Curriculum
Play, Language Immersion, Nature-Science, Yoga - that's what defines and distinguishes Morningside Immersion PlayCare. We are a 100% Mandarin and Spanish immersion program. That means our teachers and caregivers speak to the children 100% of the time in the target language while they engage in our core curriculum: play, nature exploration, and yoga. For young children, language immersion seems natural - all they know is that school is fun. Through yoga and nature-science, teachers guide children in the development of their social/emotional skills, facilitate their cognitive development; and empower them with the tools of
resiliency, self-regulation and executive function.
Our curriculum is Waldorf, Flying Deer, and yoga inspired.
Cultivating the Resiliency, Language Genius, Open Mindedness, and Wonder-Filled Hearts of Young Children
Nursery: 18 mos. - 2.5 years
The focus for these years is on Language, Math, Motor Skills, and Social/Emotional Skills.
Language - Children are introduced to the target languages (Mandarin, Spanish, English). The focus is on comprehension. Children are exposed to writing in all three languages.
Math - Children are introduced to the early arithmetic skills of numbers, counting, and reading numerals in three languages.
Fine and Gross Motor Skills - Children are given opportunities to develop and practice these skills through group and independent activities, including daily yoga.
Social Emotional Development - Children are taught to identify, regulate and manage their emotions and behaviors. They are taught to communicate their needs and to care for themselves appropriately. They are taught the basic social skills necessary for group play, class activities and relationship building.
Nature Science - Children are taught to notice and carefully observe. (We don't have to teach them to ask questions!) They learn to document and categorize the living things in our backyard, field and gardens.
Nursery Transitional: 2.5 - 3 years
Language - Children's development of comprehension skills in the target languages is continued (Mandarin, Spanish, English). The focus is on comprehension as well as speech production. Children are exposed to writing in all three languages. Children are encouraged to site-read Chinese characters for numerals.
Math - The development of early arithmetic skills in three languages is continued, with increasing attention to conceptual understanding.
Fine and Gross Motor Skills - Children are given increasingly challenging opportunities to develop their skills through more challenging gross and fine motor activities, with the longer term goal of becoming able in a single area such as jump rope or soccer, or tracing, or writing their name. Children develop basic yoga skills.
Social Emotional Development - Continued development of their ability to recognize and manage their feelings and behavior, establish and sustain positive relationships with peers (making friends), and participate constructively in group activities. They make use of the tools of resiliency.
Nature Science - Children are taught to follow their exploration with questions, and questions with hypotheses and experiments. They document, and categorize the living things in our backyard, field and gardens. They draw connections between living things in nature, including themselves.
PreK Transitional: 3 - 4 years
Language - Children listen to and understand increasingly complex communications in the target languages. They are encouraged to use the target language with greater frequency to communicate thoughts and needs. They are encouraged to speak, read, and write in English and Chinese, and to speak in Spanish.
Math - Children count, quantify, and begin to understand relationships between quantities and their numbers, place value and base ten, spacial relationships and shapes. The development of early arithmetic skills in three languages is continued, with increasing attention to concepts.
Fine and Gross Motor Skills - Children continue their development in this area with increasingly challenging opportunities to engage in non-competitive children's sports , complex play, drawing, and writing. They continue to develop their skills at yoga.
Social Emotional Development - Continued development of their social/emotional skills, ability to recognize and manage their feelings and behavior, establish and sustain positive relationships with peers (making friends). They participate constructively in group activities. They use acquired tools of resiliency and executive functioning.
Nature Science - Children are encouraged to be scientists. They engage in scientific projects that focus on a single topic in nature for several weeks. They review literature, hypothesize, collect specimens, experiment, observe, document, conclude, and make reports and recommendations for future research projects.
Time in Nature, Healthy Eating, Family Time
We value time in nature; feeding young bodies organic healthy meals; and strong ties between PlayCare and home. We explore our backyard, discover our own biology, and work hard to support parents in spending quality time with their children. From support with meals to our Nature Day Family Outings, we encourage community. We encourage the making of items, and purchase many hand-made toys. Our furniture, from Community Play Things, is non-toxic and our carpets, natural fiber.
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