Hilltop School takes the view of Piaget that young children learn best through play. "To understand is to invent," Piaget wrote in 1973. "Young children learn the most important things, not by being told, but by constructing knowledge for themselves, during interactions with the physical world and with other children. The way they do this is by playing." (Jones and Reynolds, 1992)
Young children learn through doing, touching, experimenting, choosing, talking, and negotiating. Everything is potential curriculum for young children. Emergent curriculum is planning what happens in the classroom and what the focus of learning will be through interactions between teachers and children. Both sides contribute ideas to build engaging and worthwhile units of study.
By actively observing children at play, Hilltop School teachers learn about the developmental progress of individual children and what skills and knowledge they are working on. They listen to children's ideas and interests and connect their curriculum goals with those of the children in responsive and creative ways. (Cadwell and Frye, 1997)
Utilizing the Early Childhood Learning Standards, teachers identify each child's individual needs and abilities and then plan activities based on these observations. Weekly Curriculum is posted for families.
In all of our classrooms, children have the opportunity to learn, explore, create, and discover together with a focus on social skills such as sharing, taking turns, self-control, making friends, following directions, and problem solving. Our teachers build the foundation needed for your child to thrive in academic settings in the future.
