Learning through play is the basis of Cornerstone's educational philosophy. A wonderful sense of rhythm permeates each day as the children explore their world at play centers that have been purposefully set up by the teacher for learning. It is through play that children explore basic principles of math using small manipulatives, beads, building blocks, physics by throwing, kicking, and rolling balls, science through water, soil, sand, bugs, and gardening, reading by listening to stores and poems, the arts through singing, dancing, play-acting, painting, gluing, coloring, cutting, and creating, and most importantly, social interaction by moving freely from center to center, choosing to play or not with a classmate, practicing sitting in a circle and following directions, and getting to know other kids' parents.
Through a Child's Eyes
When I examine objects in the science center I am learning:
- new vocabulary
- concepts of texture, color, weight, size, etc.
- to group objects into categories and observe likenesses and differences
- to appreciate nature and develop a sense of wonder
When I paint at the easel I am learning:
- to develop my imagination and creativity
- eye-hand coordination, helpful for learning to write
- the names of colors and how to make new colors
- to distinguish shapes, and purposely create shapes
- to notice patters from background, necessary for learning to read
- to express my feelings and ideas
- that my ideas have value
- relationships of space and size, necessary for mathematics
- concepts of symmetry, balance and design
When I fingerpaint I am learning:
- exercise my imagination and creativity
- about how colors mix to form new colors
- concepts of shape, size, and location
- an acceptable way to make a mess, and have fun sharing ideas with others who are near
When I scribble and draw I am learning:
- to hold a pencil or other drawing implement and control the pressure
- eye-hand coordination
- to exercise my creativity and imagination
- that my ideas have value
- concepts of color, shape, size, and location
When I play with paste, glue and collage materials I am learning:
- to exercise my imagination and creativity
- concepts of shape, size, location, and design, relevant to learning to read
- about things that are sticky, and things that have different textures
- how to create patterns and designs, a math skill
When I do cooking projects I am learning:
- about nutrition, tastes and food groups
- how heat and cold change things
- concepts of volume and measurement
- vocabulary
- part-whole relationships, basic math concepts
- an awareness of my own and other cultures
When I play with scissors I am learning:
- to control the small muscles of my hand
- concepts of shape, size, color and location
- to exercise my imagination and creativity
When I play with playdough or clay I am learning:
- to see the shape against the background of the table, a reading skill
- concepts of shapes, relative sizes, big, small, etc., length, height
- to see negative space when cookies cutter shapes are taken away
- to express feelings, squeezing and pounding
- to exercise my imagination and creativity
- that the amount of a substance remains the same, even when the shape changes
When I dance I am learning:
- to express myself physically
- to be conscious of the moods and rhythms of music
- balance and coordination
When I play with rhythm instruments I am learning:
- to be conscious of rhythm in music
- to express myself in a new way
- listening skills, auditory discrimination, recognizing differences in sounds, necessary to learn to read
- to interpret signals and cues
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concepts of fast, slow, loud and soft
When I sing songs learned at school I am learning:
- principles of music and rhythm
- vocabulary
- memory skills and sequencing
- to be conscious of others
- auditory discrimination skills - recognizing differences in sounds, necessary for learning to read
- various concepts emphasized in songs
- awareness and identification with my culture and cultural heritage of others
When I play in the home center I am learning:
- to be flexible in my thinking
- to express myself in sentences
- to try on different adult roles
- to solve problems, especially socially, through negotiation with friends
- to sort and organize things
- to make decisions
- to improvise and use things in a symbolic way to represent something else ... a form of abstract thinking
- to carry out my ideas, with the cooperation of others
- to exercise my imagination and creativity
When I play with puppets I am learning:
- to express ideas with words
- to take on the role of someone else
- to communicate with voice tones as well as words
- to use my imagination
When I participate in circle time activities I am learning:
- to listen, sit still, and understand spoken language
- to add my ideas to the discussion. My ideas have value.
- to wait when others are talking
- new vocabulary connected with the topic of discussion
- to remember the words of songs and poems
- the names of others in the group
- to cooperate and be considerate of the needs of others
- to help plan what we will do and what we will need to do it
When I play with blocks, cards and trucks I am learning:
- concepts of shape, size, length and location all relative to learning to read and do mathematics
- to create and repeat patters, a math skill
- to exercise imagination
- to cooperate with others
- to solve problems
- about the property of wood
When I string beads I am learning:
- eye-hand coordination
- concepts of color, shape and location
When I play with pegboards and pegs I am learning:
- one-to-one correspondence - one peg for one hole, an essential math counting concept
- to make patterns and repeat patterns, math concepts
- possible left to right progression a reading skill
- concepts of addition as I add one peg at a time
- symmetry, shapes, order and design
- eye-hand coordination, a writing skill
When I sort things I am learning:
- to notice details and likenesses and difference in objects and form categories, essential concepts of reading and mathematics
- concepts of color, size and shape
- numerical concepts of more and less
- logical reasoning
When I play with puzzles I am learning:
- about the relationship of parts to the whole ... a basic math concept
- eye-hand coordination
- concepts of shape, size, color and location
- vocabulary related to the subject of the puzzle
- about negative and positive space, seeing something against its background (math and reading skills)
- self-confidence as I learn more and more difficult puzzles
- independence as I use the puzzle without help
- sorting, as I group "sets" of puzzle pieces belonging to different puzzles
When I play with water I am learning:
- that some things sink and some things float
- to observe changes as water takes different forms in different containers
- about different temperatures
- about wet, dry and evaporation
- what happens when you add soap
- eye-hand coordination as I learn to pour
- concepts of empty and full, volume and weight, relevant to mathematics
When I play with sand I am learning:
- to exercise my imagination
- concepts of size, shape, and volume, empty and full
- how to use tools
- to solve problems
- concepts of warm and cool, wet, damp, and dry, heavy and light
- how to play socially with others
- to create systems for classifying, ordering, and arranging, math skills
- to create my own patterns and symbols, skills used in reading and writing
- to observe changes, a science skill
