Myself and My Body• Lecture notes comprise of

chapter’s 7 & 8 of your text and additional supplementary texts

• Goal of today’s lecture– Exploring curriculum methods to

promoting the understanding of self and the body among preschoolers

– Explore the role of language and literacy development in children

– Explore the role of play in promoting physical and language development

– Explore appropriate curriculum development methods

Myself and My Body

Chapter 7

Key Points Regarding Play• Play and physical development

improves development in the cognitive and socio-emotional domains

– Brain development and neuroscience

• Children should experience a physical fitness curriculum of 30 to 60 minutes daily

– Fitness routines and basic physical movements

– Good for forming good habits

• Children should be encouraged to watch less TV daily and view more videos that encourage physical fitness

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT• According to Gallahue (1993), children move through a

sequence of motor skill development.

– Reflexive movement. (birth to 1yr). • Infants engage in reflexive movements

– Rudimentary movement. (2 yrs). • Basic motor skills acquired during infancy: Reaching, grasping sitting, standing,

walking.

– Fundamental movement. (2-7yrs). • Greater control over motor skills such as running, jumping, throwing, and

catching. Isolated movement schemes are combined to form more complex movements.

– Specialized movement. (7-to teens years). • Execution of skills committed to certain sports or recreation.

More on Fundamental Movement & Activities

• Take basic movements (i.e. walking, hoping) and change conditions (i.e. speed or pace)

• Using a follow the leader approach

• Movements that resemble animals• Create an obstacle course or simulate

ways of crossing a river

• Use nursery rhymes to stimulate movement

• Suggest ways to go around a dowel or other stick

• Lay out foot patterns on the floor for practicing fundamental locomotor movements

Characteristics of Motor Development

• Preschoolers exhibit capability of a range of motor skills regarding Gross motor development.

– Locomotor skills. • Movements that facilitate jumping, hopping, running, and climbing.

– Fine-Motor skills. • Preschool children learn to work with puzzles; cut with scissors; use

brushes, pencils, pens, and markers. They manipulate blocks and clay.

– Perceptual-Motor skills. • The ability to combine senses with emerging motor skills to engage

the environment.

Play and Physical Development: Factors of Consideration

• Today, children are more sedentary than 20 years ago.

• Childhood obesity and rising health problems is on the rise

• Rise of non-traditional families (both parents working, single-parent families); often producing latch-key kids.

• Diminishing settings for free play

The Role and Importance of Play in Children’s Development

Categories of Play

• Directed Physical Play. – A comprehensive preschool program • Locomotor skills to include walking, running, hopping, throwing, catching, and other motor skills.

• Fine motor skills such as block construction, sand play, and art activities.

– Organized physical sports • Soccer, basketball, or T-ball; usually for kids 4 to 5 yrs

of age.

Free Play• Free play vs. Structured play.

– Studies have noted that free play promotes greater muscular endurance and motor behaviors.

• Free play is often restricted due to concerns for safety regarding children.

– Children play hard– Unsafe neighborhoods

• Through monitoring, adults are charged to provide a good balance of free play and structured play with many opportunities of expression.

Adult Roles in Physical Play

• Play is diminishing in the presence of – Television– Video games– Rising technocratic society.

• Adults have responsibility to ensure that children receive adequate amounts of time engaged in play and exercise.

•OR ELSE.• Health is compromised• Important physical milestones are compromised• Social and emotional development can be compromised

Characteristics of Cognitive Development• According to Piaget

– Children are preoperational– Children are able to use symbolic reasoning.– Preschoolers are still egocentric.

• Seeing the world from a singular point of view.

• Between 2-4yrs– Children develop symbolic function.

• The ability to picture things through imagination that are not present.

• Intuitive Thought (ages 4-7yrs) – Development of intuitive thought.

– Begin to experiment with ordering and collecting things but it is still limited. (Challenge of centration)

• Children are still very primitive in their reasoning

Piaget’s Level of Cognitive Play

• Practice/Functional Play. – Sensory-motor play.

• Symbolic Play. – Initially appears during sensory motor stage but

transitions to preoperationional.

– Play through imagination and imitation of reality.

– Also evolving to games with rules.

Smilansky’s Levels of Cognitive Play

• Children from 3 to school age alternate between levels of play.

• Functional Play. – Physical play activities. The child uses repetition in physical actions,

language, and manipulation of toys.

• Constructive Play. – Children move from handling objects and materials to constructing or

building for fun.

• Dramatic/Pretend Play. – Imitation of human relationships thru symbolic representations.

Vygotsky’s Perception of the Functions of Play

• Representational Play. – Make-believe play which permits

the child to deal with unrealizable desires.

• Fantasy Play. – Develops as toddlers must learn to

follow approved behaviors and delay gratification.

– As the child matures, fantasy play increases as expectations by society increases

Adult Facilitation to Produce Maximum Outcomes• Provide activities that lead to greater

thinking and problem-solving.

• Provide children with stimulating environments.

• Be encouraging, positive, and supporting.

• Distinguish between play as manipulation and play as active education.

• Provide opportunities for children to engage in dramatic play that encourages cooperation and negotiation.

• Make available materials that encourage representation through construction

BENEFITS OF BEING PHYSICALLY FIT

• Weight control• Decreased blood pressure

• Improved concentration, retention, and attention• Decreased disruptive behavior

• Reduced risk of diabetes and heart disease • Healthy bones, joints, and muscles

• Better overall health• Decreased anxiety, stress, and depression

• Increased energy and strength• More positive self-esteem

Language and Literacy Development

Chapter 8

Language Development

• Verbal imitations of language begin in the first year of life– Sensitive years for language development

– Children observe and begin to memic—starting small and moving to more complex combinations of word usage

• By 5 years, children tend to have a large vocabulary, speak in sentences, and often able to use proper syntax or grammar– Children copy the language style of their family,

neighborhoods, and key people around them

The Power of Language/Literacy• Language is

instrumental to:

– Thought– Personal expression– Social communication– Friendship

development– Conflict resolution– Later academic

performance

Play and Language/Literacy Development

• Symbolic play is key to language and literacy development– It improves one’s ability at

decontextualization

THE TRUE STORY OF THE THREE LITTLE PIGS

By the Wolf

Alexander Wolf

THE TRUE STORY OF THE THREE LITTLE PIGS• Discuss the learning points

• Develop curriculum maps– Topic: The Three Little Pigs

– Links to other learning domains and other concepts derived from the Three Little Pigs story

– Develop five lesson plans (i.e., math/science, language/literacy, social studies, music/movement, art/aesthetics)

– Develop a list of web and resource references that teachers can use to be effective doing the noted activities (a minimum of 10)