Community-Based Learning Experience

Effective curriculum is thoughtfully planned, engaging, developmentally appropriate, and comprehensive. When it’s possible to plan and teach a lesson in the classroom followed by the opportunity to reinforce learning of concepts and/or skills by incorporating community, take it! The possibilities of topics that can be used as the vehicle for teaching early childhood literacy are wide open! In this assignment, you get to practice this skill by being creative and planning your own lesson that incorporates a community organization or resource. Choose an early childhood age/grade level you would like to teach: Day care center Preschool Elementary school Select the following elements to develop your community-based learning experience: Lesson topic appropriate for the early childhood age/grade level you chose Literacy skills that will be the focus of the community-based learning experience instruction Local community organization or resource, aligned with the lesson, that will serve as the culminating field trip experience (e. g., library, zoo, museum, park, capital building) Develop a community-based learning experience in which you complete the following: Create a literacy-focused lesson to teach in your classroom that includes: Lesson topic Literacy skills of focus 2 to 3 learning activities that incorporate the identified literacy skills and the local community organization or resource 1 formative and 1 summative assessment option Write a 350- to 525-word outline for the culminating field trip experience that includes: Description of the local community resource Explanation of the connection between the literacy-focused lesson and the local community organization or resource Description of the desired learning outcome(s) for children Explanation of how the local community organization or resource might be used to continue learning at home