Learning Plan (Early Childhood)

Topic: Hygiene, routine Date: 20 May 2014 Age group: 3-4 years
Title of experience: Washing Hands
Links to the Early Years
Learning Framework:

Outcome 3: Children have a strong sense of
wellbeing (Department of Education, Employment
and Workplace Relations [DEEWR], 2009, p. 30).
Outcome 5: Children are effective communicators
(DEEWR, 2009, p. 38).
Belonging: It acknowledges childrens
independence with others and the basis of
relationships in defining identities (DEEWR, 2009,
p. 7).

Content/concepts
being explored:
Hygiene.
Routine.
Communication.
Belonging.
Work cooperatively.
Rationale: Why did you choose this particular experience? (Community event, child/teacher/family interest, identified as missing from curriculum etc.)

During my placement I realized that many of the children do not wash their hands properly. They would either forget to wash them all together, run them
under water without using soap or use soap but wash it off too quickly.

Child/childrens background knowledge: What is your starting point what does the child/children already know, what have they done before, how does
this experience connect to or build on their existing knowledge/interests?

At the beginning of the year the teachers talked about how to wash hands and there are also pictures in the bathroom showing the different steps on how to
wash your hands correctly. Teachers remind the children every day to wash their hands and to use soap.

Learning objectives: What will the child/children learn?

Outcome 3.2: Children take increasing responsibility for their own health and physical wellbeing (DEEWR, 2009, p. 32), through washing their hands after
using the toilet, coming inside from outdoor play and before meal times.

Outcome 5.1: Children interact verbally and non-verbally with others for a range of purposes (DEEWR, 2009, p. 40), through having conversations with other
children while washing their hands as a group.

Children will develop a sense of belonging through being part of a group and sharing the bathroom with friends. During this process they watch what the other
children do and will correct and copy each other.



Teacher focus/intentionality: What areas will you concentrate on? e.g. teaching strategies, EYLF practice principles, interests, equity.

Teaching strategies (Merlot, n.d): Intentional Teaching, active learning and collaborative learning.

Children are capable learners and progress best when parents and teachers have high expectations for their achievement in learning (DEEWR, 2009). I trust
the children to remember to wash their hands with soap and that they will learn from each other as well as from conversations with teachers. I will also
demonstrate how to wash hands correctly by washing my own hands in the childrens bathroom during the day. Children can watch what I am doing without
having to discuss the actions or feel like they are being watched and corrected all the time.


Environment and resources: What resources and materials will you need to have collected? Where will the experience take place? Considerations for time,
space and teacher support? How will the environment be prepared?

Wash Your Hands! Little Princess Book by Tony Ross. Bathroom with soap dispensers, accessible sinks and paper towels.


Assessment strategies: How will you identify what the child/children have learnt and how will you record this?

For the next few days I will keep an eye on the bathroom and check if children are starting to wash their hands correctly more often. I will record my
observations in the observations notebook and also discuss my findings with the lead teacher.



Stage
Plan for all stages
of the experience
Approx.
time
(Full day?
Morning?
Specific time?
e.g. 12-1pm)
Pre-service teachers actions
What will you do during this time?
What prompting questions might you need to prepare?
How might you assess and record learning?
How will you cater for individual differences?
Child actions/tasks
What will the children be doing during this time?

Stage 1
Introduction
How will you
introduce the
experience/concept(s)
and engage the
interest of the
child/children?


Read the book Wash your hands, Little Princess by
Tony Ross during transition time between outdoor
play and lunch.

Children sitting on the matt listening.






Stage 2
Main body
Describe the
experience: what will
children be doing?
How will concepts/
issues be explored?
List at least three
focus questions
relating your learning
objectives to be
asked of the children.


After reading the book start a discussion about how
and why we wash our hands. Record childrens
answers. Ask half of the children to choose a friend
to go to the bathroom with to wash their hands.

Be in the bathroom with the children and remind
them of the steps on how to wash hands correctly, if
necessary.

Children choosing a friend to go to the bathroom with. Each will
have a go at washing their hands and ask questions if they have
any.









Stage 3:
Conclusion
How will you conclude
the experience?
Reflect on learning
with children?
How will you
encourage a smooth
transition to the next
experience?

Once everyone has washed their hands correctly
ask the children to get their lunchboxes and sit down
for lunch. Once everybody is settle move around the
tables and have a chat about the experience and to
see if the children remember details about hand
washing.

Children getting their lunch and settling down on their tables.








Evaluation and self reflection: Did your experience meet your learning objectives? Why/ why not? What aspects of the experience worked most effectively?
What aspects could be improved and how could they be improved? e.g. flow, resources, teaching strategies, environment, assessment of learning.

The experience went really well. The children enjoyed the story and had many suggestions on why we need to wash our hands. Children are effective
communicators (DEEWR, 2009, p.38). There were a few tears when they had to choose a friend as some children didnt want to go with the friend, who
chose them but in the end everyone got to the bathroom and had fun soaping their hands and washing them. The children were talking to each other about
how much fun it is to wash away all those germs and some children were pretending that they could see the germs going down the drain: Learning through
play (DEEWR, 2009, p. 15).

Some children got overexcited and started spraying water everywhere and racing around the bathroom, which was not ideal as we were trying to settle them
down for their lunch and rest time, but after a quick intervention and redirection everyone ended up having very clean hands and a lovely lunch.









Follow-up: Are there any areas that you would like to follow up on? Emerging interests/concepts to explore further?

I will keep washing my hands in the childrens bathroom for the rest of the placement and will use a made up hand washing song to scaffold childrens
knowledge and remind them in a fun way of the correct steps to wash their hands (DEEWR, 2009, p. 14). We will also read the story of the little princess
again at the end of the placement to reinforce the message.





Mentor teacher comments:
Rebecca showed a creative and fun way to reinforce the routine of hand
washing to the children. She demonstrated solid knowledge of the EYLF
and on how to scaffold childrens knowledge through an experience like this
and it was great to watch the children connect with her ideas and respond
to her instructions.
Pre-service teacher final reflection:

As this was a routine experience it was very clear from the start what was
expected from the children and myself. Reading a book to introduce the
subject worked well for this group and making the routine fun helped to deepen
their knowledge and remembering it in the future.



References

Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations [DEEWR]. (2009). The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia. Retrieved from
http://education.gov.au/early-years-learning-framework
Merlot Pedagogy Portal. (n.d). Teaching Strategies. Retrieved from http://pedagogy.merlot.org/TeachingStrategies.html