Our Substantive
Building Blocks™

1. Aesthetics and Creative Expression : Performing Arts
2. Aesthetics and Creative Expression : Visual Art
3. Discovery of the World : General Knowledge & Science
4. Discovery of the World : Cookery, Safety & Health
5. Language and Literacy : English
6. Language and Literacy : Chinese/ 2nd Language
7. Motor Skill Development : Gross Motor Skill
8. Motor Skill Development : Fine Motor Skill
9. Numeracy
10. Social and Emotional Development

Aesthetics and Creative Expression: Performing Arts

CHILDREN LEARN ABOUT:
Rhythm • Tempo • Pitch • Form • Timbre • Texture • Dynamics


CHILDREN LEARN THROUGH:
Listening • Singing • Dancing • Dramatising • Playing instruments 

The exposure to music from early childhood onwards helps children to speak more clearly, develop a larger vocabulary, and strengthen social and emotional skills. Music intelligence is as important as logical and emotional intelligence. Regular exposures to Music and Movement, as well as Speech and Drama help to strengthen the connection between the body and brain to work together as a team. Children will be more expressive, imaginative, and confident. Children’s Cove hosts several parental events such as Year-End Party and Parents’ Day Celebration where the children are given opportunities to build confidence to express themselves on stage in front of a large audience.

Aesthetics and Creative Expression: Visual Art

CHILDREN LEARN ABOUT:
Line • Colour • Shape • Texture • Form • Space • Value


CHILDREN LEARN THROUGH:
Mark making • Printing • Painting • Modeling • Collage • Appreciation • Inspiration

Art is a language that allows us to express and develop our ideas and emotions; artistic activities are full of processes that help us to grow and stimulate our creativity while nurturing the soul. When children are exposed to any artistic activity the brain is stimulated from sounds, movements, colors and sizes; neural connections increase, and the brain is exercised and strengthened. Children’s Cove exposes children to a range of art activities and opportunities, using different formats to introduce and reinforce the elements of art in children. This includes learning about renowned artists through appreciation and inspiration to build children’s art awareness. Connecting art with science is of paramount importance too as we want our children to appreciate that art is practical, art is life.

Discovery of the World: General Knowledge & Science

CHILDREN LEARN ABOUT:
Living things and the environment • Forces of nature • Tools • Resources for investigation


CHILDREN LEARN THROUGH:
Observing • Comparing • Classifying • Predicting • Experimenting • Hypothesising

How do things work? Why do things fall? What is the breaking news for today? Where are we on the world map? General knowledge and science skills are building blocks for school readiness and they lay the foundation for children to understand the world around them. Children are naturally curious to explore the who what when where why and how about the world around us.

Discovery of the World: Cookery, Safety & Health

CHILDREN LEARN ABOUT:
Nutrition • Health • Safety


CHILDREN LEARN THROUGH:
Microwaving • Boiling • Steaming • Poaching • Broiling • Grilling • Stirfrying • Raw Food Handling

Cooking is a valuable life skill that teaches children about nutrition and food safety, as well as building math, science, literacy and fine motor skills. Reading, following directions, measuring, cooking, and eventually tasting are all fascinating real processes to help the children the build the connection between “study” and “life”. Parental involvement is essential to promote an efficient application of healthy living. Food is the best way to understand a culture. Educators should harness on this to promote racial harmony too. Safety boundaries must be delivered for children. Keeping oneself safe is the most important aspect of education. In an increasingly complex world, children should be equipped with understanding to differentiate between good and bad intent.

Language and Literacy: English

CHILDREN LEARN ABOUT:
Vocabulary • Comprehension • Phonemic awareness • Conversions and presentations • Written representation

CHILDREN LEARN THROUGH:
Listening • Speaking • Pre-reading • Pre-writing

Children begin learning language, learning about language, and learning through language from the time they are born. They learn how language is used as they listen to adults talking and reading to them and as they interact with others and play with their friends. Besides, we adapts LetterlandPhonics Programmeto introduce our young learners to letter sounds and shapes. Our effective immersive curriculum implementation in a literacy-rich environment helps every child to acquire languages naturally.

Language and Literacy: Chinese / 2nd Language

CHILDREN LEARN ABOUT:
Vocabulary • Comprehension • Phonemic awareness • Conversions and presentations • Written representation

CHILDREN LEARN THROUGH:
Listening • Speaking • Pre-reading • Pre-writing

For young minds, learning a second language is almost second nature. In fact, acquiring a second language is much easier early years of a child’s life when the brain’s language center is pliable and open. Beyond this ease, training the mind with a second language is proven to improve problem solving skills and creativity, and makes it easier for children to connect with other cultures. Last but not least, having a second language opens up more opportunities for children as they grow.

Motor Skill Development: Gross Motor Skill

CHILDREN LEARN ABOUT:
Body awareness • Space awareness • Effort awareness • Relationship awareness

CHILDREN LEARN THROUGH:
Locomotor activities (eg: crawling, running, jumping) • Object control (eg: tossing, kicking, throwing) • Stability (eg: balancing, twisting, pulling)

Gross motor skills involve the use of the large muscles in the arms, legs and torso during movement. Working on gross motor skills helps children gain strength and confidence. It is also important for a healthy lifestyle and reduces the risk of getting obese. Children’s Cove believes that a “moving child is a learning child”. We ensure that children are actively engaged in daily physical activities and to take pride in their growing capabilities.

Motor Skill Development: Fine Motor Skill

CHILDREN LEARN ABOUT:
Body awareness • Space awareness • Effort awareness • Relationship awareness

CHILDREN LEARN THROUGH:
Tearing paper • Kneading dough • Building blocks • Cutting • Threading • Zipping • Fastening buttons • Mark making • Scooping • Feeding, etc

Fine motor skills involve coordination and control of the wrists, fingers and hands in carrying out a specific task with precision. Acquisition of fine motor skills helps children to be more independent in carrying out daily activities such as cutting with a pair of scissors and applying glue on a piece of paper. Throughout the day, Early Years children use their hands to strengthen their fine motor skills to perform self-help tasks such as feeding and dressing themselves. When they gain more confidence in using their hands, they will exercise higher precision in using their fingers to manipulate objects and get them ready for writing.

Numeracy

CHILDREN LEARN ABOUT:
Counting and making number sense • Relationships and patterns • Basic shapes and spatial directions • Relative measurement

CHILDREN LEARN THROUGH:
Rote counting • Counting reliably • Relative measuring • Matching • Sorting • Comparing • Ordering • Patterning • Problem-solving, etc

Making number sense is an essential part to life. We need to give children many hands-on learning experiences to apply numeracy concepts and speak numeracy language in daily encounters with children to help them construct their own understanding. Children learn to manipulate concrete materials, be given time and space to communicate their ideas, clarify their thoughts and share their thinking about how they construct a solution.

Social and Emotional Development

CHILDREN LEARN ABOUT:
Self-awareness • Self-management • Social awareness • Relationship and interpersonal skills • Responsible • Decision making

CHILDREN LEARN THROUGH:
Personal situations • Recognizing own strengths, weaknesses and emotions • Diversity and cultures • Making and maintaining friendships • Knowing right and wrong

When children develop self-awareness and understanding of their strengths and abilities, they will grow in confidence and develop a positive self concept. With that, they will learn to manage their emotions and behaviours, which in turn, help them to build positive relationships with others and make responsible decisions. A tremendous amount of social and emotional development takes place during early childhood. As children experience temper tantrums, mood swings, and an expanding social world, they learn more about their emotions as well as those of other people. Children’s Cove provides children with many priceless exposures for social and emotional learning.