Early Learning Success
A fundamental premise of the Early Learning Success Curriculum is that children matter. It's a simple premise, but it's at the heart of what we believe is important in providing quality programming for children.
Whole Day, Whole Child
The YMCA believes that a child's job is to take in new learning through every activity and experience in which they engage. We take pride in providing activities and experiences that address the need of the 'whole child.'
Learning
Our curriculum is designed to support and enhance every child's learning in all development domains:
- Social and emotional development
- Approaches to learning
- Creativity and the arts
- Language and literacy development
- Cognitive development, including math, science, and social systems
- Physical and motor development
Observing Children
We use observation to measure child development and how well our programming is meeting the needs of each child.
Child-focused observations will:
- Show the interests of the child
- Show how a child interacts with others
- Show teaching practices that positively impact a child’s abilities
- Provide information to share with families.
Program-focused can answer:
- Are children productively engaged in activities?
- Do parents have questions or concerns?
- Do our schedules and routines reflect the needs of the children?
Planning & Scheduling
Schedules and routines are important for children because they provide consistency, giving children a sense of security, allowing teachers and children to build trust.
Scheduled activities include:
- Indoor and outdoor gross motor play
- Quiet activities (painting, reading)
- Active choices (music, gym time)
Interest Areas
Interest areas encourage children to make decisions where they are in control of their learning. Activities include:
- Creative art
- Science
- Block play
- Manipulatives and math
- Dramatic play
- Reading and writing
- Music and movement
- Sensory experiences
Methods of Delivery
Different instructional delivery methods are used to address the many different ways children learn, including:
- Free exploration
- One-on-one
- Small group activities
- Large group activities
- Child-Directed activities
- Leader-Directed activities
STEM
Our curriculum supports skill development for STEM education as we believe that all children should be:
- Problem solvers
- Innovators
- Inventors
- Self-reliant
- Logical thinkers
- Technologically literate