Early Childhood Curriculum 1

Table of Contents
Introduction 2
Language and Literacy 3
Social Sciences 5
Health and Physical Well Being 6
The Arts 8
Conclusion 10
Reference List 11

Introduction
This report will discuss strategies for supporting infants, toddlers and young children's interests and learning in the areas of language and literacy, social sciences, health and physical well-being and the arts.
Dictionaries describe curriculum as a scope and sequence for a course of study. Experts on Early Childhood Education (ECE) give a broader definition that addresses all aspects of the planning of the programme for individual ages groups, such as content, processes, context and what teachers do. In general curriculum is seen as the means, by which society helps learners acquire the knowledge, skills and values that communities and society deems most worth having.
A curriculum provides ECE educators with a blueprint to help them make thoughtful and knowledgeable decisions for planning and implementing a prgram that addresses all aspects of child development and building partnerships with families. Strategies for supporting infants, toddlers and young children vary from age group to age group. Interests are also very different between the age groups as young children are more developed in their understanding than infants. It is important to remember that children of the same age group can also be at different developmental levels, as defined in Te Whariki (Ministry of Education [MoE], 1996), with the overlapping age categories, acknowledging that there is “considerable variation between individual children” (p.20). so this report will outline just some strategies can be used to support children through our their learning stages, bearing in mind different children need different support. Dewey (cited in Pound 2005 p.22) supports this by saying “children should have opportunities to work in ways that match their age and stage of development”.
Activities in a classroom should be planned and presented in such a way to allow the participation of all children, even if there are different developmental levels and stages and a nuturing and intuitive teacher should be able to use different strategies to up skill, scaffold and break down the activity depending on the needs of the children in their care (Ministry of Education [MoE], Te Whariki, 1996).
Te Whariki [MoE,1996] defines 5 strands, well-being, belonging, contribution, communication and exploration. ECE teachers build their curriculum based on these strands which will guidef their learning in early childhood to meet the school curriculum primary areas of language and literacy, social sciences, health/physical well-being and the arts (also math, science and technology). Giving ECE educators a better understanding of what experiences lay a firm foundation for life long learning and healthy development. These standards are used to build curriculum content that is challenging and relevant to what children will be learning when they enter school.

Language and Literacy
Language and communication are the foundation to any child's development so it is important that we acknowledge that this is a part of all areas of children's learning. Education Review Office (2011) says that Literacy learning supports children's language development through activities that are meaningful and engaging and their later achievements in areas such as maths, science and social science.

Infants – At this stage infants will Learn words not so much to communicate but as labels which are associated with people she knows and things likes and enjoys” (Tomson, 2000, p.84). Giving an infant a soft, bright coloured book with limited words and big pictures while sitting with them and talking to them encourages them to make associations with “stories and symbols” (Te Whariki, 1996 p.78) that they know. Pointing out pictures of objects such as animals and making the animal noise