Curriculum
Curriculum Philosophy
At Lil’ Bears Childcare, we believe that, from birth, all people are capable and competent. Each person is an individual who will learn and develop in a unique way. With support from a caring provider and a rich learning environment, children will learn, play, explore, experiment, discover, create, experience, and develop relationships.
The Lil’ Bears Childcare curriculum is built upon the following philosophical beliefs:
Trusting, respectful, nurturing relationships between children and adults are essential. These caring bonds build the foundation for a classroom environment where children can take risks, learn from their mistakes, and be joyful in their learning.
Providers encourage growth and development through celebrating successes and allowing challenges to create teachable moments that guide learning.
The teacher’s role is as a facilitator and guide. As teachers support children in their problem-solving, we use a variety of teaching strategies, including modeling, providing appropriate learning materials, encouraging children’s independence, and planning teacher-led activities.
At Lil’ Bears Childcare, our curriculum is centered around play.
Play is the work of children.
A play-based, hands-on, active learning environment is most appropriate for young learners. We believe that this approach, which includes the whole child, prepares children well for future success, both in school and in their lives.
Children learn through exploring, experimenting, discovering, and experiencing.
Free play provides an opportunity for children to direct their own learning in a developmentally appropriate way.
Providers supervise and help children, but the play is directed by the child.
Materials and equipment are developmentally appropriate, accessible and reflect all children’s interests, skills, abilities and represent the children, youth and families serviced.
In their exploratory play, children manipulate materials, hypothesize, test theories, repeat activities and draw conclusions.
In their social play, children learn how to be a member of a larger community.
Children will make significant choices about use of materials and activities throughout the day. They are offered opportunities to participate in individual, small group, and large group experiences.
The provider intentionally plans the classroom environment and experiences and provides materials to inspire learning, discovery, creativity and problem-solving.
Research, theory, and experience in the field of education informs our practice.
Connections to the natural world are intrinsic to healthy growth and development. In addition to spending time outdoors, nature-based materials and experiences are provided both indoors and outside.
Our curriculum emerges from children’s interests, teachers’ observations, and events in the lives of the children and their families.
Lil’ Bears uses the Desired Results Developmental Profile (DDP) program for an assessment instrument. DRDP is designed for teachers to observe, document, and reflect on the learning, development, and progress of each child enrolled in our program.
*Lil’ Bears uses a crosswalk between DRDP and Maine’s Early Learning and Development Standards (MELDS and Infant/ToddlerMELDS). This crosswalk takes the indicators for MELDS and connects them with the DRDP indicators.
The typical development of an age group, as well as the individual development of the children in the program, is used as a guide for curriculum planning. Observation, documentation and ongoing assessment of individual children and the classroom as a whole are used as the basis for curriculum planning.
Our curriculum reflects, values, and extends the richness of the diversity of the children, staff, and families in a classroom. A respect for individual differences underlies all that we do.
Planned activities are grounded in Developmentally Appropriate Practice and reflect the Infant Toddler MELDS (Maine Early Learning and Development Requirements) and MELDS. These activities are usually structured to introduce a new concept or reinforce those already learned by the children. Activities include:
Stories which provide time for reading-readiness skills of listening, retelling, and moral reasoning
Exercise to strengthen overall health and muscles
Music with instruments and singing to develop both vocabulary and listening skills
Art activities to build on a child’s imagination
Science experiments that allow children to explore and discover the world around them and how they fit in it
Objectives for development and learning include social-emotional, physical, language and cognitive, with content learning in literacy, mathematics, science and technology, social studies, and the arts. One of the many benefits of a family childcare is the dynamics of a mixed-age group. Children from 6 weeks old through school-age share the same space and many of the same materials and activities, which are tailored to meet the ability, learning style and needs of each child as determined by observations and assessments. Daily routines are used to create safety in a schedule that contains both active and quiet elements.
Healthy relationships within our childcare family are also important aspects of the curriculum that guide social development. Children learn acceptance of others, regardless of age or ability. Children are encouraged to feel and name emotions and, if appropriate, choose ways to work through them. Cooperation and compromise are skills that are reinforced through regular interactions.
Families are asked to communicate and share goals with childcare regularly. We are a team and welcome families to participate in their child’s experience at Lil’ Bears in any way they can.