The key domains in our Early Years curriculum ensure a child’s holistic development and formal school readiness.
In the planning for activities and experiences that cover these significant 8 domains, our curriculum and educators are critically aware of and are careful to remember that all aspects of learning is interconnected and no area should have greater emphasis over another.
The following is a brief explanation of what each domain is and why they are important.
Approaches to Learning
How a child engages in the daily experiences he encounters influences and contributes to his success.
Too often we expect children to learn without thinking about teaching them how to learn.
This domain helps to guide teaching practices by looking at how children learn; the skills, emotion, behavior, and their ability to self-regulate to face and navigate new experiences and challenges.
We help children to become curious, creative and independent learners who know how to cooperate with others and to stay on a task and persist until they reach mastery.
Communication, Language and Literacy
The ability to communicate one’s idea and understand others is essential in building relationships and the basis of all learning.
Mathematics, coding and music are all forms of language.
Listening, speaking, reading and writing are skills which every child must have by the time they start their formal primary years.
Our “Dual Language” program help children to develop alphabet knowledge and phonological awareness and writing skills through games, stories, rhymes and talking. In addition, we have provided an environment for young children to express themselves; and to speak and listen in a range of natural situations which allows them to develop their language and communication skills.
In particular, our English phonics program is specially written for children for whom English is not their first language.
Creative and Cultural Expression
A creative thinker is someone who has flexibility of mind to see possibilities and to generate newer, better, faster, cheaper, different ideas to make improvements.
Creative activities are more than just art, they are open-ended activities that teach children that the journey one takes and the process by which we do something is more significant than the destination. These activities, which includes music, movement, building, play and even technology, engage a child’s imagination to stimulate and help children cultivate their abilities across virtually every domain, fostering flexibility of the mind.
Creative expression refers to how children express themselves and learn new things through these mediums.
Of great importance but often forgotten in curriculum planning is a child’s cultural heritage. It comes in the form of art, proverbs, stories, rhymes, poems, songs and dramatic performances, and often includes elements from all domains.
Learning and understanding one’s culture is essential as it impacts how children make sense of the world and develop their personal unique identity,
Discovery of the World
Drawing on the natural curiosity of children and sense of wonder, Discovery of the World is about a child’s everyday experiences and they learn through exploration and interaction with all aspects of their environment.
This domain facilitates the processes involved in children making discovery through observation, prediction, investigation and making hypothesis, and in the process widening the scope and breadth of their knowledge of world around them as they acquire skills, that form the foundation for the more effective learning of geography, history and science.
Logical Mathematics and Numeracy
Howard Gardner defined the intelligence of logical mathematics as the ability of scientific reasoning, mathematical calculation, logical thinking, inductive and deductive reasoning, and the sharpness of abstract patterns and relationships. The five traits of mathematical logic are classification, comparing, mathematical operations, inductive and deductive reasoning, and the forming and rechecking of hypotheses.
Numeracy is the ability to use numbers and mathematical concepts in everyday life, such as connections with the mathematical concepts of fractions and addition to a recipe. It is a skill which extends beyond classroom learning
Logical Mathematics and Numeracy underpins every aspect of our lives, from cooking a simple meal to building a skyscraper, to the music of Mozart. The science that cures diseases and the technology used in our cellphones and space travel would be virtually impossible without it.
Mastering this domain is critical for children to succeed in other domains, solve problems in real-world contexts and create.
Physical and Motor Development
Physical development includes both physical growth as well as the ability to use parts of the body to do things and accomplish tasks. In addition to just physical growth, it includes gross and fine motor skills.
Gross motor skill refers to actions which involves the use of core stabilizing muscles in the body. These actions include larger movements made with the arms, legs, feet, or the entire body, such as standing, walking, going up and down stairs, running and swimming.
Fine motor skill refers to action which involves the use of small muscles in the fingers, hands and forearms. These muscles control the hand, fingers and thumb and allows a child to do simple, yet important tasks such as writing, feeding oneself, buttoning and zippering.
Science, Technology, Engineering and Math plus Art = STEAM
Imagine a world without:
Medicine
Clean water
Food
Electricity
and all the other things we take for granted.
STEAM education is very important as it is in everything we use and do in the world. It enables our children to succeed by helping them to:
Ask questions
Make connections
Problem-solve
Think creatively
Innovate
The Art element is important as it contributes to creative thinking.
Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)
Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL – USA), defines “social and emotional learning (SEL) as the process through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.”
It has identified 5 competencies in SEL which will benefit children by equipping them with problem-solving and self-discipline skills, such as impulse control and emotion management to cope with everyday challenges, improve academically, professionally and socially.
These competencies are self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision-making.