HEAD START

Creative Curriculum

DCPC uses Creative Curriculum in all preschool classrooms. For young children, meaningful and long-lasting learning requires active thinking and experimenting to find out how things work. This is best accomplished through purposeful play facilitated by highly intentional teaching practices.

Each curriculum provides teachers with guidance in these areas:

• How Children Develop & Learn
• The Learning Environment
• What Children Learn
• The Teacher's Role
• The Family's Role

The fundamental premise of our philosophy of preschool education is that children are active learners who learn best from activities they plan and carry out themselves with the support and encouragement of understanding staff. The teaching staff are responsible for developing classroom environments which nurture and empower children to become independent thinkers, problem solvers, and confident learners.

Classrooms are organized into several areas. Materials are clearly labeled and the daily routine is predictable. Many developmentally appropriate, culturally diverse materials and equipment are available to use and rotate to support children's learning in all eight domains (see table below). Within this structured environment, children have the freedom to make choices and to initiate activities which provide a framework for their learning. The teaching staff's role is to support and guide this process.

The Head Start Child Outcomes Framework is used to guide DCPC in our ongoing assessment of the progress and accomplishments of children, and in continuous program improvement. Child outcome info helps DCPC determine how each child has benefited from our program. In addition, child outcome data for groups of children is a part of our annual self-assessment to determine how each classroom and DCPC is doing in meeting our planning goals.

By talking with parents/guardians informally and during scheduled conferences, teachers constantly share information and observations about the children. DCPC teachers also help parents develop strategies for incorporating elements of the curriculum into everyday activities at home.