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The Curriculum Components

Curriculum Overview

Creative Curriculum

Daniel Island Academy selected The Creative Curriculum®, a NAEYC-approved curriculum of excellence, to complement our school’s child-centered approach to learning. A play-based curriculum, this program utilizes classroom environment and center activities as key components in the learning process. Our curriculum includes a balanced schedule of planned activities and free choice; quiet time and physical play; individual attention and group activities. We ensure a high level of one-on-one interaction by maintaining low child-to-teacher ratios.

Conscious Discipline

Daniel Island Academy is always researching and developing better ways to make our school a positive environment for students, staff, and families. Conscious Discipline is a school wide positive behavior management tool creating an environment that is positive, nurturing, and caring. Daniel Island Academy requires classrooms to manage their environment through positive reinforcement. The school uses a consistent method across age groups. Not only does this provide consistency for children from year to year, but it creates a similar environment for staff members creating a “School Family.”

Conscious Discipline is an evidence-based, classroom management and social-emotional learning solution. It utilizes everyday events rather than an external curriculum and addresses the adult’s emotional intelligence as well as the child’s. The tools empower adults to consciously respond to daily conflict, transforming it into an opportunity to teach critical life skills to children and in turn creating an entire school culture of cooperation, constructive problem solving and academic success.

Tadpoles

From Tadpoles, teachers send a daily report for each child in their classroom. This gives parents a glimpse into their child’s day. The daily report includes daily activities, learning experiences and care events. All photos, videos and daily reports are emailed directly to parents. Parents also have access via the Tadpoles Parent app available on Apple and Android devices or online at tadpoles.com.

Learning Without Tears

HWT and Numbers and Math are award-winning Get Set for School™ Pre-K programs that use lively music and playful activities to help young children build a solid foundation for school success. The curriculum is full of developmentally appropriate activities that teach children about letters, body awareness, numbers, sequencing, and sharing in a fun, engaging, and informal manner while fostering a lifetime of joyful learning.

Letterland

Letterland is a well-established and successful system for teaching children to read and write. Letter shapes and sounds are abstract and often hard for children to learn. In Letterland, letters become friendly ‘pictogram’ characters. For example, the pictogram character for the letter a is Annie Apple. Children will learn about the characters which make up the Letterland alphabet. These characters will help the children to know and understand letter shapes and sounds.