The Program Director and Board Members strive to ensure that the curriculum offerings are developmentally appropriate and address the State Department of Education’s preschool benchmarks. Experiences are chosen to help prepare students for elementary school and foster a love of learning.
The core of our curriculum is drawn from the Creative Curriculum© that is aligned with the Connecticut Early Learning and Development Standards. This environmentally-based approach focuses on teaching children through play, where children acquire social competence and skills needed to succeed as learners. Creative Curriculum© allows teachers to plan based on children’s interest, incorporate the diversity of their children’s learning and their teachers’ teaching styles; thus, making the curriculum work for everyone and creating a classroom where children thrive. “Developing Talkers” is used to enhance literacy skills.
Connecticut Preschool Assessment Framework is used to observe and measure child progress, guide instructions and individualize teaching strategies to maximize learning experiences. Upon hire, teachers are familiarized with the curriculum as part of their orientation and required to attend formal training within the first year of employment.
A “Kindergarten Club” is established each January for the children preparing to enter school the following fall. K-Club members will hear transition stories, which will elicit questions and responses to potential situations, they will attend cognitive-oriented events, and explore higher thinking skills.
In addition to using the Creative Curriculum®, the center also utilizes several other curriculum systems to achieve our objective, in preparing children socially and emotionally. Children are guided to find creative and non-destructive ways to settle conflicts and live in harmony by utilizing the pyramid model. Children are encouraged to develop compassion and trust and regulate emotions and behavior. Through promotion, prevention, and intervention a pyramid model provides conceptual framework for many interventions and approaches. Additionally, to address health and nutrition of its children, the center also incorporates “I’m Moving, I’m Learning” curriculum.
Through the guidance provided by the State Department of Education, support from the New Britain School Readiness Council, and the involvement of parents and teachers, the program is confident that its preschool program will more than appropriately prepares children for success in school.