Planning a curriculum

Planning a curriculum

For some people, planning a curriculum for babies is a piece of cake. For others, it is a difficult and discouraging task.

For those of you who are pulling your hair out, I would like to introduce you to a technique which I used when I first began this profession. I continue to use it today when I feel my curriculum for a certain theme is lacking in imagination.

Use the following steps:

• Write down your theme or subject in the middle of the page. For our example, we will use "winter".

• What does thinking of "winter" bring to mind? Jot down everything which crosses your mind, even if it is absurd! You can write the words around your initial theme or subject (Ex. Snow, cold, mittens, etc.).

• Think of activities which could be related to the brainstorming ideas you came up with in the second step. For example, for mittens, you could have a basket of mittens and hats to sort and pull on. Write these ideas beneath each word found in the second step.

You will most likely choose to eliminate a few of the ideas found in the second step.

This method will help you find a great deal more ideas. It allows you to see the global picture (winter) quickly and easily.

The key to originality in your curriculum planning is to jot down absolutely everything which comes to mind. Remember, although thinking of "traffic jams" seems to have nothing to do with little ones at first sight, using the method above just may lead you to use small cars and cotton balls to imitate cars stuck in the snow!

Happy planning!

Chantal Milette

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