Curriculum and Classroom Environment: Birth to Age 8

Catalog description

Teacher candidates will learn how to design and plan appropriate Early Childhood classroom environments taking into consideration the health, safety, and nutritional needs of both typically and atypically developing young children ages birth-age 8. To ensure the health and well-being of each child, content includes responsibilities of adults to model and teach healthy and safe habits, understand treatment of childhood illnesses and injuries that meet required state standards. The development of the classroom environment will also include planning for safe and stimulus-rich indoor and outdoor environments. Teacher candidates will be designing curriculum and planning lessons and activities in the 6 domains of affective, aesthetic, cognitive, communication, motor, and social, to promote learning and development in those areas. Teacher candidates will become knowledgeable about choosing materials and instructional strategies to accommodate and plan for young children with disabilities and young children from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. The study of play-based learning and assessment for young children, maintaining records, classroom management, and the importance of establishing daily routines/schedules will be included. Teacher candidates will have the opportunity to study, develop and implement developmentally appropriate functional/adaptive, and academic curricula which meet the Early Intervention and Early Childhood Special Education standards.