ECC CURRICULUM

Language and Literacy

Our primary goal at the Early Childhood Center is to instill a love of books and pre-reading strategies which will help lay the foundation for a life long joy of learning. The Early Childhood language and literacy program is developmental, and skills are sequentially built from Preschool to Pre-kindergarten.

At the Singapore American School, children come from a variety of backgrounds and bring with them their own set of language experiences and abilities. Because children have diff rent needs, developmental levels, and learning styles, the teachers provide a variety of language learning opportunities. Skills are introduced to children within a meaningful context of literature and are adapted to children's interests and abilities.

Mathematics

Our goal at the early childhood center is that children will develop a positive approach to mathematics and gain self confidence in their abilities. The program is developmental, experiential and child centered.

Mathematical concepts are integrated into curriculum themes and are flexible to reflect children's interests and abilities. Children learn early mathematical concepts through free exploration and discovery, manipulation of concrete materials, experiential learning, and direct instruction. A natural progression of skills is evident from the Preschool to a more formalized program in the Pre-kindergarten and then Kindergarten. The development of these concepts is derived from activity oriented classrooms where there are many opportunities for the children to integrate mathematical concepts into their daily lives and relate them to the world around them.

Science

Children should learn about science, technology, and health because they need to understand and use them in their daily lives and as future citizens.

Education in early childhood should sustain children's natural curiosity and allow them to explore their environment. This will improve children's explanations of their world and help them to develop an understanding and appreciation of science, technology and health. It will lead them toward making informed choices in their personal and social lives. Concepts are developed through manipulation of materials within the children's immediate learning environment. The activities are child-centered and reflect children's interests, needs, and abilities. Children are provided with opportunities to explore, experiment and discover with hands-on materials in a rich and stimulating environment. The children develop new skills and processes such as observation, prediction, classification, comparison, investigation, exploration, examination and problem solving. The curriculum also integrates art, music, field trips, cooking lessons, guest speakers, and audio-visual aids to help promote children's understanding of science concepts.

The program focuses on the concept of change. Children acquire knowledge and insights which are necessary in carrying on daily activities. Emphasis is placed on using ideas rather than on the mere accumulation of facts. They are encouraged and guided to experiment with many different methods in order to develop problem-solving and decision-making skills. In addition, young children are encouraged to ask questions, to look for answers, and to be aware of what is going on around them.

Social Studies

The Early Childhood Social Studies Program incorporates an integrated curriculum that strives to enhance children's awareness of themselves, their cultural heritage, their surrounding environment, and the world in which they live.

The curriculum fosters the children's sense of belonging to their own culture and educates children about the cultural diversity of others. Concepts are developed through manipulation of materials within the children's immediate learning environment. The activities are child centered and reflect children's interest, needs, and abilities. Children are provided with opportunities to explore experiment and discover with hands-on materials in a rich and stimulating environment. The curriculum also integrates art, music, field trips, cooking lessons, guest speakers, and audio visual aids to help promote children's understanding of Social Studies concepts.

The program also teaches children that they are part of society. This includes learning about all human needs. Children are encouraged to talk about their perceptions regarding how these needs are met. They are encouraged and guided to experiment with many different methods in order to develop problem-solving and decision making skills. In addition, young children are encouraged to ask questions, to look for answers, and to be aware of what is going on around them.

Music

The goal of the early Childhood Music Program is that children have a positive experience, gain pleasure, and express themselves creatively through a variety of musical activities.

At the early childhood program, music is an integral part of daily activities. Many skills are introduced across the curriculum through songs, finger plays, creative movement, dancing, miming, dramatization, and musical instruments.

Children are encouraged to become actively involved, to interpret music in their own style and to make up new words, melodies, and movements. Through these experiences they also become aware of musical concepts such as tone, volume, melody, rhythm, and tempo.

Perceptual Motor

Our goal in the Early Childhood Perceptual Motor Program is to provide a healthy, fun and challenging introduction to large motor experiences.

The goal of the perceptual motor program is to enhance motor capabilities of young children by providing sensory enriching experiences through physical activities. These activities will focus on children's ability to interpret sensory input and perform fine and gross motor skills. The program also encourages language development, self-expression and creativity through a theme-based approach with the use of puppetry, literature, music and creative dramatics. It promotes cooperation, sensitivity to others, spatial awareness, safety, and respect for rules.

The children will also have the opportunity on a daily basis for outside play where they are encouraged to engage in varied physical activities of their own choice.

Mandarin

The Preschool and Pre-kindergarten Mandarin program aims to provide young children with the opportunity to learn another language thereby enriching their cognitive, cultural, educational and social development.

The program is theme based. Students learn the language through topics such as greetings, numbers, colors, fruits, animals, and many more. Language is presented to the children through songs, stories and games. Through this process, it is not expected that students will immediately use the language but begin to become aware of the different sounds and patterns of Mandarin-Chinese.

The learning of another language in the early childhood years introduces children to the experience of communicating differently. Language is about communication and it allows young children to see that there is more than one way of looking at the world.

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