Early Years @ MRIS Charmwood
The Early Years programme at MRIS Charmwood caters to our youngest learners. It is based on a well-researched curriculum and perfected pedagogic processes. It provides purposeful context to children, while creating learning opportunities for them to build their knowledge and skills.
The little ones enter Early Years at a time when their brains are most competent and wired to grasp it all. During this time, learning occurs at a furious pace and is predominantly sensorial and multidimensional. We ensure that the multiple intelligences of each child are engaged and stimulated. Experiential activity-based learning focuses on the development of creativity, supports discovery, exploration of materials, ideas and feelings. Classroom setting at MRIS CW is done in a way that it ensures that children have enough space to move freely and get adequate opportunities to engage their natural curiosity. We make our students feel safe, secure and valued.
Here are some of our other distinguishing features that make MRIS CW the playground of learning:
The Early Years curriculum at MRIS CW is concept-driven and focuses on key 21st-century skills. We value and plan for the development of creativity, originality, social interaction, emotional expressiveness, scientific temper, numerical and linguistic skills in an environment which supports discovery and exploration of materials, process, ideas and feelings. Edu-trips and hands-on activities help to connect the concepts with real life and internalise the learning. Integrated theme-based learning is practiced which helps build deep conceptual understanding and connects the content to apply it to the real world. Our Early Years programme also aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG) by acquainting the little ones with the concept of sustainability through simple activities and observations.
At MRIS CW, we provide our Early Years students with an environment that is flexible and joyful… an environment that gives them opportunities to play, explore, inquire, analyse, express and experience.
Our flexible curriculum, along with engaging, hands-on activities, ensures that children learn successfully. Experiential activities like Nature walk, Field trips, making compost, Nature Scavenger Hunt, Shape walks, etc let children develop various skills like problem solving, communication, creativity and collaboration. These activities ensure that the children express their emotions, develop socially and hone their fine and gross motor skills.
MRIS CW’s inquiry-based curriculum like experiments, individual and collaborative projects, observe and reflect activities, etc. help our students to connect with their own experiences. They do so by wondering, posing questions, exploring and making decisions. By acting on their curiosity, they continue to discover and learn further.
Additionally, we focus on the socio emotional wellbeing and language development of our students. A strong social and emotional foundation in early childhood impacts emotional regulation, social relationships and higher cognitive abilities in later years. Our highly trained, empathetic and compassionate teachers are active agents in nurturing social competence and emotional balance. Pretend play, circle time, sensorial play, small group interactions and activity-based learning enable children to enhance their linguistic skills and express feelings, thoughts, respect opinion of others and develop social skills. They also help them in developing social capacities by generating empathy, gratitude, courtesy, ethics, good behavior and sensitivity.
At MRIS CW, we provide an inclusive education environment. All children, regardless of their abilities, learn together in an age-appropriate classroom. Our focus on inclusive learning ensures that all students get access to flexible learning choices. We also provide early intervention and individual learning programmes to help students adjust as per their learning capacities.
Learning at MRIS CW progresses under the seven key learning areas: Languages & Literacy, Numeracy, CREST ( Conceptual Learning through Reasoning, Exploration, Skill and Technology), Visual Arts, Performing Arts, Sports and Well Being and Life Skills.
Early Years at MRIS CW strongly believes that learning through play is the cornerstone of a child’s holistic development. It includes playful experiences through talks, toys, songs and rhymes, stories, dance and movements, nature walks and field trips, to name a few. Play is the brain’s favourite form of learning and essential for its ability to stimulate and integrate a wide range of intellectual, physical, social and creative abilities. Active engagement with children in their play extends and supports their learning. Shared, sustained conversations are also a powerful and important feature of active adult engagement. Our endeavour is to help create skills and growth mindsets to enable children become independent learners for life.
Our focus on the learning centre approach in the Early Years helps in building a constructivist, inquiry-based, reflective, collaborative and integrated form of learning. At MRIS CW, we provide out little ones with a motivating and enriching environment where they observe, inquire, and learn by doing. Our teachers act as facilitators kindling and training minds to think and become lifelong learners. Our spacious classrooms are full of meaningful resources. This encourages the students to learn on their own and as well as from peers. To maintain these high standards, we ensure that our highly skilled teachers are trained continuously trained through professional development programmes, workshops and seminars.
The Learning Centre approach provides students an opportunity to explore the seven learning areas. They learn about numbers (numeracy), blending letters to form words (literacy), performing arts, visual arts and movement in sports and well-being. Under the learning centre philosophy, the students choose their purposeful learning activity to practice and develop skills. Other centres include Sand and Water, Tabletop, Dramatic, Play Dough, Small World, Construction or Creative Centre. Learning centers allow our students to learn at their own pace.
Our Early Years programme exposes students to early coding or pre-coding. Children get first-hand experiences that help them think, communicate and develop problem solving skills.
Coding or ‘new literacy’, a growing prerequisite in the digital world is introduced in analog form in the early years. Pre-coding skills like understanding systems, patterns, instructions through role play, games, puzzles, stories and activities are introduced. Parents are kept abreast of the objectives and methodology for extending the thinking skills at home as well.
MRIS CW ensures that parents are given ample opportunities to actively get involved in various school functions and activities like storytelling, workshops, coffee mornings, book fairs, reading programmes, parent educator conferences, etc. Grandparents and parents are welcomed to participate in thematic celebrations, special days like Mother’s Day, Grandparents’ Day as well as Spectrum presentations (theme-based assemblies). Parents are also encouraged to share their knowledge with the entire MRIS family through contributions in Reporter magazine, as well as on our social media handles.
