As an accredited center we support NAEYC guidelines for Developmentally
Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs and Accreditation Criteria.
We believe that each child grows and develops in a sequential manner at
his/her own pace and, with the support of peers and observant, caring
adults; children are challenged to reach higher levels of competence. We
believe that a child's intelligence is demonstrated in many ways and that
each child has a uniquely different learning style and temperament.

According to NAEYC, developmentally appropriate practice provides children
with opportunities to learn and practice newly acquired skills. It offers
challenges just beyond the level of their present mastery and it takes place
"in the context of a community where children are safe and valued, where
secure" (Bredekamp & Copple, 1997, pp. 14-15). In our application of
developmentally appropriate practice, we have sought to highlight the
important balance between applying a general knowledge of child development
with the particular knowledge a teacher gains by forming a relationship with
each child and family.

Our goals for you as a family, are:

Getting to know families-recognizing differences in families and making the
most of initial contacts to learn about each family. Making families feel
welcome-building trust, and reaching out to all members of a child's family.
Communicating with families-taking advantage of informal daily exchanges and more formal methods of communication to share information and keep families up-to-date on our program. Partnering with families on children's
learning-offering a variety of ways for families to contribute, and
conducting conferences to discuss children's progress and to plan together.

Our curriculum rests on a foundation of more than 75 years of scientific
research about child development and learning theory that leads to specific
instructional strategies based on how young children learn best. The
Creative Curriculum takes what has been learned from theorists such as Erik
Erikson, Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, and Howard Gardner, as well as recent
research studies about language, literacy, and math development. 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.
Creative Curriculum's comprehensive approach to curriculum are based on an understanding of the complex, social/emotional, physical, and cognitive
development of young children and the way children learn
(Trister- Dodge, Berke, Bichart, Burts, Heroman, Rudick, n.d) .

How Children Develop and Learn-The Creative Curriculum assesses four areas of development:

Social and emotional, physical, cognitive, and language development.
Social/Emotional Development Achieve a sense of self-knowing oneself and
relating to other people-both children and adults. Behaving in a pro-social
way-showing empathy and getting along in the world, for example, by sharingand taking turns. Taking responsibility for self and others-following rules and routines, respecting others, and taking initiative. Physical Development Achieving gross motor control-moving he large muscles in the body, especially the arms and legs, consciously and deliberately. Achieving fine motor control-using and coordinating the small muscles in the hands and wrists with dexterity. Cognitive Development

Learning and problem solving-being purposeful about acquiring and using
information, resources, and materials. Thinking logically-gathering and
making sense of information by comparing, contrasting, sorting, classifying,
counting, measuring, and recognizing patterns. Representing and thinking
symbolically-using objects in a unique way, for instance, a cup to represent
telephone Language Development Understanding and communicating through words, verbally, non-verbally, and written. Language is the principal tool for establishing and maintaining relationships with adults and other
children (Excerpt from the Foundation Chapter in The Creative Curriculum for
Preschool, 5th Edition)