Curriculum

Our curriculum is developmentally based, child-directed, and aligned with the Massachusetts Early Childhood Curriculum Frameworks. It is a fluid, dynamic curriculum that is on the following principles:
  • Developmentally Based Children can access each activity at a wide range of developmental levels. Within one group, some children may only be able to draw an unrecognizable picture, and dictate their description of the picture to a teacher, while another child's drawing may be very elaborate, and yet another child may be able to write the words themselves. In this way the activities are open-ended, with a variety of possible outcomes, and what is most important is the process, not the end product. 
  • Child Centered The activities are chosen with the students' interests and readiness level in mind. The content should always be relevant and exciting to the students, and they show the teachers whether this has been achieved by their level of engagement. If the students are not excited and engaged, then the content or activity is not meaningful to them. For this reason, the curriculum sometimes takes an unplanned detour to a more interesting subject. 
  • Team Planning To the greatest extent possible, all the members of the early childhood team, including teachers and all therapists, contribute to the planning of the daily classroom activities. This enhances the integrative therapy/consultative model approach for delivery of services. It also allows the team to draw on its vast reservoir of experience and creative ideas when designing curriculum units. 
  • Curriculum Webs Our curriculum is based around particular themes, such as The Community, Animals in Winter, Seasons, etc. Within each theme, activities are planned that address each skill area, including speech and language development, language arts, fine and gross motor skills, social and emotional development, dramatic play and creative arts.

Learner Outcomes

All children will learn to:
  • Develop confidence and positive self esteem. 
  • Express their natural curiosity and develop a life-long love of learning. 
  • Understand and accept strengths and weaknesses in each other. 
  • Develop an increased willingness to explore new materials and experiences. 
  • Increase their knowledge of themselves in relation to others. 
  • Acquire developmentally appropriate social interaction skills. 
  • Acquire strategies for successful negotiation of conflict with peers and adults. 
  • Develop symbolic representational skills as a foundation to later literacy and math concepts. 
  • Continue to develop cognition, pre-academic, language, motor and self help abilities.

Play is the Foundation of Learning in Early Childhood

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Examples of Curriculum Units & Explorations are:
  • Healthy Foods/Healthy Bodies 
  • Families 
  • Five Senses 
  • Getting Ready for Winter 
  • Festivals of Light and Music 
  • Community Helpers 
  • Seasons
  • Children's Inquiries & Interests

Contact

Joseph Gibowicz, Early Childhood Coordinator
[email protected]
 
Carol Huebner Early Childhood Program
71 Spruce St.
Acton, MA 01720
978-266-2530

 

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