Read/Explore
Developing and Administering Early Childhood Education Programs, Chapter 10: “Supporting Quality Curriculum”
The Brain Architects: Building Resilience Through
Play Podcast (55min) https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/podcast-resilience-play/
“These days, resilience is needed more than ever, and one simple, underrecognized way of
supporting healthy and resilient child
development is as old as humanity itself: play. Far from frivolous, play contributes to sturdy brain
architecture, the foundations of lifelong health,
and the building blocks of resilience, yet its
importance is often overlooked. In this podcast,
Dr. Jack Shonkoff explains the role of play in supporting resilience and five experts https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/podcast-resilience-play/#panelists share their ideas
and personal stories about applying the science
of play in homes, communities, and crisis
environments around the world.
Academics vs Play: The False Dilemma That Some Principals Face
Principals in our groups had different opinions
about the characteristics of strong learning
environments in early childhood. Many
acknowledged that play is an important
teaching tool when working with young children.
But the majority of principals felt pressured to
limit play time in pre-K, kindergarten, and the
early grades to focus on academics. In essence,
they did not always make a direct connection
between play and learning. What can we do?”
The decline of play | Peter Gray | TEDxNavesink(16min)https://youtu.be/Bg-GEzM7iTk
“In this talk, Dr. Peter Gray compellingly brings
attention to the reality that over the past 60 years in the United States there has been a gradual but, overall dramatic decline in children’s freedom to
play with other children, without adult direction.
Over this same period, there has been a gradual
but overall dramatic increase in anxiety, depression, feelings of helplessness, suicide, and narcissism in children and adolescents. Based on his own
and others’ research, Dr. Gray documents why free play is essential for children’s healthy social and
emotional development and outlines steps
through which we can bring free play back to
children’s lives.”
Discuss/Choose ONE of the Following questions
to guide your discussions
How would you define Developmentally
Appropriate Curriculum?
Academic or Play Based Curriculum?
Do we have to choose?
If you have worked with a particular written/
prescribed Curriculum (Creative Curriculum, Big
Day, OWL, Frogstreet, ect) please use this as an
opportunity to discuss your likes and dislikes
about their attributes.
Please review LINKS and TEXTBOOK PAGES to
complete this assignment (Some pages may
have been uploaded twice my apologies if so)!
Thank you in advance