It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.

As a philosophy of teaching, we offer a combination of a theme-based program with emergent curriculum which is a way of planning themed projects in response to children’s interests to create meaningful learning experiences. Activities and projects are planned by Educators to match the theme and the skills, interests and unique needs of the specific children they are working with. Whatever the task, the goal is to engage children in a collaborative activity that is of deep interest to them so they can learn through exploration.

Our Educator’s role is to carefully observe and listen to the children as they play, determine their areas of interest, then develop a plan or curriculum around a theme to direct their learning which reflects these interests. The thematic emergent curriculum approach allows early childhood Educators to gain greater insight into the needs of each individual child and their needs, allowing for thoughtful and customized programming. The flexible and open-ended nature of emergent curriculum lets children and Educators alike to explore, answer questions and guide learning in a way that evolves over time. Our Educators start by being open to what children are doing, saying and thinking.

The curriculum we develop is meant to be a loose framework, initiated by the children, which will guide various learning activities. Our Educators take on the role of facilitators, observing how children play and listen to what they say. Using these observations, we plan activities to build upon their learning, providing them the opportunity to discover more and dig deeper. Our emergent curriculum is flexible and cannot be planned far in advance. Instead, our program is constantly developing in response to what children are most curious about.

Mornings

In the mornings the children will learn a subject based on a pre-determined theme each week. It will allow the Educators to incorporate the practice of early math skills, literacy skills, and fine motor skills. With all of these skills and concepts being introduced under a uniform theme, it will not only help your child make the connections they need to master them faster, but it will also make them a whole lot more fun to teach. When thematic instruction takes place along with cooperative learning, the advantages include the following:

• Thematic cooperative learning activities encourage authentic communication
• The learner shares one's ideas with others in the group
• Interaction encourages the values of respect and cooperation, thus building effective peer learning
• The Educator becomes the facilitator, reduces the role of dispenser of learning

Afternoons

In the afternoon the programming will focus more on the ideas of the children and what they are currently interested in called emergent learning. Children benefit from this type of programming in the following ways: 

• While framed by the Educator, it is child-initiated, allowing for collaborations between the children and the Educators, giving everyone a voice
• It is responsive to the child, thereby allowing Educators to build upon existing interests
• In its practice, the Educator takes on the role of the facilitator, taking what they see and hear, and bringing to children the opportunity to discover more, dig deeper, and construct further knowledge
• It is flexible in that curriculum planning, rather than being done well in advance, is constantly developing. The curriculum is dynamic, neither stagnant nor repetitive 
• It enables the children's learning and Educator's thinking to be made visible through varied forms of documentation