The R & F Program encompasses models based on Emergent and Anti-Bias curriculum for Young Children.  Emergent Curriculum allows projects and activities to unfold naturally between teacher and students.  It is developmentally appropriate and includes activities and projects that center around culture, arts and imaginative play.

 

The Roots & Fruits Curriculum values the power of play in nurturing each child’s learning, creativity, and self-discovery.  One child development theorist, Vygotsky, believed that during play, children are free to experiment, attempt and try out possibilities empowering them to reach above or beyond their usual level of abilities.  Through play, children have experiences that introduce and connect them to the larger world around them, help them foster trust with peers and adults outside of their family, and build their confidence and self-reliance.  When children play they are in command: they use their imagination and power of choice to determine the conditions of play.  Roots & Fruits creates an environment where children allowed to discover independently, at their own pace and in their own unique way, promoting enthusiastic and inquisitive learners.

 

Morning Assembly:  Each morning the teachers and students meet as a group to check – in and discuss the routines of their day together.  It is an opportunity to listen to children’s stories, sing songs, play cooperative games, read stories, and learn the value of building community.

Social Development:  Through cooperative games, working with peers on projects, sitting together during group assemblies, children learn to take turns, listen to each other, help another with a task, and resolve conflicts in a peaceful manner.

Creative Development:  Through music, art, manipulatives, and many other tools, children expand their creative minds, making drawings, creating songs, mixing paints, and re-creating the world around them.

Cognitive Development:  Children will explore many choices, learn to make decisions, engage in puzzle activities or architecture through legos that will exercise their thinking skills.

Dramatic Play:  Through dress-up and make believe dinners, phone conversations, and plays children try on new roles and identities.  They practice expressing their feelings about real life experiences, whether it be missing a family member or welcoming a new brother or sister.

Cultural Development:  Through visual images, games from around the world, diverse musical instruments, global stories, etc.  children will learn about the various cultures in our world and be empowered to learn about their own cultural identities.

Emotional Development:  Children will feel proud seeing their artwork on display, leading a song, being a teacher’s helper for the day, etc.  Children will be empowered to feel confident in themselves, their ideas, self-expressions and visions for the world.

Spiritual Development:  Witnessing sacred, diverse holiday celebrations, taking moments to just sit, breathe, and relax, valuing the feeling of love for one’s self and another, sharing feelings of compassion for an animal, and taking time to nurture classroom plants are all opportunities for children to learn about the spirit of love for one’s self, neighbor, animal, and Mother Earth.