Effective Program and Curriculum Planning
Sierra Holmes
ECE 312 Administration of Early Childhood Ed. Programs
Prof. Nichole Rich
February 22, 2016

Teachers and Administrators roles
An administrator and a teacher both have important roles in making sure the schools program is reflected daily in the classroom. An administrator determines what the school programs offers children and their families. Some school programs may offer a theme based curricula that relies on the administrator to assist teachers with creating engaging lessons that supports all areas of the child development and the program purpose. Teachers are allowed to be flexible in their creation of their lesson plans. Regardless of how the themes or topics are selected, the early childhood administrator must continually review and monitor the curriculum plans that teachers select or create, making sure that the curriculum is aligned with the program's philosophy(Gadzikowski, A., 2013). Ole Faithful program curriculum allows teachers to create their own lesson plans based on the theme for the week but it is reviewed by the administrator before it is applied in the classroom. Teachers play such an important role in helping making sure that the programs curriculum is implemented. If math is an integral part of a programs curriculum then the administrator will create opportunities for teachers to teach the appropriate skill with the appropriate materials. A teacher’s role includes giving input on what materials and activities that may be beneficial to teaching their students how to count. Among the school staff, teachers spend the most time with the students which are why teachers are a vital part of the decision-making process because they know what works and what needs improvement. In a well built curriculum teachers are allowed to make small changes as long as they are meeting the standards.
Age group: Kindergartners Whenever a teacher is dealing with a group of students the major key should be treating each student as individuals and not as a group. When teachers know what kindergarten children are like developmentally, it means they are familiar with the typical social and emotional, physical, cognitive, and language characteristics of children at this age (NAEYC, 2016). Kindergarten students are still expanding on their skill of increasing their vocabulary and being able to follow instructions. Each child is unique culturally, developmentally, and creatively. In order for teachers to cater to children developmental needs they must make sure the lesson is culturally appropriate. Of course teachers cannot do it alone which is the reason why parents notified through news letters about what is going on inside the classroom so that they can assist their child at home.
Kindergarteners are at that stage where they need to be encouraged to be more independent with minimum assistance. Our goal as educators should be to create a community of learners that are able to build on previous knowledge that will create new questions, discoveries, and abilities. Kindergartners developmental needs include cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development. Physically kindergarten students aim to use their fine motor skills by learning how to copy basic shapes. Their gross motor skills such as jumping, skipping, hopping, and running can be enhanced through vigorous play. But during any kind of play children must have social and emotional skills to work with other children productively. A child will have a strong foundation for later development if he or she can manage personal feelings, understand others' feelings and needs, and interact positively with others (PBSparents, 2016). As Kindergarteners transition from grade to grade they will work with their peers which are why the skill of interacting with others is a necessity.

Cognitive Development
Ole faithful kindergarten center strive to help students become independent math problem solvers and confident thinkers that can use different methods to find the answer. Math power hour is an essential part of our math time which is from 8a.m till 9a.m. A predictable daily schedule helps kindergartners develop independence, responsibility, and a sense of order (NAEYC, 2016). Students are expected to know that at the beginning of our math power hour they will pair up with a partner to explain what they know about the given subject for the week. If our theme for the week is buildings then during math time students will use color base connectors to build any building of their choice as long as the colors are following a pattern. Parents are welcome during math power hour to help students with math activities but they are encouraged to let the students think for themselves as well. Students are asked open ended questions such as what is another way that you can create that pattern and a student may state that we can make an ABB pattern instead of an AB pattern. Math power hour helps teachers to see what students need assistance with as well as the content they mastered and how small groups/large groups need to be created depending on how they grasp the concept.
Social Skills/Vocabulary Building/Schedule
Kindergarten students are at that age where they are still learning how to share, develop self-esteem, and become confident in meeting new children as well as adults. It is normal for children to feel overly anxious in waiting for their turn to talk. Ole Faithful center is all for helping students form meaningful relationships through being cooperative. From 7:30a.m till 7:50a.m all students eat breakfast and as students are given their food they have five seconds to say thank you. Using manners through communicating is an important life skill. From 7:50a.m till 7:55a.m students will view an image on the board with a question mark beside it and then from 7:55a.m till 8:00a.m they will pair up with a friend to discuss what they think the day will be about just by analyzing the image.
Children who acquire a substantial vocabulary are often able to think more deeply, express themselves better, and learn new things more quickly(Susan, C., 2016). Teachers are encouraged to increase the amount of sight words our students know daily. As students learn their sight words they get to see all of their hard work on our word wall. Students are celebrated through our super star award system which lets parents know how much sight words their child knows. Teachers challenge students to use the word of the day in a sentence as many times as possible throughout the day. The Ole Faithful center is a long time user of the Fletcher’s place program which introduces a new set of letters to the class every week. Our students watch fletchers place from 12:00p.m till 12:25p.m and it is awesome to hear them repeat the letters sounds and phrases as Fletcher says them. Socially our students are slowly building their vocabulary skills.
Physical Development/Schedule
Rather details are great or small teachers pay attention to them all. The Ole Faithful program spends a great deal of time strengthening the student’s physical development domains. We focus on their gross movement area which includes: jumping, skipping, balancing, running, throwing, hopping, and becoming active through our fitness program for children. Inside each kindergarten classroom there are seven centers that encourage gross motor skills and fine motor skills. The seven centers are as follows: block center, housekeeping/dramatic play, reading center, writing center, discovery/science center, music/movement center, and the toys/games area. Center time last from 11:00a.m till 12:00a.m and during that hour students rotate from center to center. It is captivating to see students practice their gross motor skills using the blocks to make wonderful creations, and dance to music with small movements or large movements. Fine motor skills are an intricate part of our everyday routines that are practiced during center time as well and during recess, “Yes I said recess.”
The writing center is a very special place to be in our classroom to work on a child’s fine motor skills because students get to engage in cutting with the scissors, writing with pencils, painting, and coloring. Knowing how to tie shoes, buttoning up clothing, and zipping up clothing is a skill that children will need to know throughout their entire life. In our housekeeping center we have small shoes with shoe strings so that students can practice. Center time is not the only part of the day where students get to practice working on their physical development. Recess is also an essential part of our student’s day because not only do they get to work on their gross motor skills but they also write with chalk on the wall and sidewalk outside. Our wall outside is called sight word mania whereas students can write as many words as they know. Teachers are encouraged to take pictures so that parents can see the brilliant things that their children are achieving.
Emotional Development
In order for any kindergarten student to flourish in being independent beings they must have self-control over their emotions. Research shows the link between social and emotional skills and school success is so strong, it is a greater predictor of children’s’ academic performance in the first grade than their familial background and their cognitive abilities (Carrie, S., 2014). We discourage children from displaying their emotions in negative ways such as hitting or fussing. During a meeting we asked teachers what techniques works for them in helping students control their emotions. Most of the teachers responded that having a buddy chair for students to sit in whenever they feel sad or angry about a situation helps a lot. The buddy chair is not a form of punishment but it just helps students gain control of their emotions so that they can explain what made them feel sad or angry. Another concept for strengthening emotional development is helping students to follow directions. So a technique that is used in the classroom is having teachers to repeat the directions twice and then having the students to repeat them back twice.
Classroom Management/Reward System The Ole Faithful center is always funding ongoing professional development for our staff so that our educators can understands what works inside the classroom. During our CHAMPS training teachers were informed that students are more likely to follow instructions when they can understand what is expected of them. In order to help students have self-control we use CHAMPS which represents: C is for conversation, H is for help, A is for activity, M is for movement, P is for participation, and S is for successful students. A model of CHAMPS during center time in the classroom would be: conversation level is voice level two, for help students should raise their hands, our activity is playing in centers with our partners, and our movement is walking in the centers, students should be participating by playing with the objects, and in order to be a successful students they should follow all the rules. Using CHAMPS is also a great tool that is used in the classroom for effective classroom management. Our reward system is called PAW BUCKS which are given to students in the form of cash for our PAW BUCK store which is opened every Friday for students to buy items with their hard earned cash that they accumulated through making good choices.

NAEYC INDICATORS Throughout the year our vision for our students have been applied in the classroom as we welcome parents as volunteers, create developmental appropriate activities during math time, and celebrate our children success through our PAW BUCK system. Our mission is to make sure that students receive the best education from the best trained professionals. Our trained professionals are constantly receiving professional development in order to perfect their classroom management skills. At our center cultures matters which is the reason why each lesson is carefully crafted in order to support our different cultural backgrounds. Our Math power hour reflects our philosophy in challenging every student to think outside of the box. We encourage our students that there can be more than one solution to a problem and to become independent beings in their creativity. By examining the NAEYC indicators the Ole Faithful center can clearly see how we meet the standards. Students are actively engaged in activities through the reinforcement of helping our student’s complete activities with little to no assistance. Parents, teachers, and administrators communicate about what is going in the classroom as well as future opportunities for parents to attend our family functions. Everything in the classroom is to benefit every aspect of our children development which parents can see when they volunteer inside the classroom because we make sure that parents see how their child is benefiting from our effective curriculum. Evaluations are used for continuous improvement (NAEYC & NAECS/sde, 2016). Throughout the day students are constantly being watched for any weaknesses and skills they have mastered. It helps educators create goals that will benefit those students who need assistance and create different opportunities for students who have excelled beyond the skills they have already mastered.

References
Carrie, S. (2014). Kindergarten Readiness: Social and Emotional development. Retrieved from http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/kindergarten_readiness_social_and_emotional _development
Gadzikowski, A. (2013) Administration of early childhood education programs. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education Inc.
NAEYC. (2016). Teaching and Learning in the Kindergarten Year. https://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/Play/Ktodayplay.pdf
NAEYC & NAECS/sed. (2016). Where we Stand on Curriculum, Assessment, and Program Evaluation. Retrieved from http://vizedhtmlcontent.next.ecollege.com/pub/content/0808f49e- e73f-4a6f-b13b 4cf8379b4ec3/NAEYC_2009.__Where_we_stand_on_curriculum_assessment_and_prog ram_evalu.pdf
PBSparents. (2016). Social and Emotional Tracker. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/parents/childdevelopmenttracker/five/socialandemotionalgrowth.html
Susan, C. (2016). For the Love of Words. http://www.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=8100