About the Program

A child who possesses autonomy demonstrates the following characteristics:

• Self-directs
• Stays constructively busy
• Cooperates with other children and adults
• Completes tasks
• Shows confidence in own ability
• Is appropriately assertive

How we encourage autonomy:

• Children construct their own knowledge through play using learning centers, outside play, group music and story.
• We show them how to be independent through situations such as cleaning up their own plate after lunch.
• They are encouraged to use their words and develop self-help skills.
• Our teachers model the way in which the children should speak with friends and teachers.

A child who develops integrity exhibits the following characteristics:

• Cooperates with other children and adults
• Shows courtesy behaviors
• Helps establish rules of the group life
• Imposes rules on self-behavior
• Shares materials
• Displays respect for others and own possessions

How we encourage integrity:

• Model being polite.
• Encourage children to share.
• Help children understand rules and why we have them.
• Show children respect.

A child who acquires openness displays the following characteristics:

• Expresses feelings and ideas
• Engages in conversations
• Responds to open-ended questions
• Expresses empathy toward others
• Listens to others
• Tries the unfamiliar and is curious
• Gives and asks for help

How we encourage openness:

• Ask children to tell us how they feel
• Model being open with our feelings
• Encourage children to try new things
• Encourage children to interact with others, share feelings and ideas

A child who shows problem solving can do the following:

• Communicates ideas and feelings with ease
• Persists in completing tasks
• Retries a task previously unable to do
• Solves problems in a positive manner
• Is willing to try unfamiliar tasks

How we encourage problem solving:

• Showing children different ways to solve problems.
• Encourage children to not give up.
• Model how to solve a problem with a friend.

A child who possesses emerging academics will exhibit the following:

• Prereading strategies
• Prewriting skills
• Mathematical skills
  • Shape, name and color identification
  • Classifying
  • Patterning
  • Seriation
• Appropriate ways to handle a book

How we encourage emerging academics:

• Individual, small, large and group experiences
• Assessing children on a continual basis
• Indoor and outdoor learning centers
• Repetition of phonetic and phonological awareness
• Opportunities to interact with reading, math and writing boxes
• Morning meetings
• Sharing and speaking in front of others