What's in a name? What's in a curriculum?

An integrated curriculum is a program that focuses on all aspects of development, not just cognitive development. Which means, unlike older levels where each subject is divided, all developmental areas is taught in one lesson. The developmental areas that should be strengthened are physical, cognitive, creative, language, and social/emotional.

Here I am a little more than three months away from graduation. Wow, it doesn't seem like I've been studying child development for a year already. Anyway, that's beside the point. I know I've come a long way since my first day back in the classroom. When I first started I was absolutely terrified of making lesson plans. Almost a whole year later, and I actually love lesson plans. What I don't love is trying to figure out everything that needs to be covered in a 9 month school year. I want to teach through play and learning centers. The seven learning centers that will be in my preschool classroom include art, manipulatives/math, dramatic play, sensory/discovery, reading, blocks, and music. The integrated curriculum uses all seven learning centers to teach one lesson. I don't want the children to feel like they're learning seven different lessons. One lesson should be intertwined between all seven learning centers enhancing all developmental areas.

I want to build my own curriculum. I know that in preschool ABC's, numbers, and colors should be covered. After that I am completely stuck. I know there's got to be some more teachers out there. Calling all teachers. Preschool. Elementary. Homeschool. Public School. Private school.What should be covered in an entire 9 month school year? I've been looking for books, such as books for the reading center or for informational books about concepts such as the weather and dinosaurs, in the children's section of Books A Million and Barnes and Noble. Where can I find teaching resources? Is there somewhere besides Toys R Us that I can find costumes for the dramatic play center?

Learning should be fun. Especially so in preschool and kindergarten. Making learning fun in preschool builds a firm foundation and makes learning as they grow fun as well. I don't want to use worksheets or any such type of "formal" teaching. A 3 year old may not have fully developed fine motor skills. Forcing a child to cut worksheets with scissors does not make learning fun any more than it develops their writing skills in their hands. Fine motor skills can be developed by manipulatives such as puzzles and play doh. However, whenever I go in search of finding ideas to build a curriculum I just get discouraged because I can only find bookshelves and bookshelves worth of worksheets.

Please fellow teachers wherever you are. Help a rookie out!

Respect is a two way street, if you want it you've got to give it

Bullying is a huge epidemic in today's society. We hear about children, young children, who commit suicide or turn to a dangerous lifestyle because their peers were bullying them. We feel sorry about them. But do we do anything about it? It's one thing for an insecure eight year old to bully his classmate. But we're not going to stop it if we don't model respect.

Here I am getting ready to finish my first college degree, and I feel like I'm back in elementary school. There's an "insecure eight year old" in all three of my on campus classes. She has picked me out of all the people in her classes to constantly put down. Here I am, I've lived in 3 different places. I've lived on my own. I've been in college six years. I've finally found the career that makes my heart jump for joy. I know where I want to go after May. I'm keeping my options open. She's four years younger than me. She thinks that up on the mountain is literally the only place to teach. During class discussions she talks about how things were done for her family or at her school instead of developmentally appropriate practices. She likes to brag about making D's in class. She asks irrelevant questions. She even corrects the teacher.

She has not earned my respect. Respect is a two way street. She does not show me respect whatsoever. Therefore, I will not show her respect. I'm glad this is my last semester. If she had been in my first semester classes I think she would have ruined the whole thing. So, whether you're 5 or 25, being bullied and looked down upon still hurts. We fight to end the age of bullies. We can't do that until we teach adults to model respect. The children in this girl's class will not accomplish much if she acts inferior to her students. If she as an adult, models to the children that she will teach that it's okay to act better than everyone else, she won't teach them anything at all.

Well, that's my heart these days. I feel two feet tall. I come home with no motivation. My first two semesters I got excited to go to class. This semester, it's just a dread to even think about it. It's going to be a long four months. Unlike her, I have dreams. Dreams that are bigger than here.