Tatiana Rivera

Project
ECE 250-1001
9 Dec 2018

Age Group: 4-5

Section 1. Physical Environment

A. Equipment

1. Indoors: Sensory table, big paper blocks

2. Outdoors: House, jungle gym, music area, sensory table, block area, bicycles.

B. Room Arrangement
 C. Centers

1. Table Top Center: Letter construction, counting chain links, pegs and peg boards,

counting puzzles, small lego blocks.

2. Science Center: Magnifying glass, giant tweezers, discover viewers, insects, glass

insects, discovery board, connectors, magnetic wands.

3. Block Center: Cars, blocks, dinosaurs, farm/zoo animals.

4. Writing Center: Paper, markers, crayons, scissors, glue.

5. Housekeeping Center: Kitchen, dishes, food, pots/pans, dress up wardrobe, clothes,

shoes, hats.

6. Library: Couches, pillows, stuffed animals, books.

7. Music Center: Bells, maracas, scarves.

D. Evaluation: Outside activities are just as important as inside activities, ‘’they should

spend at least a quarter of their school in physical activity’’ (Copple, Bredekamp, p. 114).

I experienced children playing with the available equipment and centers. I noticed in the

table top center that there were many manipulatives that the children could play with and

opportunities for them to further their exploration with their fine motor development,

‘’they make progress through opportunities for open-ended activities that develop their

hand muscles and fine motor skills’’ (Copple, Bredekemp, p. 117). Each center is

designed to teach the children something and it is important to give them opportunities to

work on their skills throughout the day, ‘’teachers provide opportunities throughout the

day for children to develop fine motor skills though working with suitable materials’’

(Copple, Bredekemp, p.164).

Section 2: Curriculum
A. Philosophy

1. Teachers Philosophy: Ms. Gwen, ‘’My philosophy is for every child to live up to their

full potential by creating a safe and nurturing environment.’’

2. Center/School Philosophy: Bring ‘em Young Academy provides a safe and

stimulating environment, through the arts and education that promotes individual

differences and accommodates to each child’s learning style.

B. Goals

1. Program Goals: At Bring ‘em Young our goal is to strength each child’s own identity,

while instilling respect for others to help them to become a vital part of a family,

community, and the world as a whole.

2. Classroom Goals: Ms. Gwen expressed that her classroom goals are for the class to

learn at least four sight words, know how to spell their first and last name as well as

learning how to problem solve with their peers.

C. Lesson Plan
D. Individualization: Learning styles are extremely diverse in the preschool years and Ms.

Gwen said she modifies activities and lessons based on what the children understand and

although it can be time consuming to accommodate every child it is important that every

child is getting the attention they need to succeed.

E. Evaluation: After looking at the lesson plan it made clear what was expected of the

children in each section which is important because, ‘’teachers plan and implement

experiences that help children achieve important developmental and learning goals’’

(Copple, Bredekemp, p. 161) Ms. Gwen mentioned that since every child is different, she

makes sure to modify activities to meet the needs of most of the children, ‘’teachers

employ a range of strategies, choosing from and combining them to suit the goal, the

child, and the situation’’ (Copple, Bredekemp, p.154). Bring ‘Em Young Academy’s
 goals and Ms. Gwen’s goals were significantly related and it was important to me

because it shows that these goals are being carried out in the curriculum, ‘’to be effective,

a curriculum must have goals that are clearly defined, shared and understood by all

stakeholders including administrators, teacher and families’’ (Copple, Bredekemp, p.42).

Section 3: Guidance

A. Routines

1. Circle time: Students practiced their names and recognizing them. Most children

showed interest but when they there wasn’t a technique to bring them back, it was

more like a be quiet and listen.

2. Snack time: Directed from circle time to wash hands and sit at the table for snack

time.

3. Clean up time: Children were warned that in 5 minutes an alarm would go off and in

that time, it would be time to clean up.

B. Classroom Rules

1. Be respectful: explained further on their rule chart.

2. Be Responsible: explained further on their rule chart.

C. Teacher Interactions

1. Ms. Gwen explained what was expected of the students at each small activity group.

2. Ms. Erin sat with table one to go over numbers and practice counting with

manipulatives.

3. Ms. Gwen sat with table three and did hand over hand with some children to help write

their shape names.

D. Guidance Techniques

1. One child did not want to join any group for the activities so Ms. Gwen gave the

child a chance to pick which group he wanted to go to, he picked the first one.

2. Two children were arguing over a specific toy and Ms. Erin asked why they were

arguing over one toy and asked them to express their feeling about it.

3. When it was time to go outside, Ms. Erin explained very clearly that when their

name was called, they could go get their jackets and line up at the door.

E. Evaluation: Children argue over toys all the time, but Ms. Erin handled the situation by

asking them to express their feelings. ‘’As preschoolers gain sufficient language skill,

they are able to state their feelings, desires, and ideas and respond to others’’ (Copple,

Bredekemp, p. 142). I observed during small group that the children were more focused

and wanted to learn, ‘’Teachers also promote positive approaches to learning when they

rely on small-group activities, which appear more likely to engage children’’ (Rimm-

Kaufman et al. 2005) Ms. Gwen assisted a child on hand over hand after one child

expressed frustration on the activity they were working on, this tends to happen with

young ones, ‘’They may experience failure and frustration if they often are expected to

perform tasks requiring precise control of the hand muscles, careful perceptual judgement

involving eye-hand coordination, and refined movements requiring steadiness and

patience.