Curriculum

Our center uses the Creative Curriculum for Infants, Toddlers, and Preschool. The Creative Curriculum® for Preschool, Fourth Edition, is an early childhood curriculum designed to foster social/ emotional, physical, cognitive, and language development and to enhance learning in literacy, math, science, social studies, the arts, and technology. The program includes information on children’s development and learning, classroom organization and structure, teaching strategies, instructional goals and objectives, and guidance on how to engage families in their children’s learning.

The Creative Curriculum® for Preschool provides direction for intentional, teacher-guided learning experiences in large and small group settings. The program is centered around the following 11 interest areas: blocks, dramatic play, toys and games, art, library, discovery, sand and water, music and movement, cooking, computers, and outdoors. The curriculum describes the learning that occurs through play in each area, how children might engage with the materials in each area, and teacher interactions to promote and scaffold children’s education. The curriculum includes the use of project-based investigations, called “studies,” that are focused on meaningful science and social studies topics and that aim to provide children with an opportunity to apply skills in literacy, math, the arts, and technology. Suggestions on how to adapt these activities for children with disabilities and English language learners are provided for each component of the curriculum.

Our three to 5-year-olds also use the Handwriting without Tears Curriculum. Our threes and fours use the Get Set for School workbooks. The older fours and Transition will use the Kindergarten book. This program incorporates child-friendly teaching strategies, such as using music and movement to bring lessons to life, and multi-sensory manipulatives to build fine and gross motor skills. Our readiness and writing lessons teach body awareness, cooperation, taking turns, listening, crayon grip, drawing, building, letter and number recognition, capital letter and number formation.

Physical development and social/behavioral skills are particularly crucial in Pre-K. In fact, children need to develop both fine and gross motor skills to be able to write. All these skills are critical to good emotional and social development and future academic performance.