Although the Polish curriculum is in compliance with the standard state curriculum requirements as per Ministry of Education (MEN) Regulation dated 23 December 2008, it incorporates a wide variety of additional activities beyond the regulatory base line. Our 2010/11 school year curriculum is based on the MEN award winning school program “Ku dziecku” by Barbara Bilewicz-Kuźni and Teresa Parczewska. Our curriculum for 5-year olds follows the program “Nasze przedszkole” by M. Kwaśniewska and W. Żaba-Żabińska.  

1. The language development component and more specifically - acquisition of pre-writing and reading readiness skills is based on the glottodydactics methodology designed by Prof. Bronisław Rocławski.
2. The mathematics and science component of our program is taught following the approach presented by Edyta Gruszczyk – Kolczyńska and Ewa Zielińska in „Dziecięca matematyka.”
3. We also incorporate elements of the Developmental Movement approach devised by Veronica Sherborne.

Our curriculum activities are tailored to suit the intellectual capabilities of children in line with the individual learning approach.

PROJECT BASED APPROACH

During the 2011/12 school year we have incorporated the Project Based Approach (PBL) as part of our base curriculum. The Kidzcorner Group preschools are among the very few preschools in Poland to adopt PBL. In view of our membership in ASPnet (the worldwide network of UNESCO Associated Schools) and given that 2011 has been declared by the United Nations General Assembly as the „International Year of Forests”, we chose „forests” as the lead theme for our Project. We aim to inspire children and give them the tools for further exploration of the forest theme. Over the course of the school year we plan to conduct three project theme cycles totaling 6 weeks.

LEARNING CENTERS

In addition, our regular tuition covers the following activity centers: (1) group arts & crafts activities with a native speaker, (2) „Science Club” lead by a native speaker, (3) group speech development sessions with elements of glottodydactics and sensory integration techniques and (4) communication workshops with our child psychologist.

(1) Arts & Crafts - organized on a weekly basis and is lead by an arts teacher who is a native speaker. This year’s program titled “Art Hunters” aims to familiarize children old masters and contemporary artists as well as various tools and materials used in art work – traditional (pencil, charcoal, paint) or unconventional (plastic bottles, kitchen foil, rice), to develop manual skills (small motor skills), to practice tasks using a different scale (small vs. big), to introduce basic English vocabulary associated with art and to develop focus and concentration.

(2) Science Club with a native speaker. The preschool years are a time of exploration of the surrounding world. Children of this age are fascinated with and ask questions about the world’s wonders: living creatures and plants, natural phenomena and the basic laws of physics and mathematics. At the “Little Scientist Club” our preschoolers seek answers to these questions through various experiments and experiences that lead to tangible outcomes and are carried out in a manner that is best suited to their level of comprehension. The “Little Scientist Club” activities are conducted in English as the sole language of instruction. This enables children to build and improve on their English vocabulary and enhance their science content comprehension skills in this language.

(3) Group speech-language development sessions with elements of glottodydactics and sensory integration techniques are held on a weekly basis in each age group in accordance with our proprietary program consisting of three main parts: (a) speech-language development exercises, (b) glottodydactics – pre-reading and writing preparation and (c) sensory integration exercises which stimulate the four senses – touch, smell, hearing and sight, develop awareness of own body and balance.  

(4) Communication workshop with our child psychologist. The purpose of these regular communication workshops with our child psychologist is to help children aged 3 and over to become self aware, to enrich their knowledge about themselves and others, to prepare them for facing difficult situations in life, develop their social and emotional skills, including coping with unpleasant feelings and conflicts, teach them about empathy and emphatic behavior, help build their self confidence and trust in others. During the workshops children enter the world of values, feelings, respect and tolerance. They work as a team whilst discovering new ideas and acquiring new social skills (criterion in “school maturity” assessments). All workshops incorporate movement, games and arts activities. The development of social skills goes hand in hand with strengthening emotional maturity and increasing self confidence. This in turn encourages children to think critically and improves their problem solving skills.

Our proprietary program follows closely the national guidelines on the skills to be acquired by preschool children, including differentiation between good and evil, attitude towards adults and peers, tolerance, etc.