Early Childhood Education Curriculum

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:

• Understand how preschool children 3–5 years old learn and develop.
• Create an appropriate learning environment for preschool children.
• Complete two graded projects to practice your knowledge and skills.

Additional Course Material:

• Textbook: Creating Environments for Learning: Birth to Age Eight

Objectives:

• Understand the importance of the first three years of a child’s life.
• Make your practice individualized and inclusive.
• Complete a case study project and a final project.

Additional Course Material:

• Textbook: Infants, Toddlers, and Caregivers

SCI120-Introduction to Biology

During this course, you’ll gain insight into the origin of life, the relationships among all living organisms, and even how your own body works. 

Objectives:

• Learn how organisms are structured and how they work.
• Discuss the various forms of life and their processes.

SCI110-Earth Science 

Survey a broad range of topics.

Objective:

• Examine topics within the fields of geology, meteorology, oceanography, and astronomy.

Objectives:

• Understand and explain the components of communication, both verbal and nonverbal.
• Develop effective listening and observation skills.
• Recognize prejudice in interpersonal relations.
• Describe personal traits essential for successful interpersonal relations.

Objectives:

• Recognize the underpinning role of play in children’s early learning and development.
• Understand how to use the power of play to meet established early childhood curriculum goals.
• Integrate and enhance children’s academic development with children’s social, emotional, physical, and intellectual development.

Additional Course Material:

• Textbook: An Integrated Play-based Curriculum for Young Children

Objectives:

• Describe the typical development of a child and how certain disabilities affect a child’s development.
• Create an inclusive environment for children with special needs in a regular classroom.
• Identify legal implication of including student with special needs.

Additional Course Material:

• Textbook: The Exceptional Child: Inclusion in Early Childhood Education

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 beliefs and philosophies of Piaget and Montessori.
• Organize and manage a classroom that provides many learning opportunities and advantages.
• Use intervention techniques to manage conflicts.

Additional Course Material:

• Textbook: A Guidance Approach for the Encouraging Classroom

Objectives:

• Perform basic mathematical operations.
• Prepare a bank statement and work with every day math applications such as invoices, payroll, interest, annuities, mortgages, financial statements, taxes, insurance, and investments.

Additional Course Material:

• Textbook: Practical Business Math Procedures

Objectives:

• Positively connect the children’s world to the greater realm of adult society.
• Use current research on interactions among families, schools, and communities to form a practical guide for early childhood educators.
• Complete two graded projects to practice your knowledge and skills.

Additional Course Material:

• Textbook: Child, Family, and Community

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.

Objectives:

• Understand the purpose of observation and assessment in the early childhood classroom.
• Describe the process of collecting and recording observations.
• Foster child development in each learning area.
• Share your observations with the children’s family members.

The goal of this field experience is to provide you with the hands-on experience necessary to develop the skills needed by Early Childhood Education professionals. Practice these skills under the direct supervision of a certified teacher or credentialed Early Childhood Education professional. This field experience encompasses a minimum of 300 hours of observation and activities in an Early Childhood Education Center. Although we recommend that you complete your field experience in 12 weeks, you have a maximum of six months to finish. It is the responsibility of the student to secure a site for his/her field experience.