Last week 11 Early Childhood Education and Care teachers and administrators gathered in Minnesota for the North American Division CREATIONkids curriculum and leadership training.
CREATIONkids, developed in partnership with the CREATION Health team at Florida Hospital, is a comprehensive, self-contained, digital curriculum that promotes the development of the whole child. It is specifically designed for three and four year olds. CREATIONkids provides guidance for creating engaging environments; facilitating learning and growth of young children; meeting the needs of the whole child; assessing progress; and individualizing instruction and experiences. Everything is literally at the teacher’s fingertips:
- research on effective practices in early childhood development and education
- instructional Lesson Guides for teacher
- facilitated lessons in Bible, literacy (literature, language, and pre-writing), math, science, culture and community,
- movement and nutrition
- resources such as a digital picture library, a literature companion, songs, videos
- and much, much more!
CREATIONkids is a one-of-a kind web-based, electronic curriculum. Embedded music, video links, e-picture cards, and links to external websites means that needed materials are readily and easily accessible. Additionally, the digital format will allow teachers to obtain updates within minutes of being posted, as well as to connect, collaborate, and keep current while networking with other early childhood professionals around the world.
The Bible serves as the foundation of the CREATIONkids curriculum and the principles of CREATION Health serve as the framework. Additionally, developmentally appropriate practices and evidenced-based research and instructional practices reinforce the curriculum’s value, integrity, validity and reliability. To learn more about the curriculum, visit adventisteducation.org.
Our Mid-America teachers and administrators enjoyed connecting with other colleagues from throughout North America. They left the training meetings inspired and anxious to implement this new curriculum.
LouAnn Howard is associate education director for the Mid-America Union Conference.
