| Tracy Simonetta, Teacher's Aide, Vice President - Quality Assurance |
| The Inspiration For Our Innovative Curriculum... ... Came to Cherie Mondrella in 2002, when she was an Early Childhood Teacher at a national daycare chain in the southwest suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. Cherie developed our foundational curriculum & trademark teaching approach in response to the need for a more effective way to teach her group of young "Pre-Reading" students early literacy skills. She had been instructed by her employer to use their workbook-based curriculum to achieve this goal, which she had tried for some time. Cherie soon saw that using this approach was proving to be very ineffective. She did not observe any measurable academic progress in any of her students, and she could clearly see that the cause for this was their lack of interest -- It just wasn't any FUN for them! This greatly concerned her, as she knew how important these skills were to their future success. To add to her concern, she remembered learning that new research had proved "When young children up to age 7/8, are forced into learning abstract concepts when not personally interested eventually develop a resistance and/or negative attitude towards "Learning" & "School". She could see that her students' motivation to learn the workbook curriculum was already significantly diminished, as they were already resisting it, and not wanting to come to her class. They would simply tune-out the lessons, and run around, jump, climb, get silly -- All they really wanted to do was PLAY! She feared that she was actually teaching them to HATE learning by redirecting them back to the 'dreaded workbook', & she wanted to salvage their natural curiosity to learn before it was too late -- but how?... Cherie decided that she had to figure out a way to give her students the foundational skills they needed -- But in a way that would be Interesting, Fun & Enjoyable For Them! Cherie was hopeful that, if she could KEEP her students interested in FUN & ACTIVE "Play" Activities, perhaps she could also help them to develop a Life-Long LOVE for Learning. That's when she decided to put the 'dreaded ABC workbook' aside, & created a virtual "Letter Party" for her students! She strategically integrated critical literacy lessons directly into all of the toys, games, sports, crafts, & music activities they liked the most! She believed that if they were truly Interested & Excited about what they were doing, they'd be more receptive to her, and she could interject intermittent & individualized "Mini Lessons" as they played! Cherie then began to closely observe her students' natural play -- looking for "Teachable Moments" to capitalize on. To her amazement, she quickly noticed that there were far more learning opportunities to be captured during simple "PLAY" than there were in the workbook! As they played, she would play along with them, following their interests, wherever they were, and interjecting meaninful literacy lessons. Soon, she realized that her students were literally forming a New, Innovative & Effective "Child-Inspired Literacy Curriculum"! (For example, If the children started Jumping around in the classroom, she'd capitalize on their interest in Jumping, & do anything she could to turn it into a fun "Letter J Lesson"! She'd start Jumping herself; She'd sing a silly song about "J"; She'd start a Jumping group game; She'd start tossing a foam letter J around to the children; She'd challenge them to make their bodies into the shape of a "J"! -- All fun, visual, auditory & kinesthetic activities that simultaneously catered to all learning styles to teach the formation & phonetic sound of "J"!). And, to Cherie's delight, it worked like a charm! Her students continued to create one learning activity after another -- for themselves! She was confident that they would now learn very quickly from these personally meaningful "Play Lessons", & that they'd Continue To Be Interested in this fun and exciting program that was emerging because, after all -- THEY were the ones creating it! And her hunch was right. Soon ALL of her students enthusiastically BEGGED her several times a day to take them to what they now called their "Letter Class"! Even children not yet enrolled begged her to go, as they had heard from their friends how much fun the class was! Many of the students' parents became intrigued and excited as they frequently reported to Cherie 'how they couldn't BELIEVE just how much their children were learning'. Student enrollment in Cherie's 'Special Letter Class' surged to 100% Enrollment almost overnight (compared to the previous 3% average enrollment since the center opened). Every night Cherie reports that she would go home "floating on a cloud" because she couldn't believe that she had actually taught yet another student to read just by Playing with them! Month after month, enrollment remained 100% full (compared to the national average of 6%), & wait-lists rapidly began to form. Then, within just a few months after the implementation of what Cherie referred to as, "The KID-Created Curriculum", it was recognized as the "#1 Early Literacy Program In The Nation" (Out Of All Other Literacy Programs Offered At The Chain’s 1,200 Centers!) Cherie was elated at the effectiveness of this play-based program, and felt a strong calling to use it to reach as many more children as she possibly could. So, in 2003, she formed Fun-Etics! Inc. & marketed her program to various park districts, private schools, health clubs, and a church. Over the next three years, as she taught more & more students in many different communities -- The Results Always Remained The Same: 1) Children still Learned & Retained Critical Early Literacy Skills; 2) Children still begged to be brought to their "Letter Class"; & 3) Children still developed a genuine Interest & LOVE For Learning! Fun-Etics! now has a team of teachers -- And we are ALL very proud to be able to say that, together, we have profoundly enriched the lives of Over 6,000 Young Children! And, there are at least two things we all agree on: 1) There could be no other job in the world more important, satisfying, or fun!; & 2) We all want to reach as many more children as we possibly can in the future! |
| Cherie Mondrella, Early Childhood Educator, Center Director, NAEYC Presenter, President & Founder |
| In our classes, children have many opportunities to "dig" into a variety of alluring "Sensory Learning Experiences like these. |
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| We Are Proud Members Of The National Association For the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), --the most respected national authority for setting the highest standards for excellence in early childhood education. |
| A child is learning Letter Recognition as she catches each "letter fish"! |
| The Fun-Etics!TM - Story |
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| All children receive a photo name tag to help develop Name Recognition. |
| Learning Enrichment Classes, Drop-Off Play Days, & Parties! Helping Children Gain A Personally Meaningful Understanding Of Academic Concepts Through Fun Games, Art, Music, Science & Cooking. Tots Pre-Schoolers School-Agers For Curriculum Information & Workshops, Call: Fun-Etics!, Inc. (815) 690-9484 To Register, Call: The Lockport Township Park District (815) 838-1183 |
