MCCDA Head Start Curriculum Overview

Creative Curriculum for Early Childhood:

The philosophy behind The Creative Curriculum is that young children learn best by doing. Learning isn't just repeating what someone else says, it requires active thinking and experimenting to find out how things work and to learn firsthand about the world we live in. In their early years, children explore the world around them by using all their senses (touching, tasting, listening, smelling, and looking). In using real materials such as blocks and trying out their new ideas, children learn about sizes, shapes, and colors, and they notice relationships between things. In time, they learn to use one object to stand for another. This is the beginning of symbolic thinking. Children begin with concrete symbols and become more and more able to use abstract symbols like words to describe their thoughts and feelings. They learn to "read" pictures, which are symbols of real people, places, and things. This exciting development in symbolic thinking takes place during the pre-school years as children "play". Play enables us to achieve the key goals of our early childhood curriculum. Play is the work of young children.

Program Curriculum Goals:

Based on the current theories of Early Childhood Education, the following curriculum goals have been established. The activities we plan for all children, the way we organize the environment, select toys and materials, plan the daily schedule, and interact with children are all directed and designed toward meeting these goals.

1. To provide children with opportunities for social interaction with same age peers;
2. To assure that children have good starts in the development of a positive self-concept;
3. To assist children in the formation of positive attitudes toward school and learning;
4. To assist parents by collaborating in order to increase their knowledge about child development and education, thereby enhancing their ability to serve as their children's primary teacher and to assist staff in developing curriculum meaningful to their children;
5. To provide children with a variety of activities and experiences which will build firm foundations for later academic learning:
• Concept Understandings
• Emergent Literacy and Numeracy development
• Listening and Following directions
• Thinking and Decision making
• Independence and responsibility
6. To provide children with opportunities to practice large and small motor skills;
7. To encourage development of creativity;
8. To provide a responsive, inclusive environment which supports the needs of all children, and provides ways for each child to participate in all program activities;
9. To honor the individuality of each enrolled child; and when available following the child's IEP to ensure that each child receives the specialized education and support he or she requires.

Thematic Learning:

Our curriculum is developed through teacher observation and evaluation of each individual child. Concepts and skills are introduced through carefully planned activities that focus on a particular theme, which is appropriate to each child's developmental level and which reinforce social, emotional, physical, and intellectual growth. Concrete, hands-on activities and experiences are planned according to a calendar of themes, which are relevant, and of interest to the children, providing meaningful learning. We use music, games, stories, large muscle equipment, art materials, and a variety of learning centers to help each child feel a sense of accomplishment and belonging through successful child-initiated activity as well as adult-child interactions. The equipment and materials will be chosen to compliment the theme and will be rotated approximately every other week. It is our goal to keep the learning progressing steadily and the child's interest and involvement high with ongoing assessment.