A UNIQUE CURRICULUM.
At NMCP we believe in the appropriate presentation of mathematics, language and scientific inquiry. We value the short time we have to allow our students to explore their world, so we never use flashcards or drills. Our students meet basic milestones that would prepare them for more formal learning environments such as public Kindergarten. We spend a minimum of 1/2 of our school day outside. Every week our children engage in the following activities:
What makes our school truly unique is our service learning focus. Children participate in age appropriate service projects and spend time building the background knowledge to understand its importance. Preschool aged children are natural helpers and we want to teach our children to not only notice how things could be better in the community but to take an active role in changing it.
Our students engage in Spanish language classes that include games, music, movement, literature, and more. Not only do our students acquire language but also a Global perspective.
Commitment to Play
While we offer many diverse and even a few formal experiences each week at NMCP we still believe that the highest form of learning for a preschool aged child happens during play. Half or more of each day at NMCP is spent playing with peers in our thoughtfully created learning environments. Some invitations to play you will find at New Morning include outdoor music, water and sand play areas, a huge play house, outdoor classrooms, and extensive indoor play spaces with light tables, sensory areas, building, costumes and much more. With a trained lead teacher facilitating these experiences we allow our environment to be the teacher during our child-led ‘open’ classroom and outdoor times.
At NMCP students explore natural elements and local plants and animals and then create free-form art projects based on that exploration. This class is often taught in the fresh air of our outdoor classroom space and is as much a Science class as it is an art class. Some invitation examples include creating flower embossed mudpies, batik fabric projects and directed drawings.
Each day children have an opportunity to engage in hands on math learning. Children explore shapes, make observations and are introduced to compelling math concepts through a playful and natural process.
We have made a commitment to inquiry based science education at NMCP. All year long our students sort, measure, compare and investigate. We cover a huge amount of different science concepts including studying live insects, chemistry experiments, learning about fossils and more.
We teach language throughout our entire day during music, yoga, art but especially during our daily morning message, morning journals session, and language times. Without drilling or flashcards many of our students have grown into blossoming readers. Our commitment to excellent language instruction in a playful way that makes children love to learn is something we are very proud of at NMCP. As our students progress we stretch our curriculum to meet their needs in every area but especially in language because we love literature and storytelling.
Music, songs and movement are infused throughout our day. Additionally, we offer an organized music class each week class where students move through different rhythms, a variety of instruments, songs and dances. We also invite musicians into our classes to play and share about new instruments regularly. We have lots of fun instruments available including a set of 12 djembe drums!
Each day our school shares a whole food snack provided by the parents. We re-join again for lunch to reflect on our day. Weather permitting all meals are served outdoors and children bring their own ‘trash-free’, healthy lunches.