Developing a preschoolers’ learning curriculum requires teachers and educators to be culturally competent. Hence, the curriculum will be developed for the children of Indian community. The children may have different religions in their family; however, their cultural background is united by the Hindu culture. Considering the preschool children’s eagerness to learn, the curriculum objectives would be oriented towards studying languages, mathematics, history, and other essential subjects.
The topic of the learning curriculum would be a celebration of Diwali. The approach used will be a play-based learning strategy. The play-based method is an opportunity for children to explore the world around them. The activities for the week will include the following. Monday: construction class, picturing books, story books, playing basic musical instruments, sorting colors, and puzzles. The Monday activities are aimed at each child’s personal growth and understanding of each subject’s structural components. Tuesday: building pillow forts, making mud pies, playing with dolls and stuffed toys, singing and dancing, plating with non-toxic art supplies, and drawing. The Tuesday plan actively engages the children in group games that create strong links between the cultural material and positive emotions.
Wednesday: games with counting mats, physical activity outside, making puzzles, stories about their favorite toys, sorting jellybeans, stories about celebration of Diwali, and playing a shape wheel. The stories accentuate the importance of cultural education from a young age. Thursday: sorting apples, telling stories about children’s favorite home food, playing with sand toys, singing, and dancing, playing a broken telephone game, and making “diyas”. Friday: painting a favorite holiday, reading about Hindu traditions, singing, toys exchange, doll designing, making a family gratitude jar.
There are two activities that reflect and affirm family cultures. Firstly, making “diyas” were able to explore the glitter and colour on their cups with interest. Diyas are traditional oil lamps that represent the triumph of light over darkness and have a sacred meaning in Huindu culture. Secondly, during the dancing and singing activities, the teacher would teach children some Indian cultural moves and dance along with them. This would promote inclusion, which means including all gender, ethnicity, diversity, and ability. By learning alongside with children of diverse religious backgrounds, children can experience the different culture around them. Moreover, the stories about celebration of Diwali are an important part of learning about inclusion. Because embracing and celebrating a different culture is greatly adheres to a future tolerance of other cultures.
The right combination of different stimuli, for example audible or visual is instrumental in the preschooler’s mathematics learning process. However, for a teacher or a parent who is involved in learning, it is important be engaged and make sure that the child is involved in the process emotionally (Sorariutta & Silvén, 2018). This creates neurological paths in a child’s brain which associate learning mathematical concepts with fun of games, attention, and the feeling of being needed (Lourenco, Cheung, & Aulet, 2018). These are crucial not only for learning outcomes, but for the general well-being of preschoolers as well. The schedule would include a 7:50-8:00 arrival routine followed by the first four activities of the day, all of which are universally acceptable. Each activity would take 10-25 minutes, to meet the recess time from 9:40 to 10:10. The recess is followed by a culturally aimed activity such as making diyas and math-oriented activity such as sorting or interactions with shapes. The end of the day will be a closing circle, where all children gather and reflect on the day.
Another aim of the curriculum is to introduce more English language into the practice. For a child to learn English as a second language, he goes through different experiences before mastering both spoken and written English. First, the child goes through a silent period where he observes others speaking, listens and communicates through gestures or facial expressions. Taking part in spoken dialogue through repetition of words provides a meaningful opportunity for children to learn English. However, this does not mean that caregivers or teachers should force children to participate in spoken dialogue but rather allow children to voluntarily repeat words generated from adults’ conversations.
References
Lourenco, S. F., Cheung, C. N., & Aulet, L. S. (2018). Is visuospatial reasoning related to early mathematical development? A critical review. In Heterogeneity of function in numerical cognition, Academic Press, 177-210.
Sorariutta, A., & Silvén, M. (2018). Maternal cognitive guidance and early education and care as precursors of mathematical development at preschool age and in ninth grade. Infant and Child Development, 27(2). Web.