Course Competencies for Math, Science, and Social Studies

1. Integrate strategies that support diversity and anti-bias perspectives.

After studying this in math, science, and social I learned that bias is built into the
system. I learned that too many of our early education programs focus on children of the
stereotypical American, and there are ways to fix that, and create a diverse environment,
and an anti-bias perspective when it comes to math, science, and social studies. Materials
such as our books, dramatic play toys, and posters should be diverse. I There are 4 goals
of an anti bias education: 1. Each child will demonstrate self-awareness, confidence,
family pride, and positive social identities. 2. Each child will express comfort and joy
with human diversity; accurate language for human differences; and deep, caring human
connections. 3. Each child will increasingly recognize unfairness, have language to
describe unfairness, and understand that unfairness hurts. 4. Each child will demonstrate
empowerment and the skills to act, with others or alone, against prejudice and/or
discriminatory actions. It is important to use these four goals when integrating strategies
to support diversity and anti-bias perspectives in the classroom.

2. Examine the critical role of play

After studying more about play in academics, it has become apparent to me how
important play really is. It is important to introduce play in every subject during the day,
and we can do that by being creative with our math, science, and social studies activities.
It is important for everyone to play, not just children. Play is a way for adults to have fun
and relax, just as it would be for children. When children can play while learning, they
will remember what theyve learned because it was fun for them. When they are
playing they are still learning, even if its something that theyve decided to do on their

own, without the direction of a teacher. As educators, we need to be very open minded
and willing to allow children to play, because when they play they are learning!

3. Establish a developmentally appropriate environment

After studying more about establishing a developmentally appropriate
environment, I learned how important it is to have the proper materials in the classroom.
The classroom needs to be developmentally appropriate in all aspects of their
development, their physical, cognitive, social/emotional, and language developments are
all equally important. There are resources that can help set up the classroom so the
children will develop appropriately. There are a lot of creative activities that we can use
in our classroom to guide children to learn and grow.
4. Develop activity plans that promote child development and learning
After studying more about developing activity plans, it is important to remember
how to develop good activity plans to promote child development and learning. The
activities should be fun, learning experiences for the children. They need to be specific
so they are easy to follow and complete. The activities should be creative and hold the
childrens attention. The first thing that should be done is observation, we need to
observe what the children are interested in, and then use that information to create an
activity based around it. Be creative with the activities, because then they are more likely
to hold their attention. The activity plans need to include transitions, introduction to the
activity, questions to ask during and after the activity, along with the developmental
domains the activity focuses on.

5. Create developmentally appropriate science activities

After studying how to set up developmentally appropriate science activities, it is
important to remember that the materials need to grab the children's attention, and make
them want to experiment with them. The space needs to be organized in a way that the
children can see what is available for them, and they need to be able to do hands on
experiments with the materials available for them. The science space needs to be big
enough to accommodate all of the materials and there needs to be a space for the children
to explore and experiment. If you do not have enough room for tables to put in the
science center, make sure there is a table that can be moved there, or that the science
materials can easily be transferred to one of the tables in the classroom.
6. Create developmentally appropriate math activities
After studying how to develop math activities, it is important that we integrate
different math skills into our everyday routine in our classroom. Classification, sorting,
and how to use materials we already have in our classroom for them to practice skills is
very important. Time is another important math skill, the children have to deal with time
on a daily basis. Focusing on play and exploration is the best way to teach math skills in
early education. There is so much more to math then sorting, shapes, and counting.
While those are important skills, we can use so many other materials to create
developmentally appropriate math activities.

7. Create developmentally appropriate social studies activities

After studying socials studies activities, it is important to remember how
important social studies is to early education. Culture is a very important part in social
studies, learning about different cultures, and the cultures of the students. Is a great way
to teach social studies. There are so many creative activities based around culture.
Teaching the different occupations of people in the student's community, and what they
do and how they help the community is also very important to social studies. Teaching
peace to the students in the classroom is another very important part of social studies.