Curriculum
Humpty Dumpty Nursery School follows the Curriculum for the Preschool Lpfö 2018. The teaching staff works with the curriculum in the following ways.
Culture and Play
We strive to ensure that the children develop into good companions and see joy in playing with each other, listening to and seeing each other and helping each other. The children should feel safe and be given the opportunity to build up their self-esteem.
We strive to stimulate the children's curiosity, interests, and desire for learning. We aim to facilitate the development of the children's abilities and cultural creation and to transfer cultural heritage, which is about values, traditions, history, language, and knowledge.
Play is one of the first foundations of learning children experience at preschool. Evidence-based studies show children live out their learning through engagement and opportunities for intentional play. A theme and play-based curriculum, led with the love and knowledge of experienced teachers, is the impetus of discovery and the foundation for life-long learning.
We strive to engage the whole child and establish strong foundations. Research shows that the years of early learning are critical to all human growth and development. During these years children create a sense of trust, autonomy, initiative, and industry. Young children who are supported and nurtured as a whole child are given a solid footing for higher, lifelong learning and social wisdom.
At Humpty Dumpty culture plays an important part in the curriculum. The parent cooperative is compiled of people from all around the world. Bringing these many different cultures into the preschool and celebrating traditions from all around the world is a successful method of promoting acceptance, curiosity and understanding of other fellow human beings. Sharing food, experiencing new games and stories, learning about other languages, listening to songs and dancing to music from other cultures gives the children an insight and understanding of the similarities and differences of the lives of others, helping to develop their empathy and compassion.
Norms and Values
The teachers at Humpty Dumpty treat children and adults in an open and respectful way. Both teachers and parents strive to be good role models. We have many occasions where we can experience community such as gatherings, games, excursions, various celebrations, joint meals, and social events.
We often work in small groups where we encourage all children to participate with their opinions and influence according to their ability. We make sure that all children have the same conditions and that everyone is counted, and wishes are equally important. We discuss different issues with the children and thereby gain an understanding of everyone's equal value regardless of social background.
Together with the children, we work in a natural way with our local environment. A large part of the education is carried out in nature in nearby parks and forests. This encourages children to be considerate, show respect and empathy for all living things to develop their sense of responsibility.
Being in nature gives us many opportunities to discuss and take a stand on important life issues such as why animals die or where ants come from. At Humpty Dumpty, children are taught not only about nature, but also about thriving and showing consideration for each other and for all living things. Within pedagogical activities, we work consciously with ethical issues such as different values, behaviours, views, and attitudes.
We encourage children to resolve conflicts by listening to each other and respecting each other's opinions and differences. We work together with the children so that they learn how to express themselves with words and body language so that conflicts are resolved.
Care, Development and Learning
At Humpty Dumpty Nursery School, we work with experience-based learning. The children experience their surroundings with all their senses, and they are able to experience things for real. Children and teachers smell, taste, feel, look at, listen to, and create conditions together to develop their confidence to be able to do things independently.
Teachers put the children in focus and the teachers’ role is that of ‘co-discoverer’ and participant. We see play as one of the children's most important tools of learning and we encourage children to playfully acquire new skills and knowledge with the help and influence of the indoor environment, the local environment and nature. Play gives the imagination great opportunities to develop.
Through play, children develop motor, social, linguistic, empathy and cognitive skills in many ways. Movement in nature, yoga sessions and programmes such as Sticky Kids and Mini-Röris provide opportunity for a positive body image. The children train their muscles, balance, and agility, which creates high self-confidence, as well as promoting development of motor skills.
Teachers take advantage of the children's own curiosity to explore and discover in their immediate environment. Together, we talk about what we see and do, reflect on observations, and find different solutions.
We teach mathematics in meaningful contexts, e.g. use a measuring stick when we want to see how long something is, use dl measurements when baking, count and compare different objects. In the forest we can look at the shapes of the leaves, pick up large and small cones and sort sticks. We measure our bodies, look at the circumference of the head and the length of the arm, we calculate how long it takes to go to the meeting place, etc.
All teachers strive to be good role models of how we treat our environment. We go on regular excursions to places where children can follow the changing of the seasons. Teaching takes place in smaller groups, where the children gain knowledge about the ecological interaction according to their age and maturity. We aim for the children to enjoy themselves and have fun both indoors and out in nature.
By developing and using story bags, reading books, poems and rhymes, telling fairy tales and singing, opportunities arise for the children to express themselves in words and their language is enriched. Our way of working as co-participating and discovering teachers, provides many opportunities for rewarding and developing conversations with the children. We encourage the children's interest in the written language through games and activities with letters, stories, songs and digital tools.
Both English and Swedish is used throughout the preschool day. Those teachers with Swedish as their native language, use Swedish to communicate with, read to and carry out activities with the children. Those with English or another language as their native tongue, use English. We use the Före Bornholm method for expanding children’s language skills in both Swedish and English. Our library is full of books in both languages, and we spend a lot of time reading aloud in both planned and spontaneous moments with the children.
We use a project/theme-based way of working to create context and wholeness for the children. The preschool offers many ways of working with different means of expression and learning styles such as drama, movement, music and art which all provide opportunities for the children to express themselves and reflect on what they have been experiencing.
Meeting time creates an opportunity for all children and adults in preschool to meet, discuss and be heard. The content is governed by the children's interests and thoughts as well as the routines for the day. Meetings can include poetry and rhymes, songs, and stories. This gives the children the chance to learn to speak in front of the group and for each child to be seen. By telling, discussing, and reflecting, various life questions can be highlighted that lead the children further in their thoughts and ideas.
At Humpty Dumpty we promote traditions and celebrations from all around the world. We celebrate Halloween, Diwali, Thanksgiving, Lucia, Christmas, Chinese New Year, Easter, Midsummer, Easter, children’s birthdays and much more. Because we have so many different cultures in the preschool, we celebrate what is important to and relevant for the families we have enrolled at the present time. The teachers are role models for the children in showing respect and understanding for each person regardless of background. We do this by highlighting and celebrating the diversity that we have among children, teachers, and parents.
Influence of the Child
We strive for the children at Humpty Dumpty to be safe, curious, happy children with high self-confidence. The needs and interests that the children themselves express in different ways, form the basis for the design of the environment and the planning of the pedagogical activities. This is achieved by teachers being sensitive to the children's thoughts and ideas and encouraging them to make decisions according to their own abilities.
Teachers encourage children to talk and tell stories, as well as listen to each other. Equal space is given for both girls and boys, which we achieve by setting a good example. Teachers strive to stimulate children to widen their interests and not be limited by stereotypical ideas around gender.
The teachers encourage the children to keep order among things such as toys and materials. This helps children develop a sense of responsibility for their own and common things.
The children explore the local environment according to their own interests, which leads to strengthened self-esteem and security. Teachers are co-researchers in such situations. We work systematically with the Convention for the Rights of the Child through the Friends' books (kompisböcker) where we discuss e.g. empathy, respect, how to be a good friend, norms and rules that we have in our preschool, etc. We teach the children to say ‘stop!’ when someone else does something that doesn’t feel good to them, and to use their words to explain how it makes them feel and how to move forwards in a difficult situation, resolving conflicts that arise.
The teachers at Humpty Dumpty work on teaching children to show respect for each other's thoughts and feelings by encouraging children to express their opinions, which gives them the opportunity to influence their situation. They convey the importance of the children taking responsibility for their own and others' belongings, as well as protecting the preschool's indoor and outdoor environment.
In order for each child to develop their ability to understand and act according to democratic principles, the teachers teach in a way that encourages the children to participate in various forms of decision-making, e.g. voting, reflection meetings, taking turns, etc.
