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Lower School
Pre-K/Kindergarten: Mixed Age Early Childhood Classrooms Program Overview At CFS teachers believe that for children to gain the knowledge, skills, and experience they need, they must have opportunities to practice, experiment, and make mistakes. The Early Childhood Mixed Age Program aims to help children develop their social, intellectual, creative, physical, and emotional competencies. Children must be engaged and interested in their explorations. They absorb information through the many facets of play. In play, children learn about the world around them through their senses, by moving their bodies, and through the interaction between new concepts and imagination. Teachers strive to create a rich environment, to provide opportunities, and to present materials and information that inspire children to tackle learning through play. Teachers continuously monitor the skills children will need as foundations for their next learning tasks. Teachers place equal emphasis on social, emotional, and cognitive skills. Social or emotional skills include verbalizing feelings and listening to others’ ideas; cognitive skills include sorting objects by attributes and recognizing that letter symbols convey meaning. Each child begins the school year with her or his own gifts and interests. Our goal is to help each child build on these competencies throughout the year. Classroom instruction is differentiated to meet the needs of our multi-age population. Teachers develop curricular units that are of high interest to children in both pre-kindergarten and kindergarten. Often, curricular units follow the curiosity of the children. The classroom environments are designed to allow for large group, small group, and individual work to accommodate the range of learning styles and to encourage collaboration and self-reliance. Teachers challenge children to ask thorough questions, probe more deeply into their own ideas, seek out resources, test hypotheses, collect and share data, and expand their thinking. Through these means, it is not the specific content studied that is most valuable to children’s learning, but the way their learning is organized and how materials are presented to them. They are learning the art and skill of becoming learners. Language Arts The literacy program in Pre-Kindergarten/Kindergarten Mixed Age classrooms focuses on activities that help develop competence in listening, speaking, writing, reading, and critical thinking. Emergent literacy skills are taught and practiced throughout the year. Children become familiar with print in many forms and learn that print is what carries the meaning in written text. Children develop phonemic awareness and phonics skills, such as producing rhymes and matching letters to sounds. Based on literature read to them, children recall basic elements of a story and retell stories in correct sequence. Helping children develop competency in writing is a key component of the Mixed Age literacy program. Students first learn of writing as a means of expression and communication. Students come to know that writing can be a way to record their thoughts. Students dictate stories and use beginning invented spelling. Opportunities for children to experience writing as a means of communication and expression abound in all curricular areas. There is also a time set aside for journal writing and writing workshop. By using invented spelling, students apply their knowledge of letter-sound associations, letter formation, and the written word. An essential part of our literacy program is the storytelling and story acting curriculum, a time when we share common experiences and build community. Although all students’ experiences are different, the message they receive from this is that they are all holders of wonderful stories that enrich their own lives. This a process that intersects with cognitive, social, emotional, physical, and spiritual development.
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Math The Mixed Age mathematics curriculum encourages students to begin using mathematical vocabulary to communicate ideas to each other and to recognize mathematics in their environment. Children use manipulative materials as they work on concrete, meaningful math problems both cooperatively and individually. Children create and record patterns, using concrete materials and sort objects by attributes. Students learn to recognize, describe, and draw different shapes. They explore the concept of symmetry. Children learn to count, recognize and represent numbers up to 20. Students learn the mathematical concepts of more than, less than, and the same. Children work with the concepts of part and whole and learn that things can be divided in different ways. Children use non-standard and standard units of measurement to measure temperature and distance. They also learn the sequence of weeks, months, and hours. Children collect, organize and describe data. Children begin to understand addition and subtraction, compare quantities, and recognize the concept of addition and subtraction in everyday life. Children solve and record addition and subtraction problems, using manipulatives. They are exposed to the symbols that represent basic mathematical operations. Social Studies At the heart of the social studies curriculum is the goal of making each child feel safe, welcomed, and valued. Teachers help children define and voice their feelings, needs, ideas, and opinions. Teachers guide children to listen to each other and find appropriate ways to resolve conflicts. Children are encouraged to share materials and space and to be inclusive of others in their play and work, while preserving their right to their own space and access to resources they need. Each classroom is a community of learners; children learn and grow together. Children are encouraged to value themselves as individuals and as members of a group. This includes learning to honor and respect each other in the safety of their community where they can comfortably take risks, make mistakes, and learn from these experiences. Each classroom builds its own set of values and expectations that is consistent with those of the larger school community. Through age-appropriate themes, children begin to explore what it means to be part of a Quaker community. They explore the Quaker testimonies of peace, equality, simplicity, and community, and the idea of consensus decision-making. The values of cooperation, nonviolent conflict resolution, community service, and work for social justice are explored within the context of the classroom community, using examples drawn largely from the broader school community. Children also begin to connect the concept of fairness and equity to the Quaker philosophy that there is that of God within each individual. Resources Beyond Heroes and Holidays, edited by Enid Lee That’s Not Fair, A Teachers Guide To Activism With Young Children, by Ann Pelo and Fran Davidson Developmentally Appropriate Practice In Early Childhood Programs Serving Children From Birth Through Age Eight, by Sue Bordenkamp, editor NAEYC Tumbling Over The Edge, A Rant For Children’s Play, by Bev Bos and Jenny Chapman, Anti-Bias Curriculum: Tools For Empowering Young Children, by Louis Damon-Sparks Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years, by Bill Bigelow and Bob Peterson Math and Literature (k-3), by Marilyn Burns Fundations, Wilson Language Basics for Kindergarten Curriculum TERC Investigations in Number, Data, and Space Kindergarten Curriculum
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