SLO #4

Students know how to promote optimal development and learning through

effective, play-based activities and interactions that are developmentally and
culturally appropriate; students reflect upon professional practice.
I am currently enrolled in EDEC 437, Integrated Curriculum in Early Childhood
Classrooms, with Charles Elster. Since I have not yet completed the course, I will reflect
on the experiences I have had so far as well as the assignments I am preparing for.
According to Elsters syllabus, this course is designed so that we learn to plan and
implement developmentally and culturally appropriate curriculum for children in
preschool and the early primary grades. Through study of professional resources and
participation in an ECE classroom, students will create learning opportunities that
enable young children to construct knowledge through an integrated approach that
includes all curriculum areas. (Elster, 2016). This class includes 25 hours of fieldwork in
the form of ECE classroom observations. I am fulfilling the fieldwork requirement by
observing in a kindergarten class at John Reed Elementary School. By the end of the
semester I will have created a four-week unit plan that is both developmentally and
culturally appropriate for my chosen age group. It will demonstrate my understanding of
teaching diverse learners and my ability to incorporate Common Core Standards.
In class we are currently working on creating our first of 5 lesson plans. My first
lesson plan is related to the content area that I am researching for my content expert
project. The options were math, science, language arts, social studies, visual arts,
music, or physical movement. The content are that I am most interested in and chose to
study is physical movement. Since this lesson plan will later be added to my integrated
curriculum, I will discuss how its appropriateness and how it promotes childrens
learning.
The lesson plan that I created is meant for 5-6 year old kindergartners from
Sonoma County; specifically Rohnert Park and Santa Rosa. The children in the
classroom speak English, Spanish, and ASL. There is a mix of races that is reflective of
that of Sonoma County. Please see picture below.

My lesson plan includes learning a movement routine (YMCA), clapping patterns,

and a game with rules (Simon Says). I created it so that it follows five Common Core
Kindergarten Standards.
1) Students demonstrate the motor skills and movement patterns needed to
perform a variety of physical activities.
2) Students demonstrate knowledge of movement concepts, principles, and
strategies that apply to the learning and performance of physical activities.
3) Students assess and maintain a level of physical fitness to improve health
and performance.
4) Students demonstrate knowledge of physical fitness concepts, principles,
and strategies to improve health and performance.
5) Students demonstrate and utilize knowledge of psychological and
sociological concepts, principles, and strategies that apply to the

More specifically, I included three learning objectives that will focus on body
management, movement concepts, and rhythmic skills. My lesson plan will be focused
on developing gross and fine motor skills through movement. Scientists now believe
that to achieve the precision of the mature brain, stimulation in the form of movement
and sensory experiences during the early developing years is necessary (Greenough &
Black, 1992; Shatz, 1992). We havent yet discussed how to make our lesson plans
appropriate for different races, languages, incomes, special learning needs, or cultures,
but I will expand on those ideas when we do.
So far I have learned about all the different subjects that need to be introduced to
children as early as kindergarten. I am learning about just how complex and specific the
Common Core Standards are. This first lesson plan that I have created will help me in
becoming competent in drafting future lesson plans. I am hoping that as I progress
throughout the semester, the lesson plans will become easier to create.

Works Cited
California State Board of Education. (2005). Physical education model content
standards for california public
schools: kindergarten through grade twelve.
www.cde.ca.gov%2Fbe%2Fst%2Fss%2Fdocuments%2Fpestandards.pdf
Elster, C. (2016). Integrated curriculum in early childhood classrooms [Class handout].
Department of Early
Childhood Studies, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, CA.
Greenough, W. T., & Black, J. E. (1992). Induction of brain structure by experience:
Substrates for cognitive development. In M. Gunnar & C. Nelson (Eds.),
Minnesota
Symposia on Child Psychology. Vol. 24,Developmental Behavioral Neuroscience
(p. 155-200).
Shatz, C. (1992). The developing brain. Scientific American. September, 3-9.
Sonoma County Demographic Breakdown By Race/Ethnicity 2013.
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