Chapter 4

HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW YOUR CHAPTER?

After reading Chapter 4 in our book, completing Chapter Modules and participating in Discussion board – students will complete the following :

Students will CHOOSE ONE OF THE FOLLOWING and write a (minimum) one page reflection about your findings:
I am also challenging you to do a different activity below that you have done for past assignments!
Read

Select one or more of the books or articles listed in the bibliography for this chapter and read more about this topic. Make sure you note which one you picked and how it may assist in your further knowledge on curriculum.
Investigate

Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is a national organization charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of injury or death associated with the use of the consumer products. The Public Playground Safety Handbook can be downloaded from this site.

International Play Association (IPA) is an international nongovernmental organization that provides a forum for exchange and action across disciplines and across sectors with articles and resources on the value of physically active play.

PE Central is a website that provides information about developmentally appropriate physical education practices and programs. Search for preschool, primary.

Peaceful Playgrounds is the website of former school principal Melinda Bossenmeyer and home of the Right to Recess Campaign.

Playground Professionals is a magazine for the playground equipment industry that offers information about purchasing and maintaining a commercial playground as well as equipment. Search for Head Start Body Start.

SHAPE America is the website of the Society of Health and Physical Educators. Search for early childhood.

Explore and Experience

Be more active. Revisit a physical activity that you did in the past or try something new. For example, join an adult’s softball or soccer league; attend a social dance (contradance is beginner friendly!); or take a class in martial arts, yoga, Pilates, Zumba, tai chi, or jazzercise. A local college may have recreational classes for students. (Please note these activities were post-Covid19/Pandemic – find any virtual or social distancing activities you fell safe to do)

Observe a program if you are currently working with children, or find videos online. See how the staff structures the environment and program to support children’s large motor development. Notice both the play opportunities and the planned group activities. Look at the plans. Interview the teacher about their large motor curriculum.

Observe a child. Spend a morning observing a child in a classroom, at home, at the park, with a focus on the child’s large motor activity. Notice how the child engages with the planned activities and how he or she constructs his or her own opportunities for learning. Observe to see how staff, parents, caregivers – support the child’s large motor learning.

Observe a master teacher if you are currently working with children. Spend a morning with an experienced early childhood educator. Observe as he or she leads a planned large motor activity. Then interview the educator about how he or she plans for and provides large motor curriculum.

Compare ages. Observe classrooms for different ages if you are currently working with children or have children at home with a large age gap. Notice how development influences the large motor curriculum offered.

Take a class or join a club. Find a community class or join a club in which you will develop large motor skill, strength, or stamina (e.g., swimming, dancing, hiking, yoga, tai-chi). (Please note these activities were post-Covid19/Pandemic – find any virtual or social distancing activities you fell safe to do)

Create a Resource

Create a large motor learning material. Design and make a large motor learning material to support the development of a particular child or group of children. Introduce it to the child or children and observe how it is used. What worked? What might you do differently next time? How might you expand on this experience for children? For your portfolio, include a photograph of a child using the material and a reflection on what you learned about yourself, children, learning materials, and teaching.

Start a collection of large motor activity plans. Use your own plans, those of fellow students, and those you discover in books or online to begin a personal collection of large motor activities to do with young children.

Reminders:

Identify which of the above was chosen, including any information needed.
Student must submit a minimum of one page for full 10 point credit.
Include your first and last name, CHDV 24B and homework title on all documents
Use 12 inch font size / double spaced / Times New Roman
Answer all questions in complete sentences using the number format or identifying what area they are responding t