Learning That Starts With Your Child’s Curiosity
Evidence-based, child-led and planned with purpose.
Planned with purpose, responsive to children
Every classroom at First Place uses Creative Curriculum, an evidence-based curriculum built on how young children learn. Our teachers come to each day with plans, materials and clear goals for language, math, science and social skills. They also pay close attention to what captures the class, and they use those interests to bring each goal to life.
Following the children’s lead
When one of our children became fascinated with dinosaur fossils, their teacher turned the playground into a dig site, and the class spent the week digging, counting and sorting what they uncovered. That is how child-led learning works here. Teachers watch for what excites the class and build the week’s skills around it. Children practice math, language and problem solving with real enthusiasm, and they learn that their questions are worth asking.
Choices that build independence
Throughout the day, children make real choices: what to build, which story to hear, how to work out a problem with a friend. Making choices builds independence and good judgment.
A full, balanced day
Each day includes outdoor play, time in our Discovery Room, story time, music and movement, art and rest. Moving, singing, creating and listening each give children a different way to grow: strength and coordination, rhythm, self-expression and language.
Our Discovery Room
In our Discovery Room, children scale the climbing wall, weave at the weaving wall and draw with chalk spinners. They build strength, coordination and the hand control they will use for writing.
Partners in your child’s learning
Teachers follow each child’s growth with Teaching Strategies GOLD and share what they see with you:
Parent-teacher conferences four times a year
Updates and messages through ProCare, where teachers answer your questions directly
A monthly newsletter on what your child’s class is learning
Conversations at pickup whenever there is something to share
Every kind of learner
Every child comes to us with their own way of learning, and our teachers work with many different types of learners. If your child has particular needs, bring your questions to your visit and we will talk through how our classrooms support them.
Learning you can see
Children at First Place regularly share what they have learned, whether they are presenting a project to the class or performing for their families at graduation. Putting learning into their own words strengthens memory and understanding, and standing up in front of an audience prepares children to speak up in kindergarten.
