ELC2, ELC3 and K4

The Early Learning Center curriculum is designed to foster a child’s emotional, behavioral, and social development that builds strong character through weekly planned, sequential learning goals and objectives.

The curriculum selected for the Early Learning Center has been designed by A Beka Books.

It addresses the development of vital skills in the areas of emotional, behavioral, and social skills that prepare early learners for grade school. The curriculum has been in place for the last 50 years and is updated every 7 years to ensure that it continues to be effective. It uses teaching, looking, thinking, discussing, games and other activities and then encourages the teachers to add their own personality and ideas to it as they wish.

Listening skills are paramount to the development of effective emotional, behavioral and social skills. Listening skills are sharpened in many different ways. One example to aid in the development of listening is the presentation of stories or ideas. The children then discuss what they have heard, sometimes are asked to summarize what they heard, and develop the skill of recall by being asked to identify specific points. Games and activities that go along with the lessons or weekly goals are also used to enhance the children’s listening skills.

The Language Development curriculum is excellent for helping children to learn about tangible objects in the world such as animals, insects, and to learn about character development such as kindness, honesty, and how to handle situations more effectively rather than a natural reaction of crying or screaming. Language development activities also help children learn about culture and diversity from all around the world and the places may live in or visit. Some of these lessons require sitting and listening, others require participation.

Kindermusik^® will be offered as a weekly part of their lesson plans for a fee. This program has been proven to help children develop their brain so that as they go to school they are more prepared for math and other left brain activities. Kindermusik^® also aids in motor skill development.

Children are introduced to numbers, phonics and handwriting as well as art and crafts.

One of the most important ways for children to develop emotional and behavioral skills is to learn to interact and learn appropriate conflict resolution with teachers, peers and even with themselves. Role playing, free play and the acting out of fantasy play are all effective ways to develop emotional, behavioral and social skills. In the types of play mentioned, children are given certain instructions or areas in which they can explore and play, but are allowed the freedom to explore those areas as they wish. Children are given options of puzzles, drawing, an area for building, an area for playing house, an area for trucks etc. All of the options may not be provided on a daily basis, but over the course of the week, all options are provided and children are given the opportunity to move around and socialize with different groups of people as they wish to. These opportunities are very effective in helping the children learn to share and solve problems within safe boundaries.

The curriculum and the Center are very focused on providing positive reinforcement. Good behavior is encouraged and praised, while trying to put very little attention on negative behaviors. The staff seeks to "catch" good behavior and reward it as it occurs, even from students who are generally prone to behavioral difficulties. Often, if the class is overly excited or being disruptive, the staff will provide compliments to students who are following directions, this encourages the entire class to model this behavior. This has proven to be an effective method of teaching self-discipline. The behavior that is drawing the most attention is often the behavior exhibited by others.

The use of eye contact and hand motions, rather than vocal instructions, is an effective way to teach children to pay close attention to social cues. This helps the students to keep their eyes on the instructor, paying attention and also helps them not to tire of hearing the teacher’s voice. This is also an effective technique to employ to lessen the negative responses given vocally to a child. Classroom control is better maintained if corrective techniques do not vocally draw attention to a specific child or behavior.

Teaching incorporates games, singing and interaction as well as listening. The methods used by this curriculum are created to help all types of learners to learn the material. The curriculum emphasizes teaching methods and other strategies that have been proven effective.