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Admisssions

Curriculum

Pre-K2

The curriculum for two year olds is presented in thematic integrated units. Children are exposed to different themes of interest and relevance to their own life experiences on an ongoing basis. Play is the core learning process of the integrated curriculum, and this is based on the belief that children must enjoy learning and should always be engaged in meaningful, fun experiences that target the acquisition of desired skills and learning outcomes as identified in the curriculum framework.

Pre-K3

The curriculum for three years olds is presented in thematic integrated units. The classroom environment is decorated to reflect each new theme in terms of the appropriateness of the learning materials and hands-on learning experiences provided to facilitate and support children’s learning and skill building. Children are exposed to different themes of interest and relevance to their own life experiences on an ongoing basis. They also learn numbers and number concepts.

Pre-K4

The curriculum for 4 year olds consist of activities that expose children to experiences that will help them to learn new concepts and develop a wide range of psychomotor, cognitive and social-emotional skills. Emphasis is placed on early literacy and numeracy in weekly activities with introduction to skills from the perceptual, creative, psychomotor, and social-emotional areas. Teachers provide a variety of assessment procedures to monitor children’s progress, to include checklists, rating scales, observations and anecdotal comments. Students in Pre-K 4 are offered extracurricular opportunities such as Dance, Piano, Speech and Drama, and Spanish.

Pre-K5

In addition to the curriculum expectations for the previous grade, students in Pre-K 5 participate in school-readiness activities in an integrated curriculum model. The comprehensive programme is designed to meet the language, physical, cognitive, creative, socio-emotional, spiritual, cultural, and school readiness needs of children

What does an Integrated Curriculum look like?

• Arrival – this is an opportunity for practitioners to get to know children and their parents better as they receive and greet them warmly and initiate discussion.

• Free play – during this period the environment is adequately prepared with a wide range of activities that children can choose to VIII engage in, e.g. table-top games and puzzles, book area, blocks, Dress-up Corner, Shop Corner and so on.

• Devotion – this is traditionally done in Jamaican schools. At the early childhood level, this exercise should be fairly brief and the emphasis should be on character building and development of positive values and attitudes, e.g. caring, sharing, kindness, and honesty.

• Circle time/group time – this is the first opportunity of the day for children to meet as a group and offers potential for a wide range of learning activities. It is a good time to introduce new concepts to the whole group, concepts that may be followed up further in smaller group sessions.

• Guided learning – this period provides practitioners with the opportunity to focus on the learning needs of individuals and small groups of children. Children generally continue to engage in skill-building activities that reinforce concepts previously introduced, or to learn new ones. The strategy of “grouping” can be effectively applied here as the emphasis is on small group activity.

• Transition periods – there are several transition periods throughout the day as children shift from one type of activity to another. Children should be given adequate notice that an activity is about to change and then be encouraged through songs, jingles and poems to engage in cleaning up activities, using an element of fun.

• Mealtimes – children might have one or more snack periods depending on the length of the day, as well as a main meal. This period offers opportunity to share important learning about health, nutrition and cleanliness, e.g. how to properly wash and dry hands before handling food. Children can also be guided in proper etiquette and how to be kind to each other. As far as possible, adults should sit and eat with the children and help them practice their social skills.

• Outdoor play – barring inclement weather or other individual circumstances, this is a “non-negotiable” daily activity period. Young children must have daily opportunities to exercise their muscles and release pent-up energy. It is inappropriate practice to keep children confined indoors all day as this promotes the development of unhealthy habits such as excessive TV watching, laziness and lack of interest in exercise.

• Rest time – all young children need quiet periods of rest throughout the course of the day. This period can be enhanced by playing soothing music that induces sleep.

• Creative activities – on a daily basis children should have the opportunity to experience the creative arts, e.g. drawing and painting, constructing, dancing, singing or storytelling

From THE JAMAICA EARLY CHILDHOOD CURRICULUM GUIDE FOR CHILDREN Four and Five Getting Ready for Life

Book Lists & Supplies

Pre K2