Curriculum

Here at Bold and Bright Academy, we believe that learning should be fun and interactive, which is why we use the Whole Brain Teaching strategy. First developed in 1999, Whole Brain Teaching promotes a high-energy, hyper-focused method where teachers use game-like challenges, key words, and motivational methods, while eliciting continuous spoken responses from their students to keep them fully engaged every minute. This type of instructional approach was derived from studies that found that when you tap into both hemispheres of the brain (left and right), learners are better able to make connections. The value of Whole Brain Teaching is that it continually engages students’ brains and keeps them attentive, while supporting maximum comprehension.

The other side of whole brain teaching is classroom management. We focus on rewarding for improvement, not ability. We understand that we all have different strengths and weaknesses and what might come easy for one student, is a struggle for another. Ability based reward systems can leave many children feeling as if they can never measure up to the standard while other students might be rewarded for a standard that was far too easy for them, missing their potential. This leads to a lack of motivation from both sides of the spectrum. When we award for improvement, we can give personal goals to fit each child’s needs, and reward them when they make strides towards those goals. This ensures that everyone is working at their own level in order to grow and learn.

We also don’t use extrinsic rewards. You won’t see a treasure box or candy as prizes in our classroom. Instead, we have a “Super Improver Board.” Each student earns stars on their own personal Super Improver Card if they are improving on their personal goal, and their reward is getting enough stars to make it to the next level on the board. The excitement of knowing that they are improving and seeing their level advance is the only motivation needed to encourage participation and hard work. We encourage our families to make their own Super Improver Boards at home so the whole family can participate!

We couple our Super Improver Board with our 5 character education virtues: kindness, leadership, courage, grit, and creativity. This ensures that we are not only working on our academic goals, but our character building goals as well!

Our Academic curriculum will include:

• Language and literacy through alphabet, phonics concepts, stories, vocabulary, letter recognition and writing skills.
• Mathematical concepts through learning experiences with number recognition, counting, addition, subtraction, shapes, and more.
• Science lessons to learn about the scientific process in the natural world through hands on explorations and experiments. Using the garden to learn about plants, insects and the world around us.
• Pre-reading and pre-writing literacy skills through the recognition of the alphabet, tracing, building, and practicing the writing of different shapes and strokes, letters and numbers. Learning to write, rhyming, alliteration, syllables, role playing and the use of reading and writing in the real world.
• Social studies and global awareness through the understanding and acceptance of other peoples and cultures. Learning about geography with a globe and activities.
• Creative movement and music through dance, song, tumbling, puppetry, rhythm and music making, and yoga.
• Creative development through the creation of their own theme based arts and craft ideas for development of fine motor skills, a sense of line, space and design as well as decision making skills using a variety of media.

Assessment:

Formal Assessments are conducted twice per year.

These assessments not only help parents to understand where their child is in his or her development, but also what areas can be strengthened. We conduct informal evaluations throughout the year, as well as noting the individuality of each child relative to his or her own progress. These assessments guide us, in developing our curriculum so that it matches the needs of the children in the class. Teachers’ observations of a child reflect the child’s growth and needs, both as an individual and as part of a group. This plays an important role in the day-to-day plans of the class.