Frederick Community College ECD 230 Language and Literacy in Early Childhood SUMMER 2009
Class begins: May 30	Class ends: July 25^th	Last Day to Withdraw: July 8th

You must send your email address to the instructor before class begins

Instructor Information:
Name: Delaine Welch-Freas	Office: B 205
E-mail: dwelch-freas@frederick.edu	Phone Number: 301 846-2559
Office Hours: by appointment	Campus Mail Box #: 165

Course Information:
Credits: 3
On-campus Meetings: none	On-campus Exams:
Prerequisites: EN 52	Corequisites:

Course Description:

Designed for adults who are responsible for the care, development and teaching of young children from birth to eight years old in primarily an early childhood setting. This course is a study of the development of oral language by young child, the relationship between language and development and emerging literacy, and the structuring of the learning environment for the child from birth to eight years.

Core Learning Outcomes:

1. Discuss the influence of oral language, reading, writing and literature on literacy development.
2. Review a variety of children’s literature along with identifying methods using literature to enhance language development
3. Summarize each stage of language development and examine strategies for facilitating language
4. Demonstrate an understanding of common language disorders in young children
5. Create and present developmentally appropriate activities that encourage growth in Language Arts for an Early Childhood classroom

Instructional Methods:

This class meets half online and half in class. The methods will include online discussions, projects, lecture, group work.

 How is this course organized:

Weekly assignments, discussion board and assignments.

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Text(s) for Course: Early Childhood Language Arts- Jalongo, 4 ed.

Evaluation Methods:

Attendance/Participation: Students are expected to attend each class coming prepared to discuss the assigned reading. Make up work will be accepted at the Instructor’s discretion. It is imperative that students contact Instructor upon missing class within a day or two of the absence if they want the opportunity to make up any missed work. Attendance: 10 pts each class. Absolutely no on campus session can be missed. If for some unforeseen reason a student has to miss student will have to complete make up work. Muddiest Point: Students will post on discussion board under muddiest point the weeks we do not meet this is place for discussion of our readings. 10 points for 4 postings: 40 points Compile an Anthology of 15 children’s books on 5 x 7 cards. The FCC library has a collection of children’s books. Include on each card: Student Name Title of Book Author Summary of book Appropriate Developmental age Theme Characters Introduction to book –what would you do to introduce it to the children? Follow up- what activity would you do to follow up the book? Students must have two books that focus on diversity, i.e, cultural, race, family configuration, death, illness, etc. Final Take Home Reflection: Opportunity do reflect on what has been learned Language disorder fact sheet Under discussion board Article Review Under discussion board

Create and present one developmentally appropriate activities that encourage growth in language arts. Focus on activities/projects that encourage growth in listening (auditory discrimination); reading/seeing (visual discrimination); speaking and writing (not actual letter writing but activities that promote growth in reading readiness. Refer back to Activities I as a refresher if necessary. This one will be presented. Bring materials for a group of 5 students. Write a lesson plan for each including: Title, Developmental level, Objective ( has to be measurable), Materials , Introduction, Procedure, Closure, Check for Understanding Discussion board online: The topic for each discussion is described in the week's assignment. When? Due dates are listed in the calendar. However you should follow the discussion to see what the other students are saying. So you need budget a little more time. How Long? Minimum 100, maximum 300 words which is the length for making an initial point. A second contribution of yours to the same discussion can be shorter. Expectations? You select and develop a point that you think is important and that you would like to contribute to a particular topic. The contribution should be of some substance. It will give you the opportunity to show that you have done the reading in your textbook and online sites. You demonstrate that you understand the issue at hand and that you are able to discuss it in some coherent fashion.   Credit ? there are 2 Discussions for a maximum of 45 pts each. Assuming that your contribution is informed by some fact and your argument is well developed, you can normally expect 33-37 pts. Your posted reaction to what other students can reach to 45 points. You are expected to make one posting per discussion to another student.

Privacy and Communication in this Course.
Email is an essential tool for the instructor-student and the student-student communication in this course. All email addresses are available to all students and the instructors in this course. Students who have concerns regarding the privacy of their personal email address are reminded that they can create a free hotmail address specifically for the purpose and duration of this course.
Students will use email addresses of other students in this class only for the duration of and for purposes related to the course.
Instructors will respond to regular email inquiries (grades, posted assignments, and tests excluded) in a timely fashion.
Other ways of communicating in this course include
* the Discussion Board
* the telephone
* on-campus class
* instructor on-campus office hours

Tests / Papers / Projects

Point Value

Final Grade Scale

Discussion boards (2)

Book Anthology (15) x 20 points each

Developmentally appropriate lesson w/materials (1)x 100

Take Home Final (1)x 50 points:

Reflection

Attendance (4)x 10points

Muddiest Point (4) weeks we are not on campus

Grade breakdown:

378-420 A

336-377 B

294-335 C

252-293 D

251 and below F

45 points

150 points

50points

50 pts

40 points

40 points

90 points

150

50

50 points

40 points

40 points

420

If the graded performance for online assignments differs significantly from the grade average for proctored assignments, the instructor reserves the right to administer additional tests.

Email Policy:

Email is an instructional tool essential to student-instructor and student-student communication. In the Blackboard environment by default, your email address is available to all students in this course.

However, students are permitted to use email addresses of other students in this course only for the purpose and the duration of this course.

Students who are concerned about the privacy of their personal email address are reminded of commercially available products that allow them to create unique email addresses specifically for the purpose and duration of this course.

The instructor can be expected to respond to regular student email inquiries (grades, posted assignments, and tests excluded) within the time frame of 24 to 48 hours.

Academic Honesty:

Work in this course is subject to the provisions of the FCC Code of Academic Honesty. Plagiarism in any form will not be tolerated. As a student, it is your job to practice academic honesty at ALL times. Make sure that all sources, particularly Internet sources, get proper credit for quotations, paraphrases, and ideas.

Week	Reading		ACTIVITY CLASSROOM/and Online
Week 1 5/30-6/6	Chapter 1 Appreciating Diversity in Children's Language Read Ch. 2 Chapter 2 Optimizing Every Child's Language Growth through Family Literacy		Go over syllabus Go over blackboard site and activities Post under Who is Who Research for Discussion bd. 1 Post under muddiest point #1
Week 2 6/7-6/13	Read Chapter 3- Understanding Language Development During Early Childhood Ch. 4- Helping Young Children to Become Better Listeners		Meet in class on 6/13 Discussion board 1 Open 6/13- 6/20 at midnight
Week 3 6/14-6/20	Ch. 5- Supporting the Speaking Abilities of the Very Young Ch. 6 Using Narrative and Expository Texts to foster growth in literacy		Post under muddiest Point #2 until 6/20 & finish discussion board 1 until 6/20
Week 4 6/21-6/27 Week 5 6/28-7/4	Ch. 7 Fostering Growth in Emergent Literacy Chapter 8 Supporting Early and independent reading Ch. 9 Leading Young Children to Literacy Ch. 10 Facilitating expression through drawing and writing		Meet in Class on 6/27 Bring in favorite children’s book Discussion board 2 Open 6/28 through 7/4
Week 6 7/5-7/11	Ch. 11 Understanding Media influences and applying technology Ch. 12 Designing and Managing a Language Arts program		Do muddiest Point #3 through 7/11 Meet in class 7/11 Lesson Plan due and presented
Week 7 7/12-7/18	. Read Ch. 13 Documenting Children’s progress in the language arts		Do Muddiest Point #4 through 7/18 Final available on line on 7/19
Week 8 7/19-7/25		Complete chapters		Meet in Class on 7/25 Hand in finals

NOTE: your instructor reserves the right to make changes to this outline as needed.