CURRICULUM PROJECT: SAMPLE CURRICULUM PLANNING CHARTS PROJECT –
ELEMENTARY OR SPED ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS
MAT in Elementary or SPED
Consult the Horizontal Mapping Project you have already completed and create daily planning
charts to correspond to 3 days of mapping. Submit a legend and 3 days of Curriculum Planning
Charts. Each day of curriculum should fit on one page (your submission will be a total of six
pages—title page, legend, three charts, and a reference page). Utilize grading feedback from this
sample submission to complete the final Curriculum Project. No retroactive credit for the
Sample Curriculum Planning Charts Project can be given from submission of the final
Curriculum Project.
For this project, you should consider yourself to be a curriculum planner that is providing an
overview of what would be involved in a lesson. As the curriculum planner you are creating the
block plan and the classroom teacher would then use your overview to create a very detailed
daily lesson plan.
Your curriculum planning charts (block plans) should have:
The standard number and standard topic clearly identified (e.g. VA Math 3.1 Place
Value)
What the teacher and students will do for each lesson
The legend symbols to show integration (see description below)
Your curriculum planning charts (block plans) should exhibit:
Effective use of allotted time for instruction as well as learning activities
Creative, engaging, hands-on, and age-appropriate learning activities and assignments
Thorough explanation of learning concepts, activities, and experiences
Your curriculum planning charts (block plans) will include:
A. Integration of content areas. Show how content areas relate to each other by using a legend.
The legend is a “symbol list” of the many parts that should make up the curriculum. A legend
helps you easily view where you are making holistic learning experiences for your students.
For example:
If you are teaching grids and how to plot points in math, you could teach map skills
(using longitude and latitude) in Social Science.[M, SS,] The M stands for Math and
the SS stands for Social Science and you are integrating the two together.
If you are teaching poetry in English / Language Arts class, you could introduce your
history lesson with a poem such as “O Captain, My Captain” by Walt Whitman (an
homage to Abraham Lincoln after his assassination following the Civil War.) [LA,
SS,] The LA stands for Language Arts and the SS stands for Social Science and you
are integrating the two together.
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If you are teaching the water cycle in Science and a “Rain Dance” from the Native
American culture in SS, you are integrating 3 subjects. [S, SS, D] The S stands for
Science, and the SS stands for Social Science, and the D stands for Dance.
If you are teaching how to read and create Historical timelines in Social Science
class, you could have your students create a timeline using Power Point. [SS, T] The
SS stands for Social Science, and the T stands for Technology.
B. Integration of content and curriculum components. Make sure to integrate the following
content and components:
Daily integrate reading and writing instruction for English Language Arts (ELA).
Use classic and award-winning literature. Note what skill you are teaching by using
the literature.
Daily integrate Fine Arts (Visual Art, Music, Theatre, or Dance); Health (e.g. You
could teach about cell growth in math class, etc.); and PE (eg. You could teach a
dance popular in the Civil War era.)
Highlight in yellow (as seen in the example) how you are frequently providing
diverse instruction and accommodations for exceptional learners.
Promote critical thinking and use problem solving activities.
Provide active learning experiences. Plan multiple hands-on learning experiences and
projects. Paper and pencil worksheets should be used very sparingly.
Leverage technology. Teachers and students should use various apps to design and
complete projects and reinforce learning.
Use a variety of informal and formal assessments (paper /pencil, projects, reports,
portfolios, etc.)
Collaborate with colleagues, families, and communities (consider team-teaching and
using other faculty members to help form smaller groups in the classroom, using
families to help with classroom experiences or field trips, using community guest
speakers and area resources and field trip opportunities).
Use diverse resources (books, apps, websites, and journal articles). If you use an app
or website, paste the web address within the block plan. However, you will formally
cite the resource as a reference in current APA format at the end of the project in the
reference section.