Curriculum

Explorers

Our Explorers Room provides an opportunity for two year olds the experience positive peer socialization in a group setting. The children learn to respectfully interact with each other in a supportive and nurturing environment. The relationships they build with their teachers and their classmates allow the children to develop a sense of agency and ownership in their classroom. They also learn to function as a member of a community.

The Explorers program provides a learning environment that encourages exploration and collaboration as children move from parallel to cooperative play. Teachers facilitate conversations where children share their observations and experiences with each other and the group.

Pathfinders

The Pathfinders Room allows three year-olds to learn through experience and interaction during extended periods of play. The emergent curriculum, focusing on the children’s own interests, builds on the children’s natural curiosity about their world and their enthusiasm for learning. Beginning academic skills are introduced within the context of projects the teachers develop in response to the children’s questions as well as through ordinary activities such as cooking, building and reading stories together.

Trailblazers (Pre-K)

The Trailblazers Room emphasizes the idea that we are a community of collaborative learners. Literacy, mathematical concepts, and fine motor proficiency are woven into all aspects of the classroom. The daily schedule includes ample time for self-directed activities using a well curated collection of materials.

Children navigate social situations as their ability to collaborate continues to develop. Each day provides opportunities to incorporate the ideas of others. Children problem solve together while building elaborate structures with blocks and creating complex pretend play scenarios together in the Dramatic Play area as well as on the playground. Mathematical concepts and the scientific method are utilized daily through baking, cooking, working with clay and a variety of art and sensory materials. Children exercise their critical thinking skills as they compare and contrast the properties of materials. When something new is added, such as spritzing clay with water or adding oil to dry ingredients, children report on the changes they observe.

As an independent school, MCNS is able to create meaningful learning experiences that address pre-academic skills through curriculum built around the children’s own interests, and those interests change from year to year. Teachers use methods from Handwriting Without Tears to facilitate children’s growing interest in writing, and every week includes time for writing and acting out stories. As their ability to participate in group discussion strengthens, children’s observations and inquiries lead to deeper and more sophisticated classroom studies and projects. Children take turns leading the morning meeting and performing classroom responsibilities so that they move to Kindergarten with a sense of confidence and accomplishment.