All children are unique.

• All children can learn and experience success.
• Children come to school with a vast potential for learning.
• Children bring life experiences and knowledge with them.
• Children have common needs; they also have many differences.
• All children have the right to quality learning opportunities that are challenging and suited to their individual strengths, needs, and learning styles.
• Education must be relevant and meaningful for each individual.
• Learning is a life long process that occurs in the classroom, in the home, and in the community.
• Educating our children is a shared responsibility.

(Adapted from Educating All Our Children, Departmental Directive on Inclusive Schooling 1996, 4-5)

Research about Early Childhood Education

• Children learn naturally.
• All children can learn.
• Children construct knowledge.
• Children learn through social interaction.
• Children learn through play.
• Children learn best when their physical needs are met and they feel psychologically safe and secure.
• Children’s interests and ‘need to know’ motivate learning.
• Human development and learning are characterized by individual variation. (Knuth, Kunesh & Shulman)

The Needs of Children

• A need to feel a sense of trust, security and competence
• A need to know, to reason and to solve problems
• A need to be creative
• A need to develop physical coordination
• A need to share experiences with other children and adults (p.11 Saskatchewan curriculum)

10 Signs of a Good Kindergarten Classroom

1. Children are playing and working with materials or other children. They are not aimlessly wandering or forced to sit quietly for long periods of time.
2. Children have access to various activities throughout the day, such as block building, pretend play, picture books, paints and other art materials, and table toys, such as Lego, pegboards and puzzles.
3. Children are not all doing the same things are the same time. Teachers work with individual children, small groups and the whole group at different times during the day. They do not spend time only with the entire group.
4. The classroom is decorated with children’s original artwork, and their own writing, with invented spelling and dictated stories.
5. Children learn numbers and the alphabet in the context of their everyday experiences. Exploring the natural world of plants and animals, cooking, taking attendance, and serving snacks are all meaningful activities to children.
6. Children work on projects and have long periods of time (at least one hour) to play and explore. Filling out worksheets should not be their primary activity.
7. Children have an opportunity to play outside everyday that weather permits. This play is never sacrificed for more instructional time.
8. Teachers read books to children throughout the day, not just at group story time.
9. Curriculum is adapted for those who are ahead as well as those who need additional help. Because children differ in experiences and background, they do not learn the same things at the same time in the same way.
10. Children and their parents look forward to school. Parents feel safe sending their child to Kindergarten. Children are happy; they are not crying or regularly sick

Individual Kindergarten classrooms will vary but they have one thing in common: the focus will be on the development of the child as a whole. from Children First: A Curriculum Guide for Kindergarten

Aim The aim of the Kindergarten program is to provide a strong foundation from which students can grow to become active participants in life-long learning.

Goals The aim of the program can be achieved through meeting the following goals. By participating in the Kindergarten program, children will:

• develop confidence in themselves and their ability to learn
• demonstrate curiosity and the ability to focus their attention
• acquire a level of communicative competence that is personally satisfying
• acquire social skills and abilities which enable them to relate to other children and to adults
• remain true to their individual natures, being free to develop to their own potentials.

Philosophy Central to the philosophy of early childhood are the beliefs that:

• all aspects of development are interrelated
• growth and learning are continuous processes
• each individual child is worthy of respect and encouragement.

A Kindergarten program based on this philosophy needs to be a balanced one, providing opportunities for individuals to develop in each of the physical, socio-emotional and intellectual areas. The neglect of one area jeopardizes achievement in the others. For this reason, Kindergarten programs must provide for the development of the whole child. It is recognized, however, that a positive self-concept provides a solid foundation for development in all areas. A positive self-concept is more likely to develop in an environment that provides for personal acceptance and successful achievement. Such an environment enables children to continue to be actively involved in learning and to expand the boundaries of their private worlds. http://www.sasked.gov.sk.ca/docs/kindergarten/kindprtc.html

Student-centred Purpose This refers to the student's need to know, understand and find out. The desire to know comes from experiencing the world in a meaningful way. Teachers can facilitate students' search for meaning by providing materials that allow students to make discoveries, upon which they can then build further learning. Students' backgrounds and experiences will play a role in how they make sense of their discoveries. Providing students with relevant choices will allow them to explore areas in which they are interested and lead them to develop a sense of purpose for learning. The role of the teacher is to plan the learning, provide the choices, prepare the environment and guide the experiences.

Use of Manipulative Materials The younger the child, the more context-embedded the experience should be. Kindergarten children learn through handling and experimenting with concrete materials. Such materials and equipment should provide for multicultural, non-sexist experiences. The teacher should make sure the materials do not stereotype according to culture or gender. It is important to provide a variety of manipulatives when exploring any concept. For example, students may initially explore the concept of capacity at the water table with different sizes of plastic beakers, containers and cups. Further play and exploration can be encouraged through the use of other "pourable" substances such as grains, lentils, sand, coloured water, marbles, pebbles, buttons, paper clips, macaroni or rubber bands.

Hands-on Experiential Play It is through play that young children come to know and understand the world around them. The socio-emotional, physical and intellectual development of children is dependent upon activity. Therefore, the Kindergarten program uses child-initiated, child-directed, teacher-supported play as an essential part of the educational process. Play, as opposed to lectures, drill and assigned worksheets, is the best way for Kindergarten students to learn. It is important that children have time for free exploration, experimentation and observation, particularly when concepts, materials or activities are new or unknown to the students.

Observation, Language Use and Reflection One of the purposes of having students touch, handle, manipulate or experiment with materials is to allow them to discuss their observations from an experiential point of view. Much of the development in these early years occurs as students strengthen their perceptual abilities through concrete experiences. Observations, manipulations and experiences with objects, visual images, sounds, music and movement contribute to the development of students' perceptual abilities. The use of language in a positive, supportive learning climate also facilitates perceptual development. Young children learn through communicating with others, both verbally and non-verbally. As children share their observations and their ideas they come to understand what it is they are thinking and learning. Classrooms that invite students to use language to question or to explore, nurture a natural curiosity about the world. The teacher can provide a model for language use and help students link their ideas together. Reflection upon observations leads to the development of perceptual, procedural, conceptual and personal understanding.

Support From the Teacher

Teachers can support the continuous growth and learning of young children by:

• Encouraging children to make choices and decisions based upon the available materials, activities and time. This involvement in designing and managing their own learning helps them to understand the purpose of learning and to grow into independent learners.
• Participating in children's play for the purpose of extending it.
• Accepting and respecting children and their ideas. Questioning should be open-ended and encourage students to give information that the teacher does not have. The emphasis here is not on soliciting singular responses, or one right answer. Rather, the teacher seriously considers the children's points of view and is interested in finding out what they know and how they reach their conclusions.
• Encouraging children to learn about themselves and their world through the various senses. This develop students' ovservation and perceptual abilities and contributes to their procedural, conceptual and personal understanding.
• Offering specific questions or comments that guide the student, rather than giving rewards or general feedback (e.g., "I see you are building a zoo. Where do the animals go for shade?").
• Enhancing incidental learning (that is, taking advantage of "teachable" moments as they occur).
• Observing students. This allows teachers to collect information regarding students' language development, their interactions with others, their problem-solving abilities and so on.
• Teaching children to support and encourage each other. Modeling and role-playing are two ways of helping students develop a supportive attitude.

http://www.sasked.gov.sk.ca/docs/kindergarten/kindcotc.html#required