Curriculum
Educational Philosophy & Principles
The Montclair Community Pre-K uses a developmental approach and follows these educational principles:
· To reflect the values of the community
· To create an environment that empowers children to learn social skills
· To provide all children with the same curriculum opportunities
· To offer a balance of goals and objectives from each subject area
· To plan meaningful content that links children’s prior learning to the development of more sophisticated knowledge and complex skills
· To link content to key concepts necessary for success in kindergarten
· To organize curriculum around themes, units and projects, with a focus on key concepts and children’s literature
Our educational program...
· Designs hands-on experiences in an environment that allows children easy access to tools and materials, and adequate space and time to explore their good ideas.
· Provides opportunities for creative, investigative play, followed by group times so children can reflect on their play experiences and build on knowledge through reenactment.
· Confirms and acknowledges each child’s disposition to have strong, even idiosyncratic, personal interests.
· Supports a child-teacher ratio that gives teachers the ability to work with children individually or in small groups.
· Honors the cultural traditions of the families and builds a sense of community.
· Implements emerging literacy by displaying children’s names, words, and original artwork.
· Models critical thinking and intelligent problem solving.
· Assesses progress through developmental portfolios. The teacher, child and parent contribute to, select, and review contents of the portfolio to document developmental milestones.
· Ensures smooth transition for children as they move from Pre-K into Kindergarten.
· Provides families with a narrative and portfolio at the end of the school year that describes and documents a child’s growth and development throughout the year.
