Flow & Grow Kindergarten
About Flow & Grow Kindergarten
Philosophy of Education
physical space
curriculum
Staffing
Family/Community partnerships and interactions
The Whole Child needs developing--socially (as a member of multiple communities), emotionally, spiritually, morally, physically, intellectually, strengths, passions, unique qualities.
The school is a part of a home, area or district, city, national, and global community.
Children should be active learners.
They should construct their own knowledge and learn to think for themselves.
Learning should have a context or a big picture within which concepts authentically belong.
An educational institution should provide children with the opportunities and resources to receive what they need for healthy development.
Families and parents are the primary teachers of children, therefore they should be actively involved in a child's education.
Sometimes it is the role of the school to help families understand how they can best support their child.
Children learn best by doing, and through play and exploration.
It is good for them to create and build what they can imagine.
They need to be able to be responsible for self and community.
Attitudes of tolerance of diversity, understandings of differences and similarities, and open-mindedness should be cultivated.
Children should feel a sense of ownership of their learning and the learning environment. To that end, they should see themselves represented, and be able to see their progress in their work.
They should be able to revisit and improve upon concepts and their productions/creations.
Children must have the opportunity to interact with peers/teacher/materials/, and to support each other's learning.
A sense of safety and routine is essential so that children can feel comfortable to take risks.
Being that children will require digital literacy, they should have opportunities to use technology for research, connection to others outside of the classroom, for learning context, etc.
Time for explicit social and emotional learning and strategies (through games and engagement/discussion strategies) should be a regular part of the curriculum.
100 Languages as said by Malaguzzi for children to express themselves.
High quality project-based learning experiences--children should have an opportunity to experience these. They should have the opportunity to work in teams to develop good collaboration skills, to address problems that take place in the real world, to be able to present their work to an actual audience for feedback, to be able to use real tools and processes (such as design thinking and whatever tools specific to what they are exploring are) and materials to work on the solutions to the problem.
Exploration, self-exploration/passions finding, and inquiry can and should go hand in hand. It is a process with stages that should have names leading from exploration to the answer, solution, or finished product or presentation of findings.
Indoor:
Space should be inviting-neutral colors, natural themed, well-organized, UDL for children to easily access materials, with natural lighting and various seating choices available.
Everything should have a place where it goes, and be labelled.
There should be spaces for individual work, small group center areas, and whole group space.
There should be flexible seating options.
There must be a reading nook with comfortable places for reading.
There should be a block area with multiple kinds of blocks.
The rooms should be spacious, with areas clearly designated for specific kinds of activities.
Noisy activity centers should be away from quieter activity centers.
Centers should include: art materials area, daily life area for cooking and cleaning, sensory tables area (mud/sand/water/clay), drama/roleplay, core subjects tasks practice (Montessor-style) centers-math/language, small groups instruction table(s), carpet area, table/desk & chair arrangements for individual work.
Accommodation materials should be available for students that need them for whole group, small group, or individual tasks, during the learning process, for assessment times, etc.
Access to technology should be provided. A computer station or iPad area is an idea, the block and other hands-on area will do as forms of technology, an interactive whiteboard and projector combination is useful.
Outdoor:
There should be-
Lots of space to run around.
Chalk for drawing on the ground.
Painting and maker space type areas for creative development available for those that may not wish to play with outdoor equipment or struggle socially.
Playground objects for gross motor development.
A garden for seasonal planting, composting, and harvesting.
Home:
Diversity of ethnicity, skill sets and competencies would be a must.
Be willing to share about culture, address implicit bias, address personal areas for improvement, collaborate, to be flexible and adaptive to student needs and curriculum developments, be willing to develop as a professional, have a strong sense of ethics and appropriateness in relationships with students and their families, be supportive of fellow staff, students, and families, interpret the school mission for self and bring own vision to the table.
Have a love of learning, children, and teaching.
Undergo mentor-ship and training to integrate the school mission, learn how to curriculum is implemented across the "grades."
Weekly reflection time and sharing are at core of weekly check-ins.
Type of program
-home visits
-monthly class parent meetings (at parent homes, community centers, or cafes, rotational by turns or as agreed upon by parents per class)
-bi-annual school-wide parent meetings
-student led PTC
-school wide goal-setting practices together with student and families
-behavior and learning plans according to school home team meeting at the tier 3 level
-according to RTI and PBIS implementation, partnerships to community organizations to provide access to support and services for students and families in terms of specified interventions.
-Parent liason to share parent feedback with admin and teachers.
-freely scheduled meetings, emailing, or messaging as needed for parent teacher communication
-Seesaw/Remind for better transparency and communication between teachers and parents
Partner organizations
-counseling
-mental health
-clinics
-museums
-community centers
-parks and recreation
-labs
-businesses--small and corporate
-libraries
-technical industries--carpentry, machinery, IT, etc
-tutoring services (after school activity type businesses)
-patrons for the school to provide funding so that community support services can be sliding scale according to family income. These patrons can be wealthy individuals, community businesses, charities, or corporation donators.
Pedagogical team that
-meets with teachers for the purposed of research-based developmentally appropriate curriculum implementation
-creates and prepares materials so that teachers can focus on implementation, assessment, observation, facilitation and guidance, and data-driven decisions
-meets as a team
-meets with teachers
-meets with admin
Resident specialists
-Librarian
-Nurse
-Art
-Dance
-Music
-Drama
-Counselor
-Design
-Tinkerer
-etc
*These can be student interns who need to build experience
Admin
-Principal
-Assistant Principal
-Parent Liason
-Secretary to principal
-Secretary to assistant principal
Students learn to take responsibility for their own education and think for themselves.
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Digital Literacy
Arts
-music, visual arts, drama, movement
Passions exploration
Inquiry
Interdisciplinary
Emergent curriculum
Interaction with Masters
Exploratory
Play-based
--guided free play to construct schema of concepts/subjects
--games to teach skills and practice
--gamification of learning process
Hands-on
Teacher led when appropriate
Consistency across home and school
Everyone has input--Teachers, admin, pedagogical committee, students, parents/families
Topics-based exploration
Themes for PBL
-Exploration of self in relation to various communities
-Solve a problem of choice for a cause, for the community, for the planet, etc
-Cultural hybridity
-Diversity education (multi-cultural & intercultural)
Seasons & Rhythms
Outdoor extensions of indoor learning process
Physical education--sports, gymnastics, aerobics, calisthenics, swimming, yoga, dance--jazz, ballet, folk/traditional, contemporary
-reading/storytelling/book series
-math/science exploration center with manipulatives and under topics-based themes.
-data-driven student placement
-assessed for readiness (developmental stage), interest
-placement not according to age but according to profiles
-mixed age ranges okay. 0-3, 3-5, 4-6, 5-7
Makerspace
Teachers stay with the same group of children for whole kindergarten experience, so they can adjust for student needs well
Parent Volunteering at School
-encouraged during classroom or studio hours
-to sit in on pedagogical team meetings, and other school meetings were decisions are made that affect learning in the classroom.
Environment is key
-studios for different arts
-indoor and outdoor spaces
-various classrooms
-tactile areas for sensory exploration opportunities both for in and out door spaces
Story-making
Mission:
- Facilitate the emergence of confident people and learners who can take on challenges and persevere in finding answers or solutions, or creating a finished product.
- Children to have responsibility for self, learning, and community.
- Learners who are socially and emotionally competent.
4.Children who appreciate diversity in appearance, traits, and culture. - Sow a lifelong love of learning.
A Kindergarten with 2 preschool grades and 2 kindergarten grades.
P1-0 to 3
P2-3 to 4
K1-4 to 5
K2-5 to 6
I would consider mixed age groupings too.
listening station
Technology station