Preschool Curriculum and Lesson Plan

The importance of the preschool curriculum in the formation of a human identity in preschool education cannot be underestimated. Creation of the conditions for the development of each child depends on serious psychological and pedagogical preparation of preschool teachers and is a necessary component in their work with children. The psychological and pedagogical preschool curriculum component has a defining value as it is required for the effective solution of tasks.

The content of a developing role of preschool curriculum represents the development and formation of informative mental processes and properties of the personality, logical methods, operations, judgments, conclusions, informative activity, interest, and abilities. The realization of the developing function in the course of preschool curriculum provides the development of the properties of the highest nervous activity provides informative and intellectual opportunities for a child.

Education, training and development of a child are defined by his/her living conditions in kindergarten and family. The main forms of the organization of this life in kindergarten are games and the related activities , lessons, and subject practical activities. An important aspect of kindergarten belongs to lessons. They are aimed at the transfer of knowledge, abilities, and skills to a child by the teacher. It is usually supposed to lead to the enrichment of physical and emotional culture of a child, promote the formation of independence, capability to joint coordinate activity, and inquisitiveness of a child.

Teaching techniques facilitate both individual expression and social development. Following the children’s lead, teachers comment on their activities, similar to the behavioral strategy of attending. When new materials or activities are introduced, they are presented as options, ones in which the children have a choice to participate. Cooperation and getting along with others are facilitated through guided reasoning and modeling. Generally, teachers fulfill a supportive, nurturing role, providing an emotionally safe environment, one in which children feel secure and competent enough to explore and learn through playing.

However, the prevailing practice shows that the content of knowledge, imparted at lessons, arranges a child mainly to the problems of training at school. The dominating aspect of pre-school lessons is a direct impact of a teacher on a child, a question-answer form of communication, disciplinary forms of influence, which is combined with the formal assessments. The achievements of a child are estimated according to group standards.

Therefore, the problems of preschool education are the development of intellectual forces (development of active attention and conscious memory) and preparation for school. However, there is the thesis of two-unity training and education of children of preschool age. The basic knowledge is mastered by children in the course of games, activity observation and communication with surrounding people; the purposeful training is aimed at the assimilation of skills and knowledge. Systematic training during lessons is a powerful means of educational work with children of preschool age. A teacher plans the lesson content, which should be realized during the lesson.

Planning and implementing lesson plans for children is a challenging and rewarding process. Creating activities and lessons that are fun and motivating is the most important aspect of a developmentally appropriate and child-centered curriculum.

Lessons have a certain structure which is in many respects dictated by the content of training and specifics of the activity of children. There are three main parts, inseparably linked with the general contents and structure, namely: beginning, a course of lesson (process) and termination.

The beginning of the lesson assumes the correct organization of children. It is necessary to switch their attention to the forthcoming activity, cause the interest to it, create the corresponding emotional atmosphere, and open an educational task. The elementary plan is formed on the basis of an explanation and display of the ways of actions at a child: how he should act and what results he should strive for.

The course (process) of the lesson is the independent intellectual or practical activities of children consisting in assimilation of knowledge and abilities, which are defined by an educational task. At this stage of lesson, the methods and training are individualized according to the level of development, rate of perception and thinking peculiarities of each child. The interaction with all children is required at this stage. The teacher gives an opportunity for each child to think and try to find a way out of a difficult situation independently. The teacher should inspire a child to have the result testifying to his progress.

The end of the lesson is devoted to summing up and assessment of the results of learning activity of children. The quality of the received result depends on the age, specific features of children and complexity of an educational task.

The technique of each part of the lesson can vary depending on the training section and the lesson’s objectives and tasks. Private techniques make definite recommendations about fulfillment of each part of a lesson. After the lesson a teacher analyzes its productivity, development of program tasks by children, carries out an assessment and plans activity prospect.

The development of the flexible plan includes:

– Determination of a common goal and its specification depending on different stages of a lesson.

– Selection and arrangement of such didactic material which allows revealing an individual selectivity of children to the contents, a look and knowledge form.

– Planning of different forms of work organization (ratio of frontal, individual, and independent work).

– Choice of the assessment criteria of work efficiency taking into account the type of tasks (literal retelling, a statement by the own words, performance of creative tasks).

– Planning of the nature of communication and interpersonal interactions during the lesson:

a) the use of different forms of communication (a monologue, dialogue, polylogue) taking into account the occupation purposes;

b) design of the nature of interactions of children at lessons taking into account their personal features and requirements to intergroup interaction;

c) the use of the content of subject experience of all participants of a lesson in a dialogue “a child – a teacher” and “a child – children”.

The planning of lesson productivity provides:

1) Generalization of the received knowledge and abilities, assessment of children’s skills;

2) Analysis of the results of a group and individual work;

3) Attention to the process of performance of tasks, and not just to the result.

A lesson plan is one of the fundamental principles of the solution of a complex of educational work in preschool institutions. Only with the correct planning of the educational process it is possible to fulfill the program of a full development of the identity of a child successfully. The systematic approach is a key principle of the organization of the educational process.

Lessons play a significant role in the system of educational work in a kindergarten. Lessons take a fixed time in children’s life. There is no mastering of knowledge, skills and abilities in the structure of a lesson in kindergarten. This check is carried out in the course of supervision over the activity of children during a lesson, the analysis of the products of children’s activity, and in everyday life and during special studying of the achievements of children by means of various analytical techniques.

Each lesson has three objectives:

• Educational: to raise the level of a child’s development;
• Educative: to form moral qualities, views and beliefs of a personality.
• Developing: to develop an informative interest, creative abilities, will, emotions, speech, memory, attention, imagination, and perception during lessons.

At present, preschool curricula include nonconventional forms of education organization, for instance, lessons in subgroups, which are formed taking into account age features of children. They are combined with a group work: manual skills and graphic activity. Lessons are enriched with games and fantastic plots. A child, being fond of a game plan, does not notice the hidden educational task. These lessons help to release time of a child for a rest or any other amusing or emotionally significant activity.

A game is an essential activity of a child by means of which he organically develops, learns a valuable layer of human culture – relationship between adults – in a family, their professional life, etc. Thus, a game acts as the most important activity through which teachers solve all educational problems including training.

The emphasis on a joint activity of a teacher and children, on game forms of education of preschool children, a lack of a rigid regulation of children’s activity in the organization of pedagogical process for preschoolers influences the contents of programs. Achievement of the positive results depends on the correct organization of the educational process. First of all, it is necessary to pay attention to the observance of sanitary conditions: the room has to be aired; the equipment, tools and materials and their placement have to meet pedagogical, hygienic and esthetic requirements.

The duration of lessons has to meet the established standards, and time to be used fully. A teacher should activate children during the explanation of a lesson. The explanation should not take more than 3-5 min. Each age group has its particular time and form of a lesson. It is recommended to have 10 lessons a week lasting 8-10 min up to 3 years old, 10 lessons a week lasting 15 min at the age of 4, 13 lessons a week lasting 25 min at 6, and 14 lessons a week lasting not more than 30 min up to 7 years old.

The average size of a group is 6-12 children. Compiling groups it is necessary to take into consideration their level of development. It should be identical. The form of the organization of children at lessons can be various: children sit at a table, move freely in a room. The efficiency of lessons depends on the fact how it proceeds on the emotional level. The end of a lesson is directed at strengthening of the positive emotions connected both with the content of a lesson and activity of children.

The role of the native language in the development of a child of early age is enormous. Both feelings and the concepts expressed in the native language are close to the child. The work, aimed at the development of language, has to occupy one of the most important places in kindergartens: at preschool age a child learns a language. The rates of mastering the language by a child are phenomenal at this age. The program of the native language in kindergartens in its present edition covers the most important parts of language: phonetics, lexicon, correct creation of speech, pithiness of speech, expressiveness of language and intonations. All these parts are closely interconnected. The lesson plan should include all important parts of the language.

Communication also plays a pivotal role in a lesson plan. It is one of the most salient factors of the psychological development of a child. The main functions of communication are:

“¢ Organization of joint activity of children and teachers (coordination and association of efforts for their achievement);

“¢ Formation and development of the interpersonal relations;

The main form of pedagogical process in kindergarten includes the lessons aimed at the development of communicative skills. Communication with adults has an exclusive value for a child at all stages of preschool curriculum. However, it is especially important in the first seven years of a child’s life when all bases of personality and activity of the growing person are forming. Communication is the most important condition of a child’s development in the process of ontogenesis – development of both internal (personal, emotional, motivational), and external (physical, a general status of development, etc.) activities. The communication between adults and children promotes not only a course of a normal development, but also can be a “medicine” at an unsuccessful genetic background.