NAEYC Standard: STANDARD 5.

USING CONTENT KNOWLEDGE TO BUILD MEANINGFUL CURRICULUM Candidates prepared in early childhood degree programs use their knowledge of academic disciplines to design, implement, and evaluate experiences that promote positive development and learning for each and every young child. Candidates understand the importance of developmental domains and academic (or content) disciplines in early childhood curriculum. They know the essential concepts, inquiry tools, and structure of content areas, including academic subjects, and can identify resources to deepen their understanding. Candidates use their own knowledge and other resources to design, implement, and evaluate meaningful, challenging curriculum that promotes comprehensive developmental and learning outcomes for every young child (NAEYC 2011). Brief Description of Evidence: During my Generalist Practicum in the summer of 2011 I implemented two activity plans with children ages 1-5. I gathered and used materials to complete a dinosaur dig and dinosaur egg match. The children were able to match different dinosaur eggs to the corresponding dinosaur with a file folder game I created. They were also able to dig in beans to find toy dinosaur toys and bones. This gave the children an opportunity to use multiple aspects of development as well as learn about dinosaurs. Analysis of What I Learned: Through the implementation of the activity plan I am able to provide children with multiple learning opportunities and the ability to learn from new information and concepts. I now know how various activities affect age groups differently and am able to accommodate the modifications needed to promote developmental milestones. After observing the children play and learn from these activity plans I can us my knowledge of developmental domains and academic disciplines in an early childhood curriculum to nurture growth and allow children the opportunity to develop their curiosity and learning in a positive way. How This Artifact Demonstrates my Competence on the NAEYC Standard: These activity plans have required me to use my knowledge in order to design, implement, and evaluate meaningful, challenging curriculum that promotes comprehensive developmental and learning outcomes for every young child (NAEYC 2011). I am able to gather materials and create activities that spark the interest of multiple age groups. Through the construction of these activities I used my knowledge of Piaget to gather materials and ideas that would accommodate the different developmental stages of child development. In these particular activities I considered the sensorimotor and preoperation stages of development due to the age groups I was working with. I am now able to construct and implement an activity plan accessible to a variety of age groups and supply them with developmentally appropriate activities that will promote positive development.