Curriculum: Essential Characteristics

2.A.07

The curriculum guides the development of a daily schedule that is predictable yet flexible and responsive to individual needs of the children. The schedule provides time and support for transitions, includes both indoor and outdoor experiences, and is responsive to a child's need to rest or be active.

The toddler schedule is flexible and changes with the needs of the children. To view the toddler schedule please click on the link located to the right of the page or click here.

2.A.08

Materials and equipment used to implement the curriculum

• reflect the lives of the children and families.
  
• reflect the diversity found in society, including gender, age, language and abilities.
  
• provide for children's safety while being appropriately challenging.
  
• encourage exploration, experimentation, and discovery.
  
• promote action and interaction.
  
• are organized to support independent use.
  
• are rotated to reflect changing curriculum and accommodate new interests and skill levels.
  
• are rich in variety.
  
• accommodate children's special needs.

The materials in the classroom are all developmentally appropriate and reflect both the individual needs and the needs for the entire class.

2.A.10

The curriculum guides teachers to incorporate content, concepts, and activities that foster social, emotional, physical, language, and cognitive development and that integrate key areas of content including literacy, mathematics, science, technology, creative expression and the arts, health and safety, and social studies.

The emergent curriculum used at the Children's Center allows for children's growth in all key areas.

2.A.11

The schedule provides children learning opportunities, experiences, and projects that extend over the course of several days and incorporates time for: play, self-initiated learning, creative expression, large-group, small-group, and child-initiated activity.

The schedule in the toddler room allows for change and exploration. The schedule also allows for independent activities, small group and large group work. To view the schedule please click here.

2.A.12

The curriculum guides teachers to plan for children's engagement in play (including dramatic play and blocks) that is integrated into classroom topics of study.

Play is a very important part of our curriculum. Items in dramatic play and blocks are changed based on the children’s interest.

Areas of Development: Physical Development

2.C.01

Infants and toddlers/twos are provided an environment that allows them to move freely and achieve mastery of their bodies through self-initiated movement. They have multiple opportunities to practice emerging skills in coordination, movement, and balance, as well as perceptual-motor integration.

The children have a very open environment that allows them to move freely. We provide outside (toddler playground with climbers) and gym time. The children also have a lot of push toys and ride on bikes.

2.C.02

Infants and toddlers/twos have multiple opportunities to develop fine-motor skills by acting on their environments using their hands and fingers in a variety of age-appropriate ways.

The children love cooking projects and playing with play-dough. We also have a lot of toys that encourage fine motor development such as snap beads, lacing boards and legos.

2.C.03

Children are provided varied opportunities and materials that support fine-motor development.

The children are provided with various art supplies that help with fine motor development, such as crayons (different sizes), markers, pencils, pens and paint brushes. We also have snap beads, legos, lacing boards, and various other toys.

2.C.04

Children have varied opportunities and are provided equipment to engage in large motor experiences that

• stimulate a variety of skills.
• enhance sensory-motor integration.
• develop controlled movement (balance, strength, coordination).
• enable children with varying abilities to have large-motor experiences similar to those of their peers.
• range from familiar to new and challenging.

• help them learn physical games with rules and structure.

The children experience gross motor skills throughout the school day. Including block building, outside play, water play, climbers in the gym/outside, group games, riding bikes and cooking.

Areas of Development: Language Development

2.D.01
Children are provided with opportunities for language acquisition that align with the program philosophy, consider family perspectives, and consider community perspectives

Parents have an open invitation into the classroom. Many families chose to share their culture, language and beliefs with the classroom. Parents also enjoy sharing and reading books to the children.

2.D.02

Children are provided opportunities to experience oral and written communication in a language their family uses or understands.

Parents are invited to come in and read stories from their native language.

2.D.04

Children have varied opportunities to develop vocabulary through conversations, experiences, field trips, and books.

The children develop verbal skills through daily interactions, classroom investigations and various forms of print we use in the classroom.

2.D.06

Children have varied opportunities and materials that encourage them to have discussions to solve problems that are interpersonal and those that are related to the physical world.

During circle time we have group discussions about the plans for the day. The children also engage in several roles during dramatic play.

2.D.07

Children are provided varied opportunities and materials that encourage them to engage in discussions with one another.

The children are given many different types of materials throughout our investigations.

Curriculum Content Area for Cognitive Development: Early Literacy

2.E.02

Toddlers/twos have varied opportunities to experience books, songs, rhymes, and routine games through

• individualized play that includes simple rhymes, songs, and sequences of gestures (e.g., finger plays, peek-a-boo, patty-cake, This Little Piggy).

• daily opportunities to hear and respond to various types of books including picture books, wordless books, and books with rhymes.
• access to durable books that enable independent exploration.
• experiences that help them understand that pictures represent real things in their environment.

The children participate in group time twice a day. During are transitions we use a lot of songs and nursery rhymes. The children also have a large variety of books available to them. The classroom is also labeled with pictures/words.

2.E.03

Children have opportunities to become familiar with print. They are actively involved in making sense of print, and they have opportunities to become familiar with, recognize, and use print that is accessible throughout the classroom:

• Items belonging to a child are labeled with his or her name.
• Materials are labeled.
• Print is used to describe some rules and routines.
• Teaching staff help children recognize print and connect it to spoken words.

The children are very familiar with the print in the classroom:

• Labeling the cubbies
  
• Labeling our toys
  
• Attendance chart
  
• Name Tags for Lunch  
  

2.E.04
Children have varied opportunities to

• be read books in an engaging manner in group or individualized settings at least twice a day in full-day programs and at least once daily in half-day programs.
• be read to regularly in individualized ways including one-to-one or in small groups of two to six children.
• explore books on their own and have places that are conducive to the quiet enjoyment of books.
• have access to various types of books, including storybooks, factual books, books with rhymes, alphabet books, and wordless books.
• be read the same book on repeated occasions.
• retell and reenact events in storybooks.
• engage in conversations that help them understand the content of the book.
• be assisted in linking books to other aspects of the curriculum.
• identify the parts of books and differentiate print from pictures.

The children have a lot of opportunities to explore literacy in the classroom.   During AM & PM circle time a story is read. The children also have access to books during free play.  The center also has a story teller that meets with the children various times during the year.  Parents are also encouraged to come in and read stories to the children.  

2.E.05
Children have multiple and varied opportunities to write:

• Writing materials and activities are readily available in art, dramatic play, and other learning centers.
• Various types of writing are supported including scribbling, letter-like marks, and developmental spelling.
• Children have daily opportunities to write or dictate their ideas.
• Children are provided needed assistance in writing the words and messages they are trying to communicate.
• Children are given the support they need to write on their own, including access to the alphabet and to printed words about topics of current interest, both of which are made available at eye level or on laminated cards.
• Children see teaching staff model functional use of writing and are helped to discuss the many ways writing is used in daily life.
  

The children are encouraged to write throughout the entire school day.  Many children try writing during art activities. They also like when teacher's help them write their names.   

2.E.06 & 2.E.07
Children are regularly provided multiple and varied opportunities to develop phonological awareness:

• Children are encouraged to play with the sounds of language, including syllables, word families, and phonemes, using rhymes, poems, songs, and finger plays.
• Children are helped to identify letters and the sounds they represent.
• Children are helped to recognize and produce words that have the same beginning or ending sounds.
• Children's self-initiated efforts to write letters that represent the sounds of words are supported.

Children are always encouraged to identify letters and sounds during activities, such as circle time (songs & poems).  

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Curriculum Content Area for Cognitive Development: Early Mathematics

2.F.01

Infants and toddlers/twos are provided varied opportunities and materials to

• use language, gestures, and materials to convey mathematical concepts such as more and less and big and small.
  
• see and touch different shapes, sizes, colors, and patterns.
  
• build number awareness, using objects in the environment.
  
• read books that include counting and shapes.
  

2.F.02

Children are provided varied opportunities and materials to build understanding of numbers, number names, and their relationship to object quantities and to symbols.

The children play different types of counting games using the fruit counters. During are duck investigation we created a count-down to the arrival of the baby ducks.

2.F.03

Children are provided varied opportunities and materials to categorize by one or two attributes such as shape, size, and color.

During circle-time we often review shapes and colors using poems or songs.

2.F.05

Children are provided varied opportunities and materials that help them understand the concept of measurement by using standard and non-standard units of measurement.

During cooking activities children are provided with many opportunities to use measuring cups, tablespoons and other measuring tools.

2.F.06

Children are provided varied opportunities and materials to understand basic concepts of geometry by, for example, naming and recognizing two- and three-dimensional shapes and recognizing how figures are composed of different shapes.

The children are provided with a lot of table top toys that help them with basic concepts of geometry. The teaching staff often helps the children construct various shapes using blocks.

2.F.07
Children are provided varied opportunities to build an understanding of time in the context of their lives, schedules, and routines.

During circle time every morning, the teaching staff goes over the classroom schedule and some routines. We also discuss the weather.

2.F.08
Children are provided varied opportunities and materials that help them recognize and name repeating patterns.

Children enjoy using the colored counting blocks to create repeating patterns.

Curriculum Content Area for Cognitive Development: Science

2.G.01

Infants and toddlers/twos are provided varied opportunities and materials to use their senses to learn about objects in the environment, discover that they can make things h

appen, and solve simple problems.

The classroom & teachers offer many different opportunities for the toddlers to explore and investigate. In the past the children have investigated colors, seasons, weather and animals.

2.G.02

Children are provided varied opportunities and materials to learn key content and principles of science such as

• the difference between living and nonliving things (e.g., plants versus rocks) and life cycles of various organisms (e.g., plants, butterflies, humans).
• earth and sky (e.g., seasons; weather; geologic features; light and shadow; sun, moon, and stars).
• structure and property of matter (e.g., characteristics that include concepts such as hard and soft, floating and sinking) and behavior of materials (e.g., transformation of liquids and solids by dissolving or melting).

During the year we complete many different types of investigations. Some past topics have been colors, animals, weather, sound, gardening, seasons and water. We tend to focus on the children’s interest. During the spring we hatch baby ducks & chicks, the children learn about the life cycle of the animals and how to take care of them after they are born.

2.G.03
Children are provided varied opportunities and materials that encourage them to use the five senses to observe, explore, and experiment with scientific phenomena.

The sensory table offers the children many opportunities to use their five senses. The items in the table are rotated weekly. The children have explored flour, water, rice, soil, cotton and pasta. We also have monthly cooking projects where the children learn to observe and experiment with are creations.

2.G.04
Children are provided varied opportunities to use simple tools to observe objects and scientific phenomena.

The children enjoy using the magnifying glasses, light table & clip boards to better help with their observations.

2.G.05
Children are provided varied opportunities and materials to collect data and to represent and document their findings (e.g., through drawing or graphing).

The children often draw pictures to document and represent their findings.

2.G.06
Children are provided varied opportunities and materials that encourage them to think, question, and reason about observed and inferred phenomena.

The children often have spontaneous conversations about current investigations. We also have large group discussions during circle time.

2.G.08
Children are provided varied opportunities and materials that help them learn and use scientific terminology and vocabulary associated with the content areas.

The children are provided with books and magazines to better help them learn about scientific terminology.

Curriculum Content Area for Cognitive Development: Technology

2.H.03
Technology is used to extend learning within the classroom and to integrate and enrich the curriculum.

The children have watched some videos if they are appropriate to the current investigation. The children also have several stories on CD and tape available to them during free play. Some of the children's favorite stories on CD are:

Curriculum Area for Cognitive Development: Creative Expression and Appreciation for the Arts

2.J.01

Children are provided varied opportunities to gain an appreciation of art, music, drama, and dance in ways that reflect cultural diversity.

We provide the children with many different opportunities to explore cultural diversity. During holiday times we invite families to come in and share experiences with us, which include cooking, art projects and stories. In the dramatic play area we have dress-up clothing that reflects different cultures. We also listen to stories & songs in different languages.

2.J.02

Infants and toddlers/twos are provided varied opportunities to explore and manipulate age-appropriate art materials.

The children are encouraged to use a variety of art materials.

2.J.03

Infants and toddlers/twos have varied opportunities to express themselves creatively through freely moving to music. Toddlers/twos have varied opportunities to engage in pretend or imaginative play.

The children participate in music class weekly and the teaching staff also encourages the children to engage in pretend play.

2.J.04

Children are provided varied opportunities to learn new concepts and vocabulary related to art, music, drama, and dance.

The children participate in many structured and spontaneous activities related to the arts. A teacher will often introduce new concepts and vocabulary during these times.

2.J.05

Children are provided varied opportunities to develop and widen their repertoire of skills that support artistic expression (e.g., cutting, gluing, and caring for tools).

During the day the children often paint, glue, color and use scissors to express themselves artistically. A lot of the art materials are available and easily accessed by the children.

2.J.06
Children are provided many and varied open-ended opportunities and materials to express themselves creatively through music, drama, dance and two- and three-dimensional art.

During both music and story time the children are encouraged to express themselves.

2.J.07
Children have opportunities to respond to the art of other children and adults.

The children often comment on another child’s art work. Sometimes during circle time the children show off their art work. We encourage the children to express their comments in a positive manner.

Curriculum Content Area for Cognitive Development: Health and Safety

2.K.01

Children are provided varied opportunities and materials that encourage good health practices such as serving and feeding themselves, rest, good nutrition, exercise, hand washing, and tooth brushing.

During snack and lunch the children are encouraged to clean up after themselves and to independently wash hands before and after each meal.  Bathroom breaks and diaper changes are built into the schedule.  

2.K.02

Children are provided varied opportunities and materials to help them learn about nutrition, including identifying sources of food and recognizing, preparing, eating, and valuing healthy foods.

During are cooking projects we offer many opportunities and materials to help children make good food choices.  Throughout are farm investigation we discussed healthy foods and farm food poster.   

2.K.03

Children are provided varied opportunities and materials that increase their awareness of safety rules in their classroom, home, and community.

The dramatic play area encourages the children to represent community workers, such as firefighters and police officers.  The teaching staff also helps the children to develop classroom rules and a fire safety plan.   

2.K.05

Children are provided opportunities to discuss, ask questions, and express fears about visiting the doctor, clinic, hospital, or dentist; getting shots; and taking medicine.

Parents are encouraged to talk to the teaching staff about upcoming doctor visits, so the fears can be addressed in the classroom. Several parents are expecting a new baby, so we have been discussing the arrival of a new siblings and what its like for Mom’s to be in the hospital. During story-time books are read about going to the doctors, dentist and hospital.  We also have a lot of dramatic materials available in the dress up area.  

Curriculum Content Area for Cognitive Development: Social Studies

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2.L.01

Children are provided varied learning opportunities that foster positive identity and an emerging sense of self and others.

The toddler curriculum allows for the children to engage in various activities that help foster individual development skills as well as team work. The activities help foster positive self images
in the children.

2.L.02

Children are offered opportunities to become a part of the classroom community so that each child feels accepted and gains a sense of belonging

Every toddler has their own personal space within the classroom (Cubbies), we also have a cozy area where the children can relax by themselves or with friends. In the morning when a child arrives they must put up there attendance picture.

2.L.03

Children are provided varied opportunities and materials to build their understanding of diversity in culture, family structure, ability, language, age, and gender in non-stereotypical ways.

The toddler classroom has various materials that reflect the diversity of the children. Including dolls, dress up clothing, toy foods, and puzzles. The materials are rotated throughout the month so the children can have various experiences.

2.L.04

Children are provided opportunities and materials to explore social roles in the family and workplace through play.

Various materials are provided so that the children can experiences different family and work roles. Such as dolls, hats, play foods, office supplies and clothes that reflects both genders.

2.L.05

Children are provided varied opportunities and materials to learn about the community in which they live.

The children have many opportunities to meet various members of the community, such as firefighters, dentist, chef and artist. We also try to provide various materials within the classroom environment (aprons, firefighter outfits, easels)

2.L.06

Children have varied opportunities to engage in discussions about fairness, friendship, responsibility, authority, and differences.

The toddler staff always has various discussions with the children about fairness, friendship, responsibility, authority and differences. We also have a feelings chart that we discuss during circle time.

2.L.07

Children are provided varied opportunities and materials to learn about physical characteristics of their local environment as a foundation for learning geography.

Recently the children designed a garden outside the classroom. They created pictures of what they wanted the garden to look like.

2.L.08

Children are provided varied opportunities and materials to learn how people affect their environment in positive (e.g., recycling) and negative (e.g., polluting) ways.

We encourage the children to recycle in the classroom and to bring in materials from home, including paper towel rolls, newspaper, plastic bags, etc. We also use scrap paper often in the classroom.

2.L.09

Children are provided varied opportunities and materials that allow them to contribute to the well being of their classroom and the community, including care for the social and physical environments in which they live.

The children are also given jobs weekly, that include watering the plants, weather chart helper, line leader and helping with snack.

2.L.10

Children are provided opportunities and materials that build a foundation for understanding economic concepts (e.g., playing restaurant, managing a store, and identifying and exchanging money.)

During free play we encourage the children to pretend play with play money and a cash register.