Our Curriculum
Small World Childcare uses a play-based curriculum, creating an environment where children learn through play while being supported by rich interactions with teachers and other children. Children are involved in independent and collaborative activities, both indoors and outdoors, to allow them to develop individually and work cooperatively with others.
Children develop skills that lead to school success through play. For example, stringing beads develops the hand-eye coordination children need when learning to write; building with blocks teaches children to judge distance, space, and size, which is needed for success in science and math; creating with art materials teaches children to try out ideas, make choices, plan, and experiment, developing children who are independent learners; and playing in the dramatic play area improves language skills, problem solving skills, an understanding of social situations, and develops the ability to anticipate how to act in real-life situations.
Small World Childcare uses the Creative Curriculum system in our infant, toddler and preschool programs. This comprehensive, developmentally appropriate curriculum includes goals and objectives for children’s learning in all areas of development: social/emotional, physical, cognitive and language. Using this curriculum, teachers plan individual and group goals and implement plans for children to achieve them. We document observations of the children to aid in individualizing our approach to teaching. The Creative Curriculum system strikes a balance between applying a general knowledge of child development with the specific knowledge gained by forming a relationship with each child and their family.
Five Fundamental Principles That Guide the Creative Curriculum:
Positive relationships with adults give children a foundation for successful learning.
Social-emotional competence is a critical factor in school success.
Constructive, purposeful play supports essential learning.
The physical environment affects the type and quality of learning interactions.
Teacher-family partnerships promote development and learning.
In alignment with the Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards, we use a framework of developmentally appropriate expectations for children that are used to determine goals and implement environments & experiences to support children’s learning and accomplishment of goals.