Curriculum
Harmon Oaks embraces a unique combination of a selected unit of inquiry and emergent curriculum, which is planned around children’s interests, abilities, and individual needs. Our environment and planned activities encourage and enhance the physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development of the child as a whole. Most of our activities, invitations as we prefer to call them, are help in small groups in order to focus on the child’s individual needs and also support them in being self-directed. Curriculum covers more than one area of development. For example, learning shapes and colors happens as we paint, experiment, sing, and read stories.
We follow Piaget’s cognitive developmental theories, combined with Erik Erickson’s stages and ages of emotional and social development. As such, large segments of time are spent in play and exploration. Play and exploration at Harmon Oaks are not ‘accidental’ as the facility was constructed with children, education, and growth in mind. The facility’s structure, coupled with the resources and intentional development of both the indoor and outdoor classrooms, creates a highly exploratory environment. We believe in the "environment as the third teacher", and we take truly intentional care of this third teacher, reflecting on what our "third teacher" supports, encourages, and fosters development.
What makes Harmon Oaks especially unique is the intentional time we dedicate to three different core areas- (1) language & early literacy, (2) number sense (math skills), and (3) science, both indirectly and directly. Edsource’s research has shown that the typical early education classroom dedicates 20 minutes of reading time and about 5 minutes of math. At Harmon Oaks, we embrace a curriculum that dedicates 20 minutes of reading time, with an additional 20 minutes of math and science in our daily routine. We also offer language enrichment in American Sign Language, Spanish, and Armenian. While we incorporate American Sign Language, Armenian, and Spanish into daily 'happenings', language enrichment activities in Spanish take place twice a week. Parents are asked to notify whether enrichment in the home language is requested upon enrollment.
We follow Piaget’s cognitive developmental theories, combined with Erik Erickson’s stages and ages of emotional and social development. As such, large segments of time are spent in play and exploration. Play and exploration at Harmon Oaks are not ‘accidental’ as the facility was constructed with children, education, and growth in mind. The facility’s structure, coupled with the resources and intentional development of both the indoor and outdoor classrooms, creates a highly exploratory environment. We believe in the "environment as the third teacher", and we take truly intentional care of this third teacher, reflecting on what our "third teacher" supports, encourages, and fosters development.
What makes Harmon Oaks especially unique is the intentional time we dedicate to three different core areas- (1) language & early literacy, (2) number sense (math skills), and (3) science, both indirectly and directly. Edsource’s research has shown that the typical early education classroom dedicates 20 minutes of reading time and about 5 minutes of math. At Harmon Oaks, we embrace a curriculum that dedicates 20 minutes of reading time, with an additional 20 minutes of math and science in our daily routine. We also offer language enrichment in American Sign Language, Spanish, and Armenian. While we incorporate American Sign Language, Armenian, and Spanish into daily 'happenings', language enrichment activities in Spanish take place twice a week. Parents are asked to notify whether enrichment in the home language is requested upon enrollment.
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Here’s an example of our curriculum applied:
Inquiry Unit: WATER Let's begin with a question. "Why is water so important?" We’ll focus on water for the next two weeks, setting up activities, provocations, sensory experiences, and experiments. We may filter water using simple resources, explore the nutritional value of water, conduct water motor experiments, and discover many other topics, all interrelated and based on our children's interests. We’ll, no doubt, have artwork that surrounds the inquiry unit of water, including water-based paint, water-phobic art fun, and ice paintings! While gardening, we’ll discuss the need for water and the sources of water on Earth. And our books will, of course, embrace the same inquiry unit- the water cycle, filtration, snow, and, of course, how water helps our firefighters put out fires. Outdoors, we'll watch as ice melts into liquid, wonder how water travels and comes out of faucets and hoses, explore water pressure, and discover how things travel on water, and why some float while others sink. We'll weigh water and discuss its mass in different forms, integrating STEM and lots of number sense experiences. Topics, activities, questions, and conversations vary with age, but you'll be amazed at how much our little ones can discover, make connections, and understand! We hope this snippet helps you better understand our curriculum and what we don't so ‘accidentally’ plan for our children. |
HOLISTIC approach to teaching
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