Curriculum development is a process of improving the curriculum. Various approaches have been used in developing curricula. It is imperative to consider the methods and process of teaching young children. The teacher must ensure that his/her students are given the best education they deserve. It is upon the teacher to find out the method he/she thinks is appropriate and best suited to the students at that age level. Being that, children of two years are still young and cannot read, write and comprehend what their teacher teaches them, it becomes the burden of the instructor to use the skills necessary to enable the young children to understand. There are various methods of teaching depending on the ages of the students or learners. Therefore, Curriculum development is compulsory in all educational and learning setups.
In this assignment, we want to prepare a lesson plan for the two-year-old children. The program will be used in 1 week for group time lessons. The lesson plan is focused on the literacy skills of the children. We begin with defining what literacy is. The term literacy is described merely as the ability to read and write. The ability to write and read goes hand in hand with understanding what one has read or written. For two-year-old children, the teacher must first know that this ability to read and write is not applicable (Pangrazi, & Dauer,2014). It is to the best knowledge of every person that children of that age are still not able to do that. This means that the teacher has the responsibility to employ very specialized methods of teaching these children. The main aim of teaching these young children is to give them a better understanding of the basics of education. At this age, children need to be trained on how to talk, listen to sounds, and encode these sounds so that they make sense to them.
In the lesson plan for the children of 2 years, the teacher needs to consider some factors necessary for the children of that age. He/she must ensure that the lesson plan consists of lessons the children can handle. The experience must not be very hard for the children but must be one that the children can manage with ease.
From the first day of the week, the children shall be taught how colours work and how to differentiate things based on their colours (Grant & Sleeter, 2016). Young children of that age, like playing with objects. The objects they play with have different colours. It becomes necessary for the teacher to teach the children the colour and how to distinguish these objects from other objects. Differentiating colours becomes useful when the children play with the same object but can’t separate the objects. It is upon the teacher to teach them to be in a position to identify which object belongs to whom. That helps the children avoid confronting each other while playing.
I would teach the children to play on the second day of the week. Young children learn through play. Most people think that playing is not one of the learning methods. Some parents hate to see teachers teaching their children how to play. Parents should understand that playing is part of teaching and relieves the child from classroom boredom. Children get very bored when subjected to a classroom for too many hours. When these children are exposed to play, they get to change the environment and hence a break from classwork.
On the third day, the children would be taught singing. Children find singing very interesting. Through singing, they learn to pronounce different words. The teacher may compose songs that teach the children the alphabet ( Asher, J. J. 2015). These songs are sung by the children very frequently until they understand the meaning of the songs as they grow older. The children are taught different types of songs, including lullaby songs, which the children find exciting.
On the fourth day, I would teach my children the letter recognition. Letter recognition is also very essential for children of this age. The teacher needs to find a way to enable the children to recognize and identify letters and numbers when asked. There are various ways the children can use to master these numbers and letters. Singing is the most used and straightforward way for the children to recognize the numbers and letters. Their teacher must teach them how to sing these songs and what the songs mean. When the children can sing these songs and understand what they mean, they are said to be doing well in literacy.
On the fifth day, and not the least, the children go out for a walk. This could be a walk in the park or even a walk in the neighbourhood. When children take a step, they can see and learn most things they cannot determine in class. When they go out, they learn about the environment and everything in it. They can see animals, buildings, and other things (Spooner,2017). Studying the situation means a lot to young children since they can relate what they are taught in the class with what is outside the level.
The lesson plans are different depending on the ages of the children. The lesson plan for the children of 2 years cannot be the same as that of those children of 4 years. The lessons taught to 4-year-old children are more complicated and harder than that of the 2-year-old children. The lesson plan for those children of 4 years would be as follows.
The children would learn to write on the first day of the week. A child of four years should be capable of printing. At this age, he/she must be able to hold a pen or pencil. What the child writes is not essential but just keeping the pen/pencil in the proper way.
On the second day, the children should be taught reading. The teachers are required to teach the children the alphabet and numbers. The teaching of numbers and the alphabet can be explained by writing big letters and numbers on the blackboard and then instructing the children to read after you. They must say it loudly so that It sticks in their mind (Burden & Byrd, 2015). Let them repeat again and again until they can do it themselves even without the teacher’s intervention.
The children should be taught communication and listening skills on the third day. At this stage of life, communication and listening are very critical. The children must learn those skills at that age since it becomes vital for the learning ahead. The teacher must teach the children the proper pronunciation of words. They must also be taught how to listen and understand what they are taught.
On the fourth day, the children will be taught drawing and painting. Pictures and paintings are also essential to children of that age. They are supposed to be trained on how to draw and paint. The art is done on the objects depicted. These involve animals, trees, and people. That allows the children to see things as they are or look like.
On the fifth day, the children would be taught how to do exercises. Young children should do a lot of physical activities to maintain good health and avoid some diseases which come with a lack of practice.
Reference
Pangrazi, R. P., & Dauer, V. P. (2015). Lesson Plans for Dynamic Physical Education for Elementary School Children.
Grant, C. A., & Sleeter, C. E. (2016). Turning on learning: Five approaches for multicultural teaching plans for race, class, gender and disability. Jossey-Bass, An Imprint of Wiley. 10475 Crosspoint Blvd, Indianapolis, IN 46256.
Grant, C. A., & Sleeter, C. E. (2016).
Spooner, F., Baker, J. N., Harris, A. A., Ahlgrim-Delzell, L., & Browder, D. M. (2017). Effects of training in universal design for learning on lesson plan development. Remedial and special education, 28(2), 108-116.
Schmoker, M. (2016). Results now.
Asher, J. J. (2014). Learning Another Language Through Actions: The Complete Teacher’s Guidebook.
Burden, P. R., & Byrd, D. M. (2017). Methods for effective teaching. Boston, MA.
