Our creative, child-centered curriculum and involvement with the local public schools and local community resources ensures that our graduates are well-prepared for kindergarten.
The Community School seeks to provide an affordable, high-quality program for children of varying social and economic backgrounds. Our child-centered, developmental approach includes attention to a child’s social, emotional, and physical growth.
Our highly experienced and caring teachers strive to help children develop confidence, independence, a sense of responsibility, and problem-solving skills. Within the daily routine, children learn clear and consistent limits, logical consequences, and sensitivity toward and awareness of others.
The Community School’s curriculum is based on the Creative Curriculum developmental approach to early childhood education. The school seeks to help children achieve social competence by using teaching methods matched to the way children learn. We create a supportive classroom community that helps children understand diversity, and develop trust, self-confidence, empathy, autonomy, and self-esteem.
We devote a large part of each school day to play — through play, children learn how to plan, create, solve problems, negotiate, make connections, and develop language, cognitive, social, and motor skills.
Each classroom uses a thematic approach to introduce the core components of the Guidelines for the Preschool Learning Experiences developed by the Massachusetts Board of Education and based on the standards for pre-kindergarten in the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks. Core components include English language arts, mathematics, science and technology, history and social studies, health education, and the arts.
Community School teachers know that each child will progress through a predictable series of milestones at his or her own pace, so we develop individualized expectations for each child. Using their knowledge of child development, the staff has designed a curriculum using a balance of “child initiated and teacher selected activities” and a variety of learning experiences that encourage each child to work to his or her ability level. Parents are our partners in this process.