Part 1: Before you can design the learning environment, you must describe who is in your classroom and your philosophy of teaching young children. In a written description, identify the ages of the children in this classroom,
This assignment has 3 parts, missing one part will over give you a grade of 50. You must do both parts. (AP)
Part A
Week 4 (environment)
This week's forum assignment is connected to the Learning Environment assignment. One part of that assignment is to include your philosophy of teaching young children. It is important to understand your values and beliefs as they relate to teaching young children and to be able to verbalize those beliefs. That is what your philosophy will do. This link will provide you with helpful tips for writing your philosophy: How to Develop a Philosophy of Teaching for Early Childhood EducationLinks to an external site. (opens in a new window).
Use these prompts to craft your philosophy:
- Describe your beliefs about supporting children of diverse cultures and languages in early childhood settings.
- Describe your beliefs about supporting children of diverse abilities in early childhood settings.
- Describe your beliefs about the role of families in supporting the development and learning of young children.
- Describe your beliefs about the role of educators and other professionals in supporting the development and learning of young children.
- What do you see as your greatest assets as an early childhood professional? What do you see as your greatest challenges?
Part B
Design a Classroom/Learning Environment
Assignment Overview: Design a learning environment for one classroom of young children.
This assignment has several parts. Carefully review the entire assignment and ask your instructor if you have any questions.
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Part 1: Before you can design the learning environment, you must describe who is in your classroom and your philosophy of teaching young children. In a written description, identify the ages of the children in this classroom, the number of children in this classroom, the number of teachers in this classroom, details about the types of families, and characteristics of the children. Next, include your philosophy of teaching young children that is based on developmentally appropriate practices. For the week 4 forum assignment, you will create this philosophy and post it for your peers to provide feedback. Include this teaching philosophy.
Part 2: Make a model room for this classroom using any platform of your choosing. You can create the model room using an actual classroom if you have one available, or you can create one on paper or electronically (tools like Kaplan's Room planner work, but so does using Word or Google docs) Your room design must fully depict a classroom complete with furniture, learning centers, list of materials, etc. (Kaplan FloorPlanner: https://www.kaplanco.com/resources/floorplanner.asp)Links to an external site.
Your model room must (required components):
- follow the guidelines provided in chapter 3 of the Nurturing Creativity textbook
- include a variety of learning centers including at least 3 from Chapter 3 pages 49 - 54 (Nurturing Creativity textbook)
- be homelike and include natural elements
- contain no plastic toys and materials
- identify the color of the walls
- identify floor coverings and all furniture including shelving, tables, chairs, changing tables (if infant classroom), etc. Consider all aspects of a typical day in the classroom
- include areas for individual time, small groups, and large group activities.
- have materials in each center that are available for children's use. You must include the overall cost for the materials needed in each learning center and then include a total cost for all of the materials in the entire classroom.
Part 3: Once your model room is designed, evaluate it by answering the questions on this attached document: Using MI to evaluate classroomLinks to an external site. Then submit the completed document.
What to submit for grading:
- Description of classroom including your teaching philosophy - see part 1
- Visual creation of your model room including all required components - see part 2
- Completed MI evaluation tool - see part 3