Curriculum

1. Curriculum Goals

Our curriculum grows out of the goals we have for all children, and an educational philosophy that is grounded in the principle that children cannot be given knowledge, but rather must be provided with experiences from which they construct their own knowledge and develop their own skills.

We believe that planned, organized experiences are important, as are flexible, spontaneous experiences, and that an effective learning environment will provide a balance of both.

We draw on current research on the interaction of experience, brain development and learning. Our curriculum is child-centered, individualized, nurturing, and reflects a desire for a collaborative relationship with our children’s parents.
Our program goals are to facilitate the development of each child’s:

• Self-Esteem
• Communication Skills
• Ability to Make Choices
• Problem Solving Skills
• Ability to lead
• Social and Moral Reasoning Skills
• Sense of Responsibility
• Creativity
• Sense of Confidence in His/Her Ability
• Self-Management Skills
• Multicultural Experience
• Discrimination and Judgment Skills

ISYC’s programs strive to support children’s growth in each of the above areas by:

• Providing a caring, professional teaching staff that respects, encourages, supports and guides children’s explorations.
• Providing a rich, safe and planned physical, social and learning environment. Our learning interest areas and experiences encourage higher levels of school readiness in pre-math, pre-reading, science, and social studies.
• Providing flexible, challenging and varied learning centers and experiences.
• Providing an optimum mix of new and familiar experiences, equipment and materials.
• Providing support for and opportunities to develop individual interests.
• Providing support and guidance when children momentarily lose control of materials, equipment or emotions.
• Providing open communication and collaboration with children’s parents to help the children grow and develop optimally.

2. Educational Programs

ISYC Programs
Our Early Childhood Program combines the best features of current educational theories:

• The Reggio Emilia approach
• Howard Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligences
• Lev Vygotsky’s theories of Social Interaction and Learning
• Jean Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
• Erik Erikson’s Theory of Social/Emotional Development

Likewise, we adopt the Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) towards early childhood education. By this, we mean:

» Our curriculum addresses the development of your child in all domains – physical, cognitive, social and emotional.
» We recognize the uniqueness of each child. Hence, activities are flexible in order to meet each child’s developmental needs.
» As teachers, we provide your child with a variety of hands-on activities in order to make his/her learning meaningful and relevant.
» PLAY is an important vehicle through which your child’s development is supported. Thus we give them lots of opportunities for that.