MAPLE BEAR CURRICULUM
The Maple Bear Kindergarten Curriculum is designed by our own team of expert educators, the Maple Bear Faculty. Faculty members continually update the preschool material to reflect the latest in research and Canadian educational practices.
Every year the Maple Bear Global Schools team of educators also go out in the field to Maple Bear locations around the world as trainers to help teachers deliver the program, and as Quality Assurance evaluators to ensure that schools are meeting standards.
THE MAPLE BEAR KINDERGARTEN CURRICULUM
Every child deserves the best possible start in life and the support that enables them to fulfill their potential. Children develop quickly in the early years and a child’s experiences between birth and age five have a major impact on their future opportunities. Maple Bear Kindergarten sets high standards to ensure children’s readiness for elementary school. Maple Bear Kindergarten gives children a broad range of knowledge and skills that provides the right foundation for good progress through school and life.
PHYSICAL SKILLS AND WELL-BEING
Children will develop physical skills (such as balance and flexibility), an awareness of health and safety rules, an understanding of sharing, taking turns, cooperation and socially acceptable behavior.
Children will become problem solvers. They will learn about patterns in the environment, number concepts, comparisons, sets, basic formal operations (e.g. adding and subtracting), 2-D and 3-D objects, simple graphs, basic measurements, estimation and basic probability.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Children will demonstrate curiosity about the natural world, demonstrate knowledge of characteristics of common materials, identify cycles in nature using techniques of observation, and work with others in using the computer in all aspects of their studies.
Children will understand colour, shape and use of media to express ideas. They will be able to describe responses to music, art, drama and dance.
ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS
By the end of Senior Kindergarten children will communicate effectively in English and Chinese by listening and speaking, will have a good understanding of alphabetical symbols and basic Chinese characters, will be able to read basic text in English and Chinese, will be able to use phonic strategies to approach new words, will be capable of using writing strategies appropriate for beginners, and finally, will be able to use and respond to media.
PERSONAL AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
Children will learn to share, to respect others, to listen, and to understand that people have different talents and functions in our society.
MAPLE BEAR CLASS OVERVIEW
LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT AND ACQUISITION
Children enter Maple Bear School with some basis in their home language. In learning their first language children pass through several stages in predictable order: listening, developing understanding, speaking, reading and writing. Successive stages begin while preceding stages are still in development. When Maple Bear children learn English as a new language their development in English proceeds through the same stages in the same sequence as in learning their first language. Research shows that learning two languages at an early age offers both linguistic and cognitive advantages.
QUALITY IS ASSURED AT ALL MAPLE BEAR SCHOOLS
Maple Bear schools benefit from our distinguished academic faculty of Canadian trainers, curriculum writers and quality assurance personnel.
The Maple Bear program is a living, breathing curriculum that is constantly being updated. We have a large faculty of experienced teachers and education administrators that we draw upon to develop new curriculum, new training materials and methodologies and school policies. We undertake periodic student assessment at schools to benchmark student performance.
Maple Bear provides continual professional training and support for our teachers. Trainers from the Maple Bear Faculty mentor teachers and introduce them to the latest pedagogies and instructional strategies.
Every Maple Bear school undergoes an annual inspection that covers everything from safety equipment to classroom performance. On a regular basis and drawing on the experience of training staff in schools, we review and update our curriculum to reflect the latest developments in the field of education and changes in local regulations and requirements. All Maple Bear schools have clean, secure facilities and low student to teacher ratios.
Our goal is to establish quality schools that will provide an excellent education experience to students for generations to come.