Active Play
Your youngest learners need to feel safe and SUPPORTED so they can learn with their whole body and all of their senses. In a HighScope program, teachers focus on developing supportive, trusting relationships with the children in their care. We create rich environments that ENCOURAGE very young children to EXPLORE AND DISCOVER the world around them, helping them to engage in EXPERIENCES designed to support their optimal development in all domains. ACTIVE LEARNING is at the center of the HighScope Curriculum. It’s the foundation where young children gain knowledge through their NATURAL PLAY and INTERACTIONS with the environment, events, and other people.
HighScope Curriculum
schedules and routines
Each day provides a balanced variety of experiences and learning opportunities. Children engage in both individual and social play, participate in small- and large-group activities, assist with cleanup, socialize during meals, develop self-care skills, and exercise their small and large muscles. The most important segment of the daily routine is the plan-do-review sequence, in which children make decisions about what they will do, carry out their ideas, and reflect upon their activities with adults and other children.
learning environment
To create a predictable and active learning environment, teachers arrange and equip the classroom with diverse, open-ended materials that reflect children’s home, culture, and language. The room is organized and labeled to promote independence and encourage children to carry out their intentions. With nurturing and responsive caregivers nearby, children are free to move about, explore materials, exercise creativity, and solve problems.
adult-child interaction
Teachers act as partners, working alongside children and communicating with them both verbally and nonverbally to encourage learning. Key strategies for adult-child interactions are sharing control with children, communicating as a partner with children, scaffolding children’s play, using encouragement instead of praise, and taking a problem-solving approach to supporting children in resolving conflicts.
observation
Objective observations of children allow teachers to intentionally plan to build on individual and group interests and scaffold development by supporting what children know while gently extending their learning. Ongoing child assessment is also an underlying component of the HighScope Curriculum. Objective anecdotal observations of children collected throughout children’s natural play allow teachers to assess child progress and plan meaningful learning experiences.
What We Teach
Simply put we allow children to learn through their natural interests and curiosities. We simply guide, encourage and instruct as children discover the world around them.
The HighScope Curriculum is based on more than 50 years of research on early childhood development and has been validated by direct evaluation of the curriculum. In the HighScope Curriculum, the framework for understanding and supporting children’s learning from ages 0–5 years is based on key developmental indicators (KDIs), where learning is focused on the following eight content areas:
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Approaches to Learning
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Social and Emotional Development
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Physical Development and Health
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Language, Literacy, and Communication
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Mathematics
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Creative Arts
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Science and Technology
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Social Studies
