Little Friends Learning Center

16333 Military Trail - Delray Beach, FL 33484 - 561-495-2089

The Creative Curriculum Teaching Strategies

By Diane Trister Dodge

Infant / Toddler/ Two’s Department:

6 weeks – 3 years:

Infants, Toddlers and Two’s are in the most vulnerable and important period of their lives.

Key aspects of the Creative Curriculum for Infant’s, Toddlers, and Two’s are:

1) Structure 2) Physical environment

3) Families 4) Assessment

5) Teacher/child interaction.

Meeting children’s basic needs; fostering social/emotional development; developing relationships; supporting cognition and brain development are all foundational stones in the Creative Curriculum.

The Preschool Department:

3 to 5 years:

The Creative Curriculum for preschoolers is an educational enhancement tool that will give children freedom to explore their classroom environment.

The major components of the preschool curriculum are: 1) How children develop and learn 2) The learning environment 3) What children learn 4) The teacher’s role 5) The family’s role.

Our preschool teams of early childhood educators are constantly engaged in an ongoing cycle of observing, guiding learning and assessing children’s progress. There are 11 interest areas in each preschool classroom;

Those areas are:

· 1) Cooking: The children develop problem-solving skills through experimentation, learn comparative words, measurements, numbers, counting, sequencing and organization.

· 2) Blocks: The children learn to exchange ideas, respect viewpoints, improve eye-hand coordination, gain strength with there large muscle coordination. They learn about sizes, shapes, numbers, order, length, patterns and weight.

· 3) Sand and Water: The children will engage in many scientific explorations They will make careful observations, classifications, comparisons, problem-solving activities and measurements. They also learn about volume, capacity, cause and effect.

· 4) Library: The children will learn all aspects of literacy, reading, writing, listening and speaking. They will learn new words and their meaning. Develop phonological awareness. Explore sounds and rhythm of language. They can also learn basic skills such as counting, number recognition, colors and shapes.

· 5) Dramatic Play: The children will develop small muscle skills. They will practice eye-hand coordination and visual discrimination skills. They will explore math concepts and forms of abstract thinking. They will also negotiate roles, agree on topics, recreate life experiences, cooperate with peers and cooperate to portray different situations.

· 6) Outdoor Experiences: Outdoor play is essential for children’s health and well – being. Children develop their gross motor skills as they run, leap, hop, swing, slide and climb. The outdoors is a natural laboratory for scientific explorations.

· 7) Computers: Children use computers to investigate questions, solve problems, explore and manipulate objects on a screen. Computers are a way for children to demonstrate self direction and independence.

· 8) Art: Through art activities children develop their fine motor control and control which is essential for writing. Art also fosters vocabulary development and sensory motor development.

· 9) Discovery: The children will develop dexterity and eye-hand coordination as they work together, explore, make discoveries and solve problems. Children will organize their thoughts by classifying, comparing, measuring, counting and graphing objects.

· 10) Toys and Games: The children will experiment with construction and invention and use creative problem solving skills. The children will also expand their emerging math skills such as counting, matching, seriation, patterning and classification.

· 11) Music and movement: The children will have great experiences that will help to develop both sides of the brain; an important finding in recent brain research. Children will learn about number concepts, create patterns and use logic and reasoning.

Chapel: Bible stories and simple Bible verses are presented to show God’s love for everyone, every Wednesday morning.

Music: The children also are provided every Tuesday morning with creative musical activities designed to stimulate the love and joy of learning

Spanish: Spanish and computer classes are offered at an extra cost. We make the learning of the Spanish language fun and entertaining for young children through games, songs and art projects.

** The Creative Curriculum Goals and Objectives for the Infant, Toddler, Two’s department as well as the preschool department consist of four major categories:

1) Social / Emotional development

2) Physical Development

3) Cognitive Development

4) Language Development

a Ministry of First Baptist Church of Delray Beach