Developmentally Appropriate Activity Creation

Lesson Content

• Lesson Plan Template:

  CTE Lesson Plan

• CTE Course Info and Benchmark Notes

  
  

  Program Title (as applicable):

  Early Childhood Education

  Course Title:

  Early Childhood Education 1

  Course Number:

  8405110

  Career Cluster:

  Education and Training

  CIP Number:

  0419070900

  Course Type:

  High School Career Prep

  CTE Standard(s) or benchmarks

  CTE-EDU.912.8405110.11.1 -

  Create a developmentally appropriate learning activity.

• Unit Outline

  
  

  This lesson is designed to be used with the case study, “Supporting Children’s Growth and Development.” See CPALMS resource ID#214877.

• Career Connection

  
  

  This lesson helps students build a foundation of knowledge related to developmentally appropriate practice because students will use observations of children to create individual student goals and activities. Using the durable skill of communication, students will practice the skills of presentation and verbal communication through presentation of their ideas and activity to a partner. Students will be expected to effectively convey to their partner the activity goals, steps and assessment procedures. Using the durable skill of metacognition, students will demonstrate their use of effective planning in justifying how their chosen activity helps to meet individual student goals based on the case study observations.

• Learning Objectives

  
  

  Students will be able to:

  • Write a simple plan for a developmentally appropriate activity for a four-year-old.
  • Prepare the materials for a planned developmentally appropriate activity for a four-year-old.
  • Present the standards, goals, and procedures for a developmentally appropriate activity to a partner.

• Prior Knowledge

  
  

  Students should be familiar with/able to:

  • 4-year-old milestones in the developmental domains of communication, social-emotional, and cognitive development.
  • Navigating local standards/benchmarks for 4-year-olds.
  • Writing a lesson plan or activity with benchmarks and goals.

• Guiding Questions

  
  
  • What makes an activity developmentally appropriate?
  • Why is it important for an activity to be well aligned with standards, goals and procedures?

• Procedure

  
  
  1. Provide students with a copy of the state or locally used standards/benchmarks for four-year-olds. Call out a benchmark and have students talk with a partner to discuss an activity they could do to strengthen that skill for a four-year-old.
     • Repeat as many times as you’d like, having student pairs share ideas.
  2. Provide students with a copy of the case study, “Supporting Children’s Growth and Development” (see CPALMS Resource ID #214877). Before reading, tell students to pay special attention to the developmental needs of each child. Allow students time to read and take notes.
     • Depending on student needs, provide time for students to read in pairs or individually. After reading, have student pairs compare notes on the developmental needs of the children identified.
  3. After reading the case study, pose following questions to the whole group:
     • What do Ella and Kera’s observations tell you about each child’s development?
     • How are these observations helpful in understanding each child’s individual needs?
     • What additional information or observations should Ella and Kera gather about the children?
     • What supports do the different children need?
  4. Next, explain to students that they will be choosing one child from the case study to focus on. Their goal is to create an activity that focuses on one of the child’s developmental needs based on the observations in the case study.
  5. Provide students with the DAP Activity handout. The handout includes space for students to plan their activity, as well as a self / peer checklist.
  6. Students will work individually to create an activity plan for one of the children in the case study.
     • Students will need to identify a standard/benchmark that the child needs support with based on the case study observations. Students should outline the activity goals and simple procedures.
     • The activity should be a short, 5-10 minute activity that could be done one-on-one with a child, or in a small group setting as needed.
  7. Provide students time to gather or create materials for their activity.
  8. Students will then present the goals and procedures portion of the lesson to a partner, providing justification for their chosen activity.
  9. Using the Presentation Peer Checklist at the bottom of the handout, each student will complete the checklist for their partner and provide meaningful feedback about the alignment, goals, and focus of the activity.
  10. To bring the lesson to a close, students can share which benchmark/standard they focused on. The teacher can list these on the board as students announce them. As a group, discuss the different standards chosen, discussing any similarities or differences.
  11. Use the following questions to have students reflect on the activity.
      • How could you use the activity you created in your future classroom?
      • How could you adapt the activity for a different child’s needs?
      • How can teachers benefit from having readily available and easily planned activities to support children’s specific needs?

• Teacher Notes

  
  
  • If the classroom does not include preschool materials, students can act out using the materials (i.e., a balance beam, or pretending to throw a ball).
  • If students need additional time to prepare activities, this lesson can be split into two days or class periods.