Reference no: EM13209167

Curriculum Overload or How Much Choice Do Children Need 
? Before you start working on this case study, please consider reading "Some Considerations for Program Planning" section pp. 33-47 in "The Full-Day Early Learning-Kindergarten Program" document.
? Read the case carefully, identify a problem, analyze it and answer the questions.
? You will need to use additional literature resources to support your answers. Then, make sure that all your resources are referenced and cited according to the APA style standards. 

Krista is having difficulty deciding how to plan the daily routine and curriculum activities for her kindergarten class. She wants to give children more choice in planning their own activities. Therefore, she needs to review, reflect and reconsider some aspects of the Kindergarten daily schedule and program delivery. She also needs to follow the province's "The Full-Day Early Learning-Kindergarten Program". It is Krista's first year working with the Public School Board as an R.E.C.E. along with a kindergarten teacher.
It's the fourth week of September and not surprisingly, my 26 children seem much calmer and more focused then they were right after summer break. As I look around my organized, carefully managed room, I have a sense of pride in how well all the learning centres blend together and how they all filled in with age-appropriate and open-ended materials.
I have been an ECE for five years now. I worked mainly in child care programs working with toddlers, preschoolers and kindergarteners but not in public school settings. With implementation of a Full-Day Early Learning initiative where the new opportunities for R.E.C.E.s being provided I have decided to take a new career venue. I have a wonderful class of 26 children who keep me on my toes. They are filled with curiousity and wonder, always eager to try new things. They seem to have an insatiable appetite for exploration and discovery. So it may seem that planning a day and curriculum activities for them should be easy. My problem is not finding activities that the children would like to do, but rather finding the time in my daily schedule for all the activities I have to do with the children and they would be choosing to do.
I figured out that the kindergarten in school is more structured and has a reputation for the preparing children academically. The emphasis is on getting children ready for later schooling. My co-worker, the kindergarten teacher, has put together a 'school wide' curriculum planned six months in advance as well as an established daily routine that we have to follow to.
Here is a sample of FDEL-K daily schedule that we are following.
Time Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
8:05 to 8:55 Entry Routines: Sing-in, O Canada, Announcements, Independent reading
Circle Time: Calendar, Shared reading, Daily Planning Activity
8:55 to 9:45 Writing Mini-lesson (modeled, shared, interactive)

Journals Book exchange in the library

Music Math - whole class instruction, independent practice
9:45 to 10:15 Gym/ Outdoor time
Snack
10:15 to 11:05 Music Drama Science Art Technology
11:05 to 11:55 Literacy Block: Reading & Writing
Independent, Guided, Read Aloud, Shared, Reading Response Activities
11:55 to 12:55 Lunch & Recess
12:55 to 1:45 Learning Centres - Teacher's Choice
1:45 to 2:15 Learning Centres - Children's Choice
2:15 to 2:30
Preparation for Dismissal (for those who are leaving)
- get books and papers ready to go
2:30 to 4:30 Outdoor Play
Programmed Activities
Free Play
4:30 to 5:30 Programmed Activities
Free Play
5:30 to 6:00 Good-byes & communicating with parents

Regarding planning - each week we cover one letter of the alphabet and one-two numbers. There is a learning centre activity based on these each day, such as number bingo and alphabet lotto. Every month we cover one to three shapes and one nursery rhyme. Each day of the week there is also a class taught by a specialist. Monday is music, Tuesday is drama, Wednesday is science, Thursday is art, and Friday is technology computers. The kindergarten teacher decides on a specific theme for a week around which to organize and integrate her activities each week. It was especially tough to get all children interested in our last theme Thanksgiving Day because not all children celebrate it at home. In addition, many parents and guardians have been requested to do homework with their children, such as Teddy Bear journal writing. I am trying also to plan appropriate activities for children that suit their age, culture, and individuality. But the mornings are usually extremely busy with calendar, the letter, number, shape, listening and writing, rhyme learning, I feel as if there is no time left to do some of the more open-ended choice activities I would like to provide my children with. It is a bit unclear for me why we have to follow a certain theme for a week imposed by a teacher which does not come from a child interest, why we have to preplan our activities ahead of time and then provide children with precut and premade supplies. 
In the lounge during lunch one day, I sat down with my co-worker kindergarten teacher. "Kate," I said, "I have been thinking about how we are organizing our daily routine and what activities we are providing the children with in our class. I think we are not giving them enough choices and that is why our practices are very teacher-directed. I think we have to review our daily schedule trying to provide children with more self-directed activities so as we can help them to become self-responsive learners. I suggest we rather plan for a day than for a week. Planning for a day can give us more flexibility in choosing activities for children as well as we will be able to plan according to children's interests."
"I know what you mean, Krista," Kate replied. "But I do not know how to fit in any more with all the curriculum we have to cover. When I started I had visions of what my classroom would be like. I wanted it to be just perfect, with the children taking a lot of responsibility for their learning."
Kate and I sat together at the table for the next few minutes, looking over the timetable. It seemed just impossible to figure out what to cut out to make more time for choice and child-directed activities. Then Kate suggested, "Don't you think it would a good idea for both of us to review 'some considerations for program planning' section of The Full-Day Early-Learning-Kindergarten Program so as we can better reflect on our practices." 
Discussion Questions 
1. Why is choice important? 
2. In what ways can you give children choices throughout the day? Comparing and contrasting various models that you have studied about, brainstorm what curriculum core elements provide choice for children. Identify a model and a core curriculum element, explain your choice. 
3. Develop a proposed daily schedule which Krista and Kate might consider for their kindergarten class. 

NOTE: The original idea was presented in M. K. Rand (2000) "Giving It Some Thought: Cases for Early Childhood Practice". The idea was modified to meet the requirements of High/Scope and other Curriculum Models course.