Teaching the Whole Child
As an Early Childhood Education teacher, I prepare a wide range of developmentally appropriate hands-on activities and experiences within a richly prepared environment recognizing that young children learn best in an environment that encourages and supports various types of learning styles. The Learning Niche is a child-centered learning environment that focuses on developing the whole child.
The curriculum of a high quality program is based on predictable developmental stages that occur in a child’s maturation process with the understanding that each child is unique and will have their own learning style and pattern of growth. This knowledge drives the curriculum, the environment, and the interactions within the environment. In order to support a high- quality curriculum, the following elements are implemented into the curriculum:
- Social Development – communication, self-expression, awareness of others and building relationships, group co-operation, self-regulation, creative and imaginative activities.
- Emotional Development – emotions/feelings, empathy, initiative, independence, self awareness/confidence and self control.
- Cognitive Development – problem solving, language literacy, numeracy, creative expression, exploration, science/discovery, and investigate.
- Ethical/moral development – empathy, responsibility, respect, self-regulation, and decision making.
- Language/Communication Development – spoken language, listening, multiple language development, non-verbal, technology use, written language and comprehension.
- Physical Development – fine/gross motor (large and small muscle skills), safety, sensory awareness, personal care and good nutritional/health habits.
Social emotional development is an important component to a child's development in Early Childhood Education. Children are encouraged and supported in learning to solve problems, negotiate, and work toward reciprocal relationships with their peers. The social emotional component is foundational and critical for optimizing development. Attachment, emotional awareness, self-regulation, and resilience provide the child with a strong sense of self that allows them to fully develop their potential across all learning domains.
Language Arts
The elements of English Language Arts include some of the following elements:- Listening and Speaking-oral language development for comprehension and collaboration, presentation of knowledge and ideas, allowing children to express their thoughts and feelings, as well as detail and description.
- Reading and Writing-print concepts, phonological awareness, phonics and word recognition, fluency, and opportunities to produce written communication through drawing, writing, dictation, story-telling, plus much more.
Providing opportunities for children to explore is key to learning math. Some of the following elements of Mathematic instruction involve:
- Number and Operations-allow students to develop an understanding of whole numbers, counting, sorting, compare, order whole numbers and much more.
- Geometry-Identify and describe shapes and describe spatial relationships, analyze, compare, create, and compose.
- Measurement-Identify, describe, and order objects by measureable attributes
Social Studies/Science
The basic concepts of social studies and science are implemented to give children a strong foundation on how they see themselves within our community, allowing them to actively explore and investigate the world around them. Children also develop a sense of time and place while learning about past and future events, allowing them to explore the realms of History, Geography, Ecology, and Economics. Some of the following elements of social studies and science include:
- Develop a basic understanding of national and state symbols and icons.
- Explore and develop an understanding of community workers and the jobs they perform.
- An understanding of environmental symbols, maps, and globes.
- Develop an understanding of current events, historical events, and explore their world using their five senses.
- Explore and learn about the life cycle and structures of plants and animals.
Fine and Gross Motor Development
Both fine and gross motor skills allow children to explore and develop their world in all areas of learning that involve cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development. The following include some of the developmentally appropriate skills that are implemented into our program:
- Write letters or letter-like shapes to represent words and their ideas.
- Learns to position body and adjust grasp in writing and drawing.
- Develop their body awareness by adjusting their bodies in relation to the activity, environment, and others.
- Use the eight locomotor skills, such as, walk, jump, run, skip, leap, hop, gallop, and slide.