Program Introduction

This Curriculum Guide is based on a ten year accumulation of lesson plans and activities at Circle Preschool. During the three years of our grant for handicapped children, we compiled the skills checklist to aid in planning for, and monitoring process of, the children with special needs in the regular classroom. The Assessment List is designed to answer the following questions: What skills does the child have? What skills can be expected to emerge next? The Curriculum Guide is designed to provide the kinds of activities within the classroom which will support and reinforce existing skills and foster the development of emerging skills.

The Curriculum Guide describes preschool activities in developmental terms and without segregating children by age or ability; it allows children to participate in whatever way they can and be successful. Circle is committed to an integrated education—in age, economic background, and ability. Our model is based on three premises:

1. Development occurs in essentially the same sequence, though at different rates, in all children, and often at different rates for different skills in the same child.

2. Children will be able to learn from each other, and the opportunities for learning expand with the heterogeneity of the group.