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Carolyn's Play House |
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Carolyn's
Play House
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CurriculumCarolyn's
Play House, based on the Bank Street model, is experiential, play-based, grounded
in a developmental framework and respectful of children's individual differences.
Within a consistent daily routine we insure ample time for children to decide
what, where, when and how they want to play, thereby encouraging creativity. With
our guidance and through play with materials, we encourage children to explore
the world, work on cognitive and fine/gross motor skills, and learn the joy of
autonomy. We provide many opportunities for pretend/dramatic play and marvel as
they express what they have learned, clarify concepts, and organize their knowledge.
Music and art explorations are abundant because children learn through their hands
and hearts as well as their minds. Facilitating
Social/Emotional DevelopmentRecent brain research suggests that the toddler years are optimal for social and emotional development. Mindful that social skills are essential for early school success, we create a nurturing atmosphere that promotes learning within a small group (usually six children and two teachers), The children feel safe, connected to their teachers and peers, and self-respect. They learn a sense of belonging, that they are like and liked by others, and to include and feel included by their peers. Throughout the day we model and teach the skills they need for playing alongside other children, taking turns, using language to express feelings and desires, handling toys and materials appropriately, cleaning up, making friends, and solving social problems. Depending on the children's ages and specific situation we may teach them to call for help, suggest a toy trade, wait for a turn, walk away or make a plan with the teacher's help. In
addition, we are highly respectful of parents as their child's first and most
important teachers. We collaborate and communicate with them about their little
ones on an ongoing basis - through informal conversation, newsletters, parent
postcards, and developmental reports. We
read, listen and talk to the children often throughout the day, exposing them
to rich vocabulary and words and phrases which later they will need to read and
write. Our art, sensory explorations, dramatic play, and songs and finger plays
are not only enriching educational events in themselves - they are daily opportunities
for expanding their literacy skills. For example, children hear that words have
syllables (we clap them and sing them and play them on drums) and that they rhyme
(we learn rhyming songs and make up our own all day long). They see that print
represents spoken language (they love to see us write what they say; at read-aloud
we underscore important words with our fingers, as we read them). Our many drawing
opportunities and materials provide ample experience with all the hand and arm
movements required for later writing. All day long we use puzzles, books, toys
and fun activities to encourage learning about letters and numbers. Older children
begin more formal work with writing and learning the alphabet. As children scribble
with colored pencils, write 'notes' in cards to families, pretend to do homework,
'read' each other stories, enjoy quiet library times, and answer open-ended questions
at story time, they are involved in crucial early literacy learning. Themes We
create toddler-friendly (that is, open-ended) curriculum plans and orchestrate
learning experiences based on observations of children's interests. For example,
the children love to work in our pretend kitchen. One week we visited a local
restaurant and watched the baker preparing batter in their big kitchen. Another
morning we covered our play dough table with a sheet the children had painted,
placed take-out menus on the table, put on aprons, took out little notebooks and
wrote down the children's orders. One child decided to be a waiter too, put on
his apron, and completed the outfit with a pencil behind his ear. Pretty soon
all the children balanced pencils behind their ears! Some were cooks (upside down
pull-ups make wonderful chefs' hats) and one child suggested a birthday party
(play dough and candles and song and all) at the restaurant. We collaborate with
the children - seeing what they do with their own ideas and extending their play
by adding ours. Their self-esteem flourishes along with their understanding of
the world. See the newsletters for many more examples.
Art
and Learning
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