Physical Activity

During play, children escape the constraints of reality where the usual meanings of objects can be ignored and new meanings substituted. Explore the definitions and theories important to the concept of play, appropriate play materials and how to support learning and play in early childhood classrooms.

Literacy skills are essential to success. Students who enroll in this course will learn about the various components of emergent literacy, strategies for promoting early literacy development in children, and how to create a literacy-rich early childhood environment. This course qualifies for 1 clock hour of credit.

Delve into various aspects of language development, how those look in the infant and toddler years, and ways to strengthen that development. You will explore the universal stages of language development. Finally, the various milestones during the first three years will be presented.

Early language experiences and ways to promote language development are critical. Key components necessary for high quality infant and toddler programs, various language activities done within routines are discussed. Effective book reading strategies and music and movement activities for infants and toddlers are provided.

Circle time, or large group time, is when children come together to learn and have fun, solve problems, and be part of a community. This setting helps children begin to look at the world from the perspective of ‘we’ and ‘ours’. Circle time experiences, transitions and strategies for keeping children engaged are introduced.

“Getting the wiggles out” is not the sole purpose of outdoor play. This course helps teachers understand the importance of outdoor play and how to make it a priority. Safety aspects such as playground standards

Learning centers provide early childhood classrooms the perfect environment for children to actively plan, try, pretend, and make new discoveries. Effective centers help children develop through play, by themselves and with peers. The purpose and process of how to develop, build and manage a center are discussed.

Children identify a problem, use stuff to make stuff that does stuff to solve the problem. Learn about research related to engineering design with preschoolers and ideas/activities to encourage and support children in becoming junior engineers. Planning, building, and testing out are the engineering skills of the future.

Preschool children are capable of understanding concepts of living and non-living things. Explore ways to support children’s observation skills related to the life sciences. Delve into inquiry-based learning activities to encourage critical thinking. Use STEM concepts to test theories on living things and non-living things.