What We Are Doing in Our Dramatic Play Center
• cooperating with others • using language skills • verbalizing ideas • understanding emotions • observing others • using fine and gross motor skills • acting out realistic situations
The Creative Curriculum for Early Childhood
THE CREATIVE CURRICULUM for EARLY CHILDHOOD is the curriculum used throughout the center. This curriculum is endorsed by the Iowa Department of Education and used throughout the Dubuque Community School District. The philosophy behind the 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 first hand about the world in which we live.
We teach them how to learn—not just is preschool—but all through their lives. The flexible lesson structure specifically develops critical early learning skills, oral language, listening comprehension, vocabulary, phonological awareness, print awareness and alphabet knowledge as well as teaches early mathematics skills on a daily basis. Group activities and learning centers complete the program’s comprehensive approach, addressing social and emotional development, motor skills, science, social studies, music, and art.
What We Are Doing in Our Literacy Center
• recognizing letters and sounds • learning sight words • using word attack skills • recognizing word chunks • learning to comprehend what we read • learning to write • learning to communicate
What We Are Doing in Our Listening Center
• developing language skills • enhancing pre-reading skills • learning to follow directions • working independently • gathering information • connecting stories to pictures
What We Are Doing in Our Math Center
• learning new ideas • increasing language skills • increasing cognitive skills • enhancing hand-eye coordination • developing fine motor skills • learning to estimate • classifying and sorting • counting and comparing • recognizing patterns and shapes
What We Are Doing in Our Science Center
• learning new concepts • testing ideas • planning • observing • predicting • comparing • drawing conclusions • discovering how things work
What We Are Doing in Our Art Center
• expanding creativity • increasing communication skills • improving hand-eye coordination • exercising fine motor skills
What We Are Doing in Our Puzzle Center
• exercising our small motor skills • advancing hand-eye coordination • focusing on spatial concepts • enhancing cognitive development
What We Are Doing in Our Discovery Center
• enjoying sensory experiences • experimenting • discovering • refining our observational skills • measuring • weighing • enhancing our fine motor skills