Without a doubt, the first years of school education are a distinctive period of the child’s growth. Despite their eagerness to the individual and independent exploration, determined by the development milestone, the qualified learning “guided by research-based knowledge and practice” should be provided (Virginia Early Childhood Foundation for the Virginia Early Childhood Advisory Council, 2013, p.3). In this paper, I developed the lesson plan for the 1st-grade students, which includes the activities to accommodate the children with cultural and abilities differences as well.
The Lesson Plan for the 1st Grade Students
To provide practical tuition, the teacher should create a lesson plan that will consider the intellectual, social, physical, and language milestones in children’s development. It should include the activities of these concepts, though they can vary and go in a different order. For the intellectual and the scientific skills’ development, I prepare the activity “Part of a Plant” (“1st-grade lesson plans,” n.d.). I will draw the plant, including its basic parts, or bring the poster and suggest the students identify the roots, stalk, flower, and leaves. I will prepare images of different kinds of leaves to describe them. During this activity, the children will develop the skill of the objects’ closer examination.
The majority of the exercises for the writing and reading skills should be represented, so I will suggest the “Who, What, When, Where and Why” activity (“1st-grade lesson plans,” n.d.). For this task, the students will identify these questions and their purpose, read the story, answer my questions, create theirs using these words, and ask other classmates and me. This activity can be executed with another list of questions that will change every week.
As the children can develop quarrelsome behavior at this stage of their growth, “Learning How to Be a Good Friend” can be a very beneficial activity to improve their communication skills (“1st-grade lesson plans,” n.d.). This exercise has different variations, all children can stand in a circle at the beginning of every lesson, and every student will greet his classmate standing next to him. The task can be changed every week; instead of greetings, classmates will tell positive and supportive wishes.
Accommodation of the Children Differences in the Lesson Plan
Certainly, the accomplished education should not divide the students according to their cultural, language, and ability differences; all children are “capable and competent learners” (Virginia Early Childhood Foundation for the Virginia Early Childhood Advisory Council, 2013, p.3). The efficient educative process should include special activities for all groups of kids. In my plan, I will focus on cooperative learning to accommodate the differences between the students and to create a positive atmosphere of unity.
For the children with cultural differences, I will create activities that will purpose to introduce the different countries, languages, nationalities, and customs to all children. I will suggest listening to the song “It’s a small world” and discussing its lyrics (“1st-grade lesson plans,” n.d.). Besides, I will prepare cards and images depicting people in national costumes, holidays, traditional food, and words from foreign languages. All classmates will be involved in the discussion, they will provide information about their culture in case they find familiar images, and it will help to make the cultural differences less noticeable.
For the children with autism and sensory deficit disorder, I will suggest the craft activity, for example, the creation of the shredded flower bouquet (“1st-grade lesson plans,” n.d.). This task is very effective, as it will be entertaining for all students; furthermore, it will stimulate the sensory and creative skills, attention, and calmness of the children with special needs. For the children with a visual impairment, I will make all visual materials, posters, and notes on the board extremely colorful and bold; furthermore, these children will take the front seats in the class.
References
- 1st grade lesson plans. (n.d.). Web.
- Virginia Early Childhood Foundation for the Virginia Early Childhood Advisory Council. (2013). Milestones of child development. A guide to young children’s learning and development from birth to kindergarten. Office of Early Childhood Development Virginia Department of Social Services.