Need ideas on how to keep preschool children learning and busy in Quarantine? A team of early childhood professionals from Oviedo, Florida, made it their mission to create a free virtual preschool.
OVIEDO, Fla., March 31, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- As schools and childcare facilities close across the world due to the spread of COVID-19, parents of young children have suddenly found themselves in a chaotic new dilemma: how can they keep young children learning and not bouncing off the walls while working from home?
A team of early childhood professionals made it their mission to continue providing education online and created a free virtual preschool for children ages 2 to 6. "We are offering the program for free to provide parents with tools to introduce learning concepts at home and to make sure that children regardless of their income can continue learning," said Marnie Forestieri, CEO and Founder of Young Innovators. "We must keep preparing kids for school during these most critical years of brain development. Our team hopes to provide equitable learning resources during this critical junction—a time of great global challenge, but also a time where we cannot neglect the education of our littlest minds."
Forestieri drew from her previous experiences as a CNN Spanish reporter and TV producer to turn her childcare center into a professional TV Studio, assisting her staff members transition from teaching positions to on-camera, curriculum development, and social media roles. "Our bus driver is now our social media specialist," Forestieri said. "We found ways to innovate so our employees could remain working."
Parents can download free weekly lesson plans and parent resources. Children can watch a Young Innovators TV show on YouTube every morning, complete the assigned projects at home, and share what they have learned throughout the day on social media. It is a "big virtual preschool" where families can learn independently and share communally. The first theme of the curriculum, "Learning Through Fairytales," uses stories as a framework for learning concepts while engaging with preschoolers' imaginative capabilities. The curriculum is offered in both English and Spanish.
About the curriculum during the crisis
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SOURCE Young Innovators
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