Fundamentals Early Learning Academy: Nurturing Enthusiastic Learners Through Play and Exploration

Fundamentals Early Learning Academy's curriculum is designed to cultivate enthusiastic learners by encouraging active and creative exploration. The academy aims to transform planning, teaching, and family engagement experiences within the classroom and beyond, fostering independent, self-confident, and inquisitive learners. The curriculum's philosophy centers on the belief that children learn best through play, offering opportunities for hands-on exploration and discovery that build lifelong critical thinking skills and foster confidence.

Core Principles of the Curriculum

The most important goal of the early childhood curriculum is to help children become enthusiastic learners. This entails encouraging children to be active and creative explorers who are not afraid to try out their ideas and to think their own thoughts. The academy's goal is to help children become independent, self-confident, inquisitive learners, teaching them how to learn, not just in preschool, but all through their lives. Children are allowed to learn at their own pace and in the ways that are best for them, developing good habits and attitudes, particularly a positive sense of themselves, which will make a difference throughout their lives.

The philosophy of the Creative Curriculum is that the best way to help children succeed is to teach them to be creative, confident thinkers. That means offering them opportunities for hands-on exploration and discovery that help build lifelong critical thinking skills and foster confidence. Learning isn’t just repeating what someone else says; it requires active thinking and experimenting to find out how things work and to learn firsthand about the world we live in. In their early years, children explore the world around them by using all their senses (touching, tasting, listening, smelling, and looking.) The activities planned for children, the way the environment is organized, the selection of toys and materials, the planning of the daily schedule, and the interactions with children, are all designed to accomplish the goals of the curriculum and give each child a successful start in school.

Curriculum Components

Fundamentals Early Learning Academy employs a comprehensive curriculum that integrates various components to support children's development across multiple domains.

The Creative Curriculum

The Creative Curriculum serves as a cornerstone of Fundamentals Early Learning Academy's approach. It is a research-based, high-quality resource that builds off children’s natural curiosity and interests to promote hands-on investigative learning, hands-on study explorations, while still maintaining responsive routines and caregiving. It enables teachers to transform their planning, teaching, and family engagement experiences in the classroom and beyond.

Read also: Understanding Deep Learning

For Infants, Toddlers & Twos: The Creative Curriculum for Infants, Toddlers & Twos focuses on building off children’s natural curiosity and interests to promote hands-on investigative learning, hands-on study explorations, while still maintaining responsive routines and caregiving. Daily Instructional Tools provide detailed guidance for providing intentional, responsive care. It includes Research-Based Objectives, 38 objectives for development and learning at the curriculum’s core, and focuses on Routines and Experiences, offering support for daily routines and guidance for engaging children in daily experiences.
For Preschool & Pre-Kindergarten: The Creative Curriculum for Preschool & Pre-Kindergarten is comprehensive and research-based and features exploration and discovery as a way of learning. Foundation volumes help teachers create high-quality learning environments and support deep understanding of early childhood best practices, theories, and research. The daily resources provide the instructional tools and materials to engage children in project-based investigations and make every moment of the day meaningful, intentional, and engaging.

Teaching Strategies GOLD

Teaching Strategies GOLD is an authentic observation-based assessment system for children from birth through kindergarten. The system may be implemented with any developmentally appropriate curriculum. It blends ongoing observational assessment for all areas of development and learning with performance tasks for selected predictors of school success in the areas of literacy and numeracy. Teaching Strategies GOLD can be used to assess all children, including English-language learners, children with disabilities, and children who demonstrate competencies beyond typical developmental expectations. The primary purpose of Teaching Strategies GOLD is to document children’s learning over time, inform instruction, and facilitate communication with families.

Broad Learning Opportunities

FUNdamentals Early Learning’s curriculum is broad, and offers learning opportunities in various areas:

Literacy Skills
Outdoor Play
Examining Science and Nature
Music and Movement
Creative learning through hands-on experiences
Commitment to Character
Exploring the World Around Us
Numeracy Skills
Technology
Critical Thinking
Phonological Awareness

Learning Environments

Fundamentals Early Learning Academy provides tailored learning environments for different age groups.

Read also: Fundamentals of Nursing Explained

Infants

The infant room is designed to provide a safe and nurturing environment for your child to grow and develop, focusing on sensory experiences, tummy time, and plenty of cuddles.

Toddlers

In the toddler room, exploration and discovery are encouraged through play. The curriculum includes art, music, and movement activities that promote fine and gross motor skills.

Early Preschool

The preschool program focuses on preparing children for kindergarten, using a play-based approach to learning that emphasizes social-emotional development, language and literacy, and early math and science concepts.

Kindergarten Readiness

The Kindergarten Readiness program is designed to foster a love of learning and build a strong foundation for academic success.

A Whole-Child Approach

As you prepare children for success in school and life, it’s more important than ever to educate the whole child. Research shows that a whole-child approach to education-one where children have opportunities to develop not only math and literacy skills but also social-emotional, physical, and cognitive skills-is developmentally appropriate and better prepares children for life well beyond their time in a classroom. TheCreative Curriculum for Preschool & Pre-Kindergarten enables teachers to transform their planning, teaching, and family engagement experiences in the classroom and beyond.

Key Areas of Development

Fundamentals Early Learning Academy integrates various activities and programs to promote holistic development.

Creative Arts

Creative expression is essential to a child's development. The art program encourages children to explore their imagination and creativity through various mediums, such as painting, drawing, and sculpture.

Music and Movement

Music and movement are vital components of the curriculum. The music program exposes children to a variety of genres and instruments, while the movement program develops gross motor skills and coordination through dance and physical activities.

Language and Literacy

Language and literacy are crucial in a child's development. The language program focuses on building vocabulary, communication skills, and early reading and writing skills.

Math and Science

Math and science are integrated throughout the curriculum to promote problem-solving, critical thinking, and exploration. The program introduces children to basic mathematical concepts and scientific principles through hands-on activities and experiments.

Outdoor Play

Outdoor play is essential for a child's physical and emotional well-being. The outdoor play program provides opportunities for children to explore nature, develop gross motor skills, and engage in imaginative play in a safe and supervised environment.

Nutrition

Providing children with a healthy and balanced diet is a priority. Children who are with us all day enjoy daily, nutritious snacks and meals. Every day we gather together and share stories, talk about our day and plan our learning journey. Being together allows us to get to know our friends, sing songs and play learning games.

Assessment and Progress Monitoring

As part of the curriculum, the teachers in the Early Learning programs monitor student progress throughout the school year. These assessments are designed to evaluate children in different learning domains such as math, literacy, and approaches to learning. Regular assessments are conducted throughout the school year to ensure the individual success of each child. Using both formal and informal assessments, learning progress is documented over time, and the curriculum is adapted to the unique cognitive, social, and emotional needs of each child.

tags: #fundamentals #early #learning #academy #curriculum