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Philosophy Learner Outcomes Current Curriculum Activities

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Philosophy

1. developmentally based: each activity can be accessed by children at a wide range of developmental levels. Within one group, some children may only be able to draw an unrecognizable picture, and dictate their description of the picture to a teacher, while another child's drawing may be very elaborate, and yet another child may be able to write the words themselves. In this way the activities are open-ended, with a variety of possible outcomes, and what is most important is the process, not the end product.



2. child centered: the activities are chosen with the students' interests and readiness level in mind. The content should always be relevant and exciting to the students, and they show the teachers whether this has been achieved by their level of engagement. If the students are not excited and engaged, then the content or activity is not meaningful to them. For this reason, the curriculum sometimes takes an unplanned detour, if a subject emerges in which a great deal of interest is shown.



3. team planning: to the greatest extent possible, all the members of the preschool team, including teachers and all therapists, contribute to the planning of the daily classroom activities. This enhances the integrative therapy/consultative model approach for delivery of services. It also allows the team to draw on its vast reservoir of experience and creative ideas when designing curriculum units.



4. curriculum webs: our curriculum is based around particular themes, such as The Community, Animals in Winter, Seasons, etc. Within each theme, activities are planned that address each skill area, including speech and language development, language arts, fine and gross motor skills, social and emotional development, dramatic play and creative arts.

1. All children will develop confidence and positive self esteem.
2. All children will express their natural curiosity and develop a life-long love of learning.
3. All children will understand and accept strengths and weaknesses in each other.
4. All children will develop an increased willingness to explore new materials and experiences.
5. All children will increase their knowledge of themselves in relation to others.
6. All children will acquire developmentally appropriate social interaction skills.
7. All children will acquire strategies for successful negotiation of conflict with peers and adults.
8. All children will develop symbolic representational skills as a foundation to later literacy and math concepts.
9. All children will continue to develop cognition, pre-academic, language, motor and self help abilities.

Examples of Curriculum Activities

• Healthy Foods/Healthy Bodies
• Families
• Five Senses - Taste and Smell
• Getting Ready for Winter
• Festivals of Light and Music
• Five Senses - Sight and Sound