1st Century Instructional Plan Plan Design & Description

1st Century Instructional Plan: Plan Design & Description

EDU 645 Learning & Assessment for the 21st Century

Ashford University

1st Century Instructional Plan: Plan Design & Description

The age group for the children will be Preschool children age’s four to five. The Standard will be, Math 36: Explores and describes spatial relationships and shapes. At the conclusion of the activity children will be able to use and understand positional words. The children will explore real world scenarios to show how well they can travel along the foot prints. The children will use their problem solving techniques describe their physical position.The children will usedigital tool Family Foot Measurer, rulers, and their feet to measure their foot prints.

The Gradual Release Response: I will provide verbal or physical support as needed. We will practice getting around the obstacles one at a time after I demonstrate and describe each action as I move through the obstacles. Any children with speech problems will be given time to talk and I will model the correct use of the English without correcting the child’s grammar. Through direct observation I will be able to tell if the child was able to follow directions, understand and name positional directions, ways they were able to move physically through the course with other children, and gain insight on which simple geographic features the child was familiar with or already knew or learned.

Ten of the children are boys and eight of the children are girls. There are two English Language Learners children and three children with Speech and Language special needs. There is one child I am concerned about because of his behavior during circle time. Therefore, I will include activities during lesson that will keep him as well as the other children actively engaged.

The Depth of Knowledge is,following footprints is a great way for children to develop their balancing skills. Children will have fun figuring out where to go next and will be challenged to think and move simultaneously.As the child moves around the room, I will ask the child to describe his or her position. Are you near the door or the sink? What are you next to? What you are between? These questions will require the children to use their thinking skills about their position, spatial relationship etc. Assessment for learning will be; how well the child describes their position, What way the child travels along the footprints on the floor. Rulers are a measuring tool that most children are familiar with. The Family Foot Measurer is a digital ruler that gives the children a recorded reading of how long something is, the distance between objects etc. This technology provides the added support the children need to compare their ruler measurement to the Family Foot Measurer. By learning to use these various tools and the teacher’s instructional strategies, the children learn to understand spatial relationships and shapes.

Description

My plan is intended to help children four and five in my pre-kindergarten class to understand spatial concepts and shapes. Following footprints is a great way for children to develop their balancing skills. Children will be having fun while figuring out where to go next and they will be challenged to think and move concurrently.In their preschool, children can learn to identify and name the shapes: circles, triangles, squares, rectangles, and ovals. By using their resources and supplies such as posters, blocks, books, and games, teachers can expose children to various shapes and help them analyze two- and three-dimensional shapes in various sizes and orientations.Preschool teachers can create environments and plan activities so young children and their families are both enveloped and engaged in mathematics.

Spatial knowledge when it comes to mathematics refers to shapes and their properties. However, in real life space refers to capacity. That is why it is important for us to ensure that the children understand what we mean when we make reference to space. Becoming knowledgeable of spatial concepts at this early age prepares them for the real world. They can advance in careers such as becoming architects, graphic designers etc. Piaget (Piaget and Inhelder, 1967) completed his first major study of the acquisition of spatial knowledge in 1948. Piaget said that spatial knowledge is developed as children interact within their environment.The second theory of spatial development was projected by Van Hiele. Van Hiele’s theory suggests that there are five levels of spatial development. Each learning level builds on and extends from on the previous level (Van Hiele,1983). This is an example of what the standards are for when it comes to the education of our children. One learning outcome builds on the next.

We will access the students before the lesson starts so that I know what the children know about the topic and then see what they need to work on. I think it is important to do an assessment first before the lesson in enough advance so that the teacher can make plans on how they will get an understanding of it and what materials they need to cover so that the students do not become bored or even overwhelmed when it comes to learning the materials that they need to know at the end of the week or month when they will be given a chance to actually do the activity on their own with the teacher. Each day the questions being asked challenge the children to use their thinking skills and knowledge while engaging in our collaborative group discussion. This gives them a chance to answer individually and collectively combining Universal Designed Learning which is Teacher-driven and Differential Learning which is student-driven. It also allows flexibility during instructional period for all of the children to gain insight on our lesson. Sometimes the teacher needs the flexibility to stray from the lesson and take advantage of every teachable moment that may occur during circle time and throughout the day. As a preschool teacher I combine my formative assessment with my summative assessment by using these techniques through indirect observation and direct observation evaluation.

This technology tool used to incorporate these objectives are Read-Aloud and Teaching Strategies Gold Intentional Teaching Cards. The read-aloud books are included with each lesson to help the children to understand the concept being taught. For this lesson the list of books was: Buildings, Building, Buildings; House Sweet House, and A Chair for My Mother. Preschoolers learn best when they are given visual tools that they can see, touch, and feel. Intentional Teaching Cards help the teacher to understand how to implement the goals and objectives of the lessons and activities. They also are beneficial in assisting as the teacher inputs anecdotal records to track the progress and growth of each child.

References:

Edutopia. (2012). Differentiating instruction through interactive games (Tech2Learn Series) [Video File]. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/tech-to-learn-differentiated-instruction-interactive-games-video

Hoffer, A.R. (1983). Van Hiele-based research. In Lesh, R., & Landau, M. (Eds),

Acquisition of Mathematics Concepts and Processes. New York: Academic Press.

Mississippi Department of Education. (2009). Webb’s depth of knowledge guidance. Retrieved from http://www.aps.edu/rda/documents/resources/Webbs_DOK_Guide.pdf

Piaget J. and Inhelder, B (1967) The Child’s Conception of Space. New York: Norton &

Co.

http://www.corestandards.org/Math/

http://www.iste.org

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