Curriculum

CREATIVE CURRICULUM:

Play is children’s work! In our classrooms learning is play-based which means children learn through their play.  Teachers set up the environment to ensure that children benefit the most through their play experiences.  In addition to learning academics, children will learn social and language skills through their play. They will also become physically more coordinated as they build on their small and large muscle groups through planned activities.  Our district has adopted the "Creative Curriculum" to assess the children.  Teachers and assistants will work with children in large and small groups as well as individually as needed. We follow the Creative Curriculum model which incorporates hands-on activities through centers in a thematic layout.  The program provides developmentally appropriate experiences that are both age and individually appropriate. 

Teachers are facilitators, acting as resources to children.  We are responsible for setting up a rich learning environment that is stimulating, for observing children’s development, and for planning to meet individual and group needs.  We place an emphasis on developing literacy so that many experiences with reading, writing, listening and speaking are presented.  At teacher-directed group times, children are not lectured or drilled.  Letters or numbers, for example, are experienced through songs and games that involved the child actively.  Challenging questions are used to stimulate language skills, thinking, and problem solving.

A great deal of time is spent on social and emotional development.  We want children to negotiate problems and to be able to work alone as well as with others.  We expect that younger children will be more physical as they interact, and older children will exhibit more self-control.  The goal is to work toward using words to express feelings in an acceptable manner.  Emotions develop before words, so this is sometimes a difficult task (and it may take a long time).  Guidance and discipline are handled in as positive and constructive a manner as possible.  Techniques include redirection, modeling expectations about following rules for safety and respect, and encouraging children to problem solve disagreements.