The Frog Street Pre-K curriculum is designed to support children’s development across various domains, utilizing research-based teaching practices. This review delves into the curriculum’s effectiveness in key areas, providing an analysis for educators and parents considering its implementation in preschool settings.
Approaches to Learning
Frog Street Pre-K incorporates some research-backed strategies to foster children’s approaches to learning. It offers guidance on structuring the classroom environment, including predictable daily schedules and the use of games and songs for transitions. Classroom management techniques, such as offering children choices, are also suggested. However, the curriculum could benefit from increased emphasis on child-initiated play, activities driven by children’s interests, and opportunities for open-ended exploration. Research indicates these elements are crucial for nurturing attention spans, persistence, curiosity, and creativity in young learners.
Social and Emotional Development
In the realm of social and emotional development, Frog Street Pre-K demonstrates strengths by promoting research-based teaching practices. The curriculum emphasizes creating an emotionally supportive atmosphere. For instance, the “Conscious Discipline” routines, like the Greeting Circle, and designated areas like the “We Care Center,” aim to make children feel welcomed and provide outlets for emotional expression. The daily routines and activities in the Teacher Guides offer numerous structured and informal opportunities for children to practice social interaction and relationship-building skills with both educators and peers through partner and group activities.
Language and Communication
Frog Street Pre-K consistently integrates research-based teaching practices to support language and communication development. A key strength is the provision of rich oral language experiences. The daily routines and activities outlined in the Teacher Guides are designed to encourage children to engage in language and communication with adults and their peers in various contexts. Furthermore, the Teacher Guides and Strategies for Intentional Instruction cards provide research-supported strategies for engaging children during read-aloud sessions, expanding vocabulary, and developing phonological awareness.
Literacy
The curriculum offers research-based teaching practices to bolster literacy skills, particularly during daily read-alouds. The Teacher Guides and Strategy cards suggest techniques like asking diverse questions, connecting stories to children’s personal experiences, and using retelling to enhance comprehension. The “Morning Message” activity further integrates research-based practices by modeling writing, exploring concepts about print, and building alphabet knowledge, contributing to a well-rounded approach to early literacy.
Mathematics Development
Frog Street Pre-K includes intentionally designed daily math learning activities. The curriculum offers thorough guidance on introducing fundamental mathematical concepts and promoting the acquisition of math-specific language and vocabulary. Whole-group math lessons effectively demonstrate mathematical concepts or skills using manipulatives and hands-on activities. While practice activities allow for individual hands-on skill reinforcement, there are limited opportunities for children to explore math through inquiry-based learning and creative problem-solving. The curriculum presents mathematical concepts and skills in a developmental sequence across the Teacher Guides, integrating prior learning with new knowledge. However, the activity order occasionally deviates from typical developmental progressions, with more advanced concepts appearing before foundational skills are fully established. Additionally, the weekly math activities could benefit from providing more varied and interconnected opportunities to explore and practice each new mathematical concept or skill in depth.
Scientific Reasoning
Frog Street Pre-K excels in providing ample hands-on science experiences that nurture inquiry skills, such as observation, questioning, and information gathering. Science is effectively interwoven with other domains like math, language, literacy, and even social-emotional learning, for example, by fostering compassion for living things. However, the science activities are largely pre-determined and teacher-directed, which limits opportunities to build upon children’s existing knowledge and interests or to facilitate open-ended investigations. Moreover, some activities do not always align with developmentally appropriate content that would allow for meaningful hands-on exploration, such as abstract concepts like the Earth’s rotation.
Perceptual, Motor, and Physical Development
Frog Street Pre-K incorporates some research-based teaching practices to support perceptual, motor, and physical development. It provides numerous chances for children to practice new physical skills and intentionally scaffolds their development. The Teacher Guides include daily “Moving and Learning” and “Outdoor Learning” activities, as well as various learning centers, that promote perceptual, fine motor, and gross motor development. However, research-based teaching practices in areas such as developing self-care skills, nutrition, and healthy eating habits are less prominent within the curriculum.
In conclusion, Frog Street Pre-K demonstrates several strengths, particularly in social-emotional development, language and communication, and literacy. It effectively integrates research-based practices in these areas and provides structured activities and routines. Areas for potential enhancement include fostering more child-initiated learning, open-ended exploration in approaches to learning and science, and ensuring a consistently developmentally appropriate progression in mathematics. Overall, Frog Street Pre-K provides a solid foundation for preschool education with identified areas for continued growth.
