Lesson Plans

[Bugsworthy]

I need input regarding lesson plans. This is for the 1 yo class and 2 yo class.

1. Do you require them of your teachers?
2. What is your format? Is it divided topically by play center or domain or state standard or ???
3. Do you like to see any teacher directed activities? If so, how many per day.

I am having a difficult time implementing them. Before I took over, they were not required. So, there were very little new activities introduced. Since I took over (2 years ago) I have tried various methods, but still cannot find a plan that "sticks".

Any help you can offer is appreciated.

[Michael]

Welcome to the Daycare.com Forum! I've upgraded your status. You can post freely now.

We have some threads on Lesson Plans: https://www.daycare.com/forum/tags.php?tag=lesson+plans

[Heidi]

sorry...I am a family provider, so I can't help with the supervision aspect.

I know our state would prefer we developed a curriculum for all our children in care, including infants. Honestly, though, I think it's a bit silly. I'm not saying no activities. I'm saying that I, for one, do things intuitively and depending on the interests of the children.

If you teachers are trained in developmental domains and standards, and you're not being asked to provide a curriculum because of regs or a rating systems, I would suggest you try something less formal for such young children. SO much of 0-2 year olds (and sometimes older) is the social/emotional development. They really don't need "instruction". They need guidance and support. They need opportunities to explore. They need access to new materials and supervision using those materials.

As your teachers to come up with at least 5 new activities a week. Make sure they have a list of domains handy, and that they touch on several each week. For instance, they could do a new fingerplay one day, a physical game another, and introduce new art materials the other days.

Give them access to the internet or idea books and make sure they have time and resources to actually implement those ideas. IMaybe your whole center could have a "theme of the month" to build off of? That way, your teachers can share resources.

You could make it a contest or a game....whoever had the best idea of the week gets a gas card or a dinner out certificate, or an extra half hour for lunch one day while you take over the classroom. I think your center culture needs to creative, cooperative, and fun. You'd need to figure out how to make the contest about the idea though, not about who is most popular.

I think infant and toddler teachers can burn out really quickly. Actually, being able to have creative ideas and have the resources to implement them might help avoid that.

[Bugsworthy]

You could make it a contest or a game....whoever had the best idea of the week gets a gas card or a dinner out certificate, or an extra half hour for lunch one day while you take over the classroom. I think your center culture needs to creative, cooperative, and fun. You'd need to figure out how to make the contest about the idea though, not about who is most popular. that.

I like this idea!! I've pretty much done everything else you mentioned. I've purchased two curricula for them to work from, Provided multiple books with ideas in them, Directed them to fun websites I've found. The domains and standards are in every class. They seem to do new activities periodically, but it has not been consistent. I Would like them to take the initiative and plan new activities consistently. I like what you said, "your center culture needs to be creative, cooperative, and fun!" I may try to work that into a yearly theme.

[snbauser]

Our state requires all centers to have lesson plans posted in every classroom. They have to be age appropriate and the activities have to fit into the required domains with the required number of times each week. For the older kids, they have to have imput into the lesson plan usually done through webbing. So the teachers job is to see what the kids are interested in, draw from those interests, and find out what they know and what they want to know. Then create well-rounded lesson plans based on that. It is a very difficult concept to do if you are not used to doing it and can be very overwhelming and time consuming until you build up a stock of supplies and theme boxes/ideas. I have been in licensed child care for 9 1/2 years and didn't really start doing lesson plans until about 3 years ago. I still struggle with it.

Maybe start slowly with them. Have them come up with a theme that is either a 2 week theme or a month long theme and give them a template to fill out that has the necessary things they need to meet like science, math, etc. The schedule should be a combination of chid led (free play) and teacher directed (structured centers).

I just bought Kaplans new curriculum package. It was a little pricey - about $80 - but it is a 3 pack of books. The first book is all about the different areas, how to structure the classroom, what child directed vs teacher directed looks like and even a sample schedule. It is really a great resource. The other 2 books contain a total of 36 units of study with 5 lesson plans and extended activity ideas for each unit. Each lesson plan is broken down into the different areas so that you can either use their ideas or if you have another idea that would fit into that area you can substitute it.

[Heidi]

Our state requires all centers to have lesson plans posted in every classroom. They have to be age appropriate and the activities have to fit into the required domains with the required number of times each week. For the older kids, they have to have imput into the lesson plan usually done through webbing. So the teachers job is to see what the kids are interested in, draw from those interests, and find out what they know and what they want to know. Then create well-rounded lesson plans based on that. It is a very difficult concept to do if you are not used to doing it and can be very overwhelming and time consuming until you build up a stock of supplies and theme boxes/ideas. I have been in licensed child care for 9 1/2 years and didn't really start doing lesson plans until about 3 years ago. I still struggle with it.

Maybe start slowly with them. Have them come up with a theme that is either a 2 week theme or a month long theme and give them a template to fill out that has the necessary things they need to meet like science, math, etc. The schedule should be a combination of chid led (free play) and teacher directed (structured centers).

I just bought Kaplans new curriculum package. It was a little pricey - about $80 - but it is a 3 pack of books. The first book is all about the different areas, how to structure the classroom, what child directed vs teacher directed looks like and even a sample schedule. It is really a great resource. The other 2 books contain a total of 36 units of study with 5 lesson plans and extended activity ideas for each unit. Each lesson plan is broken down into the different areas so that you can either use their ideas or if you have another idea that would fit into that area you can substitute it.

could you please put a link to the one you ordered?