Carousel Curriculum
At Carousel Preschool, we pride ourselves on our carousel quality teacher-student interactions. We utilize Teaching Strategies' Creative Curriculum in all classrooms, though each group follows a different age-appropriate approach. This advanced level curricula encourages quality interactions through meaningful activities. Additionally, we focus on the following areas to ensure children are well-prepared for elementary school and beyond.
Approaches to Learning
Carousel Preschool encourages curiosity, problem-solving, maintaining attention, and persistence. Children with positive approaches to learning perform better academically and have more productive interactions with others. While some of these skills seem to come naturally to some children, researchers believe that these skills can be nurtured and developed through a supportive, high-quality learning environment.
Creative Arts
Carousel Preschool inspires young children to explore and express themselves creatively through music, movement, visual arts, and dramatic arts, Creative expression supports children’s cognitive growth, problem-solving skills, and growing insight into the world around them. Creative arts provides children with an opportunity to explore and express themselves in ways that stimulate brain growth.
Mathematics
Carousel Preschool exposes children to mathematics through daily activities. Mathematics helps children make sense of the world around them and helps them find meaning in the physical world. Through mathematics, children learn to understand their world in terms of numbers and shapes. They learn to reason, to connect ideas, and to think logically. Young children develop mathematical concepts through meaningful and concrete experiences that are broader in scope than numerals and counting.
Science
Carousel Preschool motivates children to be natural scientists. Young children make inferences and become higher-level thinkers through varied and repeated opportunities to predict, observe, manipulate, listen, experiment with, reflect, and respond to open-ended questions, . We encourage children to use all of their senses, and pay attention to the processes they use to explore. Young children can begin to acquire a foundation of science concepts and knowledge on which they can build a clear understanding of their world.
Social Studies
Carousel Preschool exposes children to social studies to help young children become good citizens and deepen their understanding of the world around them. When children enter our program, they begin to develop a sense of community outside of the home. Through meaningful interactions, classroom jobs, and understanding of basic geography, their understanding of the world changes and expands to include others. This process gradually helps children learn about the community in which they live.
Language and Literacy
Carousel Preschool fosters children's listening, speaking, writing, thinking, and reading development through frequent exposure to language modeling and literacy opportunities. Although children continue to develop language and literacy skills throughout their lives, what they learn in the early years establishes the foundation for later language, reading, and writing skills. Young children who have rich language and literacy experiences early in life are less likely to have later difficulties learning to read.
Physical Development
Carousel Preschool offers many opportunities for physical development with frequent outdoor play and targeted activities for both gross and fine motor skills. Physical development skills are the foundation for the future health and well-being of all children. We encourage students to make sound nutritional choices, use established health/safety practices, and enjoy physical activity for optimal learning. Our program incorporates outdoor play periods and several structured physical activities per day.
Social-Emotional
Carousel Preschool utilizes both CLASS and the Pyramid Model as tools to promote social emotional development. One of our primary goals is to foster healthy social and emotional development in young children. We do so by creating positive climates, developing strong relationships and encouraging positive social skills and behavior guidance. Our goal is to not only ensure that children are intellectually prepared for kindergarten, but also that they are socially and emotionally prepared for success in the classroom.
Foreign Language
Carousel Preschool encourages learning about and embracing other cultures and languages. Our diverse population encourages acceptance and offers opportunity to share traditions from various cultures. We incorporate basic foreign language skills in weekly lessons, through Spanish Immersion including basic Spanish vocabulary linked to each curriculum topic.