Early Childhood

Task 1: Planning Commentary

TASK 1: PLANNING COMMENTARY

Respond to the prompts below (no more than 9 single-spaced pages, including prompts) by typing your responses within
the brackets. Do not delete or alter the prompts. Pages exceeding the maximum will not be scored.

1. Central Focus
a. Describe the central focus and purpose of the content you will teach in the learning
segment.
[The central focus of this learning segment is for students to become aware of emotions and
understand them in their own lives. Students will learn to label basic emotions through read
alouds, self-assessment, song, and discussion. The learning segment will work on the
student’s social emotional development by incorporating language and literacy, art,
mathematics, and social interaction. Students will engage in whole-class discussion, read
alouds, answer questions, create art/writing to identify and learn about their own feelings
and the feelings of others.]
b. Describe how the standards and learning objectives for your learning segment support
children’s
 active and multimodal learning
 language and literacy development in an interdisciplinary context
[Throughout the learning segment children will be working in whole group instruction as well as
in groups at their tables. Children will actively work with their own materials while receiving
support from their classmates and their classmates’ materials. Children will be asked questions
throughout that support language and literacy development while incorporating math, art, and
movement. The objectives follow along with the standards to support the children’s active
learning.]
c. Explain how your plans build on each other to support children’s language and literacy
development through active and multimodal learning.
[The first plan introduces the concept, the second plan reviews and practices the concept, and
the third plan takes what students have learned in the first two plans, to expand their knowledge
and get them thinking deeper about the concept by relating it to their own life experiences. The
first plan introduces emotions and feelings through language and literacy by using a book for a
read aloud, a chart which is a visual graphic involving both literacy and mathematics, as well as
paper and drawing utensils which combines art and literacy. Students are actively engaged
during activities by answering questions, moving from the carpet to the tables and back to the
carpet, and coming up to the chart at the front of the room. The second plan builds off the first
by reviewing recognizing and labeling basic emotions and feelings. This plan takes it a step
further by incorporating music, a song, which is proven to help young students retain information
and be able to recall that information much more effectively. Students are actively engaged by
standing up and singing with active gestures throughout the song. This activity combines both
music and movement to support language and literacy development while focusing on the goal
of the central focus. The third and final plan takes what the students learned in the prior plans,
to have them thinking deeper about emotions and feelings by connecting it to their own lives.
This plan also requires some self-reflection which can be difficult yet extremely important in
early childhood. The third plan supports language and literacy development in a variety of ways
by continuing to incorporate mathematics, active engagement and movement, and discussion.
Each day, one activity is repeated as a review of what emotions and feelings are. Repetition is
also vital to children’s retention of information and overall development in early childhood. Each

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 Early Childhood
Task 1: Planning Commentary

day a new subject is incorporated to support language and literacy development through a
multitude of materials and techniques.]
d. Describe how the physical environment in which you are teaching supports the active
and multimodal nature of children’s learning. (If, in your view, the physical environment in
which you are teaching does not adequately support the active and multimodal nature of
children’s learning, please describe the changes you would make.)
[The physical environment provides open space for the physical activity portions of the learning
segment. The carpet in front of the smartboard and the teacher’s desk is the area in which
nearly all whole group instruction and activity takes place. Each day, the learning experience
will begin on this carpet. The smartboard allows me to present to for the entire group to clearly
see. There is also a chair in front of the carpet where I will sit when doing a read aloud. This
allows me to be seen by the entire group as well as be able to see each student clearly myself.
This ensures that I will fairly call on students when raising their hands, and I am able to monitor,
while teaching, if students are behaving and properly following carpet expectations. In the
children’s view from being on the carpet they can see many classroom procedure charts,
vocabulary, colors, shapes, numbers, and their fellow classmates. The physical environment
provides a multitude of materials that children freely use each day during center time. Knowing
the materials and centers they use, and observing how they use these materials and act in each
center, allows me to have a sense of what previous knowledge they might be bringing to each
learning experience I have created for this segment.]
2. Knowledge of Children to Inform Teaching
For each of the prompts below (2a–c), describe what you know about the children in your
class/group with respect to the central focus of the learning segment.

Consider the variety of learners in your class/group who may require different
strategies/support (e.g., children with IEPs or 504 plans, English language learners, children
at different points in the developmental continuum, struggling readers, children who are
underperforming or those with gaps in academic knowledge, and/or gifted children).
a. Children’s development—What do you know about their
 social and emotional development
 cognitive and physical development
 language development for communication
[There are several students who are still learning how to recognize and handle their emotions
and how they feel in certain situations. This affects their learning because some students get
into fights, arguments, or even physically react to a situation with their classmates or teachers
because they do not know the proper way to recognize how they are feeling and decide the
proper way to handle it. Not knowing how to control their emotions affects their ability to form
positive relationships with others. Forming positive relationships is extremely important to
proper social and emotional development at this age. Some students in my class with an IEP
struggle to interact socially or express their feelings to their classmates. From my observation
thus far, these specific students are not fully aware of what emotion they may be feeling.
Therefore, if they are not able to recognize what they are feeling, they are unable to
communicate that or have an idea of how to control their feelings. There are students who
receive speech therapy as part of their IEP. Through this learning segment, students will learn
different ways they can communicate their feelings to others. This may be especially helpful for
those students who language development makes it hard for them to communicate. Physical

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 Early Childhood
Task 1: Planning Commentary

development helps aide in brain or cognitive development and is therefore important to

incorporate in the classroom as often as possible. Physical development includes both small
movements and large muscle activities. The plan I have created allow students to perform
small movements throughout the lessons. This also will help to keep them attentive and
engaged in the learning process.]
b. Personal, cultural, and community assets—What do you know about your children’s
everyday experiences, cultural and language backgrounds and practices, and
interests?
[My students come from a variety of unique family situations and backgrounds. Their unique
experiences affect their language development, interest in school, and behavior management.
For some students, school is the only form of structure that they receive. For other students,
their life outside of school is very structured and stable and often these students excel within the
classroom and act as leaders towards their peers. Many of my students have siblings which
influences their attitudes with peers and their social emotional development. It is important that
I take into account my students’ cultural and language backgrounds when planning lessons and
activities. It is also important for me to know the difference in students having a different dialect
because of their home language, and those who are developing at a slower pace in language
and literacy than their peers.]
c. Prior learning and prerequisite skills related to language and literacy development—
What can they do and what are they learning to do related to language and literacy
development? Cite evidence from your knowledge of this class/group of children.
[Students are learning or are already able to articulate their feelings to their peers and teachers.
Students are learning how to properly express their feelings by using words instead of actions or
physicality in response to a situation. Students can already recognize or are beginning to
recognize basic emotions in others and themselves. Students are learning appropriate and
inappropriate ways in which to respond to situations that involve emotions.]
3. Supporting Children’s Development and Learning
Respond to prompts 3a–c below. To support your justifications, refer to the plans and
materials you included as part of Planning Task 1. In addition, use principles from
research and/or developmental theory to support your justifications.
a. Justify how your planned learning experiences and materials align with your
understanding of the children’s development, prior learning, and personal, cultural, and
community assets (from prompts 2a–c above). Be explicit about these connections and
support your justification with research/developmental theory.
[I created and selected the materials with my students in mind. I chose materials that they
would be both familiar and unfamiliar with to make them comfortable yet challenge them at the
same time. I made sure to keep in mind their personal and cultural backgrounds when
preparing questions for both class discussion and assessment. Research shows a lot about
how behavior is learned and therefore through modeling how to appropriately respond to
situations and emotions throughout the learning segment, students will have the chance to see
the appropriate way to behave and to model after. Research also shows that repetition is key to
young student’s retention of information. This is done each day of the learning segment to
ensure that students are becoming familiar with key vocabulary and fully understanding the
concept of each lesson plan.]
b. Describe and justify how you plan to support the varied learning needs of all the
children in your class/group, including individuals with specific learning needs.

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 Early Childhood
Task 1: Planning Commentary

Consider the variety of learners in your class/group who may require different
strategies/support (e.g., children with IEPs or 504 plans, English language learners,
children at different points in the developmental continuum, struggling readers, and/or
gifted children).
[Each lesson provides room for each student to feel comfortable participating and engaging in
the activities and discussion for each learning experience. Each lesson’s activity gives all
students the opportunity to participate and no child should be skipped over because the teacher
will be the one to select students to share with the class when necessary. This should give each
student a turn to participate.]
c. Describe common developmental approximations1 or misunderstandings that pertain to
the learning experiences you are planning for the children and how you plan to address
them.
[In many cases students are being diagnosed with behavior or emotional disorders at extremely
young ages when in fact they may just need the appropriate tools and guidance. This learning
segment will hopefully address that issue by teaching students they can help not only how they
feel but how they respond to their feelings and the feelings of those around them. Emotions
happen to everyone and need to be recognized. By teaching young students how to recognize
their emotions and feelings they will better understand how to handle them and therefore learn
the best way to handle a situation that may involve intense feelings. This will be beneficial to
students in all aspects of their lives]
4. Supporting Children’s Vocabulary Development
Respond to prompts 4a–c below by referring to children’s range of vocabulary development
related to the learning segment—What do they know, what are they struggling with,
and/or what is new to them?
a. Identify the key vocabulary2 (i.e., developmentally appropriate sounds, words,
phrases, sentences, and paragraphs) essential for children to use during the learning
segment.
[Key vocabulary necessary for children to use and understand during the learning segment to
effectively learn the concepts are the following: happy, angry, excited, scared, tired, mixed,
appropriate, unsure, communicate, resolve, control.]
b. Identify the learning experience that provides children with opportunities to develop,
practice, and/or use the key vocabulary identified in prompt 4a. (Identify the plan
day/number.)
[The learning experience that provides children with the most opportunities to develop and
practice the key vocabulary is Learning experience 2 or day 2. This is true because students
will further develop the vocabulary through song and practice what they already learned by
placing using the chart from the previous day’s plan. Each day works on using the key
vocabulary more than the day prior.]
c. Describe how you plan to support the children (during and/or prior to the learning
experience) to develop and use the key vocabulary identified in prompt 4a.

1
For example, common beginning or transitional language errors or other attempts to use skills or processes just beyond a
child’s current level/capability.
2
Developmentally appropriate sounds, words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs that you want children to use or create to
engage in the learning experience.

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 Early Childhood
Task 1: Planning Commentary

[The vocabulary taught and used throughout the learning experiences are words that students
will continue to use on a daily basis both inside and outside the classroom. The key vocabulary
listed above will provide students with a variety of ways to express themselves and
communicate more clearly with their peers, teachers, family and community members.]
5. Monitoring Children’s Learning
In response to the prompts below, refer to the assessments you will submit as part of the
materials for Planning Task 1.

a. Describe how your planned formal and informal assessments provide direct evidence to
monitor children’s multimodal learning throughout the learning segment.
[The formal assessments connect directly to the learning objectives for each learning
experience lesson plan. Informal assessment will happen continuously throughout the learning
segment through questions that promote deeper thinking, as well as a repeated activity and
phrases. Through informal assessment I will be able to see whether students are following
along with the lessons, activities, and discussions and if they are retaining any of the
information. Another informal assessment will be whether students are able to recall what the
lesson and lesson’s activities were for the day before. If students are able to connect what they
learned the day before the what they are currently learning in the next learning segment, then I
will be able to evaluate that their learning effectively.]
b. Explain how your design or adaptation of planned assessments allows children with
specific needs to demonstrate their learning.

Consider the variety of learners in your class/group who may require different
strategies/support (e.g., all children along the continuum of development, including
children with IEPs or 504 plans, English language learners, struggling readers, and/or
gifted children).
[Students will be assessed on both how they worked and answered questions and participated
in discussion in both large group and individually. Students are also given the chance to provide
answers in several different ways which gives each learner the opportunity to respond to the
best of their ability. The learning segment both challenges the gifted students and supports the
students with IEPs by having no right or wrong answer to the questions. The assessments also
leave room for comments and observation notes so that it is not all black and white or yes or no.
This gives the teacher a chance to fairly compare where each student is at developmentally
based on the learning experiences and their performance throughout the learning segment.]

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