This philosophy of learning is a response to children’s strengths, abilities and interests and is managed at the child’s pace with active teacher engagement and involvement. This type of learning requires teachers to assess children on where they are and what causes them joy and excitement and to cultivate classroom learning based on those interests. Research has found that enhancing children’s personal interests builds confidence and a lifelong love of learning.
Historically, the early childhood teachers’ role has been one of pre-arranging play and guiding interests and then observing that play passively. Celebree recognizes that the teacher as a passive onlooker and one who controls the dynamics of play and interests no longer serves our children. We believe that children’s interests are influenced by their family and community experiences and should be recognized and extended by the teacher. Celebree believes that educational value resides in a collaboratively constructed child-initiated curriculum and as a response has partnered with Creative Curriculum as an early adopter of their cloud-based curriculum platform.
Celebree believes in honoring the creativity and exploration that defines a child’s formative years and wanted to partner with a company whose values mirror our own. Creative Curriculum, a nationally recognized curriculum, has been front and center of early childhood curriculum for over 40 years and is an industry thought leader and works to guide teacher behaviors and classroom approaches to learning. Celebree and Creative Curriculum, established partners, recently extended the resources available to Celebree teachers by being an early adopter of Creative Curriculum’s online Cloud based curriculum platform. Now Celebree teachers, at the touch of a screen, have access to every study Creative Curriculum has to offer. If a preschool teacher begins to see his children exploring dinosaurs and wanting to learn all they can about fossils, then he can offer the “Sand” study for 4-6 weeks and extend this love of dinosaurs into all domains of learning, but then the seasons change and Spring has sprung and his children are curious about seeds, then he can switch his classroom focus to “Gardening” and cultivate the curiosity in his children. Along with access to a variety of studies our teachers have at their fingertips, a library of research-based guides empowers our educators to address classroom behaviors, rituals and routines.
Celebree School curriculum is a direct and authentic reflection of our dedication to the Whole Child. We believe uninterrupted time in purposefully designed play spaces that are reflective of all learners, family units, cultures and languages present in the School Family creates an atmosphere of awareness, independence, and self-regulation. Our teachers enhance and scaffold child-led explorations and investigations in safe and nurturing environments while concurrently assessing each child’s developmental milestones with the overall goal of a successful transition into Kindergarten. Celebree School in collaboration with Creative Curriculum and their Cloud-based curriculum platform are working together seamlessly towards this goal.
To see interest-based learning in action, visit your local Celebree School!