e- portfolio Standard 5 Yvette Rivera

As an early childhood professional I develop an effective curriculum. I ground my practice in

a thorough, research-based of young childrens development and learning processes. In
developing curriculum, I recognize that every child constructs knowledge in personally and
culturally familiar ways. In order to make curriculum powerful and accessible to all, I develop
curriculum that is free of biases related to ethnicity, religion, gender, or ability status and, in
fact, the curriculum actively counters such biases. The experiences are developmentally
appropriate, meaningful, and challenging for all young children, including those with
developmental delays or disabilities; that address cultural and linguistic diversities; that lead to
positive learning outcomes; and that as children become older develop positive dispositions
toward learning within each content area.
My artifact is a study lesson I designed for the young children in my classroom in the
content area of science, presented in three parts. The title of the lesson I designed is, A Study of
Worms. Part 1: Beginning the study: The study began with the children being excited about the
earthworms they discovered where a piece of wood had been removed. The topic was now
selected and the group all agreed this was a subject we wanted to study. I planned and conducted
exploratory investigations. I provided an aquarium with dirt and invited the children to bring the
worms into the classroom. For several days, I let the children independently explore the worms
in the discovery area. I then discussed the topic with the children. At the next days morning
meeting, I placed the aquarium of worms to the meeting area to encourage the children to
observe the worms and pick them up if they wanted. I asked the children to comment on what
they see or had seen during earlier observations of the worms.
After the discussion with the children about whether worms are a good topic for them to
study, they talked about how they could learn about worms. I helped the children come up with a
list of questions they would like to investigate. The list included the following questions: What
do worms eat? , Why do fish like worms? , Do worms have a smell? , How do worms dig if they
dont have arms and legs? , How deep can a worm go? , How do worms see if they dont have
eyes? , How big can a worm get?
At story time throughout the week I read books about worms and introduced songs about
worms. I then help the children create a word web of ideas on the easel to decide whether worms
would make a good study topic. Once the children created the web, they could see that many
important ideas related to life science and could be explored. Next the integrated content learning
was addressed. The children then explored whether a study of worms would address academic
context that they wanted to cover. The children and I made a chart and titled it, A Possible
Study of Worms. We wrote literacy, math, science, social science, art, technology. Making the
chart enabled me to think about how to teach content knowledge and process skills during the
study. I was confident that we had a good topic , I was then ready to continue studying the topic
of worms with the children.
The next step was to tell families about the proposed study topic of worms. I send a note
home to the families about the new study of worms and encourage them to think of ways in
which they might become involved in the study. A students father, who works at a sporting
goods store that sells fishing worms, said he would come in and talk about worms. Another
students grandmother said she would bring in worms from her garden.
Part 2: Investigating the Topic. We organized the materials and planned the experience . I
planned investigation options for the interest areas and group time. I located a number of internet
sites that the children could use to study worms, and I made sure magnifying glasses, specimen
dishes, and other tools were available for the childrens investigations. I also asked the childrens
librarian to help me find books the children might want to check out. Then I facilitated the
investigations. The children were interested in investigating different questions, so I helped them
form groups. One group studied what worms look like. Another group researched the way worms
move. A third group explored what worms eat. Documenting the findings took place over a
month.
Over the month, the children looked to seek answers to their questions about worms. They
made drawings, paintings, and sculptures of worms. They dictated stories about what they
observed and tape recorded worm anecdotes. The class took a trip to a nearby worm farm. The
children interviewed the father of the student who works at the sporting goods store that sells
worms and compared the worms from the students grandmothers yard to the ones of the school.
The children studied worms for many weeks. They created a number of constructions,
homemade books, plays, and a mural to represent their findings.
Throughout the study, I documented the childrens progress. I wrote observation notes and
organized them in a class binder took photos of the childrens creations and representations, and
I kept copies of the childrens books. drawings , writings, and audiotapes for their portfolios . I
used the documentation to help track the childrens progress with regards to development and
learning.
Part 3: Celebrating Learning. We planned a special family night to end the study. This occurred
only after the children have answered many of the questions they had chosen to investigate, the
study started to lose momentum. I decide to end to conclude the study. I asked the children to
think about all of the work they had done and how they wanted to share what they have learned
with others.
The children decided to hold a worm festival and make it an exhibit featuring their projects.
The families, other classes, and the programs staff were invited for a celebration of the study of
worms. Following the study, the class decided to keep the worm viewer in the Discovery area
and the compost bin near the recycling bins. The worms joined the class as pets.
The study of worms worked for my class this school year. It appealed to the children because
they wanted to know more about the interesting creatures in their immediate environment. I built
on this interest and crafted a study that engaged children in meaningful investigations to find
answers to their questions. The concepts the children explored were related to science and social
studies. They used skills in literacy, math, the arts, and technology as they explored, made
discoveries, and documented what they were learning. This is why studies are a powerful way to
make learning meaningful for the children and to integrate knowledge and skills in all context
areas.