Our work is based on a constructivist model, believing that children learn by organizing and reorganizing information that they already possess. Children come to school with a variety of information they have acquired through family, friends and the community around them. It is very important to value what the child already knows, and from there on, provide new learning experiences. Apart from learning concepts, the children acquire procedures and attitudes. Our aim is to bring up children who will develop the capacity to think, and who are able to find solutions to daily problems in a world of rapid change. Research and the selection of information are therefore an important part of the learning process.

Literacy

The work we produce in literacy begins since the Toddler group (children turning 2) through games and play related to the children’s names. These activities happen in an extremely meaningful, thus pleasurable way.

Since Toddler, the children interact with words and letters, beginning to observe and perceive the stability of names. Laterality is made evident when pointing out that in English and Portuguese words are read from left to right.

The calendar is used daily in the classroom, and we register the names of helpers, how is the weather that day, etc., showing the social use of writing.

At this phase of scholarity, activities happen in English, since the children have full immersion in the English language.

Nevertheless, at G5, the year the child turns 5, Portuguese is introduced in the curriculum, with elements of the brazilian culture, through nursery rhymes that are typical of this culture. Children naturally transfer the knowledge acquired in the English language to Portuguese, mother tongue of most of our students, and we start a more formal literacy programme through projects and activities. We first start with reading activities, producing a repertoire for the children, to then expose them to the process of learning to write.

All this learning happens in an extremely reflexive way, which is coherent with our view of a child who is active in his/her learning process.

Children are conscious that they are not initially writing in a conventional manner, comprehensible to any adult, however are confident enough to be able to expose their knowledge in a firm way.