Foundations of Fun: Adventures in Learning
The Goal of the Curriculum
A Note From Ms. Dulce's Desk
The goal of the curriculum is through guided activities to support children’s early years in learning and development to promote skills and interest engaging through multi-sensory experiences in their daily school years. A curriculum that supports social, emotional, physical, and intellectual growth.In a play-based learning environment the value of play promotes social, emotional, and physical development and helps build an understanding of their world. When the environment is appropriately prepared it promotes developmentally appropriate practices. For example, daily lesson plans, learning centers, routines, and simple rules encourage a positive atmosphere for children to learn and play.
Key Experiences
Teachers continually encourage and support children’s interests and involvement in activities that occur within an organized environment and a consistent routine. Teachers plan for key experiences that may broaden and strengthen children’s emerging abilities. Children generate many of these experiences on their own; others require teacher guidance. Many key experiences are natural extensions of children’s projects and interests.
A Daily Routine That Supports Active Learning
The High/Scope curriculum’s daily routine is made up of a plan-do-review sequence and several additional elements. The plan-do- review sequence gives children opportunities to express intentions about their activities while keeping the teacher intimately involved in the whole process. The following five processes support the daily routine and contribute to its successful functioning.
High/Scope is based on three fundamental principles:
1. Active participation of children in choosing, organizing, and evaluating learning activities, which are undertaken with careful teacher observation and guidance in a learning environment.
2. Regular daily planning by the teaching staff in accord with a developmentally based curriculum model.
3. The High/Scope program strives to develop in children a broad range of skills, including the problem solving, interpersonal, and communication skills that are essential for successful living in a rapidly changing society
The Five Elements of the High/Scope Approach
1. Active Learning
The idea that children are the source of their own learning forms the center of the High/Scope curriculum.
2. Classroom Arrangement
The classroom arrangement invites children to engage in personal, meaningful, educational experiences. In addition, the classroom contains three or more interest areas that encourage choice.
The classroom organization of materials and equipment supports the daily routine—children know where to find materials and what materials they can use.
3. Daily Schedule
The schedule considers developmental levels of children, provides for content areas, is as consistent throughout the day as possible, and contains a minimum number of transitions.
4. Assessment
Teachers keep notes about significant behaviors, changes, statements, and things that help them better understand a child’s way of thinking and learning. Teachers use two mechanisms to help them collect data: the key experiences note form and a portfolio.
5. Curriculum
The High/Scope curriculum comes from two sources: children’s interests and the key experiences, which are lists of observable learning behaviors. Based on a curriculum in part on children’s interests is very constructivist and implements the philosophies of Dewey, Piaget, and Vygotsky.
Teachers create the context for learning in the High/Scope approach by implementing and supporting five essential elements: active learning, classroom arrangement, the daily schedule, assessment, and the curriculum.
Papalia, D. E., Olds, S. W., & Feldman, R. D. (2002). A child's world: Infancy through adolescence. McGraw-Hill.
Morrison, G. S. (2017). Early Childhood Education Today. United States: Pearson.
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