Educational Philosophy
We paint, glue,
dress-up, share, build, sort, cut, smell, act, observe,
squish, scrub, mix, balance, make friends, converse, sing,
move—and that’s only in one morning! When
someone asks, “What is your school like?” I
respond with, “We are busy ‘doing’ at
DNS.”
The mere mention of
curriculum for preschoolers causes parents to jump into
philosophical camps faster than it would take a
five-year-old to answer the question, “Do you like
Halloween?”
We emphasize play and
socialization at DNS
because that is the world in which preschoolers operate.
That is how they learn to make sense of their world.
The Commonwealth of
Massachusetts has created a preschool curriculum frameworks
which we readily incorporate into our play each and every
day: language and
literacy, mathematics, science, literature, music, sensory,
social studies, art, dramatic play and creative
dynamics.
We choose a curriculum theme,
like “Healthy Me,” and set up activities and
toys that will encourage the
exploration of learning. As teachers, we do not assess the
program or a child based on what she has learned about a
curriculum theme, but to see if she tried something new,
lengthened her attention span, was engaged, brought up the
information in another context, or collaborated with a
peer.
Indeed, letter recognition,
counting, and learning to write one’s name unfolds
during the preschool experience, but it is not the
evaluation tool that determines kindergarten readiness or
success in kindergarten.
We have a daily mantra that we express at the closing of
morning Circle Time: “Will everyone please have a
great day at play!”