Young Thinkers (Grade 1-3)
The language program at Shafi Education in Brampton will for the Young Thinkers will focus on establishing fundamental skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing for introductory English learners. The program is specially designed to improve preliminary English skills for students in Grades 1-3. All Shafi Education programs are Ontario Curriculum based. We use a variety of creative activities and resources to help establish and retain meaningful language concepts.
Literacy is about more than reading or writing – it is about how we communicate in society. It is about social practices and relationships, about knowledge, language and culture.
Those who use literacy take it for granted – but those who cannot use it are excluded from much communication in today’s world. Indeed, it is the excluded who can best appreciate the notion of “literacy as freedom”.
UNESCO, Statement for the United Nations Literacy Decade, 2003–2012
- Shafi students will gather, generate and organize ideas and information to write for an intended purpose and audience.
- An environment conducive to learning, that is culturally, linguistically, and developmentally appropriate.
- Setting expectations that are challenging but attainable.
- Flexibility to respond to individual differences and to make children feel comfortable in applying their unique ways of thinking and learning.
Shafi Education’s program for Mathematics focuses on a balance of elements that include activating prior knowledge, engaging students to enjoy Math, and reflecting on the process. Students at Shafi will establish core skills in Maths by a variety of learning opportunities and experiences that are based on the strengths, needs, and interests of our students. Our Goal is to provide the necessary tools to develop an understanding of the concept being investigated. For four- and five-year-olds, these learning experiences may include reading a story or poem that explores a mathematical concept, asking questions, engaging in problem solving as a group, or dramatizing a number poem or story.
- Activities that encourage to reasoning, investigation of ideas, extending understanding, reflecting, and making generalizations
- They will be encouraged to begin to represent their mathematical understandings in ways that are meaningful to them.
- See patterns and relationships, solve a number of problems and learn retainable strategies.
- Moving on children will begin to represent their thinking on paper, often using pictures and/or numbers and some words; others may use concrete materials