Mission Statement
Every child is unique and we believe that success and growth come from encouragement and praise.
Dreamland Daycare’s mission is to provide a variety of activities that are Developmentally Appropriate Practice(DAP) that recognizes the individual needs and differences, children can grow to their full potential. For that reason, Dreamland Daycare values the importance of curriculum approach and the environment in children’s learning and believes that the combination of Reggio Emilia and Creative Curriculum are the best approaches and environments for children’s development. Our teachers focus on building every child’s self esteem and confidence through positive feedback and rewards. We nurture their natural strengths. A child see’s the world around them with wonder and awe, we believe in encouraging their natural curiosity.
When it comes to teaching young children, there are many different developmental theories involved, which each and every one of them portray a different aspect of children's development. However, Dreamland Daycare believes that the two theoretical models of Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development and Erikson’s Theory of Psychological Development are the most essential theories in children's development and aligns with its philosophy.
Piaget believes that children learn through hands on experience and through the Cognitive Development theory he breaks down the children’s learning process into four stages; sensorimotor, concrete operational, pre-operational, and formal operational. I strongly believe in hands on experience when it comes to children and their cognitive and language development. Children will gain knowledge through theoretical ways such as reading, discussions, videos, and songs, but they will only learn and remember when they experience and practice things themselves. One thing I like to do with my students is “topic projects” which we choose a topic based on children’s interest and we focus on learning about that topic through investigations, experiments and try and errors. We make charts and collect data using the three “W” technique to learn together. “Piaget's theory of cognitive development is considered constructivist. Constructivism portrays learners as active participants in the construction, through experience, of their own knowledge.” (Estes & Krogh, 2012).
Erikson, on the other hand, focuses on individuals psychological growth and what he believes a healthy human being should experience from infancy to senior years. Erikson identifies individual’s lifespan into eight stages that one should pass through and learn about oneself. It is through these eight stages that individuals develop their social, emotional and moral skills. I believe that each and everyone of us from birth to the end and more especially in the early ages go through certain social-emotional phrases that will have to deal with and if we have a correct guidance and tools to use we will become healthy psychologically. For example, an infant who has many different main caregivers other than mom will not be able to successfully pass the “trust vs. mistrust” stage and when she grows up she will always have trust issue in her relationships and feels insecure. “At each stage, individuals are faced with a social-emotional crisis they must resolve. These crises have either positive or negative resolutions depending on the events that individuals experience during a stage. Positive resolutions contribute to mentally healthy development; negative resolutions contribute to less healthy levels of personality development.”(Estes & Krogh, 2012)
The first step in teaching children is to have a philosophy of teaching and a belief of what is best for children. After many years of working with children and expanding our knowledge about them, we are very clear about our philosophy of teaching and an approach that we believe is best for children. We know the importance of curriculum approach and the environment in children’s learning and we believe that the combination of Reggio Emilia and Creative Curriculum are the best approach and environment for children.
Reggio Emilia Approach is based on the children's interest and direction in learning, having hands on experience, exploring and discovering the world through interaction with others which best fits the needs of young children. Reggio Emilia environmental setting also plays an important role in children’s learning. The nature of the environment setting with different areas and spaces for small and large group activities engages children in and encourages them to learn and experiment. On the other hand, Creative Curriculum Approach focuses on children learning best by doing which is also what Reggio Emilia Approach believes in; hands on experiences. Creative Curriculum provides a valid routine for children to be consistent and know what is expected of them. It also focuses on providing areas that can promote development in all domains. Creative Curriculum Approach is a beginning of symbolic thinking and provides foundation for academic learning and success.
The emergent curriculum in Reggio Emilia approach is also very relevant to Creative Curriculum since both are based on children’s interests. This can easily be seen when entering a classroom with both Reggio Emilia and Creative curriculum; children’s works are displayed and observed in every corner of the class. We believe the best environment for children to learn is the place where has all the different areas of activities being set up for children with teachers who can observe children closely and deeply and can arise great and relevant emergent topics and projects that suits the interest of children.
“Developmentally appropriate practice, often shortened to DAP, is an approach to teaching grounded in the research on how young children develop and learn and in what is known about effective early education. Its framework is designed to promote young children’s optimal learning and development.” (DAP, NAEYC). Teachers who use DAP approach to teach students will evaluate student’s developments and consider their background before teaching and they tailor their lesson plans accordingly. DAP takes students culture and their individual development into consideration and works closely with families to provide meaningful, relevant, and respectful learning experiences for students. More importantly DAP is specifically designed to meet the appropriate development of each age group of students and its knowledge helps teachers and school to decide which experience is best for student’s learning. Using DAP to teach young children will help them to develop their personal responsibility, self-direction and logical thinking as they go through major intellectual leaps. The growth in all domains of development such as physical, social, cognitive, and language in DAP approach will promotes a joy of learning in students and prepares them for their future academic challenges.
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