Wolf Trap Early Learning
Springboard to Learning is proud to announce it is the only affiliate of the Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts in the state of Missouri. This internationally respected program of the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts, provides innovative arts-integrated teaching strategies embedded in a 16-session residency to early childhood educators, caregivers, and young children through the disciplines of drama, music, and dance.
Residency
During a classroom residency, a Teaching Artist and an early childhood educator partner together to translate instructional goals into performing arts strategies designed to meet the objectives of the teacher and the classroom curriculum. Within this collaboration, early childhood educators gain an understanding of the important connection between the performing arts and a child’s learning process. By observing and participating in the Teaching Artist’s lessons with the children, as well as developing and implementing their own arts-integrated lessons, the teacher gains the experience, confidence, and skills necessary to integrate the arts into the curriculum and daily routine. Classroom teachers learn how performing arts integrated strategies and techniques foster children’s growth in all development domains, including:
• Emergent literacy • Creative problem-solving and critical thinking • Expressive and receptive language development • Self-awareness, self-confidence, and self-regulation • Large and small muscle coordination and body awareness • Exploration of individual creativity • Social and emotional development • Motivation and enthusiasm for learning • Cognitive skills
