Early Childhood Education Courses

• Demonstrate the ability to apply knowledge of child development and learning in an early childhood setting
• Demonstrate an understanding of the development and execution of family and community relationships
• Apply best practices, observation, and assessment to enhance learning and development
• Plan, evaluate, and design curriculum appropriate for the education of young children
• Demonstrate an understanding of the importance of individuality and cultural diversity to assist in creating a meaningful curriculum
• Demonstrate a commitment to and an awareness of the need for lifelong professional growth, learning, community involvement, and advocacy in regards to current early childhood research, practices, and issues
• Demonstrate an understanding and knowledge of foundational concepts in the general education areas including science, mathematics, English composition, and the social sciences

Objectives:

• Understand how to use your Student Portal.
• Access the Penn Foster Community and use it to find answers.
• Connect with Penn Foster on various social media sites.
• Understand the components of quality child care and the responsibilities of the caregiver.
• Reflect and develop your own child care beliefs and principles.
• Determine where you best fit in the child day care industry.

Objectives:

• Search the Internet more effectively.
• Get tips about search engines and reliable websites.
• Learn how to search libraries and other information centers for important, useful information.

Objectives:

• Identify the environmental and biological threats to children's health and safety and how to protect children from them.
• List developmentally appropriate toys and materials.
• Describe the importance of nutrition, physical activity, and mental and physical health education.
• Identify the basic concepts of nutrition and food for children.
• List the resources available for children with special health needs and facility design considerations.
• Consider how a center director would ensure health, safety, and nutrition of children in a program.

Objectives:

• Describe the science of psychology, basic structure and function of the human nervous system, and basic structure and function of the sensory system
• Explain various states of consciousness, learning theories, and thought processes and development
• Summarize the nature of human motivation and development, the human development cycle, and approaches to understanding and assessing personality
• Prepare an essay on the topic of conditioning, memory, or motivation and emotion
• Recognize psychological disorders and available treatments
• Explain social psychology as it relates to attitudes, influences, behaviors, and stress
• Use critical thinking skills to determine the likely causes of behaviors of individuals and groups discussed in case studies

Additional Course Material:

• Textbook: Psychology and Your Life with Power Learning

Along the way, you’ll learn some excellent tips on effective use of the web and Microsoft® Office. Beyond this, you’ll have opportunities to practice what you’ve learned.

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.

Objectives:

• Describe the philosophies of various types of early childhood education programs.
• Equip and organize an effective early childhood classroom.
• Participate in a webinar and complete an observation report project.

Additional Course Material:

• Textbook: Foundations of Early Childhood Education: Teaching Children

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.

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

Objectives:

• Analyze the important elements in the structure of developmentally appropriate programs.
• Identify the planning 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 Actions

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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

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 prewriting, drafting, revising, and editing to write a formal, college-level essay.
• Use techniques of drafting, evaluating, and creating a sound written argument.

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 Material:
Textbook: Living with Art

HUM104-Music Appreciation

In this course, the student will understand how to appreciate music and learn about the roles of the composer and the listener, the principles of music theory and instrumentation, musically significant historical periods, and varying styles of music.

Objectives:

• 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.
• Recognize 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.
• Recognize the influence of world music on modern western composition.
• Write an essay researching composers' influence in their respective genres.

Additional Course Material:
Textbook: Experience Music