Key Concepts
Key Concepts outline what teachers guide children to know and be able to do in Trinity School's Early Learning Programs for threes and fours and for Junior Kindergarten. The Key Concepts begin the continuum leading to children's preparation for the academic standards which frame elementary school learning. Each Key Concept embodies many developmental skills and concepts.
Initiative and social
relations - Learn to be a learner.
Curiosity and eagerness
Initiative and persistence
Problem solving and reflection
Invention and imagination
Social and emotional
development - Learn to thrive in a group outside
the family. Learn to know your feelings, and talk about them.
Self-concept and self-confidence
Regulating emotions
Respect and appreciation of similarities and differences
Pro-social behaviors and cooperation
Language and
literacy - Learn how words stand for thoughts. Written
words hold ideas we can share.
Reading:
Writing
Listening and phonological awareness
Speaking/communicating and oral language
Learning new languages
Mathematics learning
and development - Learn counting, shapes,
volumes, and time. Use these ideas to learn about the world.
Number sense and operations
Shapes/geometry
Measurement
Data analysis and probability
Patterns/algebra
Communication tools -
Share ideas in your many languages: words,
structures, paintings, organized sound, your moving body, and your ready
imagination.
Visual arts
Music
Creative movement
Dramatic play
Movement, music and
healthy lifestyles - Use your body to move in
large ways and small, careful ways to do your best.
Gross motor
Fine motor
Health and safety
Science - Learn how things work and why. Explore ideas that open new worlds.
Science as inquiry
Physical science
Live science
Earth and space science
Science and technology
Science, environment, and society
Social studies -
Learn who you are in relationship to others in your community, your world, your
history.
Families/cultures
Community/civics
History/time
Geography/places, people, and environments
Economics
Teaching Methods
ECP 3-4 and ECP JK teachers carry the Key Concepts to every teaching task choosing the appropriate teaching methods and resources to empower students. They teach Key Concepts in three important ways:
Teacher-child interactions: Every teacher-child interaction is a learning opportunity. Grounded in respect, love, and trust, the child learns from the teacher and the teacher from the child.
Small groups:
Whether a circle time or a small group orchestrated by the teacher to attend to
a particular kind of learning, children learn from each other and from the
teacher.
Project-based learning:
In this dynamic and sometimes extended process, the teacher integrates the key
concepts into the child's spontaneous, day-to-day discoveries, interests, and
questions. Teachers also provoke the children's curiosity with unique and
intriguing ideas. In turn, each child's experiences, personality, knowledge,
skills, and interests determine what, how and even whether a child will learn
from any given activity.
The Trinity ECP programs provide the time, space, expertise, and guidance to prepare children for elementary school through an unhurried, child-centered set of experiences