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How Can an EHS Program
Have a Written Curriculum with Lesson Plans and Still Follow the
Baby's Lead as He/She Creates His/Her Own Curriculum?
Response:
A written
curriculum does not preclude the recommended practices of reciprocal
and responsive interactions between teachers and babies. The written
curriculum plan defined in the Performance Standards provides a
framework within which a local EHS program can articulate their
beliefs about what infants and toddlers need to learn and how they
learn those things. The local program's curriculum plan provides
guidance for how the environment is created, what materials are
needed and how they can be used, and how the adults help facilitate
learning. A thoughtful curriculum plan that is understood by the
entire staff as well as the families will provide consistency in how
staff follow the baby's lead and in how well they understand and
support the learning of the baby's own curriculum.
Providing
intentional and purposeful learning moments within the curriculum
plan means using the knowledge of the child and his/her development
to provide experiences and materials the child needs to ensure
on-going development. The Performance Standards specifically uses
the word "experiences" rather than "activities" within the
definition of curriculum. Experiences are the specific and
intentional focus of potential learning within activities. An
activity may provide a variety of learning experiences for different
children depending on where they are developmentally. For example,
the activity of reading may provide a two-month-old child the
private, cuddling time needed to establish and maintain a trusting
relationship with the adult whereas with an eighteen-month-old,
reading may provide the opportunity to repeat familiar words and/or
to imitate approximate sounds for new ones.
Considerations:
- How does the curriculum plan describe the approach each staff
member is expected to take with the infants and toddlers? This
approach may be a description of what "following the baby's lead"
actually looks like and what the adults are doing to promote
learning while following the baby's lead.
- How does the written curriculum plan help to remind caregivers
and home visitors to include all of the areas required by the
Performance Standards in their planning such as: the development
of trust and secure relationships, opportunities to explore
sensory and motor experiences, and social and emotional
development, and communication?
- How does the curriculum plan describe the process for
incorporating information from the child's assessment and the
Family Partnership Agreement into individualized planning and
documentation?
- How does the development of the curriculum plan ensure
opportunities for parents to contribute ideas concerning their
goals for their children's learning and how they intend to promote
that learning?
- How does the curriculum plan ensure full participation of
families in the child’s learning? How is respect of individual
family values and beliefs embedded in the learning experience of
the child?
- How does the curriculum plan ensure that the activities and
environment are responsive to the varying temperaments, learning
styles, languages, and cultural background of the children and
families; and support the inclusion of children with disabilities,
consistent with their IFSP?
- How does the curriculum plan address the intentionality of the
learning experiences? Does the curriculum plan include a
description of how learning experiences happen rather than a list
of pre-set activities to use? Does it include the goals along with
the experiences, roles of the adults, and the use of materials?
Are they based on sound child development practice?
Performance Standards, Title 45, Code
of Federal Regulations:
-
1304.3(a)(5) The curriculum is consistent with
the Head Start Program Performance Standards and is based on sound
child development principles about how children grow and learn.
Curriculum means a written plan that includes:
-
the goals for children's development and
learning;
-
the experiences through which they will achieve
these goals;
-
what staff and parents do to help children
achieve these goals; and
-
the materials needed to support the
implementation of the curriculum
-
1304.21(a)(1)(i & ii) In order to help
children gain the social competence, skills and confidence
necessary to be prepared to succeed in their present environment
and later responsibilities in school and life, grantee and
delegate agencies’ approach to child development and education
must:
-
be linguistically appropriate, recognizing that
children have individual rates of development as well as
individual interests, temperaments, languages, cultural
backgrounds, and learning styles;
-
be inclusive of children with disabilities,
consistent with their Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP)
or Individualized Education Plan (IEP) (see 45 CFR 1308.19).
-
1304.21(a)(2)(i)(ii)&(iii) Parents must be:
-
invited to become integrally involved in the
development of the program's curriculum and approach to child
development and education;
-
provided opportunities to increase their child
observation skills and to share assessments with staff that will
help the learning experiences; and
-
(iii) encouraged to participate in staff-parent
conferences and home visits to discuss their
child's
development and education.
-
1304.21(b)(1)(i)(ii)&(iii) Child development
and educational approach for infants and toddlers. Grantee and
delegate agencies' program of services for infants and toddlers
must encourage (see 45 CFR 1304.3(a)(5) for a definition of
curriculum):
-
the development of secure relationships in
out-of-home care settings for infants and toddlers by having a
limited number of consistent teachers over an extended period of
time. Teachers must demonstrate an understanding of the child's
culture and, whenever possible, speak the child's language;
-
Trust and emotional security so that each child
can explore the environment according to his or her
developmental level; and
-
Opportunities for each child to explore a
variety of sensory and motor experiences with support and
stimulation from teachers and family members.
-
1304.21(b)(2)(i)&(ii) Grantee and delegate
agencies must support the social and emotional development of
infants and toddlers by promoting an environment that:
-
Encourages the development of self-awareness,
autonomy, and self-experience; and
-
Supports the emerging communication skills of
infants and toddlers by providing daily opportunities for each
child to interact with others and to express himself or herself
freely.
-
1304.21(b)(3)(i)&(ii) Grantee and delegate
agencies must promote the physical development of infants and
toddlers by:
-
Supporting the development of the physical
skills of infants and toddlers including gross motor skills,
such as grasping, pulling, pushing, crawling, walking, and
climbing; and
-
Creating opportunities for fine motor
development that encourage the control and coordination of small
specialized motions, using the eyes, mouth, hands, and feet.
Resources:
Semlak, Sarah (2000) Curriculum
in Early Head Start. Head Start Bulletin: Early
Head Start, Issue # 69, October.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
Administration for Children and Families, & Administration on
Children, Youth, and Families (2000) Head
Start Bulletin: Curriculum in Head Start, Issue # 67,
March.
Lally, Ronald (2000) Infants
Have Their Own Curriculum: A Responsive Approach to Curriculum
Planning for Infants and Toddlers. Head Start
Bulletin: Curriculum in Head Start, Issue # 67, March.
Lloyd-Jones (2002) Relationship
as Curriculum. Head Start Bulletin: Child Mental
Health, Issue # 73.
Early Head Start National Resource Center (1999)
What Curriculum Means to Infants &
Toddlers video. Infant & Toddler Distance Learning
Series B-1.
Early Head Start National Resource Center (1999)
Developing Curriculum Plans for Infants &
Toddlers video. Infant & Toddler Distance Learning
Series B-2.
Early Head Start National Resource Center (1999)
Curriculum in Action video. Infant &
Toddler Distance Learning Series B-3.
03/03; Revised 04/03
The Tip Sheet is not a regulatory document. Its
intent is to provide a basis for dialogue, clarification, and
problem solving among the Head Start Bureau, Regional Offices, T
& TA consultants, and grantees.
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