Curriculum

The curriculum at Golestan is progressive and rich, covering a breadth of areas and exceeding basic kindergarten preparedness milestones (based on first quarter kindergarten evaluations of Golestan alumni).

Golestan applies a hybrid approach to its curriculum implementing Waldorf, Montessori, and Reggio Emilia teaching philosophies. Waldorf teaching ideology ---emphasis on the role of imagination and sensorial experiences--- influences many of Golestan’s day-to-day activities. The environment at the school is home-like and simple, without clutter or visual noise. The colors are soothing and natural while the materials are unbranded and made of natural materials. The children participate in maintaining the school (gardening, painting, etc.) as well as helping the teachers in serving food, setting up projects, and cleaning up. Further, the program borrows from self-directed programs such as the interactive and experimental materials from Montessori Method of teaching. In fact, 80% of the school’s materials are Montessori tools for teaching.

In terms of curriculum development, Golestan applies the emergent curriculum approach of the Reggio Emilia school of thought. In this approach, teachers observe their students and evolve the program’s curriculum based on the children’s interests. As their interests shift and evolve, so does the curriculum. In this respect, Golestan’s curriculum is very fluid, while in other respects, it is relatively more structured for the sake of optimal results in language immersion.

Through trial and error, Golestan has been able to refine its teaching approach to best suit its language immersion efforts. Early on, it became clear that child-directed activities resulted in the children speaking more English than Persian/Farsi. Thus a more traditional, free-play based approach to education cannot be practiced at Golestan. In order to constantly engage the students in Persian/Farsi, the program has reduced its teacher:child ratio to 1:3 for toddlers and 1:4 for preschoolers and after-schoolers. This low ratio also enables the program to remain somewhat flexible and child-directed.

Toddlers

Preschoolers

After-schoolers

Milestones*

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*We modeled our milestones on the Child Development Institute’s general achievements for children aged 2 to 5 years of age. These criteria are based on results from research conducted in the fields of developmental and child psychology, and only serve as general markers for each child’s readiness to move on to the next level in our program. We also use these markers to design developmentally-appropriate activities for our emergent curriculum.