The Little Sponges® Dual Language Curriculum covers multiple subjects (language, math, social studies, physical development, music, environment and science) and helps students in pre-school through 2nd grade develop listening, speaking, reading and writing skills in two languages. The program enables teachers and parents to meet and/or exceed the learning standards via an interactive curriculum that makes learning fun! The Little Sponges® program is designed specifically for young dual language children who are at the “beginner” level in at least one of the languages. Ideally, the program should be implemented in pre-school but it can also be started in kindergarten or 1st grade for students who are just starting to learn a new language. The program is utilized in ELL, DLL and World Languages programs. It was designed to help all children become bilingual by acquiring a second language while simultaneously improving their first language. The Little Sponges® curriculum features real-life video content, interactive games and assessments in multiple languages. It is meant to be an instructional tool that enables teachers to provide personalized learning opportunities and help each student reach competency. In order for the students to acquire the early literacy, vocabulary, comprehension, and grammar skills covered in the Little Sponges® curriculum, teachers need to facilitate the learning using best teaching practices. Please see the Scope and Sequence document below for more details.
Key Characteristics of Little Sponges DLL Curriculum:
– Takes the “whole child” view and enables transfer of knowledge (using student’s knowledge of the first language to acquire the second language faster).
– Develops comprehension and oracy before literacy.
– Focuses on linguistic and academic achievement in both languages.
– Assessments Correlate with WIDA and ACTFL levels.
– Leverages best instructional practices such as thematic approach, sheltered instruction, scaffolding, literacy-based activities, collaborative learning.
– Appeals to different types of learners using visual, audio, graphic, kinesthetic, sensory and interactive supports.
– Incorporates cross-curricular content to provide meaningful, relevant and academically rigorous instruction.
– Provides authentic, meaningful and age-appropriate learning experiences to help children develop biliteracy skills and positive view of the world.
For more details please see the Instructional Research Summary.
Each curriculum unit is based on a theme that makes learning feel like play.
Each theme covers several topics and vocabulary groups in a way that’s fun and contextually relevant for young children. Students are learning vocabulary and academic content while watching beautiful videography from around the world and listening to native speakers and classical music.
Several Learning Topics Are Integrated Within Each Theme
Curriculum topics are intentionally integrated in the larger themes to provide context, deeper meaning and relevancy for young children. Teachers can present topics in sequential order or select a specific topic or segment out of order. Little Sponges® program is a teacher-directed tool that enables teachers to guide the instruction and use our rich content to introduce a new concept or to review and reinforce familiar concepts and vocabulary.
The interactive map brings the curriculum to life in a way that’s fun and engaging for children.
Young children can navigate the curriculum using visuals and numbers. By clicking on the adventure button they navigate to the learning page that takes them on a learning adventure via educational videos and games. Puppets teach new vocabulary through storytelling and provide “comprehensible input” via bilingual dialog.
Teachers can utilized Little Sponges curriculum documents for lesson planning and instruction.
The curriculum document provides a detailed overview of each learning module, the corresponding lessons and examples of knowledge that children will gain. The first column in the Curriculum Summary indicates the chapter/segment of the learning adventure. The second column in the table indicates the learning domains that will be covered by the lesson while the third describes key learning objectives. The forth column provides examples of specific topics, grammar concepts and vocabulary that children will learn during the lesson. It is important to note that although the Little Sponge® curriculum appears in a sequential order, the content can also be used “on demand” to review concepts, enrich instruction, and make learning more engaging. The teachers may choose when and how to integrate the learning modules into their lesson plans and classroom activities.
If you would like to learn more about the Little Sponges® curriculum, please use buttons below or the Curriculum tab above.