Hello and welcome to Blooming Curious, a podcast
that's all about nurturing that natural curiosity
in our earliest kids and students. I'm Edwina,
your host from the Ed's Lessons blog, a passionate
advocate for play and inquiry, and on a mission
to keep children curious and questioning. The
days of talk and chalk are over. We're diving
into the world of integrated, inquiry and nature
-based learning. and exploring the strategies
that create lifelong learners. So if you're a
classroom or homeschool educator, or even a curious
parent, then this is the place for you. Hello
everyone and welcome back. Today is episode 2
of our Getting Started series and today we're
going to look at the curriculum and how to teach
it or use it. Generally the Education Department
of a country will set out a curriculum which
is a framework from which teachers then teach
the content. They give you a scope and a sequence
which sets out exactly what children should be
taught each year of schooling. In general Teachers
then take this curriculum and then figure out
how they will deliver it to their students. For
educators who are new to teaching, this can be
a very overwhelming process. And then to make
matters even more complicated, you get bodies
like here in Australia, the Early Years Learning
Framework. which is an add -on, and it supports
early childhood providers and teachers to extend
and enrich children's learning from birth to
five right through the transition of school.
And the framework is designed to complement the
individual states and territory frameworks. And
especially for things like Kindy, which is not
an official year of schooling, those teachers
specifically focus on the early learning framework.
The place to start is what the curriculum calls
the general capabilities. And this is generally
and broadly what children should know by the
end of a specific cycle. So by the end of year
two, if we're talking about early childhood,
for example. And I really would encourage all
of you that before you even look at the subject
areas for the year that you're going to be teaching,
look at that year's general capabilities so that
you get a really good idea of what kids are supposed
to be learning. Now, once you've got that sorted,
the complication arises that the curriculum is
divided up into individual standalone subjects.
If you had to teach each of these subject areas
as prescribed by the curriculum, you will be
burnt out before the end of the term we're on
holidays. The other issue of course is that life
isn't compartmentalized, is it? Everything is
linked. The way to plan your term is to plan
integrated lessons that cover more than one subject
area at a time. So you're killing multiple birds
with one stone. So how do you do this? Well,
unfortunately, you have to know the curriculum
to start off with. You need to know what the
curriculum expects you to teach for your particular
year. And once you know the curriculum, everything
becomes easier. So you need to know, so what
are kids supposed to learn in terms of language?
What are they supposed to know in science? What
are they supposed to know in house? Now I have
my own opinions about all these things. in early
childhood, but that's for another episode. But
once you know everything about the content of
the curriculum, life becomes easier. You are
able to plan more confidently and you can use
inquiry -based learning because you know what
the kids need to work on. The way I have successfully
planned an integrated curriculum is to start
with science or humanities subject area. So you
start and you look at that. What are kids going
to learn or need to know in science or humanities?
But just another tip when you're planning consider
what's actually happening in the real world so
the children can make connections with their
experiences and Someone's using a lawnmower next
door, so I'm seriously hoping you guys can't
hear that So for example when you plan science
Look at the seasons In year two, biological sciences,
you need to teach growth and change, which is
all about life cycles. So plan that unit in the
spring when silkworms are hatching, and so that
kids can actually witness the life cycle in front
of their own eyes. And teach the water cycle,
for example, when it's the rainy season, so that
you can integrate math and technology, and kids
can actually experience what precipitation is.
Now that you've decided which science or humanities
unit you're going to teach, look at the type
of texts, picture books and guided reading texts
that fit with and complement the science unit
so that you're learning your science subject
matter in your reading groups and while you're
focusing on teaching kids the skills for comprehension
and looking for key words later on students will
use these skills you're teaching them in their
small group guided reading lessons and they're
going to apply them to looking for information
when they're working on inquiry projects also
consider how you will assess their understanding
of the science or humanities are they going to
write a report for example, or a procedure. Then
you have to ensure that you teach procedural
or report writing in your English so that they
can use that knowledge and apply it to the task
you've set them to check their understanding
in the Enquiry Project for Science and Humanities.
A great book and I really urge you guys to get
that I loved using is Pike Orbit's talk for writing
across the curriculum. I'll link it in the show
notes. Just a heads up. It's an affiliate link
to Booktopia, so I will receive a tiny commission
should you purchase it through my link at no
extra cost to you. Seriously, my copy is so used
with sticky notes everywhere. I highly, highly
recommend it. Now as much... as we'll try and
integrate. It's not always possible. You can
include math measurements, for example, if you're
looking at how plants grow and change by measuring
their growth. You can also teach the meaning
of difference in math when you compare how tall
a plant was before the holidays, for example,
and how tall it is when you return. And then
you work out the difference, which really makes
the mathematical concept concrete for children,
especially if they draw it out or have photos
to compare. books that you read and study every
week. In English, to align with your subject
matter. For example, if you're learning about
growth and change in science and you're planting,
get stories about growing a garden or planting
seeds. And in humanities in year two, if you're
looking at how technology has changed over time,
do this unit at the same time as your growth
and change so the children can see these connections
in the real world. You'll spend a week with each
book and you'll probably have different book
or text for your guided reading groups. Now,
once you've got your texts that you'll use not
only to teach and practice reading and comprehension,
but also grammar and spelling and even your writing,
you can include technology by getting the children
to take photographs or make digital posters or
presentations to showcase the understanding of
their topic when they're doing the inquiry project.
even design and technology by getting students
to make models and talking about inquiry, which
I truly believe that this is one of the best
ways that children learn. This does not mean
that we throw out explicit instruction. So many
people think that the minute that you talk about
inquiry, you've got to throw out explicit instruction.
No, not true at all. They dovetail one another.
You've got to have your explicit instruction
for your skills and your phonics and your reading
and your mathematical concepts. You cannot expect
a student to go off and do inquiry unless you
have explicitly taught them the process in a
step -by -step fashion. And this is exactly what
I've done in my latest e -guide, which I created
especially for educators that are fearful or
haven't given inquiry learning a go. I explicitly
walk you through each stage step by step so that
you are no longer fearful and I give you examples
of how to integrate inquiry across subject areas
like science and even give you some planning
templates for your students. So seriously with
my inquiry 101 guide you have nothing to lose
and everything to gain and it's available right
now at a low introductory offer that's less than
the price of a coffee and a muffin. You can get
it at resources .edslessons .com forward slash
inquiry 101 and I will link it in the show notes
below. Now the way I like to plan all this out
is by getting a large piece of paper you know
A3 minimum or even better one of those big rolls
of Ikea paper and placing my science and humanities
topics in the centre. And then I start brainstorming
the various skills I need to teach in English
and maths and technology and art. And I find
texts that link to the main topics for English.
Maths is generally standalone, but I look for
concepts that can be covered during investigation,
for example, measurement and chance and data,
which are easily integrated into inquiry units.
Now, I hope this all makes sense. I was thinking,
actually, of offering a curriculum or term planning
webinar or a short course sometime in the future.
Now, I don't know anything about doing this yet.
I haven't designed it or even thought about what
would be included in it. But if this is something
you might be interested in, if you'd like me
to take you step by step through how to plan
an integrated curriculum, then let me know. There's
no point in me putting energy into something
that no one wants. So if you'd like something
like this, then leave me a voice message, I'll
put a link in the show notes or even email me
at contact at edslessons .com and if you have
any questions or concerns about using your curriculum
to plan then drop me a line and I'll see how
I can help you. Next week's episode is all about
scheduling and timetabling and your daily non
-negotiables in early childhood. I hope to see
you there and until then remember curiosity is
your superpower so stay blooming curious.