Firefly Oasis
~Preserving the Magic of Childhood~
Curriculum
Following the principles of Waldorf Early Childhood Education, our mixed-age, play-based programs offer a warm, nurturing, joyful environment that supports children’s physical, intellectual, and social-emotional capacities in developmentally-appropriate ways. A healthy rhythm, rich sensory experiences, self-directed play, teacher-led activities, and experiential pre-literacy and numeracy exposure set the foundation for children to grow into compassionate, confident, life-long lovers of learning, nature, and each other!​
Our Daily Rhythm:
A strong, predictable rhythm fosters security and comfort, allowing children to more freely explore, play and work and live deeply into their daily experiences.
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Indoor free play: Play is the work of Early Childhood! Through play, children learn about the world around them as they develop both social and cognitive skills. Open-ended toys made of natural materials provide endless possibilities for exploration and creativity. Imagination leads the way as they plan, build, problem-solve and collaborate with peers. Through laughter and occasional tears, their curiosity, confidence, empathy, and resilience grows.
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Circle Time: Circle is a joyful teacher-led activity filled with seasonal songs, verses, games, fingerplays and movement journeys. Children build their numeracy, pre-literacy, auditory, and verbal capacities as they engage in the rhyme and rhythm of language and song. Repetition of circle components brings joy to the children as they master the words and gestures of our games! Spanish songs and games are also incorporated.
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Snacktime: We gather around the table to enjoy our delicious, wholesome, organic, vegan, homemade foods and chamomile tea! This social time is at the heart of our program for it is at the snack table that we truly start to feel like a classroom family. Through their participation in snack preparation, setting up and clearing the table, and helping to serve each other, the children grow in their awareness of others and their environment. We become nourished in every way!
Outdoor play: On our sweet playground, children climb, run, slide, dig, build and create throughout the year. With the appropriate outdoor gear, they’re able to enjoy all the elements each season. Except for extreme weather, we go outside daily!
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Storytime: Seasonal stories, diverse folktales and fairy tales offer a vivid tapestry of imagery that captivates children, nourishes their imagination, and fosters their love of reading and literature. Rich, detailed language helps to develop speech, vocabulary, comprehension, sequencing, and active listening skills.
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Goodbye Circle: We sing our goodbye song, thankful for a good day, good friends, and good play!
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Opportunities for real, meaningful work, whether it be cooking, setting the table, folding laundry, sweeping, cleaning up, or washing dishes occur throughout the morning. The children love to work! As they complete the necessary tasks of the classroom, they take pride in their accomplishments and become more self-sufficient. They are happy to be helpful citizens of our class community!
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Our weekly and seasonal activities include drawing, wet-on-wet watercolor painting, beeswax modeling, baking, gardening, wet-felting, finger knitting, candle-dipping, sewing, craft projects, and festival celebrations!
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Birthday Celebrations
The birthday child’s family joins us for our very unique tradition of honoring their child and their milestones. This is a precious ritual that is treasured by all!