Our Belief System

At TIPS, we embrace a child-centered philosophy that promotes creative thinking and lifelong learning. Our educators are dedicated to inspiring children to achieve the very highest standards in all their endeavors as they progress their educational journey with us. Through partnerships with parents, we strive to make every academic dream a reality.

Our Mission

To nurture inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young lifelong learners who are engaged citizens of our world through intercultural understanding & respect.

Envisioning the plan of action

At TIPS, we believe each individual to develop into a global citizen who have knowledge, compassion, leadership and are empowered to stand up to the challenges to understand our world and improve conditions for local and global communities.

WHAT IS EARLY YEARS’ LEARNING?

Early years learning

 The Pre-School Learning Curriculum is designed in a progressive manner for three years of preschool education before Class I, for children between the ages of 3–5 years. The document is based on developmentally appropriate approaches and it defines the vital role of preschool teachers and parents in connecting the key concepts and skills, goals, pedagogical processes and practices, and ultimately leading to the achievement of early learning outcomes.

Aims of early years education

  • Providing strong foundations for all round development and life-long learning.
  • Providing opportunities for developing and nurturing Habits of Mind.
  • Preparing the child for school.

Objectives of early years education

  • To ensure child-friendly environment where each child is valued, and respected, feels safe, and secure and develops a positive self-concept.
  • To enable a sound foundation for good health, well-being, nutrition, healthy habits and hygiene.
  • To enable children to become effective communicators and foster both receptive and expressive language.
  • To help children become involved learners, think critically, be creative, collaborate, communicate and connect with their immediate environment.
  • To enable a smooth transition of children from preschool to primary schools.
  • To work as partners with parents and community to enable each child to flourish.

Guiding principles for early years curriculum

        In the light of emerging needs and new developments   in    early years    education, an attempt is   being   made   to   ensure that the present curriculum is holistic, developmentally appropriate, indigenous, and most importantly play and activity based. Thus, the curriculum is drawn from the following guiding principles:

  • Learning is continuous and cumulative
  • Each child is different and grows, learns and develops on one’s own pace
  • Play and activity are the primary context of learning and development
  • Children  learn  by  being  provided the environment for experiential learning
  • Responsive and supportive interactions with adults are essential to children’s learning
  • Mother tongue or home language should be the medium of instruction
  • Family involvement contributes to learning

Annual Curriculum Plan

ENGLISH PHONICS

Phonics is the basic reading instruction that teaches children the relationships between letters and sounds. It also teaches children to use these relationships to speak and write words. Phonics instructions are to help children learn and use the “alphabetic principle,” the systematic relationships between written letters and spoken sounds. Knowing these relationships through phonics helps children to recognize familiar words accurately and easily “decode” new words. It will help children recognize that sentences are made up of words and words can rhyme.

They will also realize that words can begin, end and have the same medial sound; sounds can be deleted and/or blended to make new words. Phonics lessons have featured as an important part of reading instruction since the first primers and alphabet books were written for young children. Over the years, phonics has continued to be the part of early reading and writing instruction that is most directly (explicitly) taught and graded. Even the most experienced readers and writers use their knowledge of letter symbol / sound relationship to ‘sound out’ unfamiliar words.

Having mastered the consonant sounds, short vowels, word families and phonic blends in PP 1, our PP 2 students will go on to complete 33 lessons that spell out activities for each instructional session. The lessons   are organized according to the sequence. Each lesson begins with tips for introducing and teaching the sound. The symbol is introduced and connected to the sounds using various techniques. When appropriate, high frequency words and word families are taught.

Pp2 has 33 lessons for the entire academic year. Each of the 33 lessons spells out activities for each instructional session. The lessons are organized according to the following sequence:

Phonic lessons Number of lessons
Blends 06
Long Vowels 04
Consonant Digraphs 06
Open Vowels 01
Vowel Digraphs 05
Other Vowel patterns 01
Variant Vowels 04
Diphthongs 02
R-Controlled Vowels 04

.

Flashcards

The use of a variety of flashcards is incorporated into the lessons, such as:

  • Picture cards for phonemic awareness
  • Letter cards for word building and blending/ segmenting activities
  • Word family(phonogram) cards  
  • Decodable word cards
  • High – frequency word cards
  • Suggested strategies for using the cards are written into each lesson. 

Sound /Symbol Books, Decodable books, Read – Aloud books

     These books each target a specific sound. These books are an excellent accompaniment to any phonics lesson that corresponds to a particular book’s target sound. The books are also a good way to build critical phonemic awareness skills.

MATHS IN FOCUS

Math curriculum emphasizes problem solving and positive attitudes toward mathematics, while focusing on student development of skills, concepts, processes and meta-cognition. Students are encouraged to reflect on their thinking and learn how to self-regulate so that they can apply these skills to varied problem-solving activities.

Each chapter contains numerous embedded problem-solving situations so that students learn to flexibly apply their mathematical knowledge. Problems require students to extend the concepts they have learned to non-routine situations to demonstrate mastery.

It also emphasizes a concrete to pictorial to abstract pedagogy. Students are first introduced to concepts with concrete manipulative, which allow them to experience and understand the math they are learning. They then, learn to visually represent concepts using models, including number bonds and bar models. Finally, once students have a strong understanding of the concept, they move to the abstract stage where they use symbols, such as numbers and equations, to represent mathematical situations.

Math in focus supports mathematical instructions at a variety of levels to target all learners, from struggling to gifted. It also emphasizes deep understanding, which is demonstrated through consistent opportunities to explain why mathematical concept work. This is modeled for students throughout Math in Focus with thought bubbles, which display pictures of students expressing their understanding. Students then have the opportunity to justify their own understanding through activities such as Math Journals.  The topics handled in PP2 are mentioned below.

Chapter 1 -Numbers to 5

Chapter 2 – Numbers to 10

Chapter 3 – Order by Size, Length, or Weight

Chapter 4 – Counting and Numbers 0 to 10

Chapter 5 – Size and position

Chapter 6 – Numbers 0 to 100

Chapter 7 – Solid and flat shapes

Chapter 8 – Numbers to hundred

Chapter 9 – Comparing sets

Chapter 10 – Ordinals numbers

Chapter 11 – Calendar Patterns

Chapter 12 – Counting on and Back

Chapter 13 – Patterns

Chapter 14 – Number Facts

Chapter 15 – Length and Heights

Chapter 16 – Classifying and Sorting

Chapter 17 – Addition Stories

Chapter 18 – Subtraction Stories

Chapter 19 – Measurement

Chapter 20 – Money

 

SCIENCE

All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.

                                                                                                                 – Galileo Galilei 

To get our students to discover, we need to keep their curiosity high. Students are encouraged to get curious about the world around them.

Students are provided with a wide variety of topics related resources, read books and passages, work in groups to complete hands on experiments and investigations, discuss science ideas as a class, watch videos, complete writing tasks and take assessments. The topic develops students thinking and generates curiosity. They become familiar with core science terms related to the topics.  

Learning about the various science topics at this stage improves a child’s ability to perform well and promotes cognitive development.  The science units dealt in PP2 are below

Topic 1: SENSES   

Topic 2: LIVING AND NON-LIVING THINGS  

Topic 3: THINGS MOVE

Topic 4: DOING WORK

Topic 5: EARTH, MOON ,SUN AND STARS

ART/CRAFT 

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.

                                                                                                  –               Pablo Picasso 

For children, making art is a sensory exploration activity. Exploring materials is very important because, through exploration, children build knowledge of the objects in the world around them. Children craft their own projects using simple items they are familiar with in a step-by-step manner. Our Art and Craft curriculum includes activities that will help children develop their cognitive, social, and motor abilities. 

FREE PLAY  

Children will be exposed to a number of activities such as stretching exercises, fun games, yoga and in addition to the indoor games that will develop motor skills, which may later be applied in various physical activities within and beyond the school setting. They will become aware of a number of positive leisure-time pursuits. 

Free play involves human movement in relation to the physical environment. Children are exposed to play in various play areas which helps in developing gross motor skills. Outdoor play offers students the opportunity to discover the capabilities of their bodies and the variety of ways in which they are able to use themselves in a range of situations. 

MUSIC/DANCE/DRAMA 

Music, dance and drama is a form of expression that is inherent in all cultures. They are a powerful means to assist in the holistic development of the child, and are important for interpreting and understanding the world. This promotes imagination, communication, creativity, social development and original thinking. 

Performing Arts provide children with an effective personal and social development as well as an interesting way for teaching young children beneficial values that can be used for adulthood. The most beneficial aspect of these Arts is the development of social competencies, that participating in such extra-curricular activities motivates a child’s desire to learn, these arts aspire and improve the learning environment. 

This component of the curriculum also provides opportunities for students to: 

  • develop proficiency as musicians, actors and visual artists 
  • acquire audience skills such as listening and viewing responsively 
  • interpret and present their own or others works to a range of audiences 
  • create and critique plays, compositions and artwork using a selection of tools and     techniques 
  • express feelings, ideas, experiences and beliefs in a variety of ways 

APPLIED COMPUTERS-ICT

Mission

Our Mission is to combine Education and Technology to provide children with the core computing skills that will best prepare them for the future.

Technology Integration

Technology projects include precise step-by-step directions for properly integrating technology into curriculum to provide students with meaningful learning opportunities.

ICT skills: 

Basic Computer Skills, Keyboard, Desktop Publishing

Learning outcomes:

  • Understand basic parts of computer.
  • Navigate the desktop using mouse.
  • Create simple figures and color.
  • Draw or stamp picture and write the numbers.

NON-FLAME COOKING 

Cooking in the early years is a great experience for children. Children love to role play and explore what the elders in the house do as they feel empowered. This goes a long way in building confidence for them. However, this can be done in a systematic and planned manner so that children learn and have fun under a safe and supervised atmosphere. Cooking has lots of benefits beyond the obvious. It involves development of all the five sense organs. Cooking strengthens mathematical concepts such as shapes, sizes, measures etc. It also promotes aesthetic sense as they present the food cooked by them. Most importantly, cooking highlights the concept of healthy and unhealthy eating which is the need of the hour. . At school children are encouraged to prepare simple yet nutritious dishes and the same is given as a take-away home so that parents get an idea of what is taught in the cookery class.

STORY TIME 

Stories instill virtues in little minds. Story time plays an important role in introducing children to the world of magic of books. Listening to stories with peer group in different environments is fun and simple pleasure of childhood. Telling and retelling stories plays a major role in overall development of young children. Students learn to narrate stories through different ways. It fosters their imagination, sharpen the memory, social skills and enhance communication.

GRADUATION DAY

Kindergarten graduation is an exciting milestone for a pre-primary child as it’s their first step towards a future full of hopes and possibilities. It marks a new beginning that adds new dimensions to their school life and the journey they begin towards knowledge and education. The innate feeling of pride and accomplishment as the kids walk across the stage to receive their preschool diploma is amazing. From the tassel on the graduation cap to hearing the ceremonial music of time, graduation is a special moment.