Our curriculum
Our curriculum at Glasser Preschool is designed around the concept that children learn through play. Our classroom environment encourages children to make choices, develop a positive self-concept, and promote learning through experimentation and problem-solving.
Our curriculum is emergent. It results from interactions between teachers and children with both providing ideas and developing them to create attractive and worthwhile themes. Teachers balance long-range objectives with moment-to-moment opportunities based on child-teacher interactions and interests.
”Developmentally Appropriate Practice“ is the philosophy of doing the right thing for each child at the right time. Our developmentally appropriate curriculum provides for all areas of a child’s development: social, emotional, physical, cognitive, language, and aesthetic. Teachers adapt curriculum plans to meet the wide range of individual needs and interests of all children in the group.
Through play our children acquire skills in the five main developmental areas: Social and Emotional; Gross Motor; Fine Motor; Language & Communication; and Cognitive. Each area of the classroom and the activities that take place during the day are designed to help children acquire the necessary skills in these areas. The following examples detail how play promotes development:
Our curriculum is emergent. It results from interactions between teachers and children with both providing ideas and developing them to create attractive and worthwhile themes. Teachers balance long-range objectives with moment-to-moment opportunities based on child-teacher interactions and interests.
”Developmentally Appropriate Practice“ is the philosophy of doing the right thing for each child at the right time. Our developmentally appropriate curriculum provides for all areas of a child’s development: social, emotional, physical, cognitive, language, and aesthetic. Teachers adapt curriculum plans to meet the wide range of individual needs and interests of all children in the group.
Through play our children acquire skills in the five main developmental areas: Social and Emotional; Gross Motor; Fine Motor; Language & Communication; and Cognitive. Each area of the classroom and the activities that take place during the day are designed to help children acquire the necessary skills in these areas. The following examples detail how play promotes development:
Block Play
- Social/Emotional Development: Children negotiate for materials they want to use, follow rules for building safety, and exchange ideas that help them expand their own knowledge.
- Physical Development: Fine motor skills are developed by placing blocks together to make intricate designs. Gross motor development is made by carrying large blocks. Eye hand coordination is improved by building structures.
- Language Development: Children increase their vocabulary when talking about what they are building. They also develop writing skills by making signs for what they have built.
- Cognitive Development: Playing with blocks allows children an opportunity to recreate the world around them. Children learn measurement concepts, shapes, number, order, patterns, and weight as they select, build with and put away blocks.
Dramatic Play
- Social/Emotional Development: Children negotiate roles and cooperate to portray different situations. They recreate life experiences.
- Physical Development: Children develop fine motor skills by using dress up clothes.
- Language Development: To engage with others in dramatic play, children use language to explain what they are doing. They choose language that fits the role they have selected.
- Cognitive Development: While playing make believe, children create pictures in their minds about past experiences they imagine. These images are a form of abstract thinking.
Manipulatives
- Social/Emotional Development: Children learn to cooperate with each other by taking turns or working together.
- Physical Development: Fine motor development is refined by the use of manipulatives.
- Language Development: Children use words to describe what they are doing. Children also can explore words and letters.
- Cognitive Development: Children are using problem solving skills. They also expand their emerging math skills such as counting, seriation, matching, patterning, and classification.
Art
- Social/Emotional Development: Art is a natural vehicle for children to express their feelings, originality and individuality.
- Physical Development: Art is all about fine motor skills.
- Language Development: Children often talk about what they are doing and respond to questions about their creations as they engage in art.
- Cognitive Development: Children use thinking skills to plan, organize, select media, and represent their impressions. They experiment and learn about cause and effect.
Reading
- Social/Emotional Development: From books children learn about people who are like them and who are different. Children develop social skills when they share books together and reenact stories.
- Physical Development: Fine motor control is developed when children use tools for writing and illustrating.
- Language Development: All aspects of literacy - reading, writing, listening, and speaking can be strengthened in the Reading Area.
- Cognitive Development: Books help children gain a better understanding of the world around them. They develop an understanding of symbols, cause and effect, and basic skills such as counting, number recognition, colors, shapes, etc.
Science
- Social/Emotional Development: Children learn to work together as they explore, make discoveries, and solve problems.
- Physical Development: Fine motor skills are developed when they do measuring, weighing, etc.
- Language Development: When children make discoveries they are eager to share their excitement with others. They want to talk about their investigations, ask questions, and share experiences.
- Cognitive Development: Children use all the process skills when they observe and ask questions about the world around them. Children organize their thoughts by classifying, comparing, measuring, counting, and graphing objects.
Sensory Table
- Social/Emotional Development: Children work together.
- Physical Development: Fine motor skills are developed working with props in the table.
- Language Development: Children expand their vocabulary as they learn words such as grainy, sprinkle, shallow, etc.
- Cognitive Development: Scientific exploration happens in the sensory table. Children also learn about cause and effect.
Music and Movement
- Social/Emotional Development: Shared experiences make children feel part of a group. Different kinds of music evoke different feelings and actions in children.
- Physical Development: Gross motor development occurs with movement activities. Fine motor skills are developed when children learn finger plays and play musical instruments.
- Language Development: Children develop listening skills through music, following directions and print concepts when they see words of their favorite song in a chart or book.
- Cognitive Development: Problem solving and logic, creating patterns, number concepts (clapping), thinking symbolically, are all developed through music and movement activities.
Jewish Curriculum
An important component of our daily curriculum is Jewish. Not all of our children or families come from a Jewish background. Our staff is sensitive to the needs of all families, and we make every effort for our entire Glasser Preschool family to be comfortable with this part of our curriculum.
Parent education newsletters are sent home throughout the year regarding the Jewish holidays and Hebrew used in the classroom. There is a balance between the Jewish calendar and concepts and the everyday lives and interests of the children of the class. The following Jewish holidays are addressed in all of our classrooms: Shabbat, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Simchat Torah, Hanukkah, Tu B’Shvat, Purim and Pesach. How these holidays are covered will vary depending on the interests and developmental stage of the children in each classroom.
Ivrit (Hebrew) is being used daily in every classroom in our school. As you know, children have the ability to learn several languages simultaneously merely by being exposed to them in interactive situations on a regular basis. We are all born with this talent. (Unfortunately, it starts to fade at age twelve, and by the age of sixteen it has all but disappeared.) Studies show that learning a second language early in life is beneficial in many ways, regardless of whether the language is used later in childhood. The strangest thing about learning a language through daily interaction is that it is easier the younger you are!
Ivrit is being taught differently in our school to each age group, but the overall basic idea is teaching and learning through immersion. In a setting like ours, which is not a total immersion setting, it is important to have some kind of curriculum. Again, the children learn through interaction, songs, and rhymes. Do you need to do be part of this? NOT AT ALL! We are merely letting you in on our curriculum, so that those of you who choose to do so can easily reinforce Ivrit at home.
An important component of our daily curriculum is Jewish. Not all of our children or families come from a Jewish background. Our staff is sensitive to the needs of all families, and we make every effort for our entire Glasser Preschool family to be comfortable with this part of our curriculum.
Parent education newsletters are sent home throughout the year regarding the Jewish holidays and Hebrew used in the classroom. There is a balance between the Jewish calendar and concepts and the everyday lives and interests of the children of the class. The following Jewish holidays are addressed in all of our classrooms: Shabbat, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Simchat Torah, Hanukkah, Tu B’Shvat, Purim and Pesach. How these holidays are covered will vary depending on the interests and developmental stage of the children in each classroom.
Ivrit (Hebrew) is being used daily in every classroom in our school. As you know, children have the ability to learn several languages simultaneously merely by being exposed to them in interactive situations on a regular basis. We are all born with this talent. (Unfortunately, it starts to fade at age twelve, and by the age of sixteen it has all but disappeared.) Studies show that learning a second language early in life is beneficial in many ways, regardless of whether the language is used later in childhood. The strangest thing about learning a language through daily interaction is that it is easier the younger you are!
Ivrit is being taught differently in our school to each age group, but the overall basic idea is teaching and learning through immersion. In a setting like ours, which is not a total immersion setting, it is important to have some kind of curriculum. Again, the children learn through interaction, songs, and rhymes. Do you need to do be part of this? NOT AT ALL! We are merely letting you in on our curriculum, so that those of you who choose to do so can easily reinforce Ivrit at home.
As we start using our Hebrew curriculum, we will send it home to you, so that you can learn with your child and reinforce the vocabulary. It can be as simple as saying Boker tov! (Good morning!) when you wake up instead of or in addition to “Good morning!” in English. It can be as simple as using one, only one, Hebrew word in a whole phrase. For example: let’s go to the bathroom and wash our yadayim (hands)! Consistency helps, so why not always say Mr. Shemesh when you talk about Mr. Sun? It is fun to substitute one Hebrew word for an English word in a famous line: ”Somewhere over the keshet” As we try to make this a fun experience for your yeladim (children), we hope you will enjoy it as well.
