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The role of your child’s YMCA Early Childhood Educator
• Supportingyouinyourroleasparent• Providingasafeenvironmentforyourchild• Preparingspacesthataremoreconduciveto
learning• Carefullywatchingtodeterminewhatyour
child-ataparticularmomentintime-iscapableoflearning
• Activelyparticipatinginyourchild’splayexperiences
• Observinganddocumentingthemilestonesinyourchild’slifetoensureage-appropriatedevelopment
ThroughYMCAPlayingtoLearn,yourchild’searlychildhoodeducatorismoreattentive,moreinvolvedandmoreawareofhowyourchildisdevelopingandwhatyourchildislearning.
YMCA Playing to Learn is a guide to the quality care and education of
young children from infancy to age six.
OUR PHILOSOPHY: TheYMCAChildCareprogramfostersachild’sgrowthanddevelopmentalongwithadesiretoexploreandlearn,throughtheYMCAPlayingtoLearncurriculum.
YMCA of Owen Sound Grey Bruce70010thStreetEastOwenSound,ONN4K0C6519-376-0484ymcaowensound.on.caCharitableReg.No.119074995RR0001
Foundation of Language & Literacy
LanguageChildrenneedtobeprovidedwithmanymeaningfulopportunitiestotalkandrespondtolanguage.Childrenrecognizelanguagenotonlyascommunicationdirectedtowardsthem,but,alsobetweenothers.Socio-dramaticplayprovidestheidealconditionsforlanguagelearning.
ReadingItisnevertooearlytointroducebooks.Childrenwhoarereadtofinditeasiertolearntoreadandwrite.Readingaloudinsmallgroupsinvitesparticipationandenablestheeducatortoteachchildrentheconceptsofprint.
WritingPicture-makingisconsideredtobeavitalcomponentofearlywriting.Achild’sscribbleisaformofcommunicationcomparabletothebabbleofearlytalk.Children’searlyattemptsatwritingshouldbemetwiththesameenthusiasmastheirearliesttalk
Foundation of Mathematics, Science & Technology
NumeracyTheconceptofnumberdevelopsthroughmanyopportunitiestocountandcompare.Makinguseoftheseopportunitiesencouragesyoungchildrentoexpandtheirmathematicalreasoningandlearnthelanguageneededtodescribewhattheyunderstand.Freeplaywithawidevarietyofmaterialsandtoysisessential.
ScienceThepreschoolchildusesintuitionratherthanlogic,yetessentiallyusesallofthementalactivitiesusedbymaturescientistsintheprocessofinquiry.Inquiryisbornofplayandatanyage,exploringmaterials,ideasandrelationshipsrefinethecapacitytothink.
TechnologyTechnologyisanintegralpartoftheeverydaylifeofchildren.Themethodsoftechnologyinvolveinventingormodifyingstructures,systems,orprocessesusingexplorationandexperimentation.Blockplayintegrateslearningofmathematics,technologyandscienceaschildrenexplore.
What parents need to knowWhat is YMCA Playing to Learn?ThepublicationoftheYMCAPlayingtoLearnCurriculumisanimportantmilestoneinhowYMCA’sdelivertheirchildcareprogramsandakeydevelopmentinthefieldofearlychildhoodeducation.
TheYMCAPlayingtoLearncurriculumisbeingimplementedinYMCA’sacrossCanada.
It delivers on our promise to continuously improve the quality of programs and services we provide for children.
Thetheoreticalbasisforthiscurriculumiswell-knownandaccepted.Itisbasedonwhatwe-aschildcareprofessionals-knowtobetrue.
Trueplayisthewaychildrenlearn,andtrueplayprovidesadultswithinsightintowhatachild-atthatparticularmomentintime-iscapableoflearning.
TheYMCAhasputaframeworkandstructureinplacetotrainitsearlychildhoodeducators.Thisis,inandofitself,anexcitingdevelopment.Weareprovidingourearlychildhoodeducatorswiththeopportunitytofurthertheirowneducationandskillatnurturingthedevelopmentofyoungchildren.
YMCAPlayingtoLearnprovidesanunderstandingofhowplayprovidesthefoundationforlearningtoreadandwrite,andforlearningmathematics,scienceandtechnology.Itprovidesearlychildhoodeducatorswiththeskillstopreparespacesthataremoreconducivetolearning,andthebestpracticestoencouragequalitylearningexperiences.
YMCAPlayingtoLearncombinesthreedecadesofexperienceinchildcaredelivery,withthelatestbodyofknowledgeonhowthebraindevelopsandhowchildrenlearn.
What will your child be doing?Allthethingsyourchildwantstodo.Therewillbestorytime.Timetoplaywithblocks.Opportunitiestocountandcompare.Tomakepicturesandtosing.Tomake-believe.Theywillexperiencetheworld.Theywillexploreandinvestigate.
How will your child be learning?Yourchildwillbeplayingtolearn.Wehaveknownforaverylongtimethatchild’splayprovidesthefoundationsforlanguageandliteracy;formathematics,scienceandtechnology;andforthearts.ItisthetypeofplayopportunitiesprovidedbytheYMCAthatdetermineswhatyourchildlearns.
Foundation of the Arts
MusicExperiencingmusicthroughlisteningandparticipatingprovidesapowerfulmeansofexpressingfeelings,developinghumorandsupportsthelearningofthelanguage.Thechildbecomesawareof,andappreciatestherichnessofunfamiliarculturesandtraditions.
Visual ArtThevisualartsintheearlyyearsinvolvespicturemaking,printmaking,sculptingandtwo-dimensionalartwork.Producingtheseworksofartgiveschildrenanunderstandingoftheelementsofdesign.
Dramatic PlayDramaticplayisafundamentalactivityforallchildren.Itprovidesameansforchildrentolearnthoselessonsthat“noonecouldteachthem.”Thechild’smake-believeplayisareworkingofbitsandpiecesofexperiencetounderstandpeopleandtheiractions.
We believe YMCA Playing to Learn is the best approach to ensure a child’s continued enthusiasm and capacity for life-long learning.