Curriculum Information

Mudpies & Lullabies is pleased to provide our children with the Pinnacle Early Childhood Curriculum™.

Pinnacle Curriculum is based on the works of Piaget, Gardner, and Erikson, providing hands-on, center-based activities that promote the development of emerging skills. Written by early childhood experts with years of child care experience, Pinnacle Curriculum provides a research-based educational foundation for the children in our school. Teachers are exposed to early childhood development knowledge each day through Pinnacle Curriculum. The children delight in the fun, interactive activities that are available to them - they develop a love for learning while they are growing, playing, and having fun!

Pinnacle Early Childhood Curriculum™ is designed to engage children in developmentally appropriate activities that move them toward their potential. It provides teachers with daily information that makes creating meaningful learning experiences possible, without the time consuming research that lesson planning often takes.

Infants and Toddlers -- Pinnacle Curriculum for infants and toddlers provides activities that stimulate growth and development that can be incorporated into the routines of the day. Encouraging an atmosphere of caring, love, and hugs, Pinnacle Curriculum provides teachers with fun activities to do with little ones all day - even during the "Radical Routines" of eating and changing! Infant and toddler guides follow a weekly format, allowing teachers to choose several activities per day for each child. Lesson plans are designed for personalization, making it easy to craft the curriculum to meet each child's specific needs.

Twos, Threes, and Fours -- For two-, three-, and four-year-olds, Pinnacle Curriculum follows a daily activity format that matches the ever-changing needs of each rapidly developing child! Each age group has a separate curriculum that is specific to their educational and emotional needs, interests, and activity level. Pinnacle Curriculum provides for these age groups small and large group time activities, along with center-based activities for as many centers as a classroom can hold. The activities in Pinnacle Curriculum meet learning objectives that will help each child move towards their potential as they explore and experiment with materials and activities in the classroom.

School Age -- Pinnacle Curriculum for school-age children takes into consideration the special needs of this special group. Whether they want to work on a creative art project, do homework, or just relax in the "Chill Zone," Pinnacle Curriculum assists the school-age teacher in creating a fun environment where after-schoolers want to be! Pinnacle Curriculum provides opportunities for students to interact with each other as they participate in activities that challenge their creativity in a social/recreational outlet for that after-school energy!

Additionally, our preschool and pre-kinder classes utilize the Frog Street Press Sing and Read Series. The learning strategies presented in Frog Street Press materials are based on documented research of early literacy. Children begin to recognize letters, manipulate combinations of letters, and segment sounds with letters to spell words. As early literacy emerges the importance and effectiveness of phonics instruction, developing language abilities, and independent writing has proven itself year after year.

Small group instruction is more effective because children benefit from listening to classmates and receiving feedback from the teacher. Along with phonics instruction, young children should be solidifying their knowledge of the alphabet, engaging in phonemic awareness activities, and listening to stories read aloud to them. They also should be reading texts (both out loud and silently). Letter formation, writing words, messages and stories provide children with ample opportunities to practice the relationships they are learning.

Fluency develops over time and with substantial practice. Easy to sing melodies, repetitive text and supporting illustrations promote word recognition and comprehension for a variety of ability levels. Students become more fluent readers with modeling as part of their learning process. Big books reinforce book handling skills, introduce new vocabulary, and promote “book talk” between teacher and students. Children learn new concepts as teachers track letters, words and other features of print. Text comprehension skills are also enriched and memory skills strengthened as children sing and recall story information through song, rhythm and rhyme.

Vocabulary plays a vital role in early literacy with most children learning the meanings of most words indirectly, through everyday experiences with oral and written language. The more oral language experiences children have, the more word meanings they learn. Conversations about books help children learn new concepts assisting them in relating prior knowledge and experiences. Using their experiences and knowledge of the world, children gain practice and confidence when engaging in guided reading, shared reading and literacy centers. Through these processes, successful students build a strong foundation in language and literacy which produces readers and writers.