The day care and early education curriculum planning guide for May,June, and July

With custodial care the nemesis of parents, educators, and funding sources, a prime concern of child-care and early education people, and that includes teachers and family day care providers as well as other caregivers and administrators, is finding ways to provide the high-quality developmental care that all of us want for our children. This is the second in a series of four month-by-month curriculum planning guides to daily activities for preschoolers designed to keep you and your children busy for quite a while. And though it might not be obvious, virtually every activity has readiness of some kind built right in. So go ahead—enjoy! They're good for you, and the children too.Our thanks to Macmillan, Inc., publishers of Teacher magazine, for permission to adapt for this series some of the material by Ms. Blue that appeared in their Early Education Guide between September 1975 and May/June 1976.Rose Blue is an early childhood educator, an editor, and the author of over ten books for children and young adults. Correspondence can be addressed to her at 1320 51st Street, Brooklyn, New York 11219.     

Teachable-moment-oriented curriculum practice in early childhood education

This study explores aspects of teachable-moment-oriented curriculum practice by questioning whether a teacher's teachable moment is relevant to the learner's 'learnable moment'. For teachable-moment-oriented curriculum practice to result in developmentally and culturally appropriate meaningful learning, transforming the identity between learner and teacher seems imperative. Data collected from naturalistic settings in various teacher education contexts over the last few years are used. Both prospective and in-service teachers' images of teachable-moment-oriented curriculum practices are presented     

Creative curriculum: Teaching self-awareness in a day care system

Conclusion It has been several years since I began our center, and as my understanding about self-awareness has become more sophisticated, I have enlarged on the development of the Concept Center ideas. I am now designing a general day care curriculum based on these ideas, because I think it is vital to approach all aspects of the child's development, that is, motor skills, readiness skills, cognitive / intellectual / perceptual skills, readiness skills, language skills, social and emotional skills, from the core of growth which is self-awareness.As teachers we are guides to the adventurous journey of life. Difficult, draining as it is, I think it is a real privilege to act as such guides to the bright and innocent young humans we work with in day care, who are so vigorously acquiring the fluency they need to participate in this life. With a little recognition, support and belief, we have the opportunity to provide the foundation for the development of extraordinary human beings. In doing this we contribute to a more healthful human community. Seen in this area day care is a moveable feast of rich energy and growth. All small contributions to this end mean a future sparkling with promise for our young children of today. I believe it is through tools like the Concept Center that we can begin to make them such a promise.     

科学发展观关照下的成人高等教育课程体系

对照科学发展观的发展理念，当前我国成人高等教育课程体系存在着课程目标单调、课程内容片面、课程结构单一、课程评价僵化的现象，必须以科学发展观为指导，实现成人高等教育课程体系课程目标的全面性、课程内容的整合性、课程结构的综合性、课程评价的灵活性。     

Weaving curriculum webs: Planning,guiding, and recording curriculum activities in the day care classroom

One Monday morning, Sandra walked into her day care classroom with a heavy box filled with rocks. She announced with pleasure to her four- and five-year-old classmates that she had begun a rock collection. Other children quickly came over and began making comments about the colors and sizes of the rocks and about rocks they had found themselves.Diane E. Levin is Associate Professor of Education at Wheelock College in Boston, MA.     

Professionalism in early care and education

Summary Professionalism refers to the utilization of specialized knowledge that its members need to accomplish specific outcomes. It involves a shared set of skills that are used to improve the quality of caregiving practices and interactions between professional caregivers and the children and families that they work with in their respective programs. Professionalism is not an end in itself—a state of being—but an ongoing effort—a process of becoming. New knowledge of children's development needs to be incorporated into professional caregivers' existing repertoire. Their words and actions do matter greatly. As Neil Postman wrote in his book,The Disappearance of Childhood, “Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see”.     

The new Turkish early childhood teacher education curriculum: a brief outlook

This article aims to describe and reflect on the new early childhood teacher education curriculum in Turkey. The new curriculum is part of a large-scale reform agenda to improve education at all levels. The article begins with a brief history of early childhood education and early childhood teacher education in Turkey. Then, the needs for the curriculum revision and major characteristics of the revised curriculum are discussed. The article concludes with brief discussion about the innovations and suggestions for future research dealing with the implementation and effectiveness of the revised curriculum     

Safety concepts and early childhood education: An integrated curriculum

In the United States injuries are the leading cause of death and disability in all children after the first year of life. The National Safety Council has indicated that children from birth to four years of age are at greater risk than any other age for injuries and deaths due to poisoning and ingestions, burns, and drownings.E. Audrey Clark is Professor and Chairperson, Department of Home Economics, California State University, Northridge, CA. Robert A. Simmons is Program Director, Just Say No International. Dr. Simmons was working with the American Lung Association of Los Angeles County at the time this curriculum was developed.     

Financing early childhood education and care services

After exploring how the goals, organization and content of early childhood education and care relate to costs and financing, this chapter addresses three central topics: 1) the level of early childhood education and care spending; 2) the mechanisms used to generate and distribute resources; 3) the financial contributions by governments, business, social organizations, and parents. Special attention is given to the contrasting examples of Sweden, the United States, and Mexico. A final section presents general conclusions and identifies issues for policymakers and academics.     

A Parental perspective of school and familial curriculum making: a narrative inquiry of early childhood education planning in Hong Kong

This paper examines the early childhood context of Hong Kong (HK) which is characterised by an entirely privatised system. The level of knowledge a child possesses in early childhood can be a determining factor in their admission into desirable kindergartens or primary schools. Given HK’s privatised early childhood education system, the quality of a child’s learning is directly tied to the education services their parents provide independently or can afford financially. The study reported in this paper adopts a narrative inquiry approach to an under-researched area of early childhood education, namely the voices of parents within home learning environments and how the lengths they go to provide their children with a quality education.     

Early education and day care: in search of a policy

This paper examines policy issues in the provision of services for children under five and their families. It argues that services have developed in response to political and economic factors rather than in response to the needs of children and their parents. It shows how the separate strands of development that have led to the current confused situation reflect different ideological and philosophical approaches which tend to militate against a more coherent and co‐ordinated service provision. In the absence of a national policy on services for children under five, the paper examines the attempts by some local authorities to rationalize their own services on a local basis. It considers some of the areas in which a policy is required, including the organizational structure of services, flexibility and responsiveness of nurseries and centres to the needs of families, the quality of day care and education, the involvement of parents, equal opportunities, the relationship between the vouluntary and statutory sectors, pay and conditions of pre‐school workers, and initial and in‐service training.     

Groundhog day for inclusive education

Those who work in education strive to create more inclusive environments in school but are often stymied in their efforts by challenges coming from many and varied directions. Politicians, for example, exhort us to be more inclusive but create conditions that encourage separation and exclusion, and inclusive education's history in special education means that the default response of the system around special education is to diagnose, treat and manage separately. That legacy continues to have its effects. Looking both at the history of the management of ‘special needs’ and at the continuing rise in numbers of marginalised, separated and excluded youngsters, we suggest that some fundamental shifts are necessary in the way that we think about and research into difficulty at school if we are to move beyond Groundhog Day.