps which are likely to mold future learning patterns.

The lesson plan to be developed herein will be directed by certain realities distinct to the preschool context. Particularly, given that this is for many children their first exposure to either an Early Childhood Development (ECD) context or any form of social interaction with a peer group, the lesson plan will be constructed with a core interest in integrating the various initiating steps to a lifetime of education.

This perspective is informed by a number of the developmental steps which become apparent at this age. "Behavior (adaptation to the environment) is controlled through mental organizations called schemes that the individual uses to represent the world and designate action. This adaptation is driven by a biological drive to obtain balance between schemes and the environment (equilibration). (Huitt, 1) Among these schema, the emergence of leadership, extroversion and cooperativeness can become an apparent traits for the first time. During classroom and free time, children at this age will begin to experience many of the first developing impulses of their emergent personalities, which will tie closely into the development of scholastic propensities.

Another schema which is of importance in the context of preschool education is the way in which children will come to identify with one another if given the proper contextualization. For instance, this age group tends to experience the emergence of gender roles and the proclivity toward gender segregation for the first time. Boys and girls will tend to gravitate toward members of their own sex in search of friendship. Though the definition and application of friendship is based on a somewhat looser set of criteria than those which develop in just a few years, gender orientation often plays a significant part. Both the stature and gender proclivities of the children suggest that preschool can be an important setting for the realization of evolving emotional sensibilities. The propensity to seek out social validation from those in whom children perceive desirable qualities is a prime motivator toward the establishment of important emotional relationships. The commencement of this process in preschool can be a natural point of entry into this crucial education.

In general, this is illuminating to the true purpose of enrolling a child in preschool. More than the content of education, the environment plays a crucial role in bringing the child's education outside of the home. As with all future levels of education, this is a tier at which begins the gradual process of preparing the child for seamless insertion into the real world.

As the lesson plan to be developed here will concern Early Childhood Education for students in preschool, the emphasis will be largely on socialization, with activities concerning primary education revolving on active engagement of students and informed by some principals related to the Montessori philosophy on education.

Section II: Cognitive Segments

According to Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development, there are two ways in which children may learn: "Assimilation is the process of using or transforming the environment so that it can be placed in preexisting cognitive structures. Accommodation is the process of changing cognitive structures in order to accept something from the environment." (Huitt, 1) it is important for a child to develop the capacity to use both of them in alternating capacity as warranted by pragmatism. Therefore, the first two cognitive objectives will be those described of inducing assimilative and accommodative used of the learning environment.

Another pair of core cognitive objective will be the instruction of linguistic absorption and implementation. This causes us to consider the ideas of Maria Montessori, whose groundbreaking writings helped to create a mold for progressive ECD. Montessori discusses some of the conceptual underpinnings of linguistic communication as a byproduct of human interaction. Discussing some of the historical and philosophical strains of thought on the ways that the intellectual growth of our civilization us reflective of the very same growth in individuals, her writings provide some insight into the suitable communication theories due for consideration as we attempt to better appeal to the ways that preschool-aged children seemingly 'absorb' linguistic cues and practices. A fifth cognitive objective will concern the instigation of socially interactive behavior.

For the purpose of assimilation, the lesson plan will employ the activity of in-class play time with interactive toys. Accommodation, in turn, will incorporate the use of objects with instruction, such as education on physical interaction with a jump rope or ball. Among the other activities of a day which are important to promoting the development of all important faculties for future education, an interactive story time is particularly appealing. By reading a story and involving the children by asking them questions that might help them to understand central themes and to assimilate subtextual ideas, this activity seemed an ideal prelude to the kind of classroom setting that facilitates interactive learning in later stages. Additionally, this is the type of activity which engages the dual objectives of teaching children to interpret verbal messages and to deliver their own expressive communication.

Preschool can be the opportune setting for forging a meaningful foundation in children for the integration of future education by serving as a catalyst to the development of the necessary cognitive, social, physical and emotional tools for all manner of learning. And in all of these is the interest in developing the cognitive tools necessary to socialize effectively. Therefore, one day's activities would be concerned with the design and execution of group objective orientation. By giving groups simple and playful tasks, such as engagement in hide-and-go-seek or scavenger hunt games, children will learn to socialize by being placed in a situation where they have to work together.

The objectives and activities considered here are designed to stimulate the set of cognitive traits which are of such crucial importance in these formative stages of childhood development.

Section III: Socio-Emotional Activities and Objectives

The Socio-Emotional Objectives of the lesson plan will be centered on helping the child make the adjustment from home and family to the socializing context of the larger world. Therefore, objectives will be correlated to cooperation, trust, confidence, expressiveness and health.

In order to pursue the objective of teaching cooperation, one day of the lesson plan will be dedicated to the instruction of interactive problem-solving. A teacher guided activity, this will involve the teacher telling a partial narrative or describing a situation and asking the children to contribute different ways of dealing with the problem. It will up to the teacher to synthesize the different student suggestions into a problem-solving strategy which demonstrates the value of putting a diverse spectrum of ideas from different people together into one plan.

The pursuit of the objective of trust should be facilitated through the engagement of activities where individuals are given the opportunity to know each other better. Because it is important for individuals to develop relationships in which they feel a certain security and, therefore a certain degree of trust, one day can be dedicated to allowing the children to tell a story in front of the class such as one relating to what they did with their families during the weekend. This sharing activity will promote familiarity, and thus, trust.

Confidence should be stimulated in a similar way, where all children have the opportunity to feel that they are of individual worth within a group setting. Therefore, a lesson plan activity which can help students to achieve confidence might be in some sort of a fun classroom game where everybody has a chance to be a winner. For example, a game where each child takes a turn catching a ball and, once holding it, describing a quality about his or herself of which he or she is proud, describing a positive achievement, stating a skill or any number categorical positives which can help to raise a sense of identity and confidence.

Expression should be stimulated through a discussion activity, where the teacher might bring up a current event by reading a short article and subject description, and asking the children for their opinions. This can help to instigate lively exchange and to help children define and defend their ideas.

As for the objective of pursuing health, the difficult initiation into the performance and evaluation nature of education can be given effective prelude with a preschool education that orients a child toward both. In accordance with relevant theoretical readings, preschool curriculum should also be objective toward the importance of the school as a bastion for health awareness. The early reinforcement of good nutritional values through the provision of healthy snacks and the regimenting of fun exercise activities proved to be a focal point of the day. According to current research, "if we do not provide adequate health care and nutrition for our youngsters, those children entering the public schools will already be behind their healthier, properly fed peers." (Bredekamp, 1) the relationship between the physical development of a child and his ability to perform to the best of his scholastic and cognitive abilities is inextricable. Therefore, the lesson plan will in general rely heavily on snacktimes and exercise times as means to provide health, education and socialization in direct simultaneity. Such activities as trivia games about healthy eating which reward children with healthy snacks and, of course, physical education activities such as kickball and dodgeball, will be important to this objective.

Section IV: Moral/Character Activities and Objectives

With regard to the objective of helping children to develop the morality and character needed to enter into the educational system in a positive and constructive manner, there are a number of traits which will be sought. In particular, cultural sensitivity, a concept of rules and order, community orientation, creative ingenuity and a sense of responsibility are the objectives which direct this lesson plan.

Among the many steps which an educator may take to engage students actively in the learning process, perhaps it is most important to know that students respond when they are courted to learn in a manner which is relevant to their individual worlds and circumstances. This concerns the development of a lesson plan activity corresponding to the need for early training in cultural sensitivity. Just as children should be confident in who they are, so should they be generous to the differences of others. Particularly, this is true during this age of information, where even younger students are exposed to so much more information in so many new contexts than in generations prior. Children, as they get older, will have the choice of culling information at their own pace and within a subject and context that is of direct interest to them in ways that might not have occurred to educators just over a decade ago. Specifically, teachers must know that elements of popular culture like the internet, satellite television, mobile communication devices and interactive video gaming have all changed the way that young people are exposed to information. All of these considerations justify a sort of modern cultural show and tell activity, where children are told to go home each week and work on the internet with parents to locate interesting facts about their family's culture or ethnicity. These facts will be shared with the class.

Teaching rules and order is also important and should be engaged in both the social and academic contexts. Early linguistic education should be contextualized by game-type activities which come with defined rule and structure, just as does language.

This aspect of the lesson plan stresses the importance of engaging the child early with the rules, functions and applications of language as a means to helping him negotiate his surrounding culture through the linguistic capability of his own imagination. One of our key findings would be the revelation that "the child's mind can acquire culture at a much earlier age than is generally supposed." (172) the flaw in the traditional educational path which has prevented us from embracing this reality has been the premise that demotes the centrality of active physical engagement in the process of education. Especially within the context of the heightened ability of receptiveness available to the properly developing child between the ages of 3 and 6, with which we are directly concerned, the lesson plan presumes that culture is an accessible learning context for our children if we allow them to actually move within that culture. Such is to say that learning aptitude is clearly demonstrated to experience a sharp incline when subjects are encouraged to physically move and to engage experience that cause them to glean knowledge from real interactions. By making a game in which children might have to perform a physical activity like throwing a ball into a small basket in relation to the fulfillment of a linguistic task, we can make the important association between the two.

As regards community orientation, the use of such interactive sharing and expression as might occur during arts and crafts time can be crucial. During arts and crafts, children are able to demonstrate the possession of a combination of moral and intellectual cognitions. We will generally find that children are eager to share with their peers and may even have the opportunity to comment positively on one another's artwork. Moreover, children will be asked to share art utensils and work space with other children.

Also, almost uniformly, we finds, children are able to use their imaginations to recognize commonly held perceptions on abstract concepts. In traditional education, "we often forget that imagination is a force for the discovery of truth. The mind is not a passive thing, but a devouring flame, never in repose, always in action." (Montessori, 177) Such is to say that even absent of direct instruction, children will begin to use imagination and observation in tandem to find comprehensive and expressive clarity. To this end, a major impetus of this lesson plan is that we must actively seek the engagement of both of these tools in order to seize the heightened opportunities presented at this point in a child's intellectual, emotional and cultural development. Therefore, an effective lesson plan should instigate an activity such as structure charades or some similar activity that requires abstract expression.