Central Children’s Academy provides a developmentally and academically appropriate program that recognizes the value of child-initiated active learning using the Better Beginnings Curriculum and the Arkansas Child Development and Early Learning Standards. The curriculum models, which use activities that build on a child’s natural curiosity and their current and emerging abilities, are recommended by the Department of Health and Human Services Division of Childcare and Early Childhood Education.
The Better Beginnings curriculum provides opportunities for exploration and variation in the following content areas:
- Approaches to learning
- Social and emotional development
- Physical development and health
- Language, literacy, and communication
- Mathematics
- Creative arts
- Science and technology
- Social studies
- Development of a positive self-image
- Positive feelings about God and others
While learning in these content areas prepares children for later education, it also promotes independence, curiosity, decision making, cooperation, persistence, creativity, and problem solving in young children.
Our curriculum is a consistent framework that provides a balanced variety of experiences and learning opportunities based on children’s interests. Children engage in individual and social play, participate in small- and large-group activities, assist with cleanup, socialize during meals, develop self-care skills, and exercise small and large muscles. Children are encouraged to explore and make individualized choices about what they will do, carry out their ideas, and reflect upon activities with adults and other children. Lesson plans are centered around children’s interests and developmental needs while allowing for adaptations and modifications to ensure success for all children. Curriculum goals and objectives are guided by teachers’ ongoing assessment of children’s progress.
