OUR CURRICULUM & PLANNING
Our Curriculum & Planning:
Our teaching curriculum is based on the guiding principles of Te Whaariki, the Early Learning Curriculum of the Ministry of Education.
- Whakamana – Empowerment The early childhood curriculum empowers the child to learn and grow
- Kotahitanga – Holistic Development = The early childhood curriculum reflects the holistic way children learn and grow.
- Whānau Tangata – Family and Community = The wider world of family and community is an integral part of the early childhood curriculum.
- Ngā Hononga – Relationships = Children learn through responsive and reciprocal relationships with people, places, and things.
Children are immersed in language and words at the centre through our daily experiences varying from storytelling, books, songs so that our children explore a world of make believe as well as facts. This helps our children foster a love of books. All this develops the necessary early literacy skills needed to support children’s reading, counting skills and development at school.
A safe outdoor environment is provided where our children can build their muscles in their arms and legs through experiences like climbing, running and jumping. Other experiences include catching, throwing, kicking balls so that our children develop hand-eye co-ordination and develop the left/right brain connections that will support future brain development and learning.
We offer our children a quiet area for sleep or rest times according to their individual needs.
Block building and Puzzles
Block building and puzzles are important for cognitive development as they stimulate abstract thinking. Puzzles help children think logically as they learn to match simple and complex shapes. Blocks teach co-ordination as children have to manipulate, stack, balance, lift and arrange them. It is great for hand and arm muscles and hand and eye co-ordination.
Science concepts are included in our daily activities and they vary from properties changing as in cooking, changes form, e.g. solids to liquids and vice versa, floating and sinking experiments. we encourage the children to have an enquiring mind.
Every day we reinforce the foundation for future learning of maths through music, stories, shapes , puzzles, other activities e.g baking and other curriculum areas.
We provide music and movement to embrace the holistic growth of a child, their physical balance, a fun way of expressing emotions, spatial awareness through social interactions and spiritual growth.
Sand and water play offers children a lot of learning experiences such as maths and science concepts of weight and measurement to understand volume. As children play alongside their peers they develop social skills such as problem solving, sharing and turn taking. They also grow in their creative play as they cook exciting meals, have parties, get constructive and dig tunnels or make volcanoes, mountains and build bridges.
Creative play is valued here at Learning Steps. We have many areas that are set for creative play, from the family corner, the dress-up area, blocks and construction work or to the outdoors where creative play experiences are extended through water play, sandpit play, painting and collage etc.
Group time is organised so our children learn how to respond to the needs of others while in a group. This involves big and small groups so that our children develop social,sharing and caring skills.