EARLY SCHOOL Big Ideas - to consider for your story boards
What knowledge base do we have? What philosophy informs our teaching? How do we want children to develop during their year with us?
Multi-sensory learning \ no "one way" thinking develops critical thought
Enriched experiences develop creative intellectual problem-solving
Learning is all a child does, sees, hears, thinks
"I am therefore I do"
Creative expressiveness is central to future esthetics and artistic thought
Equilibrium balance
Cognitive dissonance
Rehearsals and practice "lock in" knowledge
Repetition helps children remember
Memory is recall, focus and retention
Play is the learning mode of young children
Appropriate environments must be created, settings should be stimulating
Recognition of symbols, signs, logos seen in print, TV, internet, computer
All kinds of mental and social relationships
Cognitive development occurs top to bottom
Children who do not trust will not learn
Children are at risk, need risk-free schools
Children are people, not personal possessions, rooms are their rooms, not ours
Temperament and personality are what makes a child
(Actual) developmental needs are hierarchical
PreK and K are constructivists; they assimilate + accommodate = adapt
Dependency versus independence
Self confidence through self management of behavior
Math operations are the structure of numbers and math manipulatives are forms for understanding
Reality and fantasy are confused during early childhood
Grouping, sorting, matching, one to one correspondence are relationship-building concepts
Children trust adults to teach them higher more complex processes of learning
Commonalties and similarities in only one and two dimensions are basic intellectual traits
