Curriculum Philosophy

The work of the child is to play, and through play experiences, the child will learn and grow.
This idea is at the foundation of Webster Square Day Care Center's early childhood curriculum, and is built on the work of theorists and researchers, such as Piaget, Erikson, Parten, and Vygotsky.  

Inclusive

The curriculum implements anti-bias instructional strategies that take into account cultural differences and values and the children's home experiences.

Responsive

The curriculum in the preschool builds upon the child's prior learning and is supportive of the knowledge the child has gained at home.

Holistic

We maintain contractual relationships with Community HealthLink, Carey McGinn, Speech and Language Pathologist and Lynn Adua, Physical Therapist.

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The Creative Curriculum for Preschool

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Educators support our philosophy with the use of a curriculum that integrates content learning and skill development with children's daily play. The curriculum provides a framework for the planning of children's experiences and also provides a tool for on-going assessment of the child’s progress. The use of a curriculum is imperative as it promotes intentional planning and maximizes learning.

The curriculum implements anti-bias instructional strategies that take into account cultural differences and values and the children's home experiences. The materials that are offered to the children as part of the daily program are multi-racial, non-sexist and non-stereotyping. They reflect the lives of the children and the diversity found in society including gender, age, language and customs. The Creative Curriculum Developmental Assessment System is used to chart the progress of the child. The information collected via this system is shared with the parent to document the progress the child has achieved.

Webster Square Day Care Center recognizes that children acquire similar skills and ideas through different experiences and routines. The curriculum in the preschool builds upon the child's prior learning and is supportive of the knowledge the child has gained at home.

The WSDCC relies on the families to understand the family environment and culture. Parents and staff work as partners to intertwine aspects of the children's culture into the classroom through materials that are presented in the different classroom areas and in the theme of study that is selected.

ASSESSMENTS

Educators have had over 20 hours of training on how to use and interpret the results of this assessment tool. These training include an in-house comprehensive review of the components of the Creative Curriculum Developmental Continuum, a formal training regarding the on-line web based portion of the tool, and a self-­ taught training on linking assessment and meaningful learning experiences.
All assessment tools and procedures will be evaluated on a yearly basis by the educators and administrative staff to determine if tools being used are effective in supporting children’s learning and align with the goals and objects of the program.

Providing your child a responsive curriculum through on-going assessments 

Each child enrolled at WSDCC is assessed at various times during the year using many different procedures (both formal and informal).  The Developmental History, Child Enrollment, The Developmental Screening, and the Child Portfolio cover sheet are all completed with the parent/guardian and Education Coordinator during intake. This information gives the staff at WSDCC a starting point as to where the child is developmentally.

Within 1 month of enrollment each child will be screened by our speech/language, motor development, and social service consultants. These screening include input from parents, educators, and consultants. If any concerns are raised at the time of the screening a meeting will be held with parents, educators, consultants and the Educational Coordinator to address these concerns and to discuss the next course of action.
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Every child enrolled in the program is formally assessed 4 times per year using The Creative Curriculum Developmental Continuum. This tool links curriculum and assessment using the following cycle; planning for assessment , collecting facts, analyzing & evaluating facts, planning for each child & the group and reporting on children' s progress. Educators utilize the Creative Curriculum.net which works with the Creative Curriculum Developmental Continuum by storing and correlating observations entered on to the web based program. It allows the educator to see at a glance where each child is developmentally and within group as a whole. CC.net helps facilitate planning for the group/individual based on where they fall on the continuum and suggests activities to assist the educator in their weekly planning. It also allows parent to go on to the web site and offers the following features: input on their child's assessment, view and print activities to do with the child at home, view the planned curriculum and correspond with the educator.

Each child is assessed within their own classroom by their core educators that are familiar with. Observations are ongoing and are done both in the group setting and on an individual basis. Since this assessment tool utilizes observation, checklists, and work sampling time constraints are only applicable during the one month developmental screening.

All Supportive Service children have a Child Care Activity Plan completed quarterly. This is a simple yes/no form with room for comments in each section. This form is distributed to the educators for completion and returned to the Education Coordinator. The Education Coordinator then reviews the CCAP, adds information as necessary and meets with ongoing family social worker at the Department of Children and Families.

To complement the formal assessments (listed above); informal assessments are completed on a continual basis. These may include items such as sending a note home about a particularly good/bad day, behavior charts, notebooks/journaling from home and school, anecdotal records, work sampling/portfolios etc. 

All assessments are kept in the child's file in the office and are locked when not in use. Information is shared with the parent/guardian during the quarterly CCDC assessment process. Parents are also encouraged to request a conference if they have any questions or concerns about their child's development at any time. If there are continual concerns about a child’s development the team (parent, educator, consultants, and Education Coordinator) will meet to discuss the next course of action.

Contractual Partners

These relationships enhance the quality and level of service the preschool program provides and they assist the children in achieving greater academic success.

Community HealthLink

Community HealthLink provides behavioral consultant services which include developing teacher's abilities to understand problem behaviors and promote pro-social behaviors, facilitating parent-teacher collaborations in addressing children’s behavior problems and referral of children and families to community agencies for mental health and supportive services. They also provide two trainings per year for the staff and prents that address children’s behavioral issues.

Carey McGinn, EdD

Carey McGinn, EdD provides bilingual speech and language consultation services which include developing teacher's abilities to recognize and incorporate into the curriculum activities that enable children to improve their speech and language skills, facilitating parent-teacher collaboration in addressing children ' s speech and language needs and assistance with referral to the public schools when necessary, screening of children for speech and language delays and providing remedial speech and language services to children.

Lynn Adua

Lynn Adua provides physical therapy consultation services which include developing teacher' s abilities to recognize and incorporate into the curriculum activities that enable children to improve their motor skills, facilitating parent-teacher collaboration in addressing children' s motor needs and assistance with referrals to the public schools when necessary, screening of children for motor delays and providing remedial physical therapy services to children.

enrollment process