Final Project
Overview
As with all ECE exams, begin with your Title Page formatted in APA style. (Refer to the Sample APA Paper for ECE Students on the Early Childhood Resource Learning Center website.) Type your submission, double-spaced, in a standard print font and size. Calibri 11, Arial 11, and Times New Roman 12 are all recommended fonts and sizes. Use a standard document with one-inch margins. Set the margins at a standard 1 inch on all sides. Because you’ve already provided your information (your first and last name, your student ID number, the examination name and number, the course name and number and the date of submission) on your Title Page, no running header is necessary. The standard style format for citations, if required, is American Psychological Association (APA). For assistance with proper APA in-text citations and references, please review all available APA resources on the Early Childhood Learning Resource Center.
Your completed work will be submitted in essay format consisting of at least nine (9) fully developed paragraphs; each paragraph will include at least five to seven fully developed sentences. Begin your assignment by selecting one of the following age groups to focus on throughout your essay:
Infants, 6 to 17 months
Toddler, 18 to 35 months
Preschoolers, 3 to 5 years
Instructions
This graded assignment requires you to again imagine yourself in the role of director of a center-based child care facility. Your submitted assignment will reflect your responses to this hypothetical situation and won’t reflect any real-world early childhood setting at which you may currently work or observe.
One of the many responsibilities you would face as the center’s director is to promote your child care facility to prospective parents and new families. In this assignment, you’ll explain your fictional center’s approach to ensuring and maintaining the health, safety, and nutrition of all children enrolled. In an early part of your essay, you’ll share information about the center’s indoor and outdoor environments and the many ways in which they’re kept sanitary, safe, and secure. In a later portion of your essay, you’ll explain four detailed lessons included in your curriculum that effectively teach children about health, safety, and nutrition. Finally, you’ll explain a planned modification to one of these four lessons to accommodate a child enrolled with a hypothetical special need or disability. As always, your written work will include introductory and concluding paragraphs, and it will be supported by APA formatted in-text citations and references wherever needed.
Include the following components:
Introductory paragraph. Share an opening paragraph that previews for the reader (in this instance, any prospective parent and family considering enrollment at your imagined center) what they’ll be reading and learning about in your essay. In your introductory paragraph, you’ll want to express to your reader the important role your center plays in ensuring their child’s health, safety, and proper nutrition. Your introductory paragraph is the best place to include your thesis statement (the most important statement, summary, point or argument to be made in your assignment). Your introduction is also the best place to identify which one of the three age groups your center enrolls (this is the one age group you’ve selected to write about). Your introductory paragraph will be composed of four to six fully developed sentences.
Second paragraph. In this paragraph, begin by discussing the ideal location of your facility. Imagine if you could build or purchase a facility anywhere, where would it be? Would you be located in a remote area with a large building and large usable outdoor space? Or, would you be located within the city for easy access by families going to and from work? You will also need to discuss your facility’s space and security. When families come to your facility, what do they see? How is the space set up? What equipment and materials are included in the outdoor play space? What does your security look like? For example, is the space fully fenced in? Is only the outdoor play space fenced in? Do you have security cameras? Think about how you’ll keep the children in your care and your belongings safe. In this paragraph, you will also want to explain appropriate facility maintenance and upkeep. Who is responsible for the maintenance and upkeep? What does it look like on a regular basis? The goal is to provide families with a clear understanding of what your facility looks like from the outside, what is included in the outdoor play space, and how your facility is kept safe and healthy. This paragraph will consist of four to six fully developed sentences, and it will include specific examples of the quality of care rather than generalized statements.
Third paragraph. Next, share specific examples to prospective families to demonstrate how your center’s indoor space, security, materials, and maintenance keep children healthy and safe. Share specific information about the indoor environment of the center, including the facility’s classroom areas. Questions to consider: When families enter the facility what will they see? How is the indoor area set up? Are there multiple classrooms or play areas? If it is one large room, how is it arranged in a developmentally appropriate way? What materials and learning centers are available to the children? The answers to these questions will depend on the age group you’ve selected to complete the assignment on and what your vision is for your own facility. Remember to also discuss how the learning area is kept safe and healthy. What do those procedures look like? Who is responsible for carrying them out and when? Again, your goal is to provide a clear explanation and image of what the indoor facility looks like and how it promotes health and safety. This paragraph will consist of four to six fully developed sentences, and it will include specific examples of the quality of care rather than generalized statements.
Fourth and fifth paragraphs. It’s sometimes helpful to describe sample lessons to families in efforts to demonstrate how children are engaged in learning at your center. Select two indoor lessons that are age- and developmentally-appropriate, play-based, hands-on, fun, and engaging while also (and importantly) teaching children about any topic related to health, safety, and/or nutrition. Consider specific lessons that you would teach children only once per school year, such as those on making healthy food choices or dental health; do not write about everyday activities such as washing hands, brushing teeth, or tying shoes. Science experiments are a terrific way to satisfy the requirements of this portion of your assignment. In two separate paragraphs, identify the titles of the two lessons, then share the materials needed, the step-by-step procedures, the physical space, the expectations for behavior, and the measurable objectives involved in each lesson. Each paragraph will consist of four to six fully developed sentences.
Sixth and seventh paragraphs. Next, write about two outdoor lessons that are age- and developmentally-appropriate, play-based, hands-on, fun, and engaging while also (and importantly) teaching children something specific about any topic related to health, safety, and/or nutrition. Again, select specific lessons that you would teach to children only once per school year such as those on fire safety, sun safety, or water safety; do not write about everyday activities such as putting on coats, hats, gloves, scarves, and boots before going outside to work and play. Science experiments are again a terrific way to satisfy the requirements of this portion of your assignment. In two separate paragraphs, identify the titles of the two lessons, then share the materials needed, the step-by-step procedures, the physical space, the expectations for behavior, and the measurable objectives involved in each lesson. Each paragraph will consist of four to six fully developed sentences.
Eighth paragraph. Now that you’ve planned indoor and outdoor lessons that teach children about an important topic related to health, safety, or nutrition, consider the impact enrolling a child with a special need or disability might have on one of these four lessons. Pretend the child of a prospective family reading your essay has an identified disability, special need, medical condition, or allergy. Identify the specific special need or disability and select one of your four lessons. Then, explain the ways in which you would modify that lesson so their child could safely participate and be fully included in the experience. Describe the adaptions you would make to the lesson so all children are equal participants. Remember that you are not creating a new activity or a separate activity for the child to complete. Instead, adjustments need to be made to the existing lesson to allow the child to fully participate in a way that is appropriate for him or her. This paragraph will consist of four to six fully developed sentences.
Ninth paragraph. Share your conclusion in your final paragraph. Remind the reader of your supported thesis statement and reiterate what they’ve learned about your demonstrated commitment to children’s health, safety, and nutrition at your center. This paragraph will also consist of four to six fully developed sentences.
