Early Years Learning Case Study

After comparing the advantages and disadvantages of all the curriculums that were presented during the poster presentation, I have decided to purchase the Second Step Early Learning curriculum developed by the organization Committee for Children. This curriculum teaches skills that improve students’ ability to understand their own and other’s emotions, show empathy, be able to self-regulate, solve problems, and decrease the frequency of their disruptive behavior, including both verbal and physical aggression. (Second Step Program Review of Research) There are two main reasons and a couple small advantages that make me decided to choose this curriculum:

There are several different organisations that provide Early Years education for children aged 0 – 5 years. Whilst some provide the entitlement from birth, some provision work in conjunction with others and entitlement starts from the age of 3 years.

Classrooms are different today from those of previous generations, they have become communities of learners where students assume more responsibility for learning. As opposed to a place where the teacher is in charge the modern class room there is often a hum of students, talking about books they are reading and working together in small groups using digital as well as print text. The students are more culturally and linguistically diverse, many have English as a second language (ESL). This Critical- reflective essay will explore using the four resource model developed by Luke and Freebody, focusing on; how young children learn to read, the four roles within the resources model are Code breaker, text user, text participant and text analyst. This essay will also articulate the understanding of the three phases of reading and writing development. Phase one, experimental reading and writing. Phase two, early reading and writing and phase three, transitional reading and writing. This understanding will then be applied to an early years setting including and application of strategies for cultural differences.

It is essential that educators create safe, welcoming environments that promote learning for all students in a classroom and to do this they must acknowledge issues of diversity and difference and know how to approach these issues. There are two key documents that guide educators in their planning and implementation of curriculum; The Australian Curriculum and The Early Years Learning Framework. Using these two documents to create learning programs, educators must enact an inclusive curriculum that empowers all students, regardless of differences. For educators to understand and address issues of diversity and differences such as socio-economic, cultural and ethnic backgrounds, language barriers and stereotypes around gender and sexuality, they must look at their own philosophy, values and beliefs around these issues.

In 2005, Sir Jim Rose was commissioned to conduct ‘an independent review of best practice in the teaching of early reading and the range of strategies that best support children who have fallen behind in reading to catch up’ (Ofsted, 2005). Leading on from this, in 2007, legislative changes were made the National Primary Curriculum, making a profound impact upon the teaching and learning of reading and English in primary schools throughout the United Kingdom. These changes were implemented from the recommendations stated by Jim Rose in ‘The Independent Review of the Teaching of Early Reading (from here on referred to as ‘the Rose Review’), published by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) in 2006. The review scrutinized

Children’s cultural background is one of the most important aspects to developing a child’s sense of identity, and a child having a strong sense of identity is one of the key outcomes to the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF). By understanding the diversity of all the children within a service, educators often have to adapt their practices to benefit everyone. It is an important part of respecting children’s culture, to consult and maintain contact with the family to ensure you understand any differences their culture may have when it comes to caring for and teaching their child. By incorporating various techniques, foods and activities, educators can attempt to ensure that they are including a child’s culture within the service. When people

Critically examine the key ideas associated with early years education in Reggio Emilia. What might be learned from such practices?

The attitudes we have towards children and the beliefs we hold influence our understanding of the child, the philosophy of working with children and the pedagogies we employ as educators (Woodrow, 1999). The Early Years Learning Framework promotes the image of the child as competent and advises educators to adopt pedagogies that reinforce children’s sense of themselves as competent learners (DEEWR, 2009). This concept is not new in early childhood education. Maria Montessori, the first theorist and practitioner to advance the image of the child as competent, recognised children as intelligent, competent individuals, capable of active engagement with the world (Dahlberg, Moss & Pence, 1999). Similarly, in Reggio Emilia the child is viewed as

It is very important for children to keep them safe and healthy throughout from all ages so early year learning framework is the only key to teach them how to maintain safety and healthy life because whatever children learn from early age remains lifetime with them.

The Early Years Learning Framework, learning outcome 4.1 states ‘children develop dispositions for learning such as curiosity, cooperation, confidence, creativity, commitment, enthusiasm, persistence, imagination and reflexivity,’ in with following this I would go place a variety of dinosaurs/animals in the sandpit while Flynn and Lucy continue to play in the sandpit giving them a variety of items to help further their imagination while playing.

Cypress Christian is a private edchoice school for students in Kindergarten through 8th grade. The Kindergarten program currently has one half day and three full day classes. Currently, I am a full day teacher to 18 Kindergarten students. Cypress is an edchoice school which means we are located in an area that has underperforming public schools. The public schools are usually underperforming due to poverty levels throughout the community. These families have lower resources resulting in lower emotional, social and cognitive development. Students at Cypress are a mix of families that desire a private school for their child’s education and families that just want a better

Drastic steps to meet the challenges presented in A Nation At Risk were adopted by schools nationwide to help get the education system back on course and to regain the shared vision for America that could be achieved with academic achievement of students (CITE NAR). Schools began to create more rigorous and measurable standards for academics (CITE NAR). In early education the most important element is the teacher (CITE CHILD YOUTH). Therefore, there are publish quality standards for these educators (CITE CHILD YOUTH). Programs preparing teachers to be early-childhood educators are molded around these quality standards as to produce high qualified teachers that can positively impact a child's early education development (CITE CHILD YOUTH). One of the most well-known models of quality standards was developed by Charlotte Danielson and is now popularly called the Danielson Framework. This framework is not only applicable to early-childhood educators but used as a rubric for all teachers across education as to what a teacher in a classroom should be

Analysing children’s writing is critically important because it allows teachers to have an understanding of what the child knows already, and what he/she needs to build on with their writing (Stewart, 2012). In the paragraphs ahead, two samples have been chosen and have been analysed using the Victorian Essential Learning Standards and the Western Australia First Steps Developmental Continuum.

Explicit instruction is important in connecting to prior knowledge and skills when beginning a learning sequence (Australian Curriculum and Reporting Authority, 2016). It helps to lay the foundational areas of reading and literacy as a whole in the early years of schooling. Effective reading instruction builds on what children already know, how students learn and on what degree of support they need to become successful in reading/learn and apply new information (Archer, 2011, p.18). Here the idea of scaffolding is evident where “the support provided by the teacher (or another student)…bridge(s) the gap between their current abilities and the intended goal” (Rupley, Blair and Nichols, 2009, p.129). It is important for students who are learning something new, to have the opportunity to have it explained, the opportunity to apply that information guided by their teachers and the opportunity to apply it independently (Archer, 2011). Through an explicit approach the responsibility for learning shifts from teacher to student as they gain confidence and competence with reading. Reading is not an automatic process and must be taught, “explicitly, systematically, early and well” (National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy, 2005, as cited in Hempenstall, 2016,p.5). Building on this, it is not enough for explicit instruction to be effective; it must also be efficient so that students can meet outcomes as soon as possible and are given the opportunity to apply it. This highlights

In Primary Education there are many ways in which the learning perspective can be use however I will focus on two Writing and Reading. Reading and Writing in the Transition between Preschool Education and Primary Education. The transition between educational levels is a process characterized by the complexity and impacts that it represents to the future of children’s education. Studies conducted in