Nature's Journey
Our Curriculum
Woods Edge Nature Preschool combines traditional and outdoor classroom learning experiences to give children the knowledge they need to be kindergarten ready. Our goal is to provide children with a well-balanced curriculum that will promote their success as they move through their academic careers.
Curriculum
Thematic Nature Units: Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer
Child-Centered
Our curriculum teaches to the whole child; cognitive, social, emotional, creative, physical, and linguistic.
Mixed Aged Classrooms
Woods Edge Nature Preschool supports mixed-age classrooms. Here is what theory and research tell us about the strength of mixed-age classrooms;
Jean Piaget
Stage Theorist {Children develop useful concepts and schemes by repeating acts again and again, using concrete materials. This allows a child to adapt and accommodate to new situations, thus learning and changing existing schemes, allowing for cognitive maturation to occur.
Lev Vygotsky
Development is not fixed, but on a continuum. Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)
What a child can do and what a child can learn to do with support. With scaffolding, learning is socially mediated. Teachers and other children can help with ZPD. After children move on to new learning, they in turn can help others to move to that next level. This is not age related but developmentally determined and socially mediated.
Maria Montessori
“The charm of social life is in the number of different types that one meets.” Multiple age groupings allow children to help one another. People sometimes fear that if a child of 5 gives lessons, this will hold him back in his own progress. Teaching helps a child understand what he knows even better than before. He has to analyze and rearrange his own store of knowledge before he can pass it on.
Lilian Katz
Extended Family Model (Reggio Emilia) 3 –6-year old’s together. There is home-like closeness and intimacy associated with family life that is appropriate for young children. The fact that these children stay with the same teacher for several years enables the children, parents, and their teachers to form strong and stable relationships with each other as they might if they were with extended families and small communities.
Interesting Points from Recent Research
Project-Based Learning
Inquiry questions lead teachers to develop curriculum that is interest based, integrated across content areas, and develops 21st Century skills. This allows children to explore meaningful questions and engage in real-world experiences. Each unit encompasses different focus topics; for instance, in the fall one our topic may be the study of trees. Children will learn about the growth cycle of trees, identify different trees in New England and through our Global Collaboration, learn about the trees in the area of our collaborative classroom.
Teachers will plan learning experiences that integrate all content areas including science, math, reading, writing, art, social studies, character development and nature into each unit of study. Our outdoor classroom is our primary learning area and teacher plan to bring the learning outdoors.
Curriculum is developed around the use of our outdoor classroom.
Our daily activities include;
Our teachers are encouraged to think ‘out-of-the-box’ to make learning meaningful for each child! Our outdoor classroom fosters child development in sharing and caring for one another and nature. Outdoor classrooms allow more opportunities for decision making that stimulate problem solving and creative thinking. This is because there is less structure in the outdoors. Our school balances indoor and outdoor learning with an emphasis on bringing the indoor classroom, outdoors as much as possible. Our outdoor classroom space allows for children to think more freely and even develop better problem solving skills because of the greater opportunities for hands-on activity.
Garden-Based Learning
Woods Edge Nature Preschool classrooms are extended to the outdoors. Our Garden-based learning (GBL) invites children to learn through activities and projects in which the garden is the foundation for integrated learning, in and across disciplines, through active, engaging real-world experiences that have real-life meaning for children and their families.
Garden-based learning is essentially an instructional strategy that utilizes the garden as a teaching tool. The practice of garden-based learning is a growing global phenomenon. In some settings, it is the educational curriculum and in others it supports or enriches the curriculum. Nevertheless, garden-based learning has been viewed as contributing to all aspects of basic education, including academic skills, personal development, social development, moral development, and life skills.
The benefits of garden-based learning are abundant and child-focused gardens are one of the most significant positive trends in education today. Benefits include, increased nutrition awareness, environmental awareness, higher learning achievements, and increased life skills. School gardens can foster scientific literacy and social skills, while enhancing an awareness of the link between plants in the landscape and our clothing, food, shelter, and well-being.
Gardening projects provide children and youth with the carefree exploration of the natural world that occurs rarely in today's era of indoor living; it can also give young people the chance to develop a wide range of academic and social skills. Increased nutrition awareness Research indicates that youth who participate in garden-based learning programs have increased their consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables, and gained new enthusiasm for fresh, nutritious vegetables they grew. Teachers also regarded the garden to be very effective at enhancing academic performance, physical activity, language arts, and healthful eating habits.
As children grow an increased environmental awareness will be highlighted as children gain more positive attitudes about environmental issues after participating in a school garden program. Increased life skills attributed to children's garden programs are; enhances moral education, increases appreciation for nature, increases responsibility, develops patience, increases in relationship skill, increases self-esteem, helps students develop a sense of ownership and responsibility, and helps foster relationships with family members.
Prekindergarten Curriculum Overview:
Mathematics
Social Studies
1. Orientation of Time
2. Orientation of Space
Global Education
Connecting to the World
Why is global education important?
We define global learning experiences as any classroom activities which expose young children to new ways of thinking about the world, their own and others’ cultures, world languages, communities, and families.
Our world is becoming both increasingly interconnected, which means that children will need new skill sets in order to communicate and collaborate, and to work and play together. Early childhood classrooms in the United States today often have children who speak many different languages and who are part of numerous different cultures. Instead of just accepting this diversity in demographics, we believe that we should utilize it as an opportunity to engage young children in an ongoing exploration of the world. By creating global learning experiences, early childhood teachers have the ability to expose children to concepts of diversity, multiculturalism, and multilingualism at an early age. This type of early exposure can make issues of equity and equality, as well as global understanding, accessible and relevant to children and hopefully less of a struggle to understand and practice as they grow into adults. Reference: Tech for a Global Early Childhood Classroom.
Science
Woods Edge Nature Preschool combines traditional and outdoor classroom learning experiences to give children the knowledge they need to be kindergarten ready. Our goal is to provide children with a well-balanced curriculum that will promote their success as they move through their academic careers.
Curriculum
Thematic Nature Units: Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer
Child-Centered
Our curriculum teaches to the whole child; cognitive, social, emotional, creative, physical, and linguistic.
Mixed Aged Classrooms
Woods Edge Nature Preschool supports mixed-age classrooms. Here is what theory and research tell us about the strength of mixed-age classrooms;
Jean Piaget
Stage Theorist {Children develop useful concepts and schemes by repeating acts again and again, using concrete materials. This allows a child to adapt and accommodate to new situations, thus learning and changing existing schemes, allowing for cognitive maturation to occur.
Lev Vygotsky
Development is not fixed, but on a continuum. Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)
What a child can do and what a child can learn to do with support. With scaffolding, learning is socially mediated. Teachers and other children can help with ZPD. After children move on to new learning, they in turn can help others to move to that next level. This is not age related but developmentally determined and socially mediated.
Maria Montessori
“The charm of social life is in the number of different types that one meets.” Multiple age groupings allow children to help one another. People sometimes fear that if a child of 5 gives lessons, this will hold him back in his own progress. Teaching helps a child understand what he knows even better than before. He has to analyze and rearrange his own store of knowledge before he can pass it on.
Lilian Katz
Extended Family Model (Reggio Emilia) 3 –6-year old’s together. There is home-like closeness and intimacy associated with family life that is appropriate for young children. The fact that these children stay with the same teacher for several years enables the children, parents, and their teachers to form strong and stable relationships with each other as they might if they were with extended families and small communities.
Interesting Points from Recent Research
- Each child progresses at their own speed with no competition because all are at different levels. Aina, O. (2001)
- Maximizing learning in early childhood multi-age classrooms: Early Childhood Education Journal.vol.28 #4, 219-224.
- Children are capable of interacting with different ages because they may be operating in overlapping cognitive domains. Roopnarine, J. L. & Johnson, J.E. (2005). Approaches to Early Childhood Education. Ohio: Merrill Prentice Hall
- The curriculum is more differentiated and teachers in multi-age classes see their children as diverse rather than similar. Lloyd, (1999). Multi-Age Classes and High Ability Students. Review of Educational Research. Vol 69, # 2, 187 –212.
Project-Based Learning
Inquiry questions lead teachers to develop curriculum that is interest based, integrated across content areas, and develops 21st Century skills. This allows children to explore meaningful questions and engage in real-world experiences. Each unit encompasses different focus topics; for instance, in the fall one our topic may be the study of trees. Children will learn about the growth cycle of trees, identify different trees in New England and through our Global Collaboration, learn about the trees in the area of our collaborative classroom.
Teachers will plan learning experiences that integrate all content areas including science, math, reading, writing, art, social studies, character development and nature into each unit of study. Our outdoor classroom is our primary learning area and teacher plan to bring the learning outdoors.
Curriculum is developed around the use of our outdoor classroom.
Our daily activities include;
- Garden-based learning (Spring and Summer)
- Bible Time
- Natural Science Experiences
- Art Expressions
- Music and Movement
- Language and Literacy
- Block Building and Engineering Design
- Math and Manipulatives
- Dramatic Play
- Large and Small Motor Play
- Cooking and Food Experiences
- Sensory Activities
- Technology Exploration - Screen time is limited and used only as tool to extend our learning. Such as digital cameras used for nature walks.
Our teachers are encouraged to think ‘out-of-the-box’ to make learning meaningful for each child! Our outdoor classroom fosters child development in sharing and caring for one another and nature. Outdoor classrooms allow more opportunities for decision making that stimulate problem solving and creative thinking. This is because there is less structure in the outdoors. Our school balances indoor and outdoor learning with an emphasis on bringing the indoor classroom, outdoors as much as possible. Our outdoor classroom space allows for children to think more freely and even develop better problem solving skills because of the greater opportunities for hands-on activity.
Garden-Based Learning
Woods Edge Nature Preschool classrooms are extended to the outdoors. Our Garden-based learning (GBL) invites children to learn through activities and projects in which the garden is the foundation for integrated learning, in and across disciplines, through active, engaging real-world experiences that have real-life meaning for children and their families.
Garden-based learning is essentially an instructional strategy that utilizes the garden as a teaching tool. The practice of garden-based learning is a growing global phenomenon. In some settings, it is the educational curriculum and in others it supports or enriches the curriculum. Nevertheless, garden-based learning has been viewed as contributing to all aspects of basic education, including academic skills, personal development, social development, moral development, and life skills.
The benefits of garden-based learning are abundant and child-focused gardens are one of the most significant positive trends in education today. Benefits include, increased nutrition awareness, environmental awareness, higher learning achievements, and increased life skills. School gardens can foster scientific literacy and social skills, while enhancing an awareness of the link between plants in the landscape and our clothing, food, shelter, and well-being.
Gardening projects provide children and youth with the carefree exploration of the natural world that occurs rarely in today's era of indoor living; it can also give young people the chance to develop a wide range of academic and social skills. Increased nutrition awareness Research indicates that youth who participate in garden-based learning programs have increased their consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables, and gained new enthusiasm for fresh, nutritious vegetables they grew. Teachers also regarded the garden to be very effective at enhancing academic performance, physical activity, language arts, and healthful eating habits.
As children grow an increased environmental awareness will be highlighted as children gain more positive attitudes about environmental issues after participating in a school garden program. Increased life skills attributed to children's garden programs are; enhances moral education, increases appreciation for nature, increases responsibility, develops patience, increases in relationship skill, increases self-esteem, helps students develop a sense of ownership and responsibility, and helps foster relationships with family members.
Prekindergarten Curriculum Overview:
Mathematics
- Patterns and Classification
- Geometry and Measurement
- Numbers and Number Sense
- Computation
- Money
Social Studies
1. Orientation of Time
- Vocabulary
- Measures of Time
- Passage of Time (past, present, future)
2. Orientation of Space
- Vocabulary
- Actual and Representational Space
- Simple Maps
- Basic Geography Concepts
Global Education
Connecting to the World
Why is global education important?
We define global learning experiences as any classroom activities which expose young children to new ways of thinking about the world, their own and others’ cultures, world languages, communities, and families.
Our world is becoming both increasingly interconnected, which means that children will need new skill sets in order to communicate and collaborate, and to work and play together. Early childhood classrooms in the United States today often have children who speak many different languages and who are part of numerous different cultures. Instead of just accepting this diversity in demographics, we believe that we should utilize it as an opportunity to engage young children in an ongoing exploration of the world. By creating global learning experiences, early childhood teachers have the ability to expose children to concepts of diversity, multiculturalism, and multilingualism at an early age. This type of early exposure can make issues of equity and equality, as well as global understanding, accessible and relevant to children and hopefully less of a struggle to understand and practice as they grow into adults. Reference: Tech for a Global Early Childhood Classroom.
Science
- Human Characteristics, Needs and Development
- Animal Characteristics, Needs and Development
- Plant Characteristics, Needs and Development
- Physical Science (Air, Water, Light)
- Introduction to Magnetism
- Seasons and Weather
- Taking Care of the Earth
- Scientific Tools
- Oral Language
- Functions of Language
- Forms of Language
- Nursery Rhymes, Poems, Finger Plays and Songs
- Memorization Skills
- Listening
- Developing a Sense of Rhyme
- Storybook Reading and Storytelling
- Listening to Stories
- Participating in Stories
- Story Schema
- Book and Print Awareness
- Emergent Literacy Skills in Reading and Writing
- Print Awareness
- Print Structure
- Phonics Awareness
- Fine Motor Skills
- Physical Skills
- Gross Motor Skills
- Coordination
- Group Games
- Using body expressively
- Autonomy
- Social Skills
- Work Habits
- Attention to Detail
- Exploration and Creation
- Art Appreciation
- Attention to differences
- Imitate and Produce Sound
- Listen and Sing Songs
- Listen to and Move to Music