At the WSU Child Development Center, we provide developmentally appropriate curriculum that supports the intellectual growth of infants to 6-year-olds. From mathematics to phonics, our educational programs cover a wide variety of subjects that teach children essential skills.
Lesson plans are created by each individual teacher so that they have creative expression and ownership in what they are teaching the children. Lesson plans and newsletters are written weekly and are sent to parents via email. The following programs are part of the CDC’s curriculum.
Infant & Toddler Math Creative Feelings Handwriting Phonics Science Reading Language Arts University Partnerships Extracurricular
Beautiful Beginnings: Infant and Toddler
Developed by two respected research consultants for Early Head Start, this extensive curriculum takes a joyful activity-based approach to enhancing the development of infants and toddlers. Professionals and parents will get more than 350 photocopiable, easy-to-use activity sheets divided into six age ranges between birth to three years that build on each child's natural strengths and interests, recognize and expand on emerging developments and encourage progress in areas of concern.
Big Math for Little Kids
Big Math for Little Kids is a comprehensive and enjoyable mathematics program that builds upon what young children already know and are capable of doing mathematically. It is based on research and field-testing in early childhood classrooms so the materials and concepts are developmentally appropriate for pre-school and kindergarten-age children. Big Math for Little Kids will prepare children for math success in the first grade and beyond. It also features step-by-step guidance for teachers.
Creative Curriculum
The Creative Curriculum® for Preschool
The Creative Curriculum for Preschool is an award-winning curriculum for preschool
success. Comprising The Foundation, five research-based volumes that provide the knowledge
base of the curriculum, and the Daily Resources, which offer step-by-step guidance
in the form of Teaching Guides and additional daily teaching tools, The Creative Curriculum
for Preschool is fully aligned with the Head Start Child Development and Early Learning
Framework and state early learning standards.
Using exploration and discovery as a way of learning, The Creative Curriculum for
Preschool enables children to develop confidence, creativity, and lifelong critical
thinking skills
The Creative Curriculum® for Infants, Toddlers, & Twos
For more than a decade, The Creative Curriculum for Infants, Toddlers, & Twos has helped teachers understand developmentally appropriate practice and how to create daily routines and meaningful experiences that respond to children’s strengths, interests and needs.
Revised into three comprehensive volumes that reflect 38 research-based objectives for development and learning, The Creative Curriculum for Infants, Toddlers, & Twos, Second Edition, Revised, retains its focus on responsive care while incorporating objectives that enable teachers to focus on what matters most for very young children. This new edition provides ideas to teachers to plan and implement every aspect of caring for and teaching children from birth to age 3.
Feelings Curriculum
A Little Spot for Feelings
This curriculum helps children not only recognize feelings in themselves but in others too! It teaches children all about different emotions and facial expressions, so they know how to name their feelings. This curriculum will inspire kids to discuss and name their multitude of feelings in a kid-friendly way.
Teach Your Dragon About Feelings
Another social / emotional curriculum used. This is a book series that follows a dragon and his best friend and they navigate many topics that are relevant in early childhood.
Handwriting Without Tears
The Handwriting Without Tears® curriculum draws from years of innovation and research to provide developmentally appropriate, multisensory tools and strategies for your classroom. The program follows research that demonstrates children learn more effectively by actively doing, with materials that address all styles of learning.
We teach effectively with joy. We have figured out easier, happier ways for children to master handwriting. Handwriting Without Tears is dedicated to developing excellent materials for children and training for teachers. As a result, millions of students have successfully used our program. The result truly is handwriting without tears!
Jolly Phonics
Jolly Phonics is a fun and child-centered approach to teaching literacy through synthetic phonics. With actions for each of the 42 letter sounds, the multi-sensory method is very motivating for children and teachers, who can see their students achieve.
Mudpies to Magnets: Science
"More than just an activity book, this title is a manual for helping young children learn science."
The experiments are grouped under these curriculum units:
- On Your Own: Science Center Activities
- Building with Science: Construction and Measurement
- Science for a Crowd: Circle Time Activities
- Paints and Prints: Scientific Art
- Wet and Messy: Science for A Special Place
- Science to Grow On: Health and Nutrition
- Learning About Nature: Outdoor Science
- Acting Out Science in a Big Way: Creativity and Movement
Each experiment includes a clear explanation of what happens, a list of words to use for language development, a list of things you will need, a description of what to do and suggestions of additional ways to extend the activity.
Reading Explorers
The Child Development Center offers a Reading Explorers program in our Pre-K room. The program offers a research-based curriculum that focuses on learning letters, their corresponding sounds and blending sounds into words through children’s stories, sensory experiences, phonological awareness activities, drawing and music. There will be homework giving out weekly to help the children become more familiar with the letters and print. This program has been at the center for several years and it has always been a huge success.
Zoo Phonics
The Zoo-phonics® Multisensory Language Arts Program is a kinesthetic, multi-model approach to learning all aspects of language arts, including vocabulary development and articulation, based on phonics and phonemic awareness.
The principle of Zoo-phonics® maximizes understanding, memory, utilization and transference to all areas of the reading, spelling and writing process in a playful and concrete manner.
University Partnerships
The Child Development Center also has strong ties to the university and partners with many of the programs on campus. As a result during the course of the school year your child will also benefit from music and instrumental lessons taught by the music department; foreign language lessons and exposure through our language department; and physical education opportunities through our Education department.
Extracurricular Activities
The CDC also provides some extracurricular activities that are at an added cost to the parents. Some of the programs that may be offered are: Footworks (dance program), Happy Feet (an indoor soccer league), Happy Hoops (an indoor basketball league), Harmonizing Vibes (Yoga program), Kids Yoga, Kid’s Dance (a dance and movement class), MyGym (a tumbling class), Monart’s Art Program (an art and writing class), Tap and Tumble (gymnastics and movement).