Nursery School Curriculum
The goals of the Hancock Nursery School curriculum are to help children become comfortable with their new school environment, to develop important social skills, and to ensure that the transition from home to school is a time of growth, new friends and exploration.
At HNS, we believe that play and spontaneous exploration are fundamental to learning and childhood development, especially in our younger classrooms. The NAEYC states that “through play children explore their world, find out how they get along with others, test their skills and muscles, try out new ideas, and feel confident enough to try different activities.”
We have found that everyday classroom routines and play events offer meaningful opportunities to teach young children about mathematics and science, build language skills, and foster social relationships. For example:
- Cups and containers at the water table help children learn about measuring and spatial relationships using .
- Pretend play objects such as dolls, stuffed animals and costumes give children a chance to try new behaviors and explore new social interactions.
- Open ended block play introduces children to the concepts of balance and gravity and helps build important problem-solving skills
- Story time, songs and circle time help children build language skills.
- Categorizing leaves by color and size on a fall day helps develop sorting and counting skills.
Our preschool curriculum is designed to provide a wide range of opportunities for both structured and unstructured play. Children are encouraged to explore, experiment, make choices and most of all have fun and make new friends!