Our Curriculum

Curriculum is fundamental to your child’s experience at Iowa’s Child Early Learning Community. Days are planned to maximize the use of time and appropriate learning materials, while allowing for creative expression, self-initiated learning. Here at Iowa’s Child Early Learning Communities we use Creative Curriculum as the framework for curriculum and assessments.

We use Creative Curriculum because of its approach to learning. It is based on the philosophy that children learn best through hands-on activities. Our teachers make intentional efforts to guide the children’s activities and support their learning as they interact with them throughout the day while observing what the children are doing to design appropriate lesson plans to help them progress.

Knowing how children develop and learn is the basis for planning our program, as well as for selecting materials and guiding children’s learning. Each classroom lesson plan is developmentally appropriate for that age group. Lesson plans are based off of observations of the children to determine each child’s interests as well as each their own unique abilities.

Each classroom, infant through school age, has a posted daily schedule. These schedules provide a framework for planning children’s daily experiences. The schedules offer structure to each child’s day. Schedules offer structure, but allow for adaptations and modifications to meet the individual needs of children, as well as our program’s goals and objectives.

The schedules provide time for proper transitions between activities, group time, individual and self-initiated learning times, centers (blocks, dramatic play, table activities, art, music, sensory table, library, science, writing), indoors and outdoors experiences, and play.