Curriculum

1. Curriculum and how it
affects children and how
it is age appropriate.
Cierra Settlemire
SOE 115
Kendall College

2. Overview
• The curriculum in the classroom is crucial on how the children learn. If the
curriculum is boring then you find that your children act more than usual but
if it is too difficult they may shut down. Finding the perfect curriculum is far
from easy but will help the children not only learn but want to learn.

3. What is curriculum?
• “The term curriculum refers to the lessons and academic content taught in a
school or in a specific course or program.”

4. Source #1
• “Curriculums that include topics such as appropriate scheduling, creating a
developmentally appropriate classroom, and making the most of learning
centers, will help create a classroom environment that actively engages the
child and keeps his or her attention.”
• This website taught me about to keep curriculum in the classroom upbeat
but yet developmentally appropriate. It gave examples of how a teacher
conducts their classroom and the different activities one could do in the
classroom. Teachers need to be able to distinguish each individual and their
different learning abilities.

5. Source #2
• "Developmentally appropriate practice requires both meeting children where
they are—which means that teachers must get to know them well —and
enabling them to reach goals that are both challenging and achievable.“
• This website helped me realize even more that children learn differently. We
have to look at every aspect when it comes to learning about your children.
We have to get to them and find their interests and dislikes. Watch them play
and find that one thing that can help you teach them a certain concepts.
Getting the parents on board will help both of your jobs.

6. Source #3
• “It is important to note that while curriculum encompasses a wide variety of
potential educational and instructional practices, educators often have a very
precise, technical meaning in mind when they use the term.”
• I love this website because it talks about how teachers make up their
curriculum and how much time and effort they put into it. As the year goes
they make changes that may help the next class. This website also talks about
the different requirements that goes into making a curriculum.

7. Experiences
• In my experience when the children get involved with the activities it promotes
learning. If the class is working on shapes one week then find activities that will
allow the children to help themselves learn. Go on a scavenger hunt into other
rooms or just the hallway and tell the children to try and find different shapes. Find
table activities that will make them draw their shapes themselves.. Children learn by
doing things themselves. We do community volunteer week in our class and we
bring in a police officer, firefighter, pastor, or someone around the community to
come and talk with us. Get the children involved and ask them who they would like
to have come in. This not only helps them learn but it also helps them become
independent learners.

8. Communication with
families
• Communications with families is number one to me. My head teacher and I
make a monthly newsletter for the parents to take home and read. In that
letter we provide the different activities we will be doing each week, the
letter/letters we do each week, colors, shapes, and even numbers we do each
week. We tell them about any field trips or party days that may be coming up.
We also provide parent teacher conferences three times a year so the parents
can keep up with their child knows or is struggling with.

9. Conclusion
• When it comes to finding the right curriculum there is so many aspects one
has to think about. Is it developmentally appropriate? Will it keep the
children’s attention? Will the children learn from my curriculum? This is one
thing I do not think anyone masters 100% because of all the different types
of children that one gets. You may have a kindergartener that can read but
then the other only knows a few site words.

10. References
• Developmentally Appropriate Curriculum. (n.d.). Retrieved August 15, 2017,
from https://www.cceionline.edu/newsletters/May_08.html
• Developmentally Appropriate Curriculum. (n.d.). Retrieved August 15, 2017,
from https://www.cceionline.edu/newsletters/May_08.html
• Concepts, L. (2015, August 12). Curriculum Definition. Retrieved August 15,
2017, from http://edglossary.org/curriculum/