The main difference between the three programs that are offered at Little Ark is primarily the goals and objectives that teachers set as a foundation for learning that carry over in to your child’s next year of school. The curriculum also varies based on the children’s interests and the amount of project work that unfolds.

The 30 month program is primarily in an introduction to a preschool setting, but is on a larger scale also the beginning of a nearly three year journey at Little Ark. This program affords children, parents, and teachers an opportunity to begin establishing a relationship with the environment, and with each other.

The curriculum in the 3 year old program is primarily focused on building relationships, instilling empathy, and basic skills. These skills include using scissors, tape, pens, paper –the tools and materials are infinite. Later in the school year, once the children have grown more comfortable in the environment and have established relationships and accumulated a wealth of capabilities, they are able to utilize these skills for project work. As the year progresses, and throughout the 4 year old program, the level of academic concepts such as math and literacy grow more prevalent in the environment. They also become more challenging while still maintaining a play-based project approach as we ‘dive in deeper’ to each concept being explored by the children.

Because each child has different interests, skills and abilities, everyone can be involved in each activity or project that develops. Imagine that ‘John’ isn’t personally interested in spiders, but he loves to paint. ‘John’ can then be sought after for his help in painting a giant spider with a group of children who might be creating a spider from materials. This is an example of the teachers’ ongoing efforts to ‘plug’ children in to projects. This creates learning opportunities and fosters connections between children. Essentially the teachers facilitate the children in becoming interdependent, relying on their co-operative efforts in times of need for assistance, investigations, and solutions. The children are then learning together, and from each other, as partners in learning.