Curriculum Overview

The curriculum at Honey Bear Preschool and Child Care Center is based on accepted current early childhood educational theory and methodology. It is organized around the basic tenet that children learn first about themselves, their close environment and their families and then build upon that learning to expand their horizons according to available interests and experimental opportunities. Curriculum at Honey Bear Preschool and Child Care Center focuses on the developmental needs of the whole child – emphasizing the integration of cognitive, physical, social, and emotional development.

In addition to attending to the developmental needs of the whole child, our curriculum attempts to be anti-bias, non-sexist and multi-cultural. An anti-bias curriculum:

• Fosters each child’s sense of self-identity.
• Fosters acceptance of diversity among people by allowing children to ask about and explore differences.
• Encourages critical thinking about bias by helping children to ask about and explore differences.
• Encourages empathy toward others.
• Fosters each child’s ability to stand up for him/herself and others in the face of bias.

Our anti-bias curriculum is supported by a wide variety of bias-free books, dolls and other learning materials as well as specific teacher-directed activities and experiences that are a regular part of each classroom. We strongly encourage your support, involvement and feedback regarding our efforts.

The Honey Bear Preschool and Child Care Center staff plans and coordinates curriculum around the routines, events, and themes that have meaning in a young child’s life – holidays, what parents do at work, birth of a sibiling, going to the dentist, etc. Curriculum themes are designed to include opportunities for children to develop appropriate cognitive, physical social and emotional skills through: small and large group activities; self-selected and self-directed independent activities; and individual teacher/child interactions. Teachers set up the classroom environment to allow children to learn to make choices and to care for their environment. They provide parents with information about the curriculum including calendars, lesson plans, field trips and opportunities for parent involvement.

Programs

Honey Bear Preschool and Child Care Center’s programs are planned around the young child’s developmental abilities. Chronological age is used as a guide for placement when other assessment data is not available; however, chronological age is only one of the many factors considered. In fact, early childhood research indicates that individual growth and development patterns among young children are so varied that grouping according to developmental abilities is much more satisfactory than grouping with age as the primary criteria.

We believe in the benefits of cross-age childhood experiences and therefore arrange our programs to allow older children to interact with younger ones under the supervision of the classroom teacher.

Classroom Placement

The center currently operates five classrooms: Cuddle Corner (Infant Center), Wee Walkers (Toddler Center), Munchkins and Pumpkin Patch (Two-year old), Honey Bears (Three-year old), Bear Club and Pre-Kindergarten (Four-year old). There are a number of elements that determine when a child is ready to move up to the next class. First, the child’s age, the composition of the class the child is entering, the child’s developmental readiness, the group size and teacher to child ratios. We use the following approximate age guidelines when placing a child in the classroom. Infants – birth to twelve months; Wee Walkers – eleven to twenty-one months; Munchkins – twenty-one to twenty-four months; Pumpkin Patch – twenty-four to thirty-six months; Honey Bears – three to four years of age; Bear Cubs – four to five years of age. However, if the child is ready we may waive the age guidelines and move the child sooner.

In each classroom, it is our goal to create a community where the children develop friendships and a sense of security. As children are growing and changing each month, our curriculum is individualized in each classroom as is developmentally appropriate. Rather than constantly moving the children as they grow, we adjust and change the curriculum. We will give parents appropriate notice when we plan on moving a child to a new classroom. We also will develop a plan for transitioning each child that will include visits to the new classroom. Our program is designed to support the children successfully articulating into a primary school system. Once a child is ready to move into a new classroom, a parent-teacher conference will be scheduled to discuss developmental goals, program routines and classroom curriculum. This is a chance for parents to share with teachers, information about their child and to refresh their memory about school policies and procedures.

Child Assessment/ Parent Conferences

Children are assessed on an on-going basis. Formal parent conferences are scheduled during the fall and spring; however, parents and teachers alike should schedule conferences as needed.

Cuddle Corner – Infant Program

The Cuddle Corner (Infant) program is planned to meet the special needs of very young children and their families. Our goal is to create a partnership with parents that will ensure that each child receives the very best care while at the center. A partnership begins with open communication and mutual respect between families and staff. Parents are welcome to visit at any time.

Honey Bear Preschool and Child Care Center’s daily classroom practice and programming objectives are designed to support the program’s philosophy and the established long-term goals. Goals for infants in our care include:

Respecting each child as a unique and special person; attending to each child’s physical and psychological needs; fostering and developing a relationship with a caregiver the child can trust; providing a safe, healthy and developmentally appropriate environment; creating opportunities to interact with other infants and toddlers; and, supporting children in their exploration and use of all their senses.

Written records are kept on each child’s day at our center including eating, sleeping, and diapering patterns as well as anecdotal notes about daily happenings and developmental landmarks. We encourage both parents and center staff to talk frequently to keep each other informed about the children.

Cuddle Corner - Curriculum

Curriculum is a plan for learning. The two main components of that plan for infants are care giving and play. During care giving routines, such as feeding or diapering, the teacher gives each child their full, focused attention. Through care giving interactions, opportunities arise for children to learn important social, language, and self-help skills.

The curriculum throughout the center focuses on the developmental needs of the child —emphasizing the integration of cognitive, physical, and social/emotional development. Summarized below are some of the says the curriculum meets the needs of and challenges the infant.

Motor Development Our program encourages exercise by providing a safe environment for children to practice emerging skills. We have safe places to climb and pull up; equipment to grasp to help walking; open spaces for scooting, crawling and walking; and, carts to push. To improve small motor development, there are rattles to hold, shake and handle; teething toys, shape toys; and, objects to stack. Teachers further encourage physical development by expressing an interest in and acknowledging the child’s accomplishments.

Language Development Children are spoken to frequently throughout the day. Songs are sung and stores read. We build upon the children’s vocabularies by talking about the foods they eat, the things they see, objects we use in play and the names of the children and their friends.

Cognitive Development Our program encourages cognitive development by providing an interesting “hands-on” environment that invites learning. Through exploration and discovery, children begin to learn such cognitive milestones as object permanence and cause and effect.

Social Development An important component of social development is self concept. Infant schedules are individualized, which fosters the child’s security about his or her environment. Holding, hugging and one-on-one interaction between teachers and children help to build a trusting bond. Children use this bond as a security base from which they explore their environment and learn about the world.

Wee Walker – Toddler Program

The Wee Walker (Toddler) program is planned to meet the special needs of very young children and their families. Our goal is to create a partnership with parents that will ensure that each child receives the very best care while at the center. A partnership begins with open communication and mutual respect between families and staff. Parents are welcome to visit at any time.

Honey Bear Preschool and Child Care Center’s daily classroom practice and programming objectives are designed to support the programs philosophy and the established long-term goals. Goals for toddlers in our care include:

Respecting each child as a unique and special person; attending to each child’s physical and psychological needs; fostering and developing a relationship with a caregiver the child can trust; providing a safe, healthy, and developmentally appropriate environment; creating opportunities to interact with other infants and toddlers; and, supporting children in their exploration and use of all their senses.

Wee Walker –Curriculum

The Wee Walker, or toddler, curriculum builds upon the developmental skills mastered in the infant program. Honey Bear Preschool and Child Care Center designed the toddler classroom and outdoor environment around a theme of over, under, around and through- all from a toddler’s point of view. Quiet places, romping spaces, and laps to sit on are available at all times. Teachers plan curriculum on a weekly basis around a theme such as primary colors, nursery rhymes, pets, farm animals and seasonal activities.

Teachers pull from a wise variety of toddler-appropriate curriculum to keep these young children busy. Listed below are just a few of the activities wee walkers love to do:
Sensory: Water play, birdseed, jello, playdoh, shaving cream, leaves, large and small cotton balls to touch, squeeze, poke, scoop, and pour. Art: The use of toddler-sized crayons and chalk. Painting with brushes, sponges, feathers, fingers and cookie cutters. Large Motor: Balls to bounce; bikes to ride; stick toys, baby buggies and carts to push and pull; and open spaces to explore. Small Motor: Things to put-together, pull-apart, stack, tumble, carry and hold, -- large pegs in a board, shape toys, one and two piece puzzles, stack toys, and pop beads. Language: Books, puppets, flannel board stories and conversations galore. Science: Walking around the yard to look at leaves, animals, grass and trees. Pine cones, rocks and other nature things to touch and hold. Cooking: Preparing a snack or lunch. Dramatic Play: Dress-up clothes, hats and purses to try, mirrors to look in, and dishes and dolls for family play. Self-Help Skills: Learning to take off shoes and socks, pushing in the chair after lunch and washing hands and faces. Music: Sing-along-songs, finger plays, scarf dancing, and musical instruments to pound and shake.

Pumpkin Patch – Two-Three Year-Old Program

Coming Soon.

Honey Bear – Three-Year-Old Program

Welcome to the Honey Bears. The three-year-old program is carefully planned to keep your child busy and learning through a variety of hands-on experiences each day. The Honey Bear’s daily classroom practice and programming objectives are designed to support Honey Bear Preschool and Child Care Center’s philosophy and established long-term goals.

Honey Bear –Curriculum

The curriculum in the Honey Bears is based on accepted current early childhood education theory and methodology and is organized around the basic tenet that children learn first about themselves, their close environment and their families, and then build upon that learning to expand their horizons according to interests and experiential opportunities. The curriculum throughout the center focuses on the developmental needs of the whole child—emphasizing the integration of cognitive, physical and social/emotional development. In the Honey Bear curriculum, themes are designed to include opportunities for children to develop these areas through small and large group activities, self-selected and self-directed independent activities, teacher-initiated activities, time indoors and outdoors, quiet times and active times.

The variety of activities and materials used in the Honey Bear Classroom allows children to explore their environment through their senses. To encourage the development of the whole child, Honey Bear teachers select developmentally (or age) appropriate activities from seven main areas of concentration: language arts and early literacy skills, fine motor, large motor, sensory experiences, science and pre-math, self-care and pre-school learning skills. The activities involve thinking, muscle coordination, imagination and problem solving skills which form the building blocks laid in preparation for formal education and higher reasoning used later in life.

Program Highlights

Computer Station – A personal computer is included as part of the daily learning stations. Simple learning games involve matching pictures, shapes, letters and numbers, typing names, etc. A drawing disk is used to improve hand-eye coordination.

Music & Movement Lab – Located upstairs above the pre-school. Honey Bear teachers use the lab to enhance their large motor and language arts curriculum. There are instruments to play, a keyboard and autoharp to use, tumbling tools (foam blocks, scarves, etc.), and extra-large balls, rings, and hula-hoops.

Spanish – simple Spanish words (colors, counting, body parts, hello/good-bye) are included in the curriculum.

Special events & Field Trips – Throughout the year the Honey Bear children participate in a variety of special events from holiday pageants and costume parades to a Mother’s Day luncheon with mommy. Field trips include trips to the zoo, humane society, and fire station (with lots of parent volunteers). Visits to the library for story time and local parks for large grassy areas to run, play games and enjoy parachute fun.

Honey Bear Name Board – Each child has a honey bear with his/her name printed on it. The children hang the bear on the board when they arrive at school and take it down when they leave for the day.

Bear Cub — Four and Five Year-Old Program

Welcome to the Bear Cub Program. This classroom is unique in the center because it encompasses two different age group—young four-year-olds (Bear Cubs) and 4.5 to- 5-year olds not developmentally ready for kindergarten (Pre-Ks). The program is designed to keep an active explorer happily involved in a variety of hands-on experiences each day.

Bear Cub —Curriculum

The curriculum in the Bear Cub classroom is based on accepted current early childhood education theory and methodology and is organized around the basic tenet that children learn first about themselves, their close environment and their families, and then build upon that learning to expand their horizons according to interests and experiential opportunities. The curriculum throughout the center, focuses on the developmental needs o the whole child—emphasizing the integration of themes and designed to include opportunities for children to develop in these areas through small and large group activities, self-selected and self-directed independent activities, teacher-initiated activities, time indoors and outdoors, quiet times and active times
The variety of activites and materials used in the Bear Cub classroom allows children to explore their environment through their senses. To encourage the development of the whole child, Bear Cub teachers select developmentally (or age) appropriate activities from seven main areas of concentration – language arts and early literacy skills, fine motor, large motor, sensory experiences, science and pre-math, self-care an pre-school learning skills. The activities involve thinking, muscle coordination, imagination and problem solving skills which form the building blocks laid in preparation for formal education and higher reasoning used later in life.

Program Highlights

Computer Station – A personal computer is included as part of the daily learning station. As a free-choice activity, the computer includes educational games for skill building.

IBM Get Set for Writing to Read – A pre-reading program using pcjr computers. This is started when children move into the pre-kindergarten group.

Music & Movement Lab – Bear Cub teachers utilize the lab to enhance their large motor and language arts curriculum. There are instruments to play, a keyboard and autoharp to use, tumbling tools (foam blocks, scarves, etc), extra-large balls, rings, and hula hoops.

Spanish – simple Spanish words (counting, colors, foods, objects, conversation and commands). Stories are read and the children sing and play games all in Spanish.
Special events & Field Trips –Trips to the zoo, humane society, tide pools, and fire station (with lots of parent volunteers). Visits to the library twice a month for story time and trips to the park for parachute play and developing large motor skills.