Philosophy

The goal of UCC Preschool Academy is to teach to the whole child, which is why we include children’s spiritual development in the early childhood developmental domains. For our classroom curriculum we utilize the “Creative Curriculum.” Additionally, we supplement with the “Orange” curriculum for our faith-based curriculum as well as “Zoo Phonics” for our language arts curriculum.

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The five developmental domains that our curriculum is built on include: Cognitive, Social-Emotional, Language, Physical, and Spiritual development. It is through these experiences that we believe children gain vital developmental opportunities where they can continue to grow and learn to their fullest potential.

We know that all children learn differently and at their own pace, therefore we strive to reach each child through multiple learning modes (visual, auditory, kinesthetic, etc.).

Five Developmental Domains:

• Spiritually – We believe that God created all living things and that His Word is the foundation for all of life. We believe that children’s spiritual development and nature are closely related (Roehlkepartain, 2006 & Schein, 2012). The more time children spend with and in nature, they will develop a sense of belonging, a respect for self and others, an awareness and appreciation of the unknown, and opportunities of joy and wonder. These moments cause children to respond to their world with caring, kindness, empathy, and reverence.

• Cognitive – Our teachers seek to challenge children while being aware that some children need more time to practice skills. Problem solving is critical to helping children develop mathematical understandings. Through problem-solving experiences, children learn that there are a variety of ways to solve a problem, and that a problem can have more than one answer or solution. Some important strategies for promoting children’s problem-solving skills are:

  • Identify routine problem-solving opportunities

  • Use daily activities to reach problem-solving

  • Use open-ended questions and comments

  • Model problem-solving behaviors

• Language/Communication – When children are introduced to rich vocabulary, they learn the words they will need to read and write. In the Creative Curriculum classroom, children have many opportunities to develop their vocabularies, to listen, and to speak through informal conversations with peers and adults, songs, rhymes, finger plays and movement activities, firsthand experiences and talking about what they are doing, and listening to and talking about books that are read aloud to them.

• Social/emotional– For optimal learning and development to occur, children need secure consistent relationships with responsive adults who support children socially by helping them develop positive peer relationships. Creative learning activities such as dramatic play, block play, and open-ended art activities provide opportunities for children to build positive relationships with peers.  

Children learn self regulating skills that help them learn to control their  emotions and        behavior and to resist impulses. Children who regulate their emotions positively do better in school and have an easier time getting along with peers. Teachers can support emotional development by supporting, rather than directing play situations.  

Teachers use these strategies to build relationships with children:

*Get to know each child

*Demonstrate respect for children’s ideas and efforts to solve problems-Validate *children’s ideas by acknowledging what they did and how they did it

*Provide learning experiences that are challenging

*Model self-talk that supports children’s thinking

*Observe children purposefully and regularly.

• Physical – We believe that physical activity both indoors and outdoors is an important part of children’s overall growth. Strengthening children’s core muscles and limbs helps to develop the appropriate posture, which in turn leads to motor development including their fine motor skills which are needed to learn to write properly.