Curriculum
The Early Years Learning Framework:
- Outcome1: Children have a strong sense of identity
- Outcome 2: Children are connected with and contribute to their world
- Outcome 3: Children have a strong sense of wellbeing
- Outcome 4: Children are confident and involved learners
- Outcome 5: Children are effective communicators.
National Quality Framework:
- Quality Area 1- Educational program and practice
- Quality Area 2- Children’s Health and Safety
- Quality Area 3- Physical environment
- Quality Area 4- Staffing Arrangements
- Quality Area 5- Relationships with children
- Quality Area 6- Collaborative partnerships with families and communities
Australian Curriculum:
- Understand that language can be used to explore ways of expressing needs, likes and dislikes (ACELA1429)
- Understand the use of vocabulary in familiar contexts related to everyday experiences, personal interests and topics taught at school (ACELA1437)
- Use interaction skills including listening while others speak, using appropriate voice levels, articulation and body language, gestures and eye contact (ACELY1784)
- Use direct and indirect comparisons to decide which is longer, heavier or holds more, and explain reasoning in everyday language (ACMMG006)
- Describe position and movement (ACMMG010)
- Connect number names, numerals and quantities, including zero, initially up to 10 and then beyond (ACMNA002)
- Practise personal and social skills to interact positively with others (ACPPS004)
- Cooperate with others when participating in physical activities (ACPMP012)
NSW Syllabus:
- ENE-OLC-01 Communicates effectively by using interpersonal conventions and language with familiar peers and adults
- ENE-PRINT-01 Tracks written text from left to right and from top to bottom of the page and identifies visual and spatial features of print
- ENE-UARL-01 Understands and responds to literature read to them
- MAe-1WM – describes mathematical situations using everyday language, actions, materials and informal recordings
- MAe-2WM – uses objects, actions, technology and/or trial and error to explore mathematical problems
- MAe-3WM – uses concrete materials and/or pictorial representations to support conclusions
Other Link/s:
"God loves every person infinitely. ‘Life and physical health are gifts entrusted to us by God and it is everyone’s responsibility to not only take care of oneself but also look to the needs of others."
- Catechism of the Catholic Church – CCC2288
Families
Read
The way young children take in information, make sense of things, understand and learn is not the same as for children of older ages. Promoting opportunities for children to explore, be exposed to and participate in literacy and numeracy is an important part of the early childhood years.
Literacy incorporates a range of modes of communication including music, movement, dance, storytelling, visual arts, media and drama, as well as talking, listening, viewing, reading and writing.
Numeracy is the capacity, confidence and disposition to use mathematics in daily life. Children bring new mathematical understandings through engaging with problem solving. It is essential that the mathematical ideas with which young children interact are relevant and meaningful in the context of their current lives.
An emerging foundation in literacy and numeracy is vital for every young child and underpins their ability to engage in education, reach their potential, and to participate fully in the community. This contributes to a virtuous circle, in which characteristics such as the ability to reason critically, to experiment, and to be resilient and persistent also support the development of literacy and numeracy.
Explore
- Sing songs and nursey rhymes
- Writing their name and names of familiar things in different ways, e.g. shaving cream, paint
- Read with your child and pay special attention to the sounds of words
- Play games with each other, e.g. ‘What time is it Mr. Wolf?’, ‘Simon says’
- Play board-like games, e.g. matching pairs game (objects, numbers), rolling dice/taking turns, snakes and ladders
- Build structures with blocks and Lego
- Food preparation/cooking and sharing to develop understanding of equal groups, fair share and simple fractions, e.g. half.
- Numeral walk around their home and/or around the local community. Creates opportunities to identify, count and compare numbers.
- Hefting objects and amounts, e.g. in the sandpit and water play
- Using Reading Eggs and Mathseeds on an iPad
- Sorting toys and the like into groups
- Collecting simple data about those in their class, e.g. boys and girls, likes, interests etc.
- Ordering themselves or objects around them/in nature from shortest to tallest.
- Having a toy car race- which came 1st, 2nd, 3rd.
Teachers
Reflect
Reflect on your knowledge and practice.
Take into consideration the outcomes of the Early Years Learning Framework, Australian curriculum/NSW Syllabus and National Quality Framework (NQF).
Reflective questions for children with diverse learning needs:
- Where have these children come from?
- What are their diverse learning needs?
- What support have they or are they receiving at the moment?
- Where are you taking them?
- What do you expect from them?
- How can you make them feel included and supported, including supporting their families too?
Think about the pedagogy in your teaching and learning environment that engages children in a world of literacy and numeracy to lay down essential foundations for learning, educational attainment, personal enrichment, social interaction and future success.
This is an opportunity to create and maintain a supportive and safe learning environment that implements inclusive strategies that engages and supports all children across a range of diverse learning needs.
Engage
Engage in a learning dialogue with parents and carers:
- Is there anything in the video that caused you to think different about children with diverse learning needs?
- How can you include and best cater for students with diverse learning needs?
- How can you get to know a family’s children socially, emotionally and cognitively by asking the family particular questions? What questions could you ask of them about their child?
- How are the children showing inclusive practices towards children with diverse learning needs and what can you do to support this?
- Are there any practices for the support of children with diverse learning needs that families are successfully using that you can apply to your learning environment?
Some ideas for activities to support children with diverse learning needs:
- Constructing and creating an alphabet and a numeral book
- Playing simple yet fun board and card games
- Playing sport games that involve small groups, e.g. soccer, relays- to count points, goals etc
- Developing a social story: a story that shares social information to a child with additional needs in an accessible way, respectful of their different perspective and interpretation of the social world.
- Reading books with literacy and numeracy concepts. For example, the alphabet, sounds of letters, counting, ordering numbers/quantities.