First Steps Nursery School Philosophy

We believe that children learn best by actively engaging with people and things in the environment. Our children should be involved in hands-on experiences, real-life adventures, and assisted discovery as they explore concepts through play. The core of our HighReach Learning curriculum we use is “Teaching and Interacting with Purpose Using Learning Zones.” This helps our teachers focus on learning approaches that can be adapted to the individual needs of our children, which can be developed during any type of experience or interaction. The Learning Zones take advantage of the back and forth interaction between our teachers and children throughout the day.

The HighReach Learning curricular approach is based on:

• Relationship-based learning
• Sound early childhood research and theory
• Emergent curricular development
• Project-focused play investigations
• Intentional planning and teaching strategies
• Involving family, culture, and communities

Outcomes

We have heard from both parents and local elementary school teachers alike, that First Steps children are very well-prepared for Kindergarten and First Grade, especially in literacy competency and social development. We attribute this to the skill and experience of our teachers, as well as the large amount of observations, coaching, and feedback our center directors provide.Perhaps that is one of the reasons our families choose to enroll their other children at First Steps as well.

First Steps Curriculum Builds 21st Century Skills
First Steps has been offering CompuChild for the past 8 years!

Research shows that children who use computers at a young age have greater developmental gains in cognitive, social, language and physical skills. Through participation in CompuChild classes, children gain a solid understanding of the computer as a valuable learning tool. Not only will children master basic computer skills, they develop academic readiness skills in math, science and reading as well as life skills to prepare them for the challenges of tomorrow. Using the standards created by International Society for Technology in Education as guide, our curriculum provides students with early technology literacy.

A love of learning is promoted through:

• Creativity
• Innovation
• Communication
• Collaboration
• Critical Thinking
• Problem Solving
• Decision Making
• Digital Citizenship

Research supports small group interaction initiates and encourages collaboration and cooperation in an interactive environment. We utilize developmentally appropriate software and special computer peripherals designed especially for children including trackball, mouse, digital camera, keyboard, LEGO