Heather's Child's Place
Daycare & Preschool · Montgomery, NY

Our Curriculum

Heather's Child's Place uses the High Reach curriculum — a thematic approach to learning with a changing theme each month that is age-appropriate and grows with your child.

High Reach Learning: This thematic approach emphasizes 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 provided in the front vestibule area.

Curriculum Included at All Age Levels

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

Children Learn About the World Through

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

We Encourage Emerging Literacy Through

  • Books, Reading and Listening
  • Flannel Board Stories
  • Puppet Play and Finger Plays
  • Writing Stories and Labeling

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.

Sample Monthly Curriculums

What Each Classroom Is Learning

Sweet Peas — Sample Classroom Curriculum

Focus Areas

  • 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"
  • Dental Health & Tea Parties

Books for Reading Time

  • Color Kittens by Margaret Wise Brown
  • Corduroy's Busy Street by Don Freeman
  • The Garbage Truck by Ruth Koeppel
  • What Makes A Rainbow by Betty Ann Schwartz
  • I'm A Little Teapot by Iza Trapani

Children Will Experience

Tea parties, dress-up in dramatic play, pink playdough, heart-shaped sponges, exploring shadows, creating pictures by music, and more.

Peanuts — Sample Classroom Curriculum

Focus Areas

  • 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"
  • Dental Health & Tea Parties

Books for Reading Time

  • Color Kittens by Margaret Wise Brown
  • Corduroy's Busy Street by Don Freeman
  • The Garbage Truck by Ruth Koeppel
  • What Makes A Rainbow by Betty Ann Schwartz
  • I'm A Little Teapot by Iza Trapani

Children Will Experience

Tea cups and teapots in the water table, felt cupcakes and teeth on the flannel board, happy & sad puppets, and a Pink Day celebration.

Caterpillars — Sample Classroom Curriculum

Focus Areas

  • All Around Town — Progress Reports
  • 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

Children Will Experience

Community helper dress-up, heart prints with sponges, pink sensory bottles, "Seven Little Hearts" on the flannel board, and a visit from a dental hygienist.

Butterflies — Sample Classroom Curriculum

Focus Areas

  • 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 Trapani
  • Planting A Rainbow by Lois Ehlert
  • Alphabet City
  • Just Going to the Dentist by Mercer Mayer
  • The Little Red Hen

Children Will Experience

Heart stencils and tooth-shaped sponges, sorting into matching sets, teapot tag, a Costume Parade of Careers, and writing "When I Grow Up…" responses.