| The Children’s
Cooperative Playschool is a family-oriented early learning
experience for children one to five years of age. We strive
to provide a safe, nurturing and accepting environment in
which children are encouraged to develop social, emotional,
cognitive and motor skills through play. The Playschool is
respectful of individual differences in all children and therefore
strives to be flexible within a defined framework. The Playschool
welcomes all families equally.
 DEVELOPMENTALLY
APPROPRIATE PRACTICE
We encourage young children to develop
these skills and attributes through: an integrated learning
approach, a balance between teacher- and child-directed activities,
and a carefully designed learning environment.
A. Integrated Learning Approach
We use the device of weekly themes to offer
children knowledge about the world via stories, songs, art
projects, movement activities, puzzles and games, exploration
of real objects, and printed and oral language which all relate
to a central idea. This gives the children repeated exposure
to new ideas, an essential component of young children's learning
style, but in a slightly different form each time, to stimulate
creative thinking on their part. In addition, we make sure
that the themes are relevant to the multicultural group of
children who attend the Co-op.
B. Balance
We encourage children to develop their
cognitive, social, emotional, and motor skills throughout
the day with a balance between teacher-directed and child-directed
activities. Teacher-directed activities include circle time
(group story time, game or movement activity, opportunities
for children to tell their stories to the group), art (the
teacher sets up the materials and suggests one way to use
them), and good morning/song time. Child-directed activities occur on the playground
and during free play time in the classroom. The children choose from an array
of activities, play areas, and playmates during these large
blocks of uninterrupted time.
 The
importance of play in early childhood development is often
overlooked. However, studies show that children learn most effectively
through a concrete, play-oriented approach to early childhood
education (National Association for the Education of Young
Children, Developmentally Appropriate Practices in Early Childhood
Programs, 2001).
C. Environment
Children love to learn about themselves
and the world around them. The teacher’s role is to
facilitate this natural love for learning. An important aspect
of our job is to carefully design the learning environment.
During free play periods, the children are offered an array
of materials to manipulate, alone or with peers. Over the
course of a week, the children are offered the opportunity
to: build with hollow and solid blocks: draw, paint, cut,
glue and tape; manipulate play dough, sand, clay, and dried
beans; work on puzzles; look at picture books; listen to music;
talk with friends; put together the train set and other types
of manipulatives; dress up in costumes; engage in dramatic play
and other fantasy games; play with puppets; practice writing
their name; use the flannel board; and many other choices.
All of the activities available to the children are educational
and tailored to the age of the students in that class. During free play periods,
our role as teachers is to facilitate children’s engagement
(NAEYC, 2001) with their chosen activity, and encourage the use of social and problem solving skills.
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CURRICULUM
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2 Year Olds (pdf)
3 Year Olds (pdf)
4 Year Olds / Pre-K (pdf)
* You will need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader available
here.
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