When you open your doors to welcome the children for the day, it’s important to have a plan. A plan prepares you to care for each child in the best way possible and provide an enriching experience. Today’s early educators are discovering many innovative approaches to planning. Instead of simply writing a lesson plan of activities, take a deeper look at strategies for planning and discovering the rhythm of the day.
Do the homework!
Philosophy
Whether your program is home child care, a center, school, after school, family care, or religious affiliation, know its philosophy. Having a clear vision of what the program believes in and how it supports children will have a strong influence over how you develop and implement your plans.Children and families
Before you can successfully plan for the day, you need to know your children and their families well. Consider these questions:
- What are the child's needs?
- What are their cultural influences?
- What comforts their child?
- What are the child's favorites?
- What is the child interested in?
- What is challenging for the child and what brings her joy?
- What does the family want to see happen in child care?
Environmental blueprints
The environment is always included in planning because of its presence and constant direction that it leads children. Create an environment that is safe, supportive, interesting, and developmentally appropriate. Filling the environment with enriching materials, furnishings, space, and aesthetic beauty will spark ideas from the children, which in turn ignites the process of discovery. By carefully watching the children interact in the environment, we may begin to see concepts and connections of how children learn, what they want to learn about, and gather ideas to bring to planning and meeting times with children and staff .
Planning strategies are about getting to know the children well and discovering their rhythms to life and their rhythms of learning.
Find the rhythm
Most plans for the day are based on a time schedule, but research has shown that children fare better by following their own time schedules; their own rhythms. Although some caregivers have scheduling constraints to consider, it is worthwhile to plan and move according to the children, not a clock. It may take time to understand children's rhythms: Not everyone is hungry at the same time, not everyone is ready to do today's project, not everyone wants to stop their play to come to a scheduled activity. Consider how you can implement the rhythm of the children in your program.
Write it out
Curriculum planning or daily planning is personal to each adult and program. Discover or develop a suitable format to write out your plans. You can look at researched curriculum planning forms from established programs, other early educators you admire, or develop your own.
A plan prepares you to care for each child in the best way possible and provide an enriching experience.
Planning forms might include these elements
- General outlines of routine (rhythm of the day).
- Space for writing in all compositions of the day: transitions, play, eating, group times, outside times, clean-up, projects, visitors, etc. (tt helps to write them on paper as they actually occur in the day).
- Space for writing all preparation needs (mixing paints, setting out materials, books, items to bring from home, etc.).
- Space for writing follow-up ideas, or extensions/adaptations to plans.
- Plenty of space for notes.
- A section listing all materials needed.
- A section listing environmental preparations/needs.
Planning strategies are about getting to know the children well and discovering their rhythms to life and their rhythms of learning. Each plan will open more doors and reveal more layers of learning and offering the very best you can offer children.
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