Philosophy of Learning

Characteristics of a Ready Learner:
  • cooperativeness
  • independence/initiative
  • self-help skills
  • confidence
  • curiosity
  • self-control
  • responsibility

Learning Through Play

Young children learn through play and hands-on experience. Functioning in a group, responding appropriately to adults, trying new activities, taking turns, dealing with frustration and anger appropriately and following directions are skills we believe children need to successfully function in school and life.

Social Skills

We offer children the support needed to gain social skills important to becoming a cooperative member of the group. Play is the medium used to facilitate this social learning and each teacher will also strive to promote the characteristics of learning: cooperativeness, independence/initiative, self-help skills, confidence, curiosity, self-control and responsibility. The teacher's job is to support each child as they play in the various play areas in the classroom. Fine and gross motor skills, language, math, science, social studies and emergent literacy are all skills we promote through our curriculum.

Curriculum

The curriculum used for our center is the Creative Curriculum. The Creative Curriculum is rooted in educational philosophy and theory as well as practice. It helps children develop socially and emotionally by building trust with other adults, by helping children gain independence and self-control and by teaching children to take the initiative and assert themselves. The Creative Curriculum is used in all infant to five year old classes. Assessments using the Creative Curriculum format and observational notes will be the basis for parent-teacher conferences twice a year. All teachers present and incorporate information on dental health, sanitation, nutrition, personal safety, feelings, self-esteem and the "process" of art.

Early Education Collaborative

Through the Early Education Collaborative, a Speech & Language Pathologist and an Early Interventionist work in the preschool classrooms weekly. They also offer support to the teachers with curriculum planning classroom strategies and techniques. Each "team" of teachers meets weekly to discuss issues, activities and curriculum.

Vermont Early Learning Standards

Happy Days uses the Vermont Early Learning Standards (VELS) to guide their curriculum development.

The VELS were developed to help parents, teachers and others share reasonable expectations for what preschoolers are capable of knowing and doing. VELS provides consistent, appropriate information about what many children are capable of as they enter kindergarten.

Used by Head Start, public schools, childcare programs and others, VELS focuses on eight areas of development and learning:

  1. Approaches to Learning
  2. Social and Emotional Development
  3. Language, Literacy and Communication
  4. Mathematics
  5. Science
  6. Social Studies
  7. Creative Expression
  8. Physical Development and Health

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