Curriculum Experience Plan

Name Robyn Olsen

Activity/Experience Name _____Science Sun Prints __________

INTENTIONS FOR LEARNING

Goal(s): Describe the general or long-term developmental focus of this experience.
List the California Preschool Learning Foundation(s) or California Infant/Toddler Learning
and Development Foundation(s) here:

This experience is planned to support childrens knowledge of shapes and their characteristics,
as well as demonstrate an increasing ability to observe, anticipate and reason about the
relationship between cause and effect.

Objectives: What specific and observable concepts or skills will the child learn, explore, or
discover? The child will be able to List the Preschool DRDP Measure(s) or Infant/Toddler
DRDP measure(s) here:

TCWBAT recognize shapes when they are presented in different orientations or as parts of other
objects. COG 7: Shapes, Building Later

TCWBAT offer possible explanations for why certain actions or behaviors result in specific effects.
COG 8: Cause and Effect, Building Later

EXPERIENCE PLAN
Activity Description:

The children either trace their own hand or get help to trace their hand on a piece of white paper.
They are allowed to color or draw on the paper hand if they like. They cut the hand out and
choose a piece of colored construction paper to tape the hand to. We hang the papers up outside
facing the sun and observe what happens to the paper and spots under the white paper.

Invitational Set-up: How will the experience be presented to invite participation or provoke
interest? (Provide a photograph of the set-up).

We introduce the idea of Sun Prints to the children during their morning meeting.
Specific vocabulary, teaching strategies, and open-ended questions you will keep in mind
(Using your textbook and/or Curriculum Frameworks, list specific ways you will promote
problem-solving and critical thinking beyond a simple recall of facts):

Specific vocabulary to offer: sun, shadow, fade, color, shape

Possible questions: Has anyone ever made a sun print before? What kinds of shapes could you
make for this activity? Does anyone know how to trace their own hand?

Possible teaching strategies: First I find out what experience the children have with this particular
activity so that I can know if they will need teacher assistance. If I find they have difficulty with any
of the steps, I can offer to show them my tips & tricks of the trade. i.e. cutting out a hand.

How is this experience personalized (i.e. modified) to meet the varying developmental and
individual needs of the children in your class? (e.g., older children, younger children,
specific needs or interests?)

Each child can customize their hand and their drawing any way they like. Each child and hand is
unique so every paper turns out different and is recognizable to each individual child. With
supervision, there is teacher assistance available for each developmental level.

Specific materials needed that are not already accessible to children:

Everything is accessible in the classroom for this activity.

 REFLECTION/EVALUATION

What did you do well?

Helped to show the children easy ways to trace their hands and cut them out. Explained the
activity well and drew a lot of children in to participate.

How did the children respond to the experience presented? (Describe your observations
of childrens words and actions) What worked? What was difficult? Were there any
surprises?

Setting the activity up before hand was helpful because all of the options and choices
were immediately available for them.

One thing that worked was showing them different ways of doing the activity and helping
them to come up with new ways themselves also.

Something difficult was not being able to help all of the children at the same time. They
had to wait their turn, since there was only one of me and many of them.

I was surprised to have so many children want to participate and most of them wanted to
make more than one project.

What additions or changes would you make if you were to do this activity again? What did
the children teach you (e.g. about curriculum, teaching, or children)?

If I did this activity again, I would eliminate some of the colors of the construction paper because it
turned out that a few of the colors did not work as well as others.

I learned that the children are very receptive to learning how to do something new, such as
learning how to cut out their drawn paper hand.