Select a community that is familiar to you. If possible, you may want to use the community where your early childhood program is located

This week students will:

1. Analyze the informal curriculum of the family and home environment on young children’s development and learning.
2. Describe how organizations and agencies within a community provide learning opportunities for children and their families, both formally and informally.
3. Generate a list of community resources that support families with young children.
4. Develop strategies to support families in accessing community services, despite physical, economic and other obstacles.
5. Discuss the analysis of data and the impact of findings philosophy and approach to family and community engagement.

 

Introduction

Students will further explore the learning that occurs in the home and community (also known as the informal curriculum). This week’s discussions center on the impact of the informal curriculum on young children’s physical, cognitive, social and emotional development and learning.

 

Required Resources

Required Text

1. Scully P., Barbour, C., & Roberts-King, H. (2015). Families, schools, and communities: Building partnerships for educating children (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
   • Chapter 8: Influences of the Home
   • Chapter 9: Community Influences on Children’s Development

 
Discussions
To participate in the following discussions, go to this week’s Discussion link in the left navigation.

1. The Informal Curriculum

   In the reading assignments this week, we have learned about the informal curriculum that occurs at home and in the community.  The lessons children learn outside of school can have positive as well as negative impact.  Read Chapter 8 and Chapter 9 of the required text.

   
   Initial post (Due by day 3, Thursday)
   Think back to your own childhood and describe at least two lessons you learned at home and two lessons you learned from your larger community/society.

   • How did these informal lessons shape you as an adult?  Looking back now, do you feel you learned more from school (formal curriculum) or from your family and community (informal curriculum)?  Why?
   • Connect your reflections to two outside resources, in addition to your text. Use APA 6th edition format for all citations.

Guided Response (Due by Day 7, the following Monday)
Review the posts of several classmates.  Respond to at least two classmates by commenting on at least one ways that the text and course materials support your classmates’ reflections on informal and formal curriculum that they did not share in the original post.  Respond thoughtfully by asking questions, comparing your own post to your classmates, or sharing new ideas or resources.

Though two replies is the basic expectation, for deeper engagement and learning, you are encouraged to provide responses to any comments or questions others have given to you (including the instructor) before the last day of the discussion.  This will further the conversation while also giving you opportunities to demonstrate your content expertise, critical thinking, and real work experiences with this topic.

1. Family and Community Resource List

   Select a community that is familiar to you. If possible, you may want to use the community where your early childhood program is located (it will help you in your final presentation). Generate a list of all the resources, services, and materials available for families with young children.

   Initial post (Due by Day 3, Thursday)

   • Share your list of all the resources, services, and materials available for families with young children in your selected community.  If you have web resources, please include the link in your list along with the name.
   • How accessible are the resources to different families (physical limitations, economic obstacles, etc.)? Come up with at least two strategies to support families to access these resources.

Guided Response (Due by Day 7, the following Monday)
Review the posts of several classmates.  Respond to at least two peers by reacting to their ideas.  Please respond thoughtfully by asking questions, comparing your own post to your classmates, or sharing new strategies that were not discussed in the post.

Though two replies is the basic expectation, for deeper engagement and learning, you are encouraged to provide responses to any comments or questions others have given to you (including the instructor) before the last day of the discussion.  This will further the conversation while also giving you opportunities to demonstrate your content expertise, critical thinking, and real work experiences with this topic.

Journal
To complete the following journal entry, go to this week’s Journal link in the left navigation.

Self-Assessment Journal

Reflect on the quality and quantity of your discussion posts, engagement with others and completing assignments for the discussions.

This week you were asked to look beyond the surface and discover the power of the informal curriculum on learning style and school experiences.  These self-assessment journals have been an “informal” way for you to use the power of self-reflection and facilitate your own learning.  Describe how you feel you have grown in terms of the level of engagement in both discussions and assignments to this point in our course.

Use the Ashford University discussion rubric and provide a score as well as a brief rationale for the score in your post. This exercise is here so that you can reflect on your process and get support and feedback from the instructor.  This journal remains private and is viewed only by instructor and the student.

Carefully review the Grading Rubric for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your journal entries.