Our Curriculum

St John’s CCDC’s curriculum is based on the Reggio Emilia approach. This curriculum, developed by Loris Malaguzzi after World War II in Italy, recognizes children’s inherent curiosity and desire to discover.

The Reggio Emilia approach is an innovative and progressive curriculum. It is also referred to as an emergent curriculum

What is an Emergent Curriculum?

An emergent curriculum is that one that builds upon the interests of children. Topics for study are captured from the talk of children, through community or family events, as well as the known interests of the children (such as dinosaurs, puddles, etc.)

Team planning is an essential component of the emergent curriculum. Lead teachers and co-teachers at St. John’s work together to formulate the possible directions of a project, the materials needed, and possible parent and/or community support and involvement. The Reggio Emilia approach is based upon the following set of principles:

1. Children must have some control over the direction of their learning,
2. Children must be able to learn through sensorial experiences: touching, moving, listening, seeing, and hearing,
3. Children have a relationship with other children and with material items in the world that they must be allowed to explore, and
4. Children must have endless ways and opportunities to express themselves.

Through this curriculum, St. John’s CCDC will provide a wide variety of learning experiences for children which will enrich their social, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, and physical development in a warm Christian atmosphere. Our programs focus on developing the “whole child”. Each child is unique and our programs are designed to meet the varied interests and developmental needs.

“Learning and teaching should not stand on opposite banks and just watch the river flow by; instead, they should embark together on a journey down the water.”

Loris Malaguzzi

Classroom centers are arranged with guidelines of the Developmentally Appropriate Practices (DAP) to provide children with an excellent means to create, explore, discover and learn about the world around them in their own special way. Our curriculum includes, but is not limited to:

• Christian values (chapel, Bible stories and prayers)
• Science
• Creative art
• Physical play
• Individualized learning
• Letter recognition and reading skills
• Language skills
• Dramatic play
• Math skills
• Free choice activites
• Spanish
• American Sign Language (ASL)