THE SPRING HOLLOW APPROACH
Spring Hollow offers an “emergent curriculum” where student input is the foundation. Children are encouraged to explore, create, and make choices through a variety of media in a friendly and stimulating environment. Discoveries are shared and expanded upon by the children themselves, leading to greater involvement in their own learning. In this school, relationships are fostered, families are respected, and children are honored. In this school, nature's gifts are valued and children's thoughts are captured. Learning is alive.
FOUNDATION
The first teacher is the child. Children learn from themselves and their peers. Children have a natural ability to be autonomous, intelligent, kind, and creative. Children have the right to make choices, create, discover, explore and invent.
The second teacher is the environment. The environment is beautiful, inviting, and reciprocates knowledge.
The third teacher is the adult. Teachers and parents encourage the child's natural evolution of learning and are equal learning partners in the research process of knowledge growth.
Spring Hollow Early Learning Center relies on the collaboration of its parents to provide exceptional educational service tailored to the needs of individual children and families. Parents show their dedication to the child and to learning through participating in the curriculum, volunteering in the classroom, and providing material support.
ENVIRONMENT
Spring Hollow boasts one of the only all natural playscapes in Franklin, TN. We are committed to developing a dynamic, nature-based play and learning space. One of the ways in which we are achieving this goal is to become certified by the Nature Explore Program.* Their Design Consultations apply research-based, field-tested design principles to create nature-rich outdoor spaces that can be located anywhere. Nature Explore Classrooms enhance the physical environment and add natural beauty to the surrounding area.
We believe that the richest kind of learning happens holistically. Children need time and space to find out and express who they uniquely are. Intentionally designed outdoor classrooms can support children in this personally meaningful whole-child learning (the space becomes the second teacher). The goal of this comprehensive, research-based initiative is to help children and families develop a profound engagement with the natural world where nature is an integral, joyful part of children’s daily learning.
*We are awaiting our certification from this program
CURRICULUM
Our curriculum creates an atmosphere of acceptance and support, which develops and enhances the child's self-esteem, self-discipline, identity, and acceptance toward others. It follows the Reggio Emilia approach in which curriculum is developed from the emerging interests of the children as they interact with their environment. To extend upon the goals of their Reggio Emilia inspirations to foster social development, Spring Hollow uses the tools of the Green Circle Curriculum.
One proven benefit of the Reggio Emilia approach is that learning situations are created by the child's interaction with the environment, challenging the child both intellectually and emotionally.
Your children will make choices to experience their worlds through collage, dance, literature, nature, paint, pottery, puppet play, sculpture, singing, shadow play, and writing. Through these experiences, explorations, and creations, they will learn skills in altruism, art, autonomy, collaboration, drama, motor, music, problem solving, critical thinking, story telling, reading, and math readiness.
This unique curriculum calls for documentation of the child's experiences by teachers and parents through mediums such as photography and observation note-taking. Documentation is a tool for child-and-teacher collaboration to refine reflections and foster knowledge growth.