Our Center uses the Creative Curriculum. Teachers utilize their flexible Units of Study for lesson planning. Teachers are able to modify studies based on children’s interest and goals. Creative Curriculum is a researched based curriculum, providing comprehensive lessons addressing all areas of development. For more information on the Creative Curriculum please click here.
Teaching Strategies Gold, a companion assessment tool, allows teachers to add ongoing observations of children. Teachers use observations and documentation to create goals and tailor lesson plans.
Our three and four-year-olds take field trips twice a month, and our two-year-olds go once a month. Our children travel on our school bus to a variety of places including museums, libraries, water parks, local farms, and the zoo. These field trips allow our children to interact closely with our community and to connect their classroom learning with real-life experiences.
Children with developmental speech delays are able to work with speech and language professionals in our comfortable and familiar setting. Our teachers work closely with these speech therapists to ensure that our curriculum and learning environments are customized to best serve each child’s individual speech development. Devotion for Children is generously funding our 2024-2025 Speech and Language Services.
Falls Church-McLean Children’s Center is proud to be the first preschool in the nation to participate in “Forest Days” in collaboration with the Association of Nature-Based Education https://anbe.org/ (Formerly Eastern Region Association of Forest and Nature Schools). This partnership began in the fall of 2022. The outdoor curriculum experience takes place in the park behind the school. It enables students’ active physical, social, emotional, and academic skill development as well as environmental literacy, stewardship, and play-based connections with nature in every season. The Center is committed to engaging students in environmental and sustainability education and has received significant community support for this innovative program.
During the 2023-2024 school year, we began a collaboration with George Mason University on a research study to enhance our preschool mathematics program. We are the first preschool to participate in “Mathematizing the World” to engage early childhood educators, students, and families in mathematics activities that align with our Creative Curriculum.
During class meeting times, teachers use photos and/or objects to promote the children’s observation and questioning skills through prompts that help children begin to make connections to mathematics. Using the photos and/or objects, teachers ask “What do you notice?” and “What do you wonder?” and eventually begin to make connections to questions that use mathematics such as “How many …?” or “How long…?” How do these things compare?’ Students’ thoughts are displayed outside the classroom and shared with families for further discussion.
Children who arrive early are offered breakfast; a mid-morning and afternoon snack are also provided.
