Curriculum
Younger Years Curriculum
(ages 3-5)
Our Younger Years program focuses on developing "right brain function" through play-based learning and the mastery of fine and gross motor skills. Additionally, the program aims to cultivate social-emotional skills such as frustration tolerance, conflict resolution, and learning from mistakes. These fundamental abilities are crucial for a child's success once formal study of math and literacy begins.
In their early years, students are introduced to numbers and letters through song and art, however they are not expected to master these skills until they enter Grade 1 (the 6-year-old class). As students progress, they begin to explore phonics through the Jolly Phonics program, learning songs and movements to enhance their understanding of letters and sounds.
Our overall approach aligns with Waldorf philosophy and recent studies, which confirm that a child's developmental readiness to process literacy and numeracy skills typically emerges around ages 6-7. Introducing academics too early is akin to trying to build a house without a foundation and can lead to children becoming frustrated, losing confidence and learning by memorization rather than true understanding. That being said, our Younger Years children are exposed to numbers and letters through play and song to begin laying the foundation for more formal study.
Primary Curriculum
(ages 6-12)
Our Primary program has adapted the International Cambridge curriculum to match our philosophy of a child’s developmental readiness. At Marigold we begin formal math and literacy instruction at age 6, rather than age 5 which is when a conventional school would introduce these topics. In line with other alternative schools, we believe that age 6-7 is when a child’s brain is developmentally ready to process this kind of information in a meaningful way. However, we recognize that children learn at their own pace and as such we have the ability to support skills based learning within the classroom. Due to the smaller class sizes and focus on skills-based growth, educators are tuned into each child’s individual needs for progression. Educators can provide personalized and meaningful conversations and feedback with each child where necessary. By presenting class lessons as whole and then dividing a class into skills-based groups, children can receive personalized activities for mastery of objectives, permitting them to learn at their own pace.
We also acknowledge that all children learn differently and our teachers have incorporated techniques from Montessori to provide a more personalized learning approach for students. This enables our educators to provide academic children with “left brain” activities and kinesthetic children with more hands-on activities.
The timetables from Grade 1 and above consist primarily of math and literacy blocks before lunch time. Academics at Marigold are taught in fun and engaging ways, incorporating strategies that foster joy in learning through creative, critical and global thinking. Class time incorporates a variety of individual, group, and cross-age activities enabling students to learn how to effectively collaborate and problem solve together.
Social Emotional Learning Focus (SELF)
In line with our whole child approach is an emphasis on social-emotional learning which is incorporated into everything we do at Marigold. Hundreds of studies have concluded that consistent focus on SELF in the learning environment leads to beneficial outcomes such as:
Positive attitudes about self and others, and fewer externalizing behaviors and discipline problems
Increased student engagement leading to academic progress.
Decreased emotional distress, more positive attitudes about self and others, and fewer externalizing behaviors and discipline problems
Enhancing young people’s coping skills, resiliency, and emotion identification
Increased sense of safety and support, better relationships with teachers, and stronger feelings of belonging and inclusiveness
At Marigold we nurture supportive relationships and provide opportunities to develop and practice social, emotional, and cognitive skills across many different contexts. All classes have one class per week devoted to SELF and the topic is chosen based on what’s alive for the students. Topics such as personal space, emotions, inclusion, growth mindset, accepting differences and understanding diversity are just a few of the ways that students learn to develop important personal and social skills. Students get the opportunity to practice conscious communication techniques during “peace table” meetings to resolve interpersonal conflict with any individual in the community.
We welcome and encourage children to express how they are feeling and students are given age appropriate tools to express themselves in a safe, loving way. Our onsite Guidance Counselor is always available to support children as they embark on their journey of emotional regulation and awareness of others. Students that struggle with any kind of behavior or social emotional regulation might need additional support through an “Empowerment Plan”. These plans are created in collaboration with a child’s parent and teachers to identify root causes of a particular behavior and to provide a whole child plan to help all caregivers provide support, creating congruence between home and school.
Project Based Learning (PBL)
Marigold’s learning program incorporates project based learning which is a teaching method in which students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to an authentic, engaging, and complex question, problem, or challenge.
At the beginning of each semester (twice a year), every class uses a democratic process to choose a topic and driving question. Past examples include:
“How do we as turtle conservationists help to protect turtle nests from predators?”
“How do we, as desert animals, share our “superpower” for how we have adapted to live in the hot desert?”
Focusing on open-ended questions lead to an inquiry of study for the remainder of the semester, incorporating all subjects as opportunities to make learning come to life and creating connections between academics and real world scenarios.
At the end of each semester the children work on putting everything they’ve worked on into a whole school end of semester presentation. Our PBL coordinator works closely with each lead teacher to create a common thread between all the themes and creates a blueprint for the presentation. The children then actively participate, creating art, scripts, dances, and other forms of creative expression to share their knowledge and skills with the community.