Step One School - Twos and nursery program

Both our indoor and outdoor environments are carefully designed by the staff to set the stage for play, the work of the child. Within the context of natural play children at Step One are encouraged to think and problem solve about what they are doing, whether or not they verbalize their thoughts. We believe children learn best through experimenting, independent play, building, and engaging in games and art projects which they themselves find attractive and interesting. Through their play and social interactions, children learn about the world they live in, build concepts, and learn to express their feelings in appropriate ways.

Each day the children's time is divided between 1) free choice of activities, both inside and outside 2) small group activities such as stories, music, movement, drama, walks, and 3) a daily group time for music, which includes all the children in a given classroom. We feel it's beneficial for the children to have a range of social experiences during the day-play in an unstructured group, a structured group (large and small), and the opportunity to play by oneself. We maintain the same schedule each day while at the same time remaining flexible enough to meet the children's changing needs.

We plan our curriculum week by week at our classroom team meetings. The events and progress of the last week are evaluated and new projects are developed collectively. We find that planning curriculum through "themes" is useful for holidays, seasons, and special events or topics (e.g. outer space), but a curriculum developed more spontaneously, from recent events in the child's (or occasionally, the teacher's) life at home or school is apt to have as much or more personal impact and is obviously more child-centered.

We take every area of the classroom into account in our planning: puzzles, play house props, play-doh instruments, story books, science displays, art displays, manipulatives, etc. Yet we remain flexible enough to change something at the last minute if a special idea or need arises. For us, this is part of the fun of teaching, and we feel that a certain amount of spontaneity in our day creates a spark and aliveness that makes Step One special!

Sample Morning Nursery Program Schedule: