Sheltering Arms Curriculum

The Sheltering Arms curriculum is based on our philosophy of early childhood education:

High quality early childhood education meets the total needs of the individual child.
Children learn best through play - actively participating in and manipulating their environment.
Children learn all day long - during teacher directed activities and child-selected activities.
Children learn in a variety of individual ways using all five senses.
Children learn best in a positive stimulating environment designed to enhance their self-confidence and self esteem.
Our instructional program for children is based upon current research that documents developmentally appropriate activities for infants, toddlers, and three and four year olds.
Parents are viewed as important partners with us in their child's care and education. Partnerships with parents include plans and dreams articulated during the enrollment interview, daily reports and regularly scheduled conferences, volunteer opportunities, frequent dissemination of suggestions for parent-child together homework activities, parenting skills classes, readily available information on ages and stages of development and positive guidance, and book ownership events.

A curriculum is defined as a written plan that includes ...

1. the goals for children's development and learning,
2. the experiences through which they will achieve these goals,
3. what staff and parents do to help children achieve these goals,
4. the materials needed to support the implementation of the curriculum.

Sheltering Arms bases our instructional or educational program upon guiding principles set by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). Every experience plays some part in the growth and development of a child's personality. Therefore our educational philosophy is not complete without clarifying our principles of positive guidance:

Children "learn what they live". Our example of honest and fair action with all children, loving and calming words and gentle hugs of encouragement are the most powerful ways we teach children how to live in the world.
Teachers provide a positive environment where the rules are clear and consistent.
Teachers encourage positive behavior by being well prepared with age-appropriate learning activities directing children whose behavior is inappropriate to another activity praising and encouraging specific behavior.
Teachers use positive guidance techniques to direct children's behavior. Physical punishment or verbal abuse by any adult, including parents, is not allowed on center property.
Our goal of discipline is to help children learn an inner control over their own behavior. Helping children express emotions using words rather than physical force best does this.
Conferences may be scheduled with parents to discuss concerns about a child's behavior in order to gain their understanding and support of ways to work better with the child. Our goal is to work in partnership with parents.
When persistent behaviors make it difficult for them or the other children to fully benefit from classroom activities a written plan is developed to involve the parents, teachers, management team, staff, and community resources.

Our philosophy on early childhood education stems from the values set forth in our strategic plan. Grounded in our history and mission, our strategic plan sets forth overarching values that guide our early childhood education philosophy:

excellence in early childhood education,
strong, self-reliant families,
a diverse, well-educated corps of staff and volunteers,
communities that are able to care for and uphold their children and families,
a strong, diverse board of directors,
collaboration with program participants, the community, and other constituencies,
accountability to donors and constituents, and
relationships formed in the work to empower families and strengthen communities.

To best reflect our philosophy and values, Sheltering Arms has designed our own developmentally appropriate curriculum for our program. The Sheltering Arms curriculum has evolved since our founding in 1888 and includes the most current research on early childhood best practices. It focuses on the individual needs of children, and is rooted in Piaget's theory of how children learn and think in an enriched sensory environment, guided by the new brain research, and influenced by Erickson's stages of emotional growth. It views the parent as the child's first teacher and as a partner in education. The importance of this partnership has been confirmed by Vygotsky's study of the impact of family and culture on children's learning. The goal of the Sheltering Arms curriculum is to provide children with an environment that stimulates learning, encourages curiosity, exploration, problem solving, and self-expression through hands-on activities. We believe children learn by doing - through actively manipulating and exploring their environment as well as making many of their own decisions. Our curriculum has been approved by the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning for use in the lottery-funded Pre-kindergarten Program, and is routinely purchased by other child care programs throughout the southeast region.

The Sheltering Arms curriculum revolves around a comprehensive system of...

establishing partnerships with parents, with sensitivity to their changing needs,
screening for developmental delays or health issues,
assigning a primary caregiver (bonding group),
ongoing individual child assessments,
enriching the learning environment,
following a daily schedule with a balance of child selected and teacher facilitated activities,
lesson planning,
teacher observations,
developing a child's portfolio,
teachable moments,
positive interactions between teachers and children,
parent involvement and conferences,
teacher training.

The curriculum is also reinforced through well-equipped classrooms, state-of-the-art facilities and playgrounds, and the provision of nutritious meals and snacks and nutrition education for parents.

Infant Curriculum
The Sheltering Arms Infant Curriculum, designed by our team of experienced early childhood professionals in collaboration with local universities, recognizes that learning for infants is everything the child experiences - arrival, dressing and undressing, diapering, hand washing and feeding. Research tells us that 90 percent of all learning occurs in the first three years of life. The Sheltering Arms Infant Curriculum takes advantage of this by providing planful, stimulating activities designed for individual children to maximize their language, cognitive, physical, social and emotional development. Routines are viewed as the heart of the curriculum, with teachers understanding that infants rely on all their senses for learning. Teachers talk, snuggle, giggle, tickle a tummy, or sing a song as they change a diaper or feed a bottle to help infants discover the relationships between their body and the environment. A simple, flexible, daily schedule allows for relaxed routines and individualized eating and sleeping opportunities. Each infant is assigned a primary caregiver who does the majority of the care for the child, provides lots of physical affection, shows excitement and admiration, helps infants recognize and express emotions appropriately, sets appropriate limits, and is able to bond with both infants and parents. The primary caregiver does a weekly assessment of the infant's physical, cognitive, language, social and emotional skills. Individualized planning is based on this on-going skills assessment, and assessment results become learning objectives. Objectives are identified weekly for each child and teachers plan activities daily to reinforce these objectives. Cognitive objectives include object permanence, cause and effect, use of tools, an understanding of space, imitation, and learning schemes. Activities are introduced as appropriate and reinforced informally throughout the day based on individual developmental progress. Music and reading are integral parts of the curriculum, and sensory activities with water and simple art media enrich the curriculum for older infants. All infants are given "floor freedom" to explore their environment. Teacher training includes classes about the unparalleled growth of infants in all areas of development, how a young child's brain is a "work in progress," and the dramatic growth of the brain, which establishes patterns for lifelong learning.

Toddler Curriculum
While our Infant Curriculum is totally individualized, our Toddler Curriculum begins to include some "small group" planning. The assignment of primary caregivers keeps the individualized focus and the addition of simple planning through a relaxed, flexible schedule gives some order to the day and expands learning opportunities. Flexible schedules let us capitalize on those moments that arise when children discover something that interests them. They allow us to extend a play period so the children gain maximum satisfaction from what they're doing. The daily schedule includes a short music and language group time to which toddlers are invited but never required to participate. Child-selected activities continue to predominate. Teachers select developmental goals for each child in their bonding group based on individual assessments. Lesson plans are created that include items of interest to toddlers, such as balls, cars, boxes, and apples. These simple, specific, hands-on topics are the vehicles for learning the physical, cognitive, language, social, and emotional skills appropriate for each child as determined by ongoing assessments.

Activities are planned to challenge, but never frustrate, the child. Feelings of self-worth are gained as children successfully master developmentally appropriate tasks. Children are encouraged to initiate their own activities in an enriched environment, divided into learning centers such as home living/dramatic play, blocks/large motor, art, manipulatives, math and science, sand and water, and a cozy book corner. Duplicates of durable materials are attractively displayed in low, open shelves to encourage independence and self-help skills. The Toddler Curriculum is everything that happens in the course of the day - all the child's experiences, planned and unplanned, as they are actively involved with people and materials from arrival to departure. Our emphasis is on children's interests and involvement in their learning, and on their growing ability to make constructive choices. Teachers set up an enriched environment, plan activities based on children's individual developmental assessments and then observe, evaluate, and extend children's learning. As children play, they reveal their skills and understanding, their misconceptions and difficulties, providing cues for teachers to engage with them in meaningful ways. At the heart of our Toddler Curriculum are these responsive, nurturing relationships with each child.

Parents are actively encouraged to become involved in the program through weekly parent involvement forms and personal invitations from teachers. Our curriculum is at its best when we have parent input and work together in partnerships that put children first.

Preschool Curriculum
The theme approach guides our developmentally appropriate planning for three, four and five year olds. Teachers select topics of interest to their children and use these ideas to reinforce developmental objectives for each individual child. As with the Infant and Toddler Curriculums, goals for each child are determined from the ongoing assessment. Teachers create individualized lesson plans based on the theme and incorporate language, math, science/sensory, small motor, large motor, creative, social and emotional objectives.

The classroom arrangement into clearly defined and well-stocked learning centers sets the framework for our Preschool Curriculum, where learning through play is emphasized. As with the Toddler Curriculum, the daily schedule allows for an appropriate balance of active and quiet, large and small group, child-initiated and teacher-facilitated activities, and the curriculum is seen as everything that happens in the course of the day- all the children's experiences, planned and unplanned, as they are actively involved with people and materials from arrival to departure. Our emphasis is on children's interests and involvement in their learning and on their ability to make constructive choices. Teachers set up an enriched environment, plan activities based on children's developmental assessments and then observe, evaluate and extend their learning.

One of our center directors explains the basic strategy of the theme-oriented, activity-based classroom program this way:

"When we were children, we did a lot of one-dimensional, rote learning, like coloring a picture of an apple and tracing the letter 'A.' Now if we do a unit on apples, we bring in apples and let children taste them, count them, cut them up, cook them -- so they will not just remember that apple starts with 'A,' but also the tastes of different varieties, sizes and shapes, and how a Granny Smith apple is bright green."

The children are encouraged to be curious, capable learners taking initiative and building on prior knowledge and experiences. As children play, they reveal their skills and understandings, their misconceptions and difficulties, providing cues for teachers to engage with them in ways that will be meaningful. Parent curriculum involvement forms are completed weekly to keep parents informed of classroom activities and to encourage their involvement.

Our Preschool Curriculum has been approved by the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning for use in Pre-kindergarten classrooms. Unfortunately at this time it is not available for purchase.

Summer Camp (Ages 5-8)

Sheltering Arms Summer Camp is designed to be relaxing, recreational, educational and tailored to the interests of school age children. Our curriculum offers a rich range of daily activities, long-term projects, special events and celebrations, field trips and enrichment activities, and a unique science component that is stimulating and discovery oriented.

Creative arts and crafts include fabric dying, papier-mache, sand art, and clay sculpting. Integrated art opportunities feature exploration of creative expression through music, drama, and writing. Field trips to destinations such as the zoo and aquarium, museums, library, puppet theatre, bowling, roller-skating, and movies are designed to be both fun and educational. Outdoor activities include swimming, water play, organized sports and games, and gardening. We offer a strong literacy component in which children read and are read to daily and are encouraged to keep a written journal of their activities. Our special science focus includes daily exploration of basic biology, chemistry, and physics concepts, which give children opportunities to hypothesize, investigate, perform experiments and document their findings. Children are involved in weekly cooking activities.

Our summer campers are exposed to a myriad of activity choices while involved with supportive, nurturing, professional adult instructors trained to meet the needs and interest of school age children. Group size is limited to 20 campers, with 2 instructors per group. We offer exciting challenges in a relaxed setting with many opportunities for success.

Activities vary from location to location; so contact your nearest Sheltering Arms center for details on their summer line-up. Our 10-week curriculum is organized into 2-week camps built around themes such as:

Sports
Drama
Music
Creative Arts
Nature
Circus
Discovery
Computer
Cooking
Photography

Download a copy of our preschool lesson plan for The Little Red Hen.

Download a copy of our PreK lesson plan for The Little Red Hen.

**Please note, lesson plans are not currently available for purchase.

385 Centennial Olympic Park Drive, NW, Atlanta, GA 30313
404-523-2767