Deciding on the right preschool for your child is no easy feat. You survey the various preschool curriculums that are available at your disposal but more often than not, you are not able to decide on which curriculum suits your child. But when the time comes you do have to make a sound decision as a proper preschool curriculum sets the foundation for your child’s cognitive, emotional, and social development. This article will go in-depth about preschool curriculum, with a primary focus on early learning, play-based learning, and holistic child development. 

 

If You Are New To Preschool Curriculum

 

A preschool curriculum is an organized system of academia that specifies the academic targets, goals, and teaching systems for children aged between 3-5 years. The stark difference between the curriculum of senior students and that of preschool students is that the former is very set in terms of following the learning flow, whereas the latter is very flexible. The reason as to why preschool curriculum tends to be flexible is because the students benefiting from this curriculum are still in the development stages when it comes to their mental model. Which is why the curriculum itself does not want to tax the young children as they are encouraged to learn at their own pace. The learning models for this curriculum center around playful activities and mental stimulation. To be more specific, the theme of preschool curriculum is based on the following: 

 

• Language literacy: Students are introduced to the alphabet and word recognition. This objective is creatively taught to the students by means of singing, rhyming, and drawing. 
• Socially awareness: The children are encouraged to spend communal time within themselves as not only does it create bonds of friendships but it also helps them to develop the skills necessary to interact with fellow human beings from a very young age. 
• Comfort performing basic tasks: The children are also familiarized with basic tasks such as cutting with child-proof scissors, counting beads, running, jumping and maintaining good hygiene. 

 

Play-based learning and why it is beneficial for your child

 

At any preschool, you should expect to see some form of play-based learning as it is not just a medium for children to have fun but it is also a significant way for them to learn and develop. By involving themselves in such activities, the children discover different ideas, learn how to constructively think about them, while concurrently learning how to socialize with their peers. The benefits of such learning are explained in further details below: 

 

• Learning while being involved in fun activities: This allows the children to learn at a flexible rate without feeling the pressure of optimal results and output. Examples of activities in which they participate are lego-building, tag (also known as borof pani in Bangla), or even simple but entertaining activities such as play-acting. 
• Socializing: Play-learning allows the children to socialize in groups as many of their activities hinge on them doing their activities together. The benefits for this are two-fold: It teaches the children to collaborate in a team, and it also allows them to respect each other’s actions, while simultaneously having fun. 
• Gaining emotional maturity: It is very common for preschool children to suffer from social anxiety. After all it is the first time in their lives that they are out of the comfort of their homes and inside the school environment. More often than not this leads to them not expressing themselves in a verbal manner. And that is completely fine, because children are supposed to be comfortable when partaking in preschool activities. To ensure that the children are expressive even when they are not talking, the playing activities in preschools allow the children to express themselves through their actions rather than their words. 
• Focus on fitness: Part of the benefits include ensuring the physical fitness of children enrolled in preschool programs. And as such, the children are always encouraged during school hours to take advantage of nature and what it has to offer. To that end, many of the preschool activities involving the children take place outdoors within the school premises. Moreover, the children are always given time to run and play with each other outside, therefore fulfilling their physical fitness requirements. 

 

A Preschool Curriculum Is The Support System For Child Development

 

The purpose of a preschool curriculum is to provide a holistic education for your children that is appropriate for their age. By guaranteeing that your children receive a steady and overarching learning path through the curriculum, preschool administrators focus on three aspects, namely cognitive development, social and emotional development, maintenance of health and ownership of creative freedom. For each component, the administrators have their general reasoning as to why they focus on them: 

 

• Cognitive development: Cognitive development is the cornerstone of any child’s development. Not only does the fruitful development of cognition help your child perform academically well in the long run, but it also helps them to navigate their way through the many future obstacles of life. Moreover, their cognitive development is realized by encouraging critical thinking, teaching new languages and enabling them to solve problems on their own. The immediate benefit of such actions is that they are fully prepared for their kindergarten experience. 
• Maintenance of health: Just encouraging the children to partake in activities that will ensure their physical fitness is not fitness as they have to understand themselves that “health is wealth”. Such realizations are instilled in the students so that they are health-dependent on no one but themselves during their lifetimes. Additionally, the value of good health is provided to students by teaching them nutritional facts about different types of food.
• Social and emotional development: The intricacies of abstract concepts such as social and emotional development are not self-understood by preschool children. While that may be true, it is nonetheless still important for them to know the benefits of developing them from a young age. Of course, the teachers do not go into core details about them. Rather, they instill these concepts in the students in more practical ways, such as individually making small conversations with each student and having leading conversations with them. The purpose of this is to stimulate the young minds of the preschoolers. 
• Ownership of creative freedom: Increasingly nowadays, it is seen that children are not not expressing their creative freedom. While the reasons for this may be numerous, the fact remains that expression of creative freedom is an important necessity in life. If expression of creative freedom is not encouraged then the children in preschool will not learn to think “outside of the box”.

 

The Role of CMIS Teachers In Early Learning

 

Teachers have an important role to play in the early learning phase of your children. At the Canadian Maple International School (CMIS), the teachers are not just formal instructors, but they are also the guiding light for your children, helping them to understand the world they reside in. The following are some ways that our teachers help your children during their early-learning phase: 

 

• Observance from a safe distance: Our teachers assess the progress of each child in a healthy manner and from a safe distance. The purpose for doing so is ensuring that your child does not unintentionally get into trouble or do something that is not beneficial for them, while simultaneously noting the areas where your child excels. 
• Relationship building: It is imperative for your child to have mentor figures during their school hours, especially if your child is enrolled in our preschool program because the preschool students need to feel valued and understood more due to their age group.
• A safe environment:  Our teachers at CMIS prioritize the enabling of a safe environment for your preschool-going child, above everything else. Every single child’s absence and presence are accounted for and if a child’s absence is not notified beforehand, our teachers make it their personal responsibility to contact the child’s designated guardian to know if there is any specific reason as to why their child is absent.

 

Why CMIS Has The Best Preschool Curriculum 

 

A properly rounded preschool curriculum is the best tool your child can have at such a young age. At CMIS, our preschool curriculum is flexible for your child’s needs as it addresses all the fields of learning that are necessary for your little child. By integrating play-based into our preschool curriculum we create a fun yet educational environment for our preschool students that is sure to brighten their curious minds. Furthermore, the proactiveness of our teachers in ensuring your child’s safety and security is a testament as to how much CMIS feels responsible for our preschool students.