Curriculum Plan For Curriculum Planning

The purpose of the Comprehensive Curriculum Project (CCP) is to analyze the myriad of issues that have arisen over the last few years revolving around curricula and its use in the classroom, school, and district. With the 2010 state adoption of the Common Core, educators experienced many different transitional issues and developmental issues revolving around the curricula. In order to develop a deeper understanding of these issues it is important to conduct interviews, look at the Teacher Working Conditions survey, and to analyze local organizational models that might affect the transition to the new standards.

Curriculum is so much more than the paper copy of lessons and activities that we receive as teachers, but before this course I never really thought of curriculum as

Outcome 1: Understand the concepts of creativity and creative learning and how these affect all aspects of young children’s learning and development.

Children’s creativity must be extended by the provision of support for their curiosity, exploration and play. They must be provided with opportunities to explore and share their thoughts, ideas and feelings, for example, through a variety of art, music, movement, dance, imaginative and role-play activities, mathematics, and design and technology.

A creative environment needs to allow children easy access to different materials and be able to move these from one place to another. It is not just about

Creative learning is about how children are actively involved in their own learning and their ability to make choices and decisions. This can be achieved by providing a creative environment, allowing exploration through play and praising the child’s creative efforts. Creative learning is about helping children develop imaginative thinking through exploration of materials, objects and problem solving skills like ICT. It is also about giving children opportunities to make connections between different areas and to relate to them. Some creative learning activities may be goal orientated like the

Creative development is important to a child’s learning because it helps them to use their mind and imagination and express their own ideas, and through playing with their friends it also helps them to understand that all family’s and cultures can be different. It helps them to make connections in their thinking and the way in which they problem solve, by doing things over and over again they reinforce their thinking and learning, they develop self-esteem, confidence, imagination & learning to work together in groups. It puts down the foundations for more

According to the textbook, brain based research states that child’s brain is two-and-a half times as active as an adult’s and it creates an estimated one trillion synapses during the first three years of infant’s life. In addition, young children have really powerful learning. They learn through quality experiences and relationships. There are some ideas that teachers of young children need to to keep in mind. From birth to age 4, teachers have to include all the senses in a child’s exploration in order for them to have a healthy and enriched environment. Children from age 4 to 8, teachers have to provide a lot of opportunities to use stories, explore ideas and master activities than using worksheets in order to have rich stimulating activities. In terms of all ages, teachers have to develop a curriculum that promotes collaboration, cooperation and teamwork.

This approach believes that all children can be creative but this will be suppressed if children are not given the opportunity or supported to explore and be creative in their environment.  If children are given the opportunity to be creative and explore and supported then they will develop their creative learning and creativity.

E: I think using a picture to spark creativity is a good idea for all children. During my experience hours, the teacher that I was aired with gave her student a picture of a woman pulling her hair out and two other children below her arguing, and the students had to write what each person was thinking and saying. Her students came up with really interesting answers, and it was a great activity.

Albert Einstein once said, “It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.” This quote describes the responsibilities and standards of teaching children. I believe that teachers should be held to high standards for being the foundation of a student’s education and well-being. For my future students, my responsibilities as a future educator include supplementing the growth of a variety of students’ knowledge and creativity, abiding as a role model for students and colleagues, and understanding the issues in the foundations of education.

Inside the classroom, the creative curriculum teacher creates an atmosphere in which children are safe, and they feel emotionally secure, as well as have a sense of belonging. It describes activities and teaching strategies that are challenging but at the same time are within the children's reach. It also suggests giving children choices and a role in determining how they will learn.

A smart man said “Creativity is as important as literacy and we should treat it with the same standing.” (Ken Robinson-“Do schools kill creativity?”). There are multiple studies on how creativity helps improve a student’s mind. Project based learning is a huge creative booster for students. A math teacher from California uses projects to do math instead of using the text book. From doing this, she’s had more students pass her class then from when she was teaching straight from the text books. Instead of having standardized tests, using more creative techniques for students to enjoy the learning they’ve done and for them to show the higher officials what the students are learning. Creativity is the process of turning real world problems into an understanding by extending the minds cognitive processes. In Alabama, kindergartners are studying different ways to be creative.

2012). The environment and classroom space are separated into ten center areas that help enhance hands on activities with learning materials and manipulatives. These centers include: blocks, dramatic play, toys and games, art, sand and water tables, library (reading center), discovery (science), music and movement, cooking, and outdoor activities. Activity areas are designed to support the specific learning objectives. Similar to Reggio Emilia’s approach teachers assess the students learning and base curriculum off their interests and pace. The creative curriculum approach measures incremental progress to communicate the child’s growth through benchmarks through the learning objectives.

Children by nature are curious, innovative, explorative and experimental. They tend to see the world differently with endless possibilities and opportunities. They are less hesitant to try new ideas and are also experts in expressing themselves in the form of art. In short, children are creative by birth. Since the early childhood setting is a hub for fostering these creative minds, expanding horizons, and creating future geniuses, creativity in early childhood development and curriculum provision holds utmost importance. As a result, creativity is important for Early Childhood development and therefore, creative experiences should be incorporated within the curriculum. This will be discussed in relation to current perspectives within the role and importance of creativity in Early Childhood education.