What does it mean that the "Child is the Curriculum?"

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​We believe that a curriculum exists within each child that is particular to their development and culture. Through this approach, teachers thoughtfully plan the environment by offering many visible choices based on the child's interests, skills, and needs. Weekly lesson plans are posted in the individual classes.
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​Nature’s Edge Child Development Center is a small preschool with a bigger purpose: ​

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We are strongly committed to working with children and families. As early childhood educators, we believe we must understand parents’ needs and values so that we can best serve their children. Our goal is to provide a supportive and nurturing environment by building a sense of community among parents, children, and staff. We believe that children’s play is powerful, that the child is the curriculum, and that their environment is a teaching tool. How the classroom is organized, furnished, and enhanced has meaning for the children.​
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Philosophy​

​​We believe that the heart of children’s learning is play. Through play, they explore developmental themes and stages leading to physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development. Children are active, sensory learners and need to be provided with multiple opportunities for self-chosen exploration, investigation, social interaction, and problem-solving.
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Each child is regarded as an individual. We value and celebrate each child’s unique cultural, ethnic, and socio-economic background. In consideration of the whole child, we strive to nourish the mind, body, and sense of self for continued growth. Relationships are the core of our curriculum and philosophy. The single most important indicator of quality in an early childhood program is the interaction between and around the child.
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Activities​

​How to Recognize Quality Literature:
Books should be meaningful to the children, with subjects they can relate to and help them make sense of their world. Good books encourage conversation, invite children to use their imagination, make them laugh, and heighten their sense of fun.
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Illustrations should be visually pleasing but not overwhelming. Stories should encourage children to interact positively with others. Look for books that have a sense of rhythm where the same phrase is repeated over and over again so children can predict what is going to happen. Also, look for "sparkling language"; it is a misconception that books for young children should only have simple words.

Enviroment

​The environment is the stage for our curriculum, and this wonderful setting provides many spaces where learning is facilitated. A child can find a place to be alone, with just a few friends or gathered as a group.  It is a place for learning where the arts and nature come together. This setting provides constant connections to the outdoors and the natural world. We group our children of mixed ages in our classrooms. Early morning and the afternoon hours, we practice the mixed age group setting, including play together on the playground regularly. It is essential to our philosophical approach that children construct knowledge in relationships with others outside their age group.  Child Development Center at Nature’s Edge is designed with this vision in mind.
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Art Experience

​Utilizing art in the classroom has many benefits for young children, including aiding in fine motor development, cognitive development, speech and language development, creativity, and socialization. We encourage our students to use materials in open-ended ways to create beautiful works of art that they can share with the class or display at home. Further, we love when the children can work together to create something new. Having a way to express themselves is something that all children need, and art is one of the best ways to achieve this. When you give a child the right materials the possibilities are endless!

Science & Sensory Experience

Sensory experience is one of the greatest ways to learn. A child's understanding of the world depends a great deal on their sense of touch, smell, sound, and taste. At Nature’s Edge Child Development Center, we strive to give the children many opportunities to explore the world around them and to really get their hands dirty! We have sensory areas both in the classroom and outside on the playground, including water tables and a sandbox area, so that the children can explore in different environments. Encouraging children to ask questions, make observations, and then make guesses is a great way to develop cognitive skills and make them feel confident and interested in the world we live in.​

Imaginative Play 

Children's imaginations are endless. One day they are a superhero, the next a veterinarian, and then a rock star! An easy way to encourage this kind of play is to have a few prop boxes available. We love to cycle out the dramatic play area depending on what the children are demonstrating an interest in and to give plenty of options for creativity. Imaginative play isn’t just about dressing up and pretending to be someone else. It also fosters social skills, speech and language development, and gross motor skills. After all, a superhero needs to be able to fly! We don’t limit imaginative play to just inside the classroom, but outside as well. Seeing the children come together to create a dramatic play scene is so much fun!

Outdoor Learning

At NECDC, the outdoor classroom offers our children a myriad of experiences. Any part of the curriculum can happen inside or outside. Art, literacy, science, dramatic play, music, small and large motor skill activities all come outside to further the children's interests. The textures, smells, light, and variety of spaces in the outdoors allow creativity to blossom and grow. We love using the outdoor space as another learning environment for the children, and they love it just as much! Doing something outside that you normally do inside is exciting and new for them, and it brings their focus back to learning and staying engaged. We encourage exploration in the outdoors, even when doing free play. You never know what you may find outside!

Construction & Engineering

Children are little engineers by nature. They love figuring out how objects work together and constructing new and wonderful things. It helps stimulate their creativity and cognition. One of the best things to build and create with is natural wooden blocks. These blocks are fun to stack in different ways, sort into different categories, and create new places to bring dramatic play into. Building areas can become whole towns by adding transportation with traffic signs, carrier people, animals, and other figures. One child may see a forest filled with trees and places to camp, while another child may see a school with teachers and students. Constructing new things can be done individually or together in a cooperative style of play. The possibilities are absolutely endless, and the results will delight you!