The Curriculum
While selecting the curriculum and course books for your children attending the Non-Public Language Kindergarten "Nad Strumykiem" we made sure:
a) it is in accordance with the latest core curriculum for preschool education as devised by the Ministry of National Education,
b) it is supplemented with additional didactic materials both for children and for the teacher,
c) it is coherent, clear and enables individualisation of its contents according to the cognitive-developmental abilities of children within the group,
d) it enables at any time the assessment of children's progress and establishing whether the child is ready to begin learning at school,
e) it is a modern and effective programme, based on the latest achievements in preschool education.
Series Kolekcja przedszkolaka (The Preschooler's Collection), developed for three-year-olds, four-year-olds and five-year-olds(+) fully met our requirements. The series takes children on a fascinating journey through the elements - the earth, fire, water and air - and their different images as expressed in colours, emotions, associations, seasons. Individual activities and exercises encourage children to make use of their cognitive activity, which facilitates the acquisition of knowledge and skills as we best memorize what we experience or go through.
Each of our charges is supplied with a set of teaching/learning aids:
· „Worksheets” divided into a few parts and „Teaching Aids” in an exercise book form, „The Young Artist's Portfolio”, „My Exercise Book” and, depending on children's age, the appropriate book with the adventures of the younger siblings of the Cricket: „Baj, Bajeczka i zaczarowana owieczka” ("The Fairytale and the Enchanted Lamb"),
· Access to the Internet Educative Portal for children Balon Blum (Bloom Balloon) including over 250 interactive exercises and assisting in the fulfilment of core curriculum.
The teaching/learning packages used in the kindergarten cover all educational areas included in the latest curriculum of preschool education as approved by the Ministry of Education (Dz. U. Item 977, Regulation of the Ministry of Education of 27th August 2012), and at the same enable the development of all the skills that influence the school readiness of a child.
The main premises of our work:
1. As early education needs to be versatile, varied and flexible so that a place for each child could be found for each child, we assume in our work that a kindergarten group is a community of learning people and that a child is to be active in it.
2. In our kindergarten children „are not taught by the teacher”, in which case they are stimulated by a direct question, but instead „they learn with the support of the teacher”, where the stimulus is related to a need and/or a task „stemming from the child's everyday life, the here-and-now ”.
3. The actions of the child are not determined and planned in advance by the teacher within the framework imposed by the educational system – instead, children look for knowledge in the educational environment created by the teacher learning, what they search for and need, acquiring the knowledge on their own.
4. The teacher does not progress from one item to another but follows the principle of individualisation, adjusting the content to the specificity of children in the group and their cognitive-developmental abilities.
Zippie's Friends
There is an additional, precious development of the core curriculum in our kindergarten: it is the programme Zippie's Friends.
It is an international programme of the English organization Partnership for Children, which shapes and develops psycho-social abilities as well as mental and emotional health in small children. It teaches various ways of coping with difficulties and applying the acquired skills to everyday life as well as develops the relationships of children with other people.
It does not focus on children with specific problems or difficulties but promotes emotional health of all small children aged 5-7 and has been so far implemented in 16 countries all over the world, helping over 120,000 children annually.
Following its approval and trial implementation in Poland in 2005 by the central public teachers' development facility of the national significance (CMPPP), created by the Minister of National Education, the programme Zippie's Friends has been successfully implemented for five years throughout Poland.
The main premise of Zippie's Friends is very simple – if our children learn how to cope with difficulties encountered while they are still children, they will far better cope with difficulties, problems and crises in their adolescence and adulthood.
The programme includes 6 parts: Feelings, Communication, Making and Breaking Relationships, Solving Conflicts, Coping with Changes and Losses, We Are Managing
Each part has its own story with the adventures of: Sandy, Lilly, Finn and Tigg, illustrated with a set of colourful pictures and tasks to perform such as drawing or role-playing, which children simply adore.
The programme teaches children:
- How to determine their own feelings and talk about them.
- How to establish and cherish friendships,
- How to solve conflicts,
- How to cope with change and loss,
- How to adapt to new situations,
- How to help others,
- How to ask for help and manage in difficult situations,
- How to listen carefully,
- How to say sorry,
- How to say what you want to say.
Created especially for children at different ability levels, Zippie's Friends teach how to cope with everyday problems, how to name feelings and discuss them and how to select one's own ways of coping with different situations. The programme also encourages children to help others with their problems.
As a result of its implementation, children are better at solving conflict situations, the acts of aggression are less frequent and children talk about their feelings more bravely and when they have a problem, they are more eager to seek help from their teacher. Parents are also involved in the implementation of the programme.
One of the important features of Zippie's Friends is that it was created as a universal programme, in contrast to other programmes that concentrate on helping children experience specific problems or difficulties, that is why it may help all children.
Zippie's Friends does not directly tell children what to do, it does not even suggest: "This solution is good and that is bad". Instead, it encourages children to analyse the encountered life situations in an active and critical way and to reflect upon oneself.
It also shows how important it is to talk to others when we experience sadness or anger, as well as how important it is to listen to them when they experience tough moments.
In short, the implementation of the programme "Zippie's Friends" helps children all over the world to develop the key social-interpersonal skills which are so important nowadays and, as a result, improve the current and future emotional state of our little ones.
See more at:
http://www.partnershipforchildren.org.uk/zippy-s-friends.html
