WHPS Pre-K Curriculum

Our mission is to develop the disposition of being a learner in young children and create a sense of wonder about their environment, culture and world. We seek to foster strong relationships with the children we serve and their families. We address the needs of the whole child preparing them to be life-long learners through developmentally appropriate experiences and research-based best practice.

The West Hartford Public Schools Early Childhood Education Department implements best practices in early childhood education. We believe in an inquiry-based, child-centered approach that promotes an environment and community that fosters intellectually, physically, and emotionally healthy learning and living. (District Strategic Initiative 2.1) Research, evidence based early childhood curriculum, such as Creative Curriculum, addresses the whole child with an emphasis on social and emotional development. We believe that children learn best through play-based, hands-on experiences that will foster students’ disposition to investigate and answer their own questions while embedding skills and learning standards into the content driven by children’s queries and interests. We believe that parents are a child’s first teacher and that a strong home school partnership is a foundational practice to support young children’s development. Most importantly, we believe that all children can learn and grow.

The Creative Curriculum for Preschool empowers children to be confident, creative, and caring learners through play-based, hands-on investigations—a research-based approach that incorporates language, literacy, and mathematics throughout the day.

1. Play and Exploration: The Creative Curriculum believes that children learn best by "doing." The classroom is set up with different "interest areas," like a cozy reading nook, a block corner, a dramatic play area (where kids can pretend to be anything they want!), a writing center, a science center and a sensory table with sand and water. These areas are designed to spark a child's natural curiosity and encourage them to explore and learn on their own. Ample, uninterrupted blocks of time are provided each day for young children to engage in self-selected learning centers where teachers act as guides and facilitators to support children's questions about their world.

2. Learning through "Studies" or Projects: Teachers use a special approach called "studies." This is where they pick a topic that children are interested in—like trees, buildings, or even balls—and dive into it for several weeks. The children ask questions and then, with the teacher's help, they find the answers through hands-on activities, experiments, and even field trips. This helps them apply skills in reading, math, science, and more, all while having a blast. Learn more about this approach below under The Project Approach.

3. It Addresses the "Whole Child": The Creative Curriculum focuses on more than just ABCs and 123s. It also helps children grow in four key areas:

• Social and Emotional: Children learn how to make friends, share, express their feelings, and become more confident and independent.

• Physical: They develop both their large motor skills (like running and jumping) and their fine motor skills (like using scissors and holding a pencil).

• Cognitive: This is all about thinking skills. They learn to solve problems, ask questions, and think critically.

• Language: They improve their ability to communicate, listen, and express themselves through talking, reading, and writing.

4. Teachers are Guides: In a Creative Curriculum classroom, the teacher's role is to be a responsive guide. They observe what children are interested in and what they are ready to learn. Then, they create an environment and provide activities that help each child grow at their own pace. They ask open-ended questions to encourage deeper thinking and help children connect what they are learning to their own lives.

5. Family is a Partner in Learning: The curriculum recognizes that parents and caregivers are a child's first and most important teachers. It encourages strong communication between the school and home, with ideas and resources to help families get involved in their child's learning journey.

Creative Curriculum, Teaching Strategies, 2016

The Project Approach offers teachers a way to develop in-depth thinking while engaging the hearts and minds of young children. Teachers take a strong guidance role in the process while children study topics with purpose and flexibility. Project work presents many opportunities for young children’s ideas to be valued, their creativity to be encouraged, their interests to be nurtured, and for their learning needs to be met.

In early childhood, projects can be defined as open-ended studies of everyday topics which are worthy of being included in an educational program. Projects emerge from the questions children raise and develop according to their particular interests. Rather than offering immediate answers to the questions children ask, teachers provide experiences through which children can discover the answers themselves through inquiry at field sites and interviewing experts. For example, if the children wonder what shoes are made of or how are they made, the teacher may arrange a field visit where the answer to these questions can be provided by an expert, in this case a shoe factory, the shoe repair man’s shop, or a shoe store. Children also consult secondary sources of information such as books and the internet in the classroom and with their parents at home.

Project investigations promote in-depth understanding and cover a wide range of relevant subtopics. For this reason projects usually take several weeks to complete—and sometimes much longer, depending on the age and interests of the children.

The Project Approach, then, is the method of teaching children through project investigations. Because project work follows an unpredictable path based on the interests of particular children, a flexible framework to support teachers has been developed. This framework makes the inquiry more manageable: it shapes the development of the area of investigation. Teachers guide children through a three phase process from the beginning of a project to its conclusion.

-Dr. Sylvia Chard, 2013

Literacy - children's vocabulary and oral language is expanded by talking about their building and structures. Math vocabulary is introduced with words to describe 2D and 3D shapes and positional words such as on top, below, next to and between. Picture books are displayed and available to children in the block area to spark ideas or to aide in their understanding of different structures such as sky scrapers, bridges, farms or homes. Writing materials are also present to encourage young children to make signs or messages applying their emergent writing skills.

Mathematics - number concepts are practiced when children put away blocks in sets, or when they count how many blocks they used in a building. Children can explore patterns and relationships. When organizing blocks by size and shape children explore concepts about geometry and spatial awareness. They may also learn about concepts such as measurement when they build something very tall or long - something worth measuring!

Social Studies - children often build what they know! Children can demonstrate what they know about their school, neighborhood or community through block play and representing buildings or roads they are familiar with. Children can explore concepts about people and how they live by learning about different businesses or jobs in the neighborhood. Teachers provide props that allow children to experience a variety of different people and the roles they play.

Social/Emotional - most importantly, playing with sand or water can be a soothing and calming experience for young children, many children are drawn there when they are feeling dysregulated or upset. Sand and water play can inspire children to work together, they often express their thoughts and feelings with peers and adults.

Physical - Children have the opportunity to strengthen their small muscles as they mold wet sand and scoop water. They delveop fine-motor skills and eye-hand coordination, working with props as they pour water through a funnel, sift sand through a sieve, and squeeze a baster full of water. They also build these muscles and their concentration skills when transferring sand or water between containers.

Language and Literacy - Children expand their vocabulary when using words to describe sensory experiences such as grainy, slippery, shallow, or sticky. When experimenting in the sensory table children often ask and questions.

Cognitive - Sand and water are natural compainions in scientific exploration. They engge children in observing carefully, classifying, comparing, meausring, and solving problems. They observe and learn about properties of matter, volume and capacity. They also explore the concepts of conservation (knowing that the amount of sand or water remains the same whether the container is thin and tall, or short and wide.)

LIteracy - pretend play promotes vocabulary and language by introducing and teaching chilren the names of props (i.e. stethoscope, briefcase, hard hat, menu). Teachers ask questions and read stories about topics that children use in their dramtic play, such as buying new shoes or going to the doctor. Writing tools and paper are found in the dramatic play center to encourage writing, where children may take a menu order or make an appointment for the hair salon or doctor's office.

Technology - children's understanding of technology is increased by exposing them to tools such as cameras, calculators, phones, keyboards and typewriters as props for play.

Social Studies - children are exposed to concepts about different people and where and how they live. Props can encourage children to take on different roles or perspectives including people that live or work in their neighborhood. You can often find photographs of families and community helpers in the dramatic play center.

The Arts - children engage in the arts when creating props for different dramatic play scenarios such as painting a box to create a firetruck, or painting a sign for a restaurant.

Social-Emotional - Art is a vehicle for children to express their ideas and feelings. Children reflect their thoughts and emotions through their choices of color, texture, and media. Children also express their individuality and originality in their art.

Physical - Art involes fine-motor skills. Tearing paper, cutting with scissors, holding a paint brush or marker are all activities that help children develop the fine-motor control they need for writing.

Language - Children often talk about what they are doing and respond to questions about their creations as they engage in art. Teachers write down what children say about their artwork as a permanent record of the experience and model writing while capturing a child's ideas. Art also fosters vocabulary development as chilren learn and use related technical vocabualry; sculpture, palette, and clamp to name a few!

Cognitive - Children draw, paint, and sculpt what they know. As they translate their ideas and feelings into art, they use thinking skills to plan, organize, select media, and represent their impressions. When chilren draw, paint and make collages, they experiement with color, line, shape, and size. They learn about cause and effect when they mix colors.

Social-Emotional - Children learn to cooperate with one another by sharing and taking turns as they play games and build intricate designs. They develop confidence when they successfully use self-correcting toys such as puzzles, sorting boards, and stacking rings.

Physical - Children practice eye-hand coordination while lacing cards and placing pegs in pegboards. When children string beads and build with interlocking pieces of construction toys, they refine small-muscle skills.

Language and literacy - Children use words to explain how they are putting a puzzle together or sorting a collection of objects. They compare the sizes, shapes, and colors of objects as they play. While using beads, pegboards, dominoes, and collections, they develop reading skills such as visual discrimination, matching, and following a left to right progression. As they use magnetic letters and alphabet blocks, children expolore letters and words.

Cognitive - As children build with table blocks and make designs with pattern blocks and parquetry blocks, they experiment with construction and invention and use problem-solving skills. They also expand their emerging math skills, such as counting, seriating, matching, patterning, and classifying. The manipulatives center is the hub of mathematics in the early childhood classroom.

Social-Emotional - From books and conversation, children learn about people who are similar to and different from them. They are comforted by knowing that others have managed experiences and fears similar to their own. They develop empathy for those who have challenges that make life difficult. Children also learn other social skills as they share books together, reenact stories, and write messages.

Language and Literacy - All aspects of language (reading, writing, listening, and speaking) can be strengthened in the LIbrary area. When children hear stories, they learn new words, and their comprehension grows. Children develop phonological awareness when they hear and explore the sounds of language in books. They learn how to follow the direction of print on a page, to progress from left to right and top to bottom. Children use language in meaningful ways in the Library area when they dictate or scribble messages for classmates and letters to family members.

Cognitive - Books help children gain a better understanding of the world around them. They begin to interpret symbols, make predictions and think about cause and effect. When they hear a story, children make connections between the story and what they already know. When they retell stories, they learn to relate the story events in a particular sequence. Through books, children also develop understandings about counting, numeral recognition, color, size and shape.

Social-Emotional - Children learn to work together as they explore, make discoveries, and solve problems. They take care of living things such as classroom pets and plants, and they learn classroom rules for using materials safely and responsibly.

Physical - Children develop fine-motor skills when they use eyedroppers to squeeze colored water onto wax paper or pick up dead insects with tweezers. They develop dexterity and eye-hand coordination as they turn gears, take apart a broken toy, and pick up paper clips with a magnet.

Language and Literacy - When children make discoveries, they are eager to share their excitement with others. They want to talk about their investigations, ask questions, and share experiences. They use new words to describe how things look, touch, taste, smell, and sound. Using books and other texts, children find out about topics that interest them.

Cognitive - Children use process skills when they observe and ask questions about the world around them. They watch plants and animals with great curiosity and make predictions about how they change, move, and react to different conditions. Children organzie information by classifying, comparing, measuring, counting, and graphing objects. They represent their findings by drawing, wiritng, and creating models.

Creative Curriculum, Teaching Strategies 2016

WHPS Pre-K uses the High Scope Small Group Time model. Small Group time is a planned, adult-initiated activity where a consistent, small group of children (typically 5-8) meets with an adult to explore materials and develop skills, fostering curiosity and learning. Children make their own choices on how to use the materials, while the adult observes, scaffolds learning, and guides their discovery within a specific content area or theme. This hands-on experience supports children's development, especially when tied to their observed interests and needs, helping them become more confident and competent learners.

Morning Message is another High Scope practice used in our Pre-K classrooms. Morning Message is a teacher-prepared message displayed in the classroom that serves as a daily routine, community-building tool, and literacy-focused activity. It communicates the day's schedule and important information to students, fostering language and literacy development through reading, discussion, and writing activities like identifying letters, words, and concepts within the message.

• It provides a shared experience, allowing students and teachers to gather as a community and connect with each other at the start of the day.

• The message provides opportunities to practice and reinforce language and literacy skills, including print awareness, vocabulary, letter recognition, and the connection between spoken and written words.

• Beyond literacy, the message can also include mathematical concepts, such as counting attendance or reading numbers.