To achieve the highest quality early care and education, we follow research-based best practices that inform NAEYC standards for accreditation. Our curriculum is developmentally appropriate and geared toward how we know children learn best: through active exploration of their environment and through play. Our ultimate goal is to help each child reach their highest potential and foster a genuine life-long love of learning. We facilitate the development of the whole child by providing experiences that are individually and culturally meaningful for all children in our diverse community.
All teachers are responsible for planning and implementing daily activities in each domain of development with specific learning goals in mind. We use The Creative Curriculum for Preschoolers as a base for activity ideas. Our curriculum goals are structured in accordance with California Department of Education’s (CDE) Preschool Curriculum Foundations and Frameworks.
In addition, teachers closely observe and document children’s interests and create in-depth “investigations” that the children become involved in until their interest in the topic subsides.
The Children’s Center curriculum is developed and implemented based on the following principles:
- Children move through sequential stages of development at varying speeds.
- A child’s development may be quick in some areas and slow in others, but all areas of growth are important and interrelated.
- Children need mastery at each level before moving on to the next.
- We place equal importance on all major areas of development and tailor our program to meet individual developmental needs.
- The curriculum needs to be well planned, but at the same time, it should be dynamic enough to be modified with the changing needs and interests of the children.
- Emphasis is placed on the process (the doing) rather than the product.
- Children are encouraged to make choices throughout the day’s activities.
- Play is the natural mode of learning for young children.
- Children develop feelings of competency and motivation for learning when provided with opportunities for play and individual choice.
- Through careful observation of play, teachers are able to assess development and provide experiences to further individual growth.
- Activities should reflect the values, beliefs, and experiences of the children’s families.
The areas of development around which our curriculum is organized are as follows:
- physical (gross motor, fine motor, perceptual)
- social (building relationships, peer interaction, awareness of others, cooperation, conflict resolution)
- emotional (self-esteem, self-awareness, self-regulation, awareness of feelings, positive self-image)
- language (understanding words and comprehending language, communication, articulating thoughts)
- cognitive (remembering and connecting experiences, problem solving, symbolic thinking and play)
The content learning areas included in our curriculum are as follows:
- literacy (phonological awareness, alphabet knowledge, knowledge of print, writing skills)
- mathematics (number concepts and operations, exploring spatial relationships, comparing and measuring, knowledge of patterns)
- science and technology (inquiry skills, knowledge of living things, using tools to perform tasks)
- social studies (knowledge about self, understanding of people and how they live, simple geographical knowledge)
- the arts (visual arts, musical concepts and expression, dance and movement)