Early Childhood

Young children think, communicate, and construct meaning in many languages including drawing, painting, sound, construction, movement, dramatic play, storytelling, and conversation. The Atelier is central to our early childhood program, offering sustained encounters with materials and processes. Children develop fluency with materials as languages for exploring, representing, communicating, and revising their ideas.

Children are valued participants whose ideas, perspectives, and identities matter. Teachers listen closely to children's words, gestures, play, and representations and create opportunities for children to contribute ideas and decisions. Through dialogue and collaboration, children learn to listen to others, encounter a variety of perspectives, negotiate differences, and develop a sense of agency and belonging.

Children's questions, observations, and theories provide rich possibilities for curriculum. Through project work, children investigate meaningful ideas over time. They observe closely, ask questions, experiment, represent theories, solve problems, and revisit their thinking. Teachers extend investigations through intentional questions, materials, experiences, and provocations that invite deeper inquiry.

Teachers document children's words, actions, questions, and artifacts to make learning and thinking visible. Documentation supports assessment, reflection, and curriculum planning; allows children to revisit and develop their ideas; and gives families insight into learning processes. Documentation helps teachers determine what children are thinking and where learning might go next.

Early childhood environments are intentionally designed to invite curiosity, independence, collaboration, play, and sustained investigation. Accessible materials encourage children to make choices and pursue ideas, while indoor and outdoor spaces support both individual and collaborative work. Classrooms and the atelier evolve in response to children's interests, relationships, developmental needs, and ongoing investigations.