Curriculum:

Heather’s Child’s Place uses a curriculum called High Reach (see web site: www.highreach.com) throughout our school.  This is a thematic approach to learning with a changing theme each month.  It is very age appropriate and grows with your child. There is an emphasis on learning through play, as well as activities that teach social skills such as playing cooperatively with others, listening and solving problems. We also emphasize respect of others and pride in themselves. High Reach Learning curriculum is developed by a team of educators with many years of experience, offering the latest in early childhood education.

Copies of individual classroom lessons are available for parents; they are located in each classroom. Parents are encouraged to take and read through their child's monthly classroom lessons along with any additional literature that is provided in the front vestibule area. Please find below an overview of our curriculum, as well as samples of the developmentally appropriate monthly curriculums for each classroom. The monthly samples may be accessed through the curriculum drop down menu, or simply by scrolling down the page.

Special Programs

We at Heather's feel that all our children should have the opportunity to participate in our special programs and feel strongly that no child should be excluded due to the parent's financial means.  Special programs include Nature Wagon, Macaroni the Clown, Fire Department, Dentist, Nurse, and more.

Overview:
                       
The curriculum included at all age levels:

• Social/Emotional Development
• Language Development
• Phonological Awareness through:Rhyming, Songs, Finger plays, Alliteration
• Color and Shaper Recognition
• Number and Letter Recognition
• Counting and One to One Correspondence
• Sequencing, Predicting, and Graphing
• Problem Solving
• Character Building
• Small and Large Muscle Development
            

The children learn about the world around us through:

• Sensory Play
• Scientific experiments/ Living Things
• Dramatic Play
• Cooking
• Puppet Play
• Blocks
• Music
• Art Expression

 

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We encourage their emerging Literacy skills through:

• Books
• Reading
• Listening
• Flannel Board Stories
  
• Puppet Play
  
• Finger plays
  
• Writing Stories
  
• Labeling
             

Muscle development occurs through manipulation of:

• Scissors
  
• Paint Brushes
  
• Markers
  
• Crayons
  
• Sewing Cards
  
• Marching
  
• Throwing, Catching & Kicking Balls
  
• Climbing
  
• Running
  
• Parachute Fun

Sweet Peas:

Sample Classroom Curriculum:

• When I Grow Up- Progress Reports
• Puppet- Tea Pot
• Color- Pink
• Shape- Heart
• Opposites- Sad/Happy & In/Out
• Community Helpers
• Groundhog Day
• Valentine’s Day – Special Parent Day
• Nursery  Rhymes-“I’m A Little Teapot “
• “Pat A Cake”
• Dress Up
• Dental Health
• Tea Parties
• Community Helpers

Books for Reading Time

• Color Kittens by Margaret Wise Brown
• Corduroy’s Busy Street by Don Freeman
• The Garbage Truck(Tonka: Tough Trucks) by Ruth Koeppel
• What Makes A Rainbow by Betty Ann Schwartz
• I’m A Little Teapot by Iza Trapani

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Children Will Experience

• Tea pot/tea cups/plates
• Dress up clothes in Dramatic Play
• Manipulative Area;
• Felt Cupcakes, Felt Teeth, Tooth Puzzle,
• Junk Mail with Mailbox, Pink Playdough
• Art Area:
• Pink Collage Material, Smiley Sticks,
• Pink Construction Paper, Pink Paint
• Box homes w/ garbage trucks to build with
• Heart Shaped Sponges w/ water table
• Explore Shadows
• Create Pictures by Music
• Use tea cups & teapots in the water table
• Make teacup prints w/ paint
• Explore w/ felt cupcakes & felt teeth on the flannel board:
• Colors, counting, on & off concept, sorting by colors
• Enjoy mini cup cake treat
• Dance / pink streamers to introduce “pink”
• Tape big poster board heart to floor & play “Move around the Heart”
• Use heart shaped cookie cutters w/ paint and playdough
• Talk together  w/ happy & sad puppets
• Make happy face snack w/ cream cheese, rice cakes & raisins
• Talk about Baker, Dentist, Librarian, Police Officer, Baker,
•  Sanitation Worker, Mail Carrier
• Play with measuring utensils & baking pans in playdough, rice table, water table
• Use rubber stamps with pretend books
• Dress up like Police Officers / make sounds like police cars

Pink Day: Pink Dot Art Pictures, Playdough, Pink Jello, Pink Dot Art Pictures

 

Peanuts:

Sample Classroom Curriculum:

• When I Grow Up- Progress Reports
• Puppet- Tea Pot
• Color- Pink
• Shape- Heart
• Opposites- Sad/Happy & In/Out
• Community Helpers
• Groundhog Day
• Valentine’s Day – Special Parent Day
• Nursery  Rhymes-“I’m A Little Teapot “
• “Pat A Cake”
• Dress Up
• Dental Health
• Tea Parties
• Community Helpers

Books for Reading Time

• Color Kittens by Margaret Wise Brown
• Corduroy’s Busy Street by Don Freeman
• The Garbage Truck(Tonka: Tough Trucks) by Ruth Koeppel
• What Makes A Rainbow by Betty Ann Schwartz
• I’m A Little Teapot by  Iza Trapani

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Children Will Experience

• Tea pot/tea cups/plates
• Dress up clothes in Dramatic Play
• Manipulative Area;
• Felt Cupcakes, Felt Teeth, Tooth Puzzle,
• Junk Mail with Mailbox, Pink Playdough
• Art Area:
• Pink Collage Material, Smiley Sticks,
• Pink Construction Paper, Pink Paint
• Box homes w/ garbage trucks to build with
• Heart Shaped Sponges w/ water table
• Explore Shadows
• Create Pictures by Music
• Use tea cups & teapots in the water table
• Make teacup prints w/ paint
• Explore w/ felt cupcakes & felt teeth on the flannel board:
• Colors, counting, on & off concept, sorting by colors
• Enjoy mini cup cake treat
• Dance / pink streamers to introduce “pink”
• Tape big poster board heart to floor & play “Move around the Heart”
• Use heart shaped cookie cutters w/ paint and playdough
• Talk together  w/ happy & sad puppets
• Make happy face snack w/ cream cheese, rice cakes & raisins
• Talk about Baker, Dentist, Librarian, Police Officer, Baker,
•  Sanitation Worker, Mail Carrier
• Play with measuring utensils & baking pans in playdough, rice table, water table
• Use rubber stamps with pretend books
• Dress up like Police Officers / make sounds like police cars

Pink Day: Pink Dot Art Pictures, Playdough, Pink Jello, Pink Dot Art Pictures

 

Caterpillars:

Sample Classroom Curriculum:

• All Around Town-Progress Reports
• To become familiar with various workers and their jobs
• Color- Pink
• Shape-Heart
• Number-7
• Rhymes: “Helping Out” & “Brush Your Teeth”
• Community Helpers
• Dental Health
• Value- Helping

Books for Reading Time

• My Little People Busy Town by Ellen Weiss
• Spot Helps Out by Eric Hill
• Visiting the Dentist by Althea
• Sesame Street Library by Susan Hood
• Sesame Street Post Office by Sarah Albee

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Children will Experience

• Dramatic Play-Community Helper Dress Up Clothes-Book about Community Helpers-Pink Clothing
• Language-Tea Pot Puppet- “Healthy Teeth” Riddle Book- “I’m a Little Tea Pot”
• Art- Pink art/ collage materials-Magazines/ Catalogs-Pink Paint- Pink Construction Paper- Doilies
• Sand & Water Play- Heart Sponges-Plastic cups and teapots- Sink & Float items
• Manipulative -Heart Cookie Cutters- Rolling Pins- Heart Lacing Cards
• Science/ Math- Heart Match game- Number Match game- Teeth Counting game
• Block Area- Trucks, Vans & People in Blocks- Build neighborhoods in blocks
• Role Play being movers: boxes, vans
• Have a tea party/ Make tea sandwiches/Practice pouring
• Make heart prints w/ sponges- pink paint
• Use sponges in water play
• Explore pink sensory bottles
• Create pink paint by mixing red & white
• “Seven Little Hearts” on flannel board w/ pink flannel hearts
• Make : Seven Layer Cookies
• Role Play going to the grocery store: scales, food, cart, basket
• Talk about baker: explore measuring cups & spoons-use playdough to pretend baking- Make ”Monkey Bread”
• Talk about Florists: Decorate bottles to make vases-Explore Flower /Parts
• Talk about Letter Carriers: Create cards & letters- Stamp sets- Role play post office
• Talk about Dental Health- What is Missing ?- Smile collages- Healthy teeth experiment using a hard boiled egg- Make toothpaste- A visit from a /Dental Hygienist
• Talk about Sanitation Workers- Explore Compacting Trash – Recycling
•  Talk about Restaurants- Role play going out to ear- Make a menu together
• Talk about Hair stylists- Graph hair color/ How many have what color- Paint with combs
• Talk about Painters-  Use painters tools in art- “Paint toast”
• Talk about Carpenters- Tracing tools- Hammer & nails- Prepare “Sawdust Snack”
• “Pink Day”- Practice cutting pink paper- Make pink collages-Pink Heart Hokey Pokey- Eat Pink Jello

Butterflies:

Sample Classroom Curriculum:

• All Around Town- Progress Reports
• Letters: O, P Q
• Number- 9
• Shape- Heart
• Colors- Review
• Value- Helping
• Opposites- Open/ closed
• Jobs People Do
• Nursery Rhyme- “ I’m A Little Teapot”

Books for Reading Time

• I’m A Little Teapot by Iza Trapini
• Planting A Rainbow by Lois Ehlert
• Alphabet City
• Just Going to the Dentist by Mercer Meyer
• The Little Red Hen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Children Will Experience:

• Art Area: Heart Stencils, Tooth Shaped Sponges, White & Pink Paint, Gardening Magazines, Pizza Boxes, Junk Mail
• Manipulative Area: Heart Shaped cookie Cutters/ Damp Sand-Sand & Water Postcard & Heart Lacing Cards-Felt Hearts- Textured Hearts, Pink Playdough, Paint swatches
• Science Area- Magnifying Glasses, Dental Z- Rays,
• Language- Heart Shaped Writing Paper
• Block Area- Trucks, Tools, Hard Hats
• Dramatic Play- Tea Set, Artificial flowers, Vase, Telephone, Cash register, Money, Notebooks, Baker’s hats & aprons, Painter’s caps, brushes, rollers
• Comparing – same & different
• Teapot Tag
• Sorting into matching sets
• Practice cutting and tracing w/ heart shapes
• Make heart shaped sandwiches for a Tea Party
• Creating sets of 9 w/ blocks, hearts, counting bears
• Ollie the Otter is an Optometrist
• Obstacle courses / following directions how to move through them
• Clapping for the syllables of o words
• Tasting and graphing the results/ olives
• Play opera music as children paint
• A visit from a dental Hygienist
• Read Hands Can for our helping unit- Dictate responses to the statement:
•  “My helping hand can….” Place hand prints on response cards
• Experiment with coloring a flower
• Petey Porcupine owns Petey’s Pancakes- Read Pancakes, Pancakes by Eric Carle
• Play ping- pong balls bounce like popcorn on the parachute
• Make Pink Pie
• Can we clean pennies w/ toothpaste
• Paper Plate Pizzas
• Count the Pepperoni
• Families send in postcards- children can create their own to send
• Mixing colors/ Predicting results- Test predictions
• Make comparisons of painting tools
• Paint a cardboard house
• Queen Quintella- Toss and catch a ball quickly- Quilt Day- Ask Questions-
• Quiet Games
• Explore Refrigeration- Lettuce leaves-Build a grocery store/ Role play
• Introduce Banks, Hair Salons, Carpenters
• Costume Parade of Careers
• Write responses of “When I Grow Up…”