children over the ten themes and the children do activities such as acting out emotional situations, singing songs, or doing artwork related to the themes. This curriculum not only focuses the children on the
empathy learning themes, but also teaches children about books and the love of literacy and learning.
In the third week of each theme the highlight is the baby’s visit to the classroom. Starting at the
age of 2- to 4-months, a baby comes to the class every three weeks with a parent. These visits are
hosted by a Family Guide, who encourages the children to observe the baby's development, to label the
baby's feelings, and to talk about their own feelings and those of others.
Before the baby comes for the first visit the children work
together to predict what the baby will be able to do. The children in
one centre had various predictions like, “She can drink milk from
her mother. She can cry. She can run. She can stand on one leg
like a flamingo!” Once the baby arrives, they learn from the baby.
They ask the baby’s parent what the baby can do. They observe
the babies actions and reactions to things like toys, songs, or
games. They watch the parent comfort the baby when he/she cries and respond to the babies cues.
They ask the parent about how the baby expresses his/her feelings and about how the parent feels when
caring for the baby. Over the 30 weeks of the program, they se H H