At ‘For Kids Only’, our infant and toddler rooms are self-contained. Our preschool and school-age space is set up with interest areas being divided between available areas. Children are rotated through the areas so that each child has exposure to all interests each day.
The benefit to this setup is that interest areas can be larger, providing more freedom for exploration without children feeling crowded. In addition, it allows for a greater variety of equipment in each interest area, rather than having identical or very similar equipment in several areas include creative arts and crafts, construction, dramatic play, manipulative, math and science, auditory and visual language, music, and large muscle activity.
The amount of time spent in each area is geared towards the developmental needs of individual groups. A team teaching approach and ongoing communications between preschool and school-age staff is critical to providing proper schedules and positive transitions between areas. Each class will have a posted schedule of activities for that week.
Our lesson plans are formulated to include quiet time, active time, teacher-directed studies, and child-initiated activities. Schedules and daily lesson plans in all of these areas ensure a balance of activities. Children areas always allow choices.
Each month there is an overall theme for our curriculum, with several different weekly units for each theme. One example theme could be “My Wonderful World”. Weekly focus units for this month may include themes such as I am Special, My Family, My Friends, and My Neighborhood.
Our academic focus depends on the age group. We help young children recognize different letters and sounds, and have activities focusing on different shapes, colors, and numbers, as well as building find motor skills and large muscle skills. Sign language, Spanish, and some German is introduced at all age levels to enhance communication. Our curriculum matches the ever-changing needs of each rapidly developing child, and each age group has a separate curriculum specific to their educational and emotional needs.
We also account for spontaneous activities, which arise naturally. Whenever possible, staff responds to individual inquiries and interests, and we try to encourage further learning for both that child and others who might share in the discovery.
The physical, intellectual, emotional and social progress of each child will be documented in each child’s record and will be communicated to parents during conferences.