Lesson Planning 

GHC requires that teachers and classroom staff engage in an intentional process for lesson planning, grounded in the Creative Curriculum and other standards, for all program options, including home visits and socialization activities associated with program options. Teachers should designate a regular time weekly to develop and evaluate lesson plans. Lesson Plans should be developed in collaboration among the teaching team. Lesson plan forms should execute the Creative Curriculum with fidelity. Intentionality in lesson plans should be practiced following a regular planning cycle informed by reflective child observations. Teaching Strategies GOLD documents that observations and lesson plans should be individualized to respond to children’s needs.

 Education staff makes decisions in the curriculum planning process to help children gain knowledge, skills, and confidence. GHC requires curriculum decisions that will encourage children to be actively involved in the learning process, to experience a variety of developmentally appropriate activities and materials, and to pursue their own interests in the context of life, their community, family culture, and the world. The curriculum plan integrates the various Head Start components. The curriculum will be developmentally and linguistically appropriate while recognizing each child’s rate of development, interests, temperament, and cultural background. 

Family information and input are required components of curriculum planning and implementation. Parents will be given opportunities to contribute to curriculum plans. Weekly curriculum plans are developed in advance to document the sequence, times, and use of all required program curricula.

Strategies to Creating Lesson Plans EHS/HS

• Gather information about the child and family’s interests, routines, strengths and needs using the EHS Home Visit plan form (see Home Visit policy).

• On the EHS Child Daily Sheet, document when each child needs a diaper change/toileting, a meal, or a nap. Each EHS primary care provider in the classroom will be in charge of following through with the routines of the focal children in their care.

• On the EHS Weekly Curriculum form (located on the portal and in shares), identify goal(s) in each developmental domain the class will focus on. Use information from the most recent TS-Gold assessment and individualized curriculum (see EHS Individualization policy) to determine goals the class is ready to learn.

• Write the materials and experiences the teacher will provide to reach the goals on the form.

• Also include family involvement and adaptations/accommodations to be made for the week.

• Write thoughts/plans to assist in planning for the following week.

• For group socialization or parent-child groups, include parent chat topics in the special experiences section.

• Keep records available.

• Keep copies of past weeks’ curriculum plans in the Curriculum binder.

• Post the current week’s weekly EHS Weekly Curriculum form in the classroom where it is visible to parents and then file it in the Curriculum binder.

• Post the individual routine form where it is convenient for direct service staff to see.

 Socializations Guidance  

EHS staff will complete The Socialization Planning Form to plan the bi-monthly socialization and parent chat meetings. Completed forms are filed in the Socialization binder.

Guidelines for the completion of The Socialization Planning Form:

1. Planning a Socialization and Parent Chat meeting

a. Planning and Documenting: Group socialization offers unique opportunities for parents and young children to build on goals and experiences of home visits, and the benefits are two-fold.

b. It is added time for infants, toddlers, and their parents to strengthen their relationships as well as provides parents opportunities to observe their children in a different setting, with different materials and experiences.

c. Parents have the opportunity to interact with other adults who share common interests and goals.

d. Parents have a role in planning socialization. It is helpful to gather information from parents about topics that are meaningful.

e. Careful planning on the part of the home visitor and the parent ensures that the goals of socialization are linked to the goals of home visits, so that family goals are built upon and are meaningful for parents and their young children.

f. It is an expectation that socialization is led by the home visitor or other familiar staff person to support the continuity of care for children and families during the socialization experiences.

2. Parent engagement

a. As part of the ongoing family partnership agreement process, EHS staff must specify roles for parents during home visits and socializations. These roles provide a way to engage parents in all aspects of socialization, including the planning process, delivery, and evaluation of the socialization experience. Parents are encouraged to provide feedback on the curriculum for their children.

b. Interacting and networking with other parents is another element of successful engagement in socialization. Parents can gain greater insight into their own child(ren), support other parents, and develop a sense of community as they develop relationships with other families and community members.

c. EHS staff can engage parents by modeling how to observe their child’s interactions and explorations and expand those learning opportunities.

d. The children are to be supervised by their own parents through observation and active participation. The Early Head Start Educator assists in the supervision and observation of the socialization experience.

3. Environments for Socialization 

a. Everything in the environment has the potential for learning as infants and toddlers use all of their senses to explore the sights, sounds, tastes, and textures of everything with which they come into contact. Carefully selected materials and planned experiences provide stimulation in all areas of development (Socialization Planning Form section Group Experiences/Goals)

b. Curricula for infants and toddlers are based on experiences rather than activities. These experiences focus on the way children relate to materials, and to adults and one another instead of directing how they manipulate something or have an end product, such as something they “make”.

c. Balancing the needs of participating children and families is linked to thoughtful planning, careful observation, and regular documentation.

d. Socialization offers numerous “teachable moments” that can create relevant, but unplanned, learning opportunities. These learning experiences often have the greatest impact because they are connected to authentic experiences.

4. Prenatal Services

a. Pregnant women are also encouraged to attend socialization and are provided with opportunities to interact with other women in various stages of pregnancy, new parents, and more experienced parents.

3-5 Lesson Plans

3-5 Lesson plans must include:

         a.      A study must be selected for the lesson plan (monthly)

b.       A weekly lesson plan is due and submitted to the site manager.       

   c.     Individualizations are required two times a week for children with disabilities.

Lesson Planning &  Language Development 

Teachers will provide for the development of cognitive and language skills for all children by designing a physical environment and scheduling activities that include experimentation, inquiry, observation, play, and exploration. Weekly curriculum plans will document opportunities for creative self-expression, interactions and language use with peers and adults, and emergent literacy and numeracy development. Plans will be inclusive of children with disabilities. Plans will support the child's home language's continuing development and the child’s acquisition of the English Language at home and in the classroom. Opportunities for learning in the child's home language will be provided to the extent feasible. 

1. Review children's cognitive and language development in Creative Curriculum.

2. Plan activities for labeling, classifying, and sorting objects by shape, color, and size.

3. Read books and poems daily, tell children stories about experiences, talk about pictures, and write down experience stories that children dictate.

4. Provide a print-rich environment and encourage children’s emerging interest in writing (scribbling, drawing, copying, inventing their own spelling).

5. Extend children’s thinking and learning during activities by adding new materials, asking open-ended questions, offering ideas or suggestions, joining in their play, and facilitating problem-solving.

6. Observe natural events such as growing seeds, the life cycle of pets and other animals, shells, rocks, weather, etc.

7. Create opportunities and use routine activities to use numbers and count objects.

8. Plan trips or classroom visitors to provide new learning experiences (see Field Trip policy).

9. Encourage water play and other sensory activities using the sensory table.

10. Document cognitive, numeracy, and literacy activities and experiences on curriculum plans.

11. Primary and supplemental curriculum resources are available to assist staff with planning activities to promote development in cognitive ad language skills.

12. Classrooms will be rich with literacy materials and experiences with a library/literacy area planned to include:

a. Placed in an area that is partitioned off from the rest of the room to reduce noise, traffic, and distractions.

b. Comfortable seating for four to five children.

c. Bookshelves for storing books: open-faced shelves as well as shelves with spines facing outward. 

d. Books are included in at least five interests areas

e. There are at least 25 books inclusive of all categories: story, informational, alphabet, predictable, number and counting, and nursery rhymes.

f. New books should be circulated into the classroom every two weeks; from the site library and/or public library.

    g. Other texts (e.g., magazines, signs, charts, cookbooks) are included in at least three different interest areas.

h. An alphabet will be displayed at the children's eye level

i. Meaningful environmental print that includes print that labels materials and storage places, identifies classroom practices, give information, and provides narrative descriptions (e.g., signs, directions, rules, functional messages, helper charts, computer use charts).

j. Make efforts to use print models that are representative of the different primary languages used by families at the site

k. Listening centers with stories and book to accompany the story with a variety of materials for listening, reading, writing, and story retelling

l. Other story-related manipulatives; puppets, flannel board characters to familiar stories, magnet boards with letters and story pictures, etc.

13. Classrooms will be equipped with a writing area (may be part of the library area) to include: 

a. A table suitable for up to four children to sit around

b. Storage near or on the table for a variety of writing supplies

c. Alphabet strip

14. Classroom will be rich with numeracy materials and experiences that include:

a. Materials for exploring mathematical concepts (e.g., number and operations; patterns; geometry, and spatial relationships; measurement; collecting, organizing, and representing data)

    b. Manipulatives for children to practice counting, sorting, serrating, patterning, etc.

c. Materials for exploring geometric shapes and spatial relationships such as shape puzzles, unit blocks, pattern blocks

d. Materials for exploring measurement include measuring cups, balancing scales, rulers, and play money.

e. Models of numbers are displayed in the room.

f. Charts and graphs are used to represent numbers.

Lesson Plans & Approaches to Celebrations 

Classroom celebrations can be a part of building a classroom community: a place where people help one another and consider themselves to be part of the group. Classroom celebrations will be consistent with providing an environment of acceptance that supports and respects gender, culture, language, ethnicity, and family composition. 

1. Classroom celebrations will be consistent with Anti-Bias approaches and aim to be inclusive 

2. Classroom celebrations will be consistent with agency nutritional guidelines.

3. Staff/ Site Managers will review the Classroom Celebrations policy with families during the intake and orientation process.

4. Staff will review the information families provide during enrollment or through the “Getting to Know Your Child and Family” (aka Funds of Knowledge) form before planning any classroom celebrations.

Holidays

1. GHC does not endorse or promote any particular holiday. Educational staff will not plan or implement class classroom-litigious or holiday-themed celebrations.

2.  Staff may access the “Learning About Holidays and Fairness” chapter of the Anti-Bias Curriculum as a resource.

3. Child initiated conversations, play, and activities related to holidays will be supported by educational staff.

4.  Individual family members may share their family holiday traditions as a clsroom guest.

5. Any classroom learning about holidays, planned in response to or as follow ufollow-upild or family initiations, will be consistent with Anti Bias goals (see Anti-Bias curriculum for additional information).

Celebrations related to children’s learning

4. 1. Classroom studies or projects may conclude with a celebration of the children’s learning.  Celebration will be focused on sharing what was learned during the study and planned in collaboration with the children and/or families.

      1. Celebration may include families, others in the school, or the wider community.

   2. End of the Year Last Day & Goodbyes

      1. Will be planned in collaboration with children and may include small celebrations of the learning that took place over the year.

   3. Celebrations of learning can include but are not limited to: exhibits, parades, art/fashion shows, shared meals, or performances.

Special events birthdays

1. Educational staff will develop a preliminary plan on how they will address birthdays in the classroom during pre-service of each program year.

2. Classroom plans may be further individualized for children or families as appropriate.

3. Classroom plans will be consistent with GHC nutritional guidelines, and outside food is not permitted.

Using celebrations for behavior management

4. 4. Educational staff, in collaboration with the children, may plan classroom events to celebrate progress towards a group social or behavioral goal.

      1. Examples of events include pajama parties, movie day, lego parties, and bubble parties.

      2. Educational staff will create a child-appropriate visual to mark group progress toward the goal. Progress markers will not be used as punishment by taking them away or by threatening to withhold/remove them.

      3. Food and physical activity may not be used as a punishment or reward.