Semester 2
Early Childhood Education Site Selection 2
Each semester you’ll be in an early childhood education setting. Identify an appropriate site, obtain your official clearances, and submit the paperwork for approval. You can use the same site to fulfill this requirement each semester without having to resubmit the required paperwork.
Child Growth and Development (3 credits)
This course presents a variety of theoretical viewpoints to provide students with a well-balanced view of a child’s developmental process. Current studies and research provide students with an understanding of the principal topics of child psychology as well as recent trends in socially relevant problem areas.
Objectives:
- Demonstrate effective written and interpersonal communication skills
- Demonstrate an understanding of the liberal arts, natural sciences, and social sciences
- Identify the important processes, time periods, and issues in development
- Explain the elements of biological, physical, and perceptual development
- Explain how the elements of cognition and language impact development
- Analyze socioemotional development and how this relates to the self and identity
- Analyze how social contexts impacts development and growth
Additional Course Material:
Textbook: Child Development
Curriculum for Early Childhood Education (3 credits)
This course defines and explores the fundamental components of the early childhood curriculum, including creativity, sensory experience, curiosity, exploration and discovery, growth in literacy, and concepts of mathematics, science, and social science.
Objectives:
- Analyze the important elements in the structure of developmentally appropriate programs.
- Identify the plannings and strategies made by a teacher to ensure an enriching environment.
- Categorize the methods of teaching catering to aesthetic and effective domains.
- Distinguish between the different teaching strategies catering to language, physical, and social domains.
- Create a daily classroom schedule using developmentally appropriate activities.
Additional Course Materials:
Textbook: Developmentally Appropriate Curriculum in Action
Early Childhood Education Elective (3 credits)
(Choose one) ...
ECE213-Art, Music, and Movement
The role of art, music, and movement in a young child’s education. It explains how art and movement education address the physical, social/emotional, and cognitive development of young children. Students will recognize ways to develop creativity and promote self-expression among young children by enhancing the entire curriculum with experiences in visual, auditory, and kinesthetic creativity.
Objectives:
- Explain developmental theories related to creative thinking, behavior, and play in children’s learning.
- Explain best practices for fostering creative thinking through art, music, movement, dance, and drama in children’s learning.
- Describe research-based methods for assessing children’s creative thinking using their processes and materials.
- Describe learning environments and materials that promote creative thinking and the arts that meet the needs of each child among diverse populations.
ECE216-Language and Literacy Development in Young Children
This course is designed to provide early childhood education professionals with a new approach to teaching early literacy skills with a multicultural perspective. The multicultural approach to literacy presented in this course provides an understanding of how children develop literacy skills and cultural awareness. The four major components of communication — speaking, listening, writing, and reading — are fully explored with each age group.
Objectives:
- Analyze the multicultural approach to literacy and how it can promote early literacy skills.
- Point out how music and art help in developing early literacy.
- Show how speaking and listening skills are foundational for early literacy development.
- Analyze how children become writers and readers in preschool and kindergarten years.
- Categorize the importance of family literacy and the transition phase from preschool to kindergarten.
- Prepare a storytelling board for toddlers and preschoolers.
ECE217-Developing Math and Science Skills in Young Children
Learn how to integrate math and science with other content areas for young children from preschool through the primary grades.
Objective:
- Study the guidelines of the National Association for the Education of Young Children.
ECE160-Cultural Diversity in the Early Childhood Program
This course will challenge you to examine the cultural influences on your attitudes and behaviors and how those cultural influences affect your professional judgment and practice.
Objectives:
- Analyze the cultural influences and differences in family childrearing practices, young children's social skills and behavior, and communication skills and styles.
- Describe how culture influences emergent literacy.
- Understand the importance of developing cultural competence.
ECE221-Administration of an Early Childhood Education Center
This course offers a comprehensive view of the procedures involved in establishing and administering a child care education program.
Objectives:
- Learn how to staff and budget for day-to-day administration.
- Learn about parent involvement and equipment acquisition.
ECE225-Family Child Care
This course includes the practical consideration of issues and responsibilities in providing family child care for infants and young children. Topics include developmental domains, developmentally appropriate practices, curriculum and creating a successful environment.
Objectives:
- Identify typical milestones and recommended practices for promoting development across all developmental domains (physical, cognitive, emotional, and social growth) in young children.
- Identify activities that conform to DAP principles to meet the needs of a specific age level in early childhood education.
- Define the needs of infants, toddlers, and preschoolers.
- Identify recommended practices for managing a multiage environment.
- Identify the components of an effective, developmentally appropriate early childhood curriculum.
- Describe the caregiver's role in arranging the environment.
- Identify the purpose of a daily schedule.
- Describe strategies for guiding children's behavior.
- Identify basic methods of assessment in the early childhood setting.
- Identify strategies for promoting early literacy, creativity, and play.
- Describe recommended policies and practices for transporting children.
Prerequisites:
ECE100 Orientation to Early Childhood Education
ECE220 Child Growth and Development
ECE240-Assessment in Early Childhood Education
The current emphasis on producing high-quality, comprehensive programming for young children requires early-learning professionals to develop excellent observation and assessment skills. To do your best work on behalf of children, you must be able to accurately determine the skill level of each child. As early-learning programs and elementary schools begin to work cooperatively to provide seamless transitions for children, your observations and assessments will follow them throughout their school years. The first two chapters of the textbook describe the purpose of observation and assessment in the early childhood classroom and the process of collecting and recording these observations in the Child Development Checklist. Chapters 3 through 11 cover the specific sections of the checklist and provide practical suggestions for fostering children’s development in each learning area. The final chapter discusses how you can share your observations with the children’s family members.
Objectives:
- Analyze the importance of observation and understanding the development of self-esteem related to assessment.
- Categorize the assessment methods of social and emotional skills and motor development.
- Distinguish between the teaching processes related to cognitive development, language, and emerging literacy.
- Point out the importance of developing creativity and sharing assessment data with families.
- Evaluate the findings of a Child Development Checklist to create learning prescriptions.
English Composition (3 credits)
This course teaches the skills and techniques of effectively developing, drafting, and revising college-level essays toward a specific purpose and audience: active reading, prewriting strategies, sentence and paragraph structure, thesis statements, varied patterns of development (e.g., illustration, comparison and contrast, classification), critical reading toward revision of structure and organization, editing for standard written conventions, use and documentation of outside sources. Students submit two prewriting assignments, and three essays (process analysis, classification and division, argumentation).
Objectives:
- Use writing skills to construct well-written sentences and active reading skills to understand and analyze text.
- Develop paragraphs using topic sentences, adequate detail, supporting evidence, and transitions.
- Describe the revision, editing, and proofreading steps of the writing process.
- Distinguish between different patterns of development.
- Use prewriting, drafting, revising, and editing to write a formal, college-level essay.
- Recognize how to determine the reliability of secondary sources and to give proper credit to sources referenced in an essay.
- Use techniques of drafting, evaluating, and creating a sound written argument.
Arts and Humanities Elective (3 credits)
(Choose one) ...
HUM102-Art Appreciation
In this course, you will gain an understanding of artistic media, historical periods and artistic movements, the roles of the artist and the viewer, and the principles of art criticism.
Objectives:
- Define the language, visual elements, and principles of design of art.
- Identify two-dimensional media.
- Identify three-dimensional media.
- Explain the evolution of art from ancient Mediterranean cultures through eighteenth century Europe.
- Identify features and popular examples of art throughout the history of African, Asian, Pacific, and American cultures.
- Compare the genres of the Modern and Postmodern eras of art from around the world.
Additional Course Materials:
Textbook: Living with Art
HUM104-Music Appreciation
In this course, you'll practice the skill of active listening. Learning to listen differently will allow you to experience all kinds of music in a new way. Most listeners are familiar with how music makes them feel, and we often say we like a particular piece of music because it has a "good beat" or a beautiful melody. This course will allow you to go deeper. You'll identify what the composer might have been trying to convey and listen for the way elements of musical composition and performance make each piece unique.
Objective:
- Identify the building blocks of music a composer can use to create a piece, such as rhythm, melody, harmony, texture, form, and timbre
- Differentiate between the music of the baroque era and the musical styles of previous time periods
- List the major characteristics of classical music, including form, melody, and instrumentation
- Describe the musical trends and innovations that occurred during the romantic era
- Relate musical styles of the early twentieth century to comparable movements in art and literature
- Explain the evolution of American popular music in the twentieth century
- Describe the influence of world music on modern western composition
- Synthesize research comparing composers' influence in their respective genres
Additional Course Materials:
Textbook: Experience Music
Proctored Examination
You will be required to complete a proctored exam on selected courses each semester. These assessments will evaluate the knowledge and skills that you learned during the semester. You choose the time, the location, and the qualified exam supervisor.
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