"Recipe For Learning"

Knowledge of growth and development of children is the essential base of an established curriculum. The physical, intellectual, social and emotional growth of each child in the classroom, seeing their specific needs and situations and yet structured enough to include all curricular areas appropriate to the ages, interests, and abilities of individuals in the group. Each child must feel safe and free to take risks as they explore the world around them, exploring their creative abilities and achievement as an individual and as a member of the group.

We Will Enter The Early World Of Learning Together

Play is a powerful way children learn their most important tasks and will be the Corner Stone of our learning day utilizing the hands-on-approach with simple manipulative materials, games, experiments and group activities.
Kids Crafters Curriculum is the Foundation to my curriculum. The curriculum provides thorough introduction to the school environment and offers a good balance of social and cognitive learning to prepare children for kindergarten.
With Kids Crafter as my Foundation I have added my own resources and ideas to construct a curriculum that is well thought out, appropriate for infants through age 5. It is consistent and goal oriented, to help a child become a curious learner, encourage creative expression and feel comfortable as they learn important lessons about themselves and life in school. In order to achieve this I always need to be open and take my cues from my class interests as we explore the world around us. I provide materials, time, resources, and support the children as they explore the meaningful materials in a natural way, ask probing questions and observing and to give them hands on projects to teach problem solving.
“Little Sprout’s” Family Home Child Care provides many opportunities for children to repeatedly try new skills and experiment with new knowledge. 

It is possible to drill children until they recite pieces of information such as the
alphabet or the numerals from 1 to 20.
However, children's responses to rote tasks do not reflect real understanding of the information.
For children to understand fully and remember what they have learned, the information must be meaningful to the child in context of the child's experience and development.

The Guide Through The Curriculum is your permanent foundation of learning handbook and will be your guide throughout your Childs Infant, Toddler, and Preschool Years here at Little Sprout's.

Thematic Unit:    Thematic teaching units involve a group of correlated activities that are designed around topics or themes and cross several areas of the curriculum. They provide an environment that fosters and encourages process learning and active involvement of all children. They build on children’s interests and prior knowledge by focusing on topics relevant to their lives. They help children relate to real-life experiences and build on what they know.  Thematic units provide one of the best vehicles for integrating content areas in a way that makes sense to children and helps them make connections to transfer knowledge they learn and apply it in a meaningful way. Thematic units also address the diverse learning styles
Benefits Of Utilizing Themes Include:

• Learning in-depth factual information
• Becoming physically involved with learning
• Learning process skills
• Learning how to learn
• Integrating learning in a holistic way
• Promoting group cohesiveness
• Addressing individual needs
• Motivating children and teachers 

Circle Time:

Circle time is how we start each fun filled day pf play and learning. At this time we share our thoughts, ideas observations and plans.
Circle time activities are designed to stimulate a child’s thinking, enrich their social skills and expand their attention span.

Language, Vocabulary, Story Time: 

Language is the communication system we use to relate ideas and thought through the understanding and usage of words and sentences.

Thinking skills involve a child’s ability to solve problems, share ideas, evaluate and organize experiences, generalize concepts, and recall information.

The content of the cognitive curriculum includes such skills as naming shapes, and directional ~ positional concept. Other examples of cognitive skills know the functions and use of objects, answering questions, building vocabulary, and developing verbal reasoning skills.

Story Time is designed to help children develop an appreciation and enjoyment of literature. Reading activities enhance a child’s vocabulary, comprehension skills, encourage imagination and dramatic play. Asking open-ended questions and wondering who, what, where, when, why? Stories (books, objects, flannel board, puppets, cassettes, etc.); Nursery Rhymes; Fairy Tales; Poems; Finger Plays; Songs; Dramatic Play; Learning Games. 

Alphabet:

In an effort to stimulate cognitive development, caregivers and teachers today use alphabet books with preschool-age children. As children reach the preschool stage of development, they are ready to begin mapping letter sounds (phonemes) they have been learning since birth to the letter shapes (graphemes) used to represent them.

Alphabet books contain the graphemes needed to begin a preschooler on the road to reading.
Fun and play with the alphabet is an introduction of the letters one by one weekly to develop awareness and recognition of the letter through songs, games, stories, art and activities.

Splashes Of Colors and Shapes Bring Us A Rainbow Of Learning:

Everyday is a color and shape day for young children. Colors and shapes stimulate their imaginations. It intrigues their sense of order. It delights their sense of sight. Colors and shapes are everywhere, making them the perfect teaching tool. There are colors and shapes to identify, to count, to match, and to sort. In every area of learning colors and shapes can be used easily and effectively to teach basic skills. Color and Shape fun comes to us in art, learning games, language, science, movement, music and snack. To further brighten and excite our color and shape days we will have selections of stories, songs, rhymes and activities. 

Mathematics And Science:

Math incorporates the experiences, ideas, and skills to help children organize their world.
Exploratory activities and interactions with materials lay the groundwork for the development of mathematical concepts. Numbers are fascinating to a young child. One of the first questions they learn to respond to is, “How old are you?” Counting things in their environment; hands, fingers, toes, blocks, steps, and friends; becomes second nature to them. Young children need everyday opportunities to develop math concepts. We facilitate this need by helping children discover math relationships all around them from matching, sorting, patterning, comparing, classifying, ordering, measuring, and graphing. Other examples of math skills include understanding of quantitative concepts, shapes, space, numbers, number symbols, one-to-one correspondence, and calendar activities.
Early in development the child is largely reliant on concrete experiences for understanding. Use of the senses is essential as the child explores materials in order to grasp ideas such as comparison and contrast, classification and identification of patterns. Most children are unable however to comprehend the use of abstract symbols (numbers and letters) until a higher level of cognitive growth has been achieved.
Learning about science means helping your children develop skills using our senses to observe, measure, and predict.
Children’s exploration of their physical environment can be stimulated in many simple ways: by calling attention to everyday learning situations (a bee on a flower, a rainfall, a stone sinking). We can do this by providing materials or working together building devices that extend a learning situation; also by encouraging children to find out “why” about all they observe.
Beginning science ranges from air to ecology to magnets to exploring activities. Various activities will teach your child how to measure, compare, sort, predict, estimate, anticipate, and classify skills that are as important to learn as new facts. Learning basic facts about plants, animals, insects, wiggly friends, weather, magnets, machines, cooking, floatation, earth, sky, water, and seasons in the natural sciences and senses will be stimulated.
Mathematics is introduced through using manipulatives and activities we can rote count, create sets, compare, order, match, pattern and measure. Numeral recognition, quantitative concept, and one on one correspondence are all providing a part of the essential foundation for learning mathematics operations and science skills.

My World:

My World begins at the core and works outward. The child first needs to learn about ones-self, appearance, sex, ethnic group and feelings. Then the family becomes the topic, relations to his/her family. Later the focus shifts to other family members and their roles and work. Finally the child learns about the community, including their school and all those persons and places providing other services to families. The reason for introducing social studies in this fashion is the child’s egocentric nature.
Children are most aware of and understand best what concerns them.

Health And Safety:

Health and Safety is critical and immediately important to the young child. Children can learn what constitutes a healthy diet, adequate exercise, and rest, cleanliness of body and care of teeth. In addition information about hazards created by poisonous substances, water, fire, traffic and strangers can safeguard a child’s life.
One of the great benefits of a strong health and safety program is that parents can also benefit from it and the quality of life may improve for the entire family.

Self Help And Personal Skills:

Self help skills are all of the different tasks that a child will learn in able to care for themselves independently. Sitting alone, crawling and walking are important achievements in an infant’s development. Feeding ones-self and toilet learning/training are important achievements in a Toddler’s development. The Preschool age; self help skills become more complex. Dressing, daily appearance tasks, and household tasks are important achievements in a preschooler’s development.
As a child learns to care for themselves, they develop a sense of pride and confidence that motivates them to try new skills.

• Dressing Frames
• Measuring; Pouring
• Daily Appearance Tasks
• House Hold Tasks 

Emotional And Social Development:

The art of living to the fullest is based on certain understandings on the child’s part of his place in the world and the place of others.
It is important that we instill in the child a good sense of values right at the beginning - and that we encourage the expression of these values in every experience.
Social skills include interactions with others and interactions with objects. Interaction with others includes the child’s ability to greet others appropriately, deliver simple messages, take turns, share work and play materials, request and offer help, attend and follow directions, and accept praise and suggestions. Interaction with objects includes the child’s ability to handle materials with care, put away objects when finished, and play and work independently and appropriately with materials. 

Character Building  And  Values:

Honesty, Giving, Respect, Responsibility, Compassion/Gentleness, Friendship, Helpfulness, Courage, Self Discipline, Peace Making, Perseverance and Thankfulness
The focus of this area of learning is to provide tools and life skills children need, so they are equipped to make the important decisions that face them when they enter society at a young age. Activities that will introduces the children to the concepts of accountability, perception of self, perception of others, actions and their consequences, critical thinking and decision making; buy using character poems, stories, role playing, and open ended questions.
Children love a good story. Stories are entertaining and challenge the imagination. In stories, children encounter characters who deal with many situations and conflicts similar to those they will face in the real world.
One of the most important goals in sharing a book with young children is the mutual pleasure the story brings. Good stories create a positive experience that often leads to a lifetime of reading enjoyment. These stories are part of a shared culture. While reading stories to young children, keep in mind that the pleasure of the story is an important goal. The power of the story may be lost through over-discussing or over-teaching. A valuable opportunity to share the love of reading may be the result. Good stories influence children’s values. Children learn from the characters’ thoughts and actions. Through consequences of those actions, different perspectives become apparent. Many adults and children think of the “Little Red Hen” when someone doesn’t do their share of work. Horton hatching the egg comes to mind when someone takes responsibility too lightly. These stories never lose their power to help children formulate their own concepts of right and wrong.
Carefully selected books allow children to observe situations from different perspectives that require decision making based on a set of values. The stories stimulate a variety of emotional responses. Those responses lead to personal and social development.

Music, Rhythm And Song:

The goals of music experiences are to help the children find pleasure and satisfaction by participating in a variety of musical experiences through singing, listening and playing.
With emphasize hands-on experiences to develop appreciation, participation and responsiveness; musical competencies such as listening, performance, rhythm and creativity; and musical concepts such as pitch volume and contrasts.
Everyone loves music; especially young children. Music and rhythm have a dramatic effect on the way people feel and act. Music can help one relax, create an upbeat or excited mood or even learn. Music makes children feel comfortable, allows them to use their high energy, as well as to have fun, and explore their imagination.
Music makes work go faster, play more interesting, and provides a nice break between activities. Words sung to music increase a child’s cognitive development, as well as memory, sequencing ability, oral language skills and social skills. Children can learn parts of the body more easily when the learning is incorporated with music, songs, and finger plays. They use their eyes, hands, fingers, and arms to develop fine motor coordination.
Many songs can be used to enrich the learning experience in areas such as concept and language development. By listening to Rock N Roll music we are developing listening skills and the ability to identify, compare and predict sounds - all prerequisites for reading and writing. The children can sing about holidays, safety, weather, animals, and community helpers while they are learning about them in classroom activities. A learned concept reinforced by a song is remembered more easily and longer. Associating songs and factual content reinforced new learning and can be the stimulus for the child to understand.
Exercise (music and echo games); Creative Movement; Mummers/Marching; Dancing (following direction, freestyle, etc.); Object Movement (ball, bean bag, etc.); Body Movement (jumping, hopping, etc.); Games (group indoor/outdoor); Active Chants; Seasonal Movement. 

Head, Shoulders, Knees And Toes:

Through movement activities, children will discover the relationship between their bodies and the space they move in. The abilities of balance and posture, strength and coordination of the muscles, provide the child with practice in a variety of movement skills such as walking, hopping, running, skipping, climbing, rolling, throwing and catching a ball as well as exploring movement concepts such as fast and slow, high and low, backward and forward. The activities are designed to exercise their imagination as well as their bodies. Examples include: creative warm up exercises and songs or poems accompanied by movement; stories or an imaginative situation in which your child performs the actions or makes up their own endings or solutions; activities that encourage the children to practice observation and coordination skills as they move in ways analogous to animals and things in the world around them, such as caterpillars or machines.
The more freely children are encouraged to express themselves through their body movements; they will become more confident with a feeling of success and enjoyment.

Physical Education:

Children progress at an individual pace to explore and discover their own physical capabilities. Problem solving, discovery learning, and creative movement are used as tools to help children develop a broad foundation of basic motor skills. These fundamental skills can later be refined to more specific sports, recreational and leisure activities, lifetime physical fitness, and work related activities. The child is introduced to a variety of activities which promote group cooperation, individual success, and the development of self confidence.
Children learn the concepts of how their bodies work and move and how this movement relates to activities as well as the development of health and physical fitness.

Games

We All Love Games!!!

Games are Fun!!! 

Children from a very early age know that games are enjoyable and special and one of the activities they get to do in school at a “special time”.

Games are used to go from one activity to another throughout the day. Children who know a wide variety of active games are indeed fortunate. What a wonderful way to develop confidence, body control, the ability to listen and follow directions, and social give-and-take.
Circle games are easy to teach, and easy for children to learn. Usually, the rhythm is simple and strong. The skills of one circle game often apply to many other circle games. Children often hold hands and follow a rather prescribed path of movement. There are few chances for error or breakdown. Circle games have been popular in Western culture for hundreds of years. Perhaps it’s because as children stand close together, watch each other, and function as a single unit, group cohesiveness is the natural outcome.
Some are musical, some are chants, some are active, but all have special emphasis on unusual sounds or signals. Usually, the verbal content of the game is amusing and often surprising, so children do not perceive the extra effort they must put forth as a burden. Games subtly combine work and play; therefore, everyone is a winner.

Perception: 

Perceptual skills are those related to the five senses as to how the brain processes the experience.
Perception applies to just about every experience a child has because the senses are an integral part of learning.
Assembling Puzzles; Copying Designs and Patterns; Drawing a Person; Identify and compare sights, sounds, textures, tastes and odors in the environment. 

Pre-Writing:

Handwriting is a visual and motor skill that requires the use of both large and small muscles. Since the large muscles are the first to develop, it is important that children’s pre-writing experiences involve these large muscles.
Materials that accommodate the use of the large muscles: chalkboard and large chalk, easel and paints, large sheets of paper and large crayons, modeling clay, large rubber balls, and games that encourage big-muscle activity. Children should be encouraged to scribble, using pictures and doodles to express their feelings, but you should not attempt to teach them to write the letterforms. This should wait for the teachers, who will introduce letters in a meaningful way when the children are ready. Manuscript writing is taught first because it is easier for children to read and write, and it is the alphabet they see in their books and on signs. Manuscript consists of six basic strokes that are made up of straight lines, circles, and parts of circles.
All children do not learn at the same rate or in the same way. Therefore, you should not be concerned if your child does not learn to write as quickly as your neighbor’s child.
Pre Writing is introduced in Coloring; Painting; Chalk and Chalkboard; Tracing (stencils, objects, etc.); Path Tracing with Finger; Scribbles; and Doodles.

Fine Motor: 

This skill relates to the hands, finger dexterity and the coordination and speed of the finger muscles and wrist flexibility.

Play Dough; Beads; Scissors; Block Building; Lacing; Wrapping; Pincher Skills; Coloring; Painting; Pasting, Scooping; Squirting; Catching; Throwing. Finger Plays give small muscles exercise and develop fine motor control and coordination. 

These simple activities provide children with rich experiences in humor fantasy, problem solving and vocal expression.

Art:

A creative process that allows a child to create, explore, and use their imagination with opportunities to explore color, line, and form to familiarize children with basic art skills and concepts. This enhances learning and skill development and socialization. The goals are best reached with techniques such as coloring, finger painting, watercolors, painting, gluing, and cutting with scissors, rolling and molding clay and play dough.
Our Art Cart is always in full bloom waiting for a creative process to begin. It is stocked with hands-on art activities that will give a child the opportunity for originality, creativity, fluency, flexibility, sensitivity and aesthetics. Using any variety of these materials the creativity begins. They will not be guided or advised on how or what to make. I will only support and encourage them to enjoy the creative process. Their creation will truly be their own.
Crafts are a project where a child learns step by step instructions. This develops listening skills and manipulates a wide range of materials. Many creations offer opportunities for creative play.
You can never do enough arts and crafts because each time is a new experience to create for a child.

Dramatic Play:

Dramatic play is an individual or group experience in which every child has the opportunity to express themselves as they work or play. It is the ideal way to provide socialization and language expansion for the preschooler. Books, props, guest speakers, stories and experiences related by others create themes for dramatic play. Acting out familiar or new experiences related by others provides the child an opportunity to assimilate and accommodate these events.
Children’s ability to express themselves in both word and action, the creation of a social awareness, and the encouragement of cooperative play can be the outcome of dramatic play.

Culinary Cooks:

With nutrition activities, children learn about group cooperation, weights and measures, time, and the changes of matter from one form to another. Moreover, they develop an understanding of how to follow directions in sequence, gain pleasure from creating simple foods, and develop good eating habits. Sensory experiences including touching, smelling, tasting and comparing are the basics at this age. These kinds of opportunities provide exposure to, and new knowledge about, food.
Learning to cook can be an adventure; like exploring a new country, with a recipe for your map, and if you follow the directions exactly, you are sure to arrive at your destination--proud and pleased to be able to cook many good things for your family.
We will be learning important lessons while having fun in the kitchen. Foods that are nutritious can taste good, too. Fresh fruit, vegetables, cheese, whole-grain and enriched flour, cereals and other nutritious foods help us form good eating habits that will last a lifetime.
Children learn how rewarding it is to work together toward a common goal--particularly when that goal involves mouth-watering treats.
Cooking provides a generous portion of learning opportunities served up with a batch of fun.

Learning Centers:

I use themes, materials, equipment, time, resources, so the children may be allowed to explore and manipulate materials in a natural way. The centers will allow group activities and activities for a single child. 

As your child explores the learning centers they will expand on these areas of learning.

• Language: speaking, reading, writing, and listening
• Movement: gross motor, fine motor, dance, sports, and creative movement
• Spatial Relations: eye-hand coordination, eye-foot coordination, visual motor integration, art, puzzles, mapping
• Logic Mathematical Knowledge: math, science, classification, number, weight, size, etc.
• Music: song, dance, rhythm, melody, movement
• Self: emotions, feelings, abilities, goal setting, reality
• Social: helping, getting along with others, making friends, sharing, fairness, rules, giving