Preschoolers

The Creative Curriculum® for Preschool is used in the 3–4-year-old classroom. It is a comprehensive, research-based curriculum that features exploration and discovery as a way of learning, enabling children to develop confidence, creativity, and lifelong critical-thinking skills.

The philosophy of The Creative Curriculum® is that young children learn best by doing. The Creative Curriculum® is built on theories of development in young children, that all children learn through active exploration of their environment and therefore the environment plays a critical role in learning. The goal of the Creative Curriculum is to help children become independent, self-confident, inquisitive, and enthusiastic learners by actively exploring their environment. The curriculum identifies goals in all areas of development: Social/Emotional, Cognitive, Physical and Language. The planned activities for the children, the organization of the environment, the selection of toys and materials, planning the daily schedule and interacting with the children, are all designed to accomplish the goals and objectives of the curriculum and give your child a successful year in school. The richer the environments, the more concrete opportunities there are for children to learn by interacting with materials and people. The teacher’s role is to create an environment that invites children to observe, to be active, to make choices, and to experiment.

Center areas include:

• Dramatic Play (Housekeeping)
• Blocks
• Manipulative/Table Toys
• Art
• Sand, Water & Rice
• Library
• Music
• Writing Center
• Computers
• Outdoors
• Science Discovery
• Listening Center
• Large Motor Area
• Trains/Doll House

The Core Knowledge Curriculum (CKLA)

Core Knowledge is a research-based, teacher-tested curriculum that engages students in diverse historical, scientific, and cultural content. The idea behind Core Knowledge is simple: knowledge builds on knowledge. The more you know, the more you can learn.

What is the Core Knowledge program?

Core Knowledge Language Arts® (CKLA) is a comprehensive program (Preschool–Grade 5) for teaching reading, writing, listening, and speaking while also building students’ vocabulary and knowledge across essential domains in literature, world and American history, and the sciences.

Units of study include:

• All About Me
• Families and Communities
• Animals
• Plants
• Habitats
• Classic Tales (dispersed throughout the year)
• Important People of American History (dispersed throughout the year)

Jolly Phonics

Jolly Phonics is a world-leading English literacy method that teaches children how to read and write using phonics.

Phonics is the teaching of the sounds that letters make, rather than the names of letters that are taught in the alphabet, because it is the sounds that are the predictors for reading and writing, not the names. These sounds are taught in a systematic way, alongside all of the skills needed for being a fluent reader and writer. Jolly Phonics also teaches all of this in a fun and engaging way, through characters, stories, actions, songs and games!