The ‘Foundational years Learning Framework’ is a manual that clearly outlines and describes the essence of Teaching and Learning across grades Nursery until Grade 2 at BDW International School, guiding and illuminating the path for our youngest learners towards holistic development and lifelong learning, in alignment with the ethos and goals of our school in achieving excellence.
At the heart of our early years’ curriculum lies a profound purpose, inspired by the NEP and guided by our school's vision:
As the cornerstone of our foundational years’ education program, our curriculum plays several pivotal roles:
In essence, our foundational years curriculum is centred around skill development, high-impact teaching practices, and continuous professional development, to create a learning environment where every child thrives, every educator excels, and every opportunity is maximised to harness the potential of all students.
Foundational years, defined as the period from three to eight years old, is a time of remarkable growth with brain development at its peak. Even more so during birth until three years, children are highly influenced by the environment and the people that surround them.
Early childhood care and education (ECCE) is more than preparation for primary school. It aims at the holistic development of a child’s social, emotional, cognitive and physical needs in order to build a solid and broad foundation for lifelong learning and wellbeing. Early childhood experiences create the base for all subsequent learning. It is the foundation stage with learning is at its peak during early childhood years.
Scientific research also indicates that within the span of the early childhood years, there are certain ‘sensitive periods’ or ‘critical periods’ for development of some cognitive, linguistic, social and psychomotor competencies.
BDWIS embraces the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) system advocated by the United Nations, prioritizing a balanced approach to learning across the foundational years. Through a blend of teacher-directed instruction and child-initiated play activities, we cultivate an environment where children thrive and flourish.
Our curriculum places a strong emphasis on hands-on, experiential learning, providing ample opportunities for practical exploration and discovery. Children engage in dynamic learning experiences that foster joy, excitement, and curiosity. Teachers play a crucial role in nurturing this learning process, encouraging active participation and instilling a love for inquiry and investigation.
In our Foundational Years Program, young minds are encouraged to develop foundational skills in reading, writing, and numeracy, supported by creative and imaginative guidance from adults. The freedom and positive environment we cultivate empower children to feel valued and happy, paving the way for their holistic development.
Our foundational years’ program consists of five stages: Nursery, K1, K2, G-1 and G-2. Within these stages, children focus on three Prime Areas essential for healthy development and future learning:
In addition to these prime areas, children also engage in the development of skills across five Specific Areas:
Children are natural learners. They are active, eager to learn, and respond with interest in new things. They have an innate sense of curiosity - they wonder, question, explore, try out, and discover to make sense of the world. By acting on their curiosity, they continue to discover and learn more.
Hence, student-centric learning experiences are necessary in the foundational years to support the holistic development of young learners for the following reasons;
All learning happens through the senses, which act as pathways to the brain. These are the primary pathways to a child’s brain:
When we consciously plan learning experiences that involves play in a manner that engages more than one sense at a time, this approach is known as a Multisensory approach.
A true play-based lesson that involves multiple senses as mentioned above, will engage students on all these levels at one time. Such lessons are highly impactful because no matter what the learning strength of each child (be it auditory, visual, tactile, or kinaesthetic) would be, a multisensory lesson will target the learning strengths of all students at one time. We can teach once and successfully reach all our students.
Incorporating play, makes the journey of exploration and discovery exciting and motivating for all learners. It becomes an engaging, learner driven and a creative process where learning is fun, as each small step is mastered and the learners are made aware of what they have been learning and acquired.
This intentional design assures that all students feel a sense of success and achievement and this helps each individual learner gain independence and a great “can do” attitude.
For example:
These workstations are arranged in such a way that students can easily rotate between them, engaging in independent or collaborative learning activities based on their interests and learning goals. The classroom environment is vibrant, inviting, and conducive to exploration and discovery, fostering a sense of curiosity, autonomy, and joy in learning.
In the foundational years of learning and development, research highlights the pivotal role of workstations in promoting student engagement, autonomy, and skill development. Workstations, designated areas within the classroom, have been shown to significantly enhance the learning experience of young learners. For instance, a study by Smith and Higgins (2017) found that students who engaged in workstation activities demonstrated increased levels of active participation and enthusiasm for learning compared to traditional instruction methods.
The effectiveness and purpose of workstations in the foundational years are manifold:
| Week | skill | Station -1 | Station - 2 | Station - 3 | Station - 4 |
| 1 | Letter –sound correspondence | Identify the sound and write/list words having the given sound | Look at the picture and label it by segmenting the sounds. | Read the passage and make a list of the words having the given sound. (ng, ou, oi,) | Read the passage and make a list of the words having the given |
| 2 | Phonemic awareness- Rhyming words | Read the given words and write one rhyming words for the given word/words. | Read the given words and write two rhyming words for the given word/words. | Read the passage and write three rhyming words for the words underlined. | Read the passage and write four rhyming words for the words underlined. |
| 3 | Frequently used words- sight words | Find and rewrite the sight words in the given puzzle. | Find the given sight words in the puzzle and rewrite them. | Read the sentences and underline the sight words given. | Read the passage and make a list of the sight words that appear in the passage. |
| 4 | Frame sentences to describe a picture | Look at the picture and label the objects in the picture. | Frame and write two sentences about the given picture. | Frame and write three sentences about the picture. | Frame three-four sentences about the picture. |
A read-aloud is when a teacher or another fluent reader reads a book or text aloud to a group of students. It's an effective practice in language acquisition for several reasons:
Overall, read-alouds are a powerful tool for language acquisition because they provide students with meaningful exposure to language in context, model effective reading strategies, promote comprehension and engagement, and foster a love for reading and literature.
An exemplar plan of a read aloud
Before reading | 1. Plan a hook to get students excited about the read aloud. The hook must be related to the big idea / theme 2. Plan for an engaging activity to introduce the new vocabulary. 3. To build context and background knowledge for the text, engage the students in a thoughtful discussion about the big idea related to the text. This must get them thinking about what the book might be about and build the necessary knowledge they need to understand the story. Picture walk can be used during this time to help the children become comfortable accessing their prior knowledge. 4. Introduce the skill that you will be teaching explicitly which will help the students to learn how to read. |
During reading | 1. Read the text fluently, stop to ask questions you wrote while planning which focus on the reading skill as well as the ideas that the text explores. Model the thinking steps using a think aloud to make your thinking visible to the students. This will help the students know how they are expected to think to be able to comprehend the ideas in a text. Allow students to discuss these with their partners or in a group. Continue this process until you reach the end of the story. |
After reading | 1. Once the read aloud is done, support the students in exploring the big idea through a deeper conversation about the text. Push for deeper thought by supporting them to make connections between ideas and their own lives. 2. Make the text available for shared, guided and independent reading opportunities. Support them in practicing the reading skills taught. |
| Book title: Head to Toe, by Eric Carle Reading skill/objective: Identify characters and their actions in the text Vocabulary: · Wave · Thump · Wriggle · Wiggle · Stomp · Character · Action |
|
| Before reading (15 mins) | Hook: Play ‘Simon says with students with a focus on body parts.
Context: Show the front and back cover of the book and ask the students to predict what the book might be about using the title, pictures and blurb on front and back cover. Connect the prediction to ‘Simon says activity. Ask the students to share what are some things they can do with their hands, feet, arms, neck, etc. Vocabulary: Introduce the vocabulary words with: · Picture · Meaning · Sentence · Gesture Picture walk & skill: Tell the students that stories have people/characters in it that speak, think and do different things. While reading today, they will be focussing on who the characters are and what they are doing. Do a picture walk of the book with the students by showing them pictures on each page and asking them what they see and what they think is happening with specific focus on characters and their actions (Who is a character? Who is not a character? What is the character doing?) Do not read the text at this point. Connect the pictures to the vocabulary words they have learnt. |
| During reading (15 mins) | Read the story aloud to the students while stopping at different points and: · Ask questions about what they see and what they think is happening · Model explicitly how you would identify a character and action by asking yourself: o Can I see a person or animal in the picture doing something? Who is the character? o What is the character doing? o Which part of the text tells me that it is a character? o Which part of the text tells me that it is an action? · Engage the students at different points to act out what’s happening in the story. |
| After reading (20 mins) | · To check for understanding, ask the students to retell what happened in the story through a discussion or sequence cards showing of different events in the story. · Discuss the following questions with the students: o Who were the characters in the story? What did they do? o How are you similar or different from these characters? Do you also do the same things? Do you do different things? o Which character did you like the most and why? o What do you enjoy doing? · Share a copy of text with the students and allow them to read the text in groups/with their partners. Walk around to support the students to read, ask questions and talk about what they are reading. |
Every child deserves a teacher who never stops learning.
Teaching is an intellectually and ethically demanding profession. Teachers of the Foundational Stage are required to have particular qualities that enable them to work with young children with care, energy, rigour, patience, and humour.
Continuous professional development (CPD) is essential for educators for several reasons:
