Kohtla - Järve lasteaed Karuke

Our school is a Public PrePrimary School in Kohtla Järve city (Estonia). There are 143 children at the age of 1,5 – 7. 26 teachers of different specialization including speech therapist, Estonian language, sport and music teach here. The curriculum deals with different subjects in order to keep children interested, but at the same time it is carefully structured so as to establish certain learning objectives for each age group. Each subject is covered in about a week. Children take part in the activities related to the subject of the week during group work time, as well as leisure time. These activities develop mathematical, linguistic, scientific and environmental skills and support creative, social and personal development. We use new technologies. Our school has well-equipped classrooms (interactive boards, projectors, computers and the Internet connection and educational robots). The Key Areas of Learning are: • Personal, social, and emotional development • Language, communication and literacy • Mathematical development • Knowledge and understanding of the world and environment, science • Creative development • Music • Physical development – fine motor and gross motor Personal, social, and emotional development This relates to children's ability to: • know and respect themselves. • identify, express and manage feelings • manage themselves – promoting independence with self-help skills • develop respect for others – listening to others, negotiating and resolving any conflict with peers • develop satisfying relationships and friendships • develop positive learning dispositions (curiosity, motivation to explore, persistence and concentration). Language, communication and literacy This relates to children’s ability to: • communicate effectively with adults and peers – build vocabulary, work toward fluency of speech (questions, sentences, statements). • engage in meaningful conversation • speak and listen (represent their ideas and understandings, listen, comprehend and follow stories, etc.) • enjoy the range of literary mediums: songs, books, puppets, role play, etc. • engage with various writing and symbol making mediums: pens, paint, clay all creative mediums • engage with writing mediums for meaningful purpose and symbol making in their play: pens/notepads in home corner, etc. • enjoy playing with sounds – rhymes, riddles • retell/recall past experiences • develop a growing awareness of letters, phonics/sounds, word formation Mathematical development This relates to children's ability to: • count, sort, classify, match, discover and follow simple patterns • develop spatial awareness • develop awareness of shape and measurement • develop a mathematical vocabulary to express size, comparison (more than, less, bigger, smaller) • develop number awareness • develop an ability to problem solve Knowledge and understanding of the world and environment, science This relates to children's ability to: • explore, observe, problem solve, discuss and make decisions about the world around them • deal with topics directly relevant to the children’s lives, life experience and interests • engage in a social environment (topics related to family, relatives, traditions, manners, health and healthy child) • engage in a natural environment (seasons and science/nature topics, changes in the nature, humans´ influence on the environment) • engage in a human made environment (buildings, waist, safety, transportation) Creative development This area is to develop children's independent thought and allow them to express themselves through different mediums and help them to connect one area of learning with another. Such creative mediums include: • art (includes painting, cutting, gluing, printing etc.) • sensory Play • dance • role play – puppets, dress ups, imaginative games /story telling Music • music and singing • listening to the music • playing the music instruments Physical development – fine motor and gross motor This is related to the developm