The intended learning outcomes for this class are aligned with the Australian and UK early years curricula. They are also consistent with the preschool/ early years curricula for NZ, China, Korea and most European countries. This class utilises the Michigan Essential Literacy Practices Framework, and the Mathematics Learning Trajectories. 

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Ｉｎｔｅｎｄｅｄ　Ｌｅａｒｎｉｎｇ　Ｏｕｔｃｏｍｅｓ
1. I can draw on my experiences in constructing meaning, using symbols, materials, and language.
2. I am beginning to understand key literacy concepts and processes, such as the sounds of language, letter-sound relationships, concepts of print, and the way that texts are structured.
3. I can engage in enjoyable interactions using verbal and non-verbal language, to construct, convey and understand messages with purpose and confidence.
4. I can recognise and engage with written and oral texts.
5. I can make choices, accept challenges, take considered risks, manage change and cope with frustrations and the unexpected. 


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Ｃｒｉｔｉｃａｌ　Ｔｈｉｎｋｉｎｇ　Ｑｕｅｓｔｉｏｎ(ｓ)
1. Who wrote/ created this story?
2. What is my guess about what the writer was trying to say? What was their message? 
3. Who was their message for? 
4. Who might agree with this message? Who might think something different? 

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Ｓｃｉｅｎｃｅ　Ｃｏｎｔｅｎｔ　ａｎｄ　Ｃｏｎｃｅｐｔｓ
This class uses traditional stories to spark play and discovery. During our explorations children may encounter and explore numerous different science concepts including ideas associated with:
~ Working scientifically, the scientific process, and scientific thinking
~ Air and flight
~ Floating and sinking
~ Light, vision and colour
~ Sound and music
~ Magnetism
~ Electricity
~ Force and motion
~ Earth in space
~ Rocks and soil, the composition of the Earth
~ Physical changes to matter
~ Chemical change
~ Bodies and skeletons
~ Plants as living things
~ Animals and life-cycles

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Ｍａｔｈｅｍａｔｉｃｓ　Ｃｏｎｔｅｎｔ　ａｎｄ　Ｃｏｎｃｅｐｔｓ
~ Counting.
~ Subitising.
~ Comparing number.
~ Adding/ subtracting.
~ Composing numbers.
~ Patterns, structure and algebraic thinking.
~ 2D shapes.
~ Composing 2D shapes.
~ Disembedding shapes.
~ 3D shapes.
~ Composing 3D shapes.
~ Spatial visualisation and imagery.
~ Spatial orientation. 
~ Measurement (length).
~ Measurement (area).
 ~ Measurement (volume).
~ Measurement (angle and turn).
~ Classification and data analysis. 

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Ｖｏｃａｂｕｌａｒｙ　ａｎｄ　Ｓｐｅｅｃｈ
In each session of this class, we will explore vocabulary and many parts of speech relating to the content, concepts, and activities we are exploring. These words will include nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions and interjections. 

​Vocabulary (or knowledge of words) includes understanding their structure (morphology), use (grammar) and meanings (semantics). It also includes understanding how one word links to other words (word/semantic relationships). Oral and aural vocabulary skills (or, for non-speaking children, visual vocabulary skills) are absolutely crucial to later development of literacy decoding and reading comprehension and fluency. 

Because this is such an important skill gained in early childhood, I use a strong evidence-based and developmentally appropriate approach to vocabulary and speech development. This includes: 

𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗶𝘁 𝗩𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗯𝘂𝗹𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻
Explicit vocabulary discussion means that, in this class we not only use words, but we also sometimes talk about them. We might discuss, for example:
~ what does this word mean?
~ what words would communicate what we want? 
~ what other words can we use for this?

While these discussions are explicit, they are not a discrete part of our classes or delivered as a "lesson". Instead, we weave these into our organic discussions while we play, create and tell stories. I do not choose or have a "list" of specific words that children "must" learn. My approach is to respond to children's interests by offering explicit vocabulary discussion that is purposeful, and which helps each child engage with their goals, interests and motivations. This means that children are developing their vocabulary (and self-awareness of it) in a meaningful, relevant and active way. 

𝗘𝘅𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻
While it may seem "efficient" to get children to memorise, or rote learn, words - this approach has been shown to have no real value in speech/ language development generally, including vocabulary development. Rather, evidence confirms that the critical requirement for strong vocabulary and speech development is for children to have many meaningful, two-way conversations that are interesting to them. 

To provide this for your child, I maintain very small class sizes and a child-led approach to learning. This ensures that each child has many opportunities to "chat" and "talk" with me and other learners throughout each session about the things that have captured their interest and which they are discovering. I focus on finding opportunities within these conversations to not only introduce new vocabulary, but to also extend and stretch each child's confidence in using and understanding vocabulary in speech. 

I am a Masters-qualified Early Childhood teacher, with specialisations in Inclusive Education. I also hold a Bachelor of Nursing, and have over 30 years of experience in designing and delivering therapeutic and educational early childhood (0 - 8 years) programs, and I have received numerous awards for designing immersive early childhood development, learning and mental health programs and for excellence in practice. I am an experienced clinical/ and field supervisor (social workers, teachers, nurses). I have completed specialist training in Talk for Writing, Play Therapy, Sand Play Therapy, DIR-Floortime,  Neurosequential Development, and Hanan Speech interventions. Please note, however, that this class is *not* offered as a group or individual therapy intervention, and is not a substitute for a professional therapeutic assessment or program.

Homework Offered
Assessments Offered
I do not use tests or other standardised approaches to assessing children's progress, and there are no "grades" in this class. In this age group, testing it is not developmentally appropriate and in some cases may be psychologically and academically harmful. 

However, as a teacher, I do believe it is important for me to be accountable to both children and parents. I aim to deliver classes that are not just "busy work" or entertainment, but which actively contribute to each child's learning in meaningful and sustainable ways. Likewise, in order to adapt each class to the learning needs of each child, I need to understand their current skills and strengths. 

In this class, I use two strategies to do this. 

(1) In our first session, we will do a small story-telling activity. This will be done in a relaxed and playful way. Each child will be invited to select a picture, which will look similar to a "colour in" page and have an animal and one or two other objects. I will invite children to tell me "what is this picture about?", or "what is the story of this picture". Non-speaking children are welcome to use AAC or signs to communicate their ideas. There is no "right" or "wrong way for children to respond to this task. Each child's response will provide me with information about their current language skills and strengths which, in turn, I will use to inform the specific skills we will focus on in the class. 

(2) For the remainder of the class, I will use continuous observation of children's activity and conversation as the "assessment" approach. When I make these observations, I am specifically considering the child's development in relation to the learning outcomes of the class (see above). 

I then routinely provide feedback to children. This may consist of: 
~ positive affirmation (e.g. "I really liked the way you communicated your idea with that painting");
~ positive reflection (e.g. "I wonder how you came up with that idea?"); and/ or
~ positive stretching (e.g. "I wonder if you could show that idea in other ways?). 

This is a wholistic approach to assessment. The child's response to my feedback helps me understand of "how far" they have traveled in their learning, and then "what comes next" in their learning. 

I welcome questions and inquiries from parents about their child's learning's progress. 
Grades Offered

All stories used in this class are told orally and are based on/ adapted from traditional stories in the public domain. 

This class is informed by the following perspectives and research on child development and teaching: 
~ The Science of Writing and Speech-To-Print approaches to literacy education
~ Talk For Writing (Pie Corbett)
~ Imaginative Pedagogy (Kieran Egan)
~ Indigenous and oral teaching traditions, perspectives and principles, 8-ways Pedagogy (Tyson Yunkaporta)
~ Play-based learning, with a focus on Play Profiles (Sara-Lea Chazan) and major research on the impact of play on learning, including: 
★ Nancy Carlsson-Paige, Geralyn Bywater McLaughlin, & Joan Wolfsheimer Almon. (2015). Reading Instruction in Kindergarten: Little to Gain and Much to Lose. Published online by the Alliance for Childhood. http://www.allianceforchildhood.org/sites/allianceforchildhood.org/file…
★ Linda Darling-Hammond and J. Snyder. 1992. “Curriculum Studies and the Traditions of Inquiry: The Scientific Tradition.” Edited by Philip W Jackson. Handbook of Research on Curriculum. MacMillan. pp. 41-78.
★ R. A. Marcon, 2002. “Moving up the grades: Relationship between preschool model and later school success.” Early Childhood Research & Practice 4(1). http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/v4n1/marcon.html.
★ Larry J. Schweinhart and D. P. Weikart. 1997. “The High/Scope Pre-school Curriculum Comparison Study through age 23.” Early Childhood Research Quarterly 12. pp. 117-143.