Alberta at the Forefront of Early Childhood Education

Early childhood education sets the foundation for a child’s future and their view of themselves as a learner. Pivotal skills and dispositions are nurtured and developed that will prepare them for a future that will look far different than our own. Alberta has focused on this through its past curriculum focusing on the development of the whole child, and has brought it forward with the development of the new Kindergarten and ECE curricula. Through these new curricula, TIS will continue to play a key role in supporting our youngest learners and ensuring they have the mindset, skills and confidence in themselves as learners for the rest of their lives. Below are brief snapshots into the new curricula and how they benefit our children.

Flight Curriculum

The Flight framework has a clear focus on the child’s experiential learning and the questions that emerge from their connections to their world. The overarching direction is for children to make sense of their world and explore concepts such as numeracy, literacy and science through their everyday experiences and inquiry. Through daily interactions, values are discussed and nurtured that include equity, environmental sustainability, social responsibility and respect for ourselves and the community. Alongside values, key dispositions are developed that will support child learning and growth as they continue to move through school. These dispositions include viewing themselves as persistent, caring, participatory, seeking information and questioning as well as being playful.

It is important as educators and the wider community, to view children as confident, capable learners who have the capacity to inquiry in depth about a range of topics. The Flight curriculum focuses on the strengths of the child and views their relationship to family, community and themselves as active citizens as key to their learning. As a holistic model to education, educators plan and focus on the key areas of well being, playfulness, communication/literacies and diversity and social responsibility.

TIS alongside Alberta, recognize the importance of these formative years for child development. By supporting children in strengthening their view of themselves as learners, we are starting at the earliest opportunity to have each children be successful.

For more information, please see the following link:  Flight Overview

Kindergarten Curriculum

The updated curriculum for Kindergarten continues the focus on children as competent and capable learners that bring their own questions to learning and their environment. Students need the opportunities to delve deeper into subject areas while recognizing that concepts are cross curricular and embedded within each other. Through these conceptual and inquiry driven explorations, key skills are developed that are built upon as the child moves into later grades.

As children engage in learning, key student values are focused upon, including democracy and citizenship, integrity and respect, perseverance and excellence, innovation and stewardship and belonging and identity. By supporting students in cultivating these values, they will not only be more capable learners but confident global citizens as they move into adulthood. This may seem far away as we look at our five year olds, however, a strong foundation in conceptual and procedural understanding with clear values prepares our students for successful lives.

It is important to note that we must always continue to focus on the whole child and Alberta continues to ensure this key concept stays at the forefront. The wellness component of the curriculum focuses on healthy eating, physical activity, the wellness of ourselves and our community. Through the curriculum there are explorations of caring, kindness, equity and participation that look at the social and emotional aspects of child development. Literacy and numeracy are connected through all subject areas and offer a holistic approach to learning. When children take part in their learning, they are able to examine the world around them and how their decisions affect those close to them as well as the wider community. This global mindset will serve them as they move into a more globally connected world.

No matter where your child is within early childhood education at TIS, there is the assurance they are getting a high quality, developmentally appropriate and child centered curriculum through Alberta. We view this as one of the many Alberta advantages that TIS offers and continues to value in its educational programming.