planting the roots of education
OUR CURRICULUM
When building this center, we wanted to create an environment fostering love, respect, and growth. Our children at Nature's Way of Learning will learn and grow both emotionally and developmentally, in an organic manner. We offer gentle encouragement to try new activities, as well as to expand their minds through hands-on educational activities and free play. Students learn best when they can be creative and when they have choices. We offer structured schedules in our Waddler-Pre-K classrooms. Schedules and structure allow children to know what comes next, which can help with anxiety and to keep everyone safe at school.​
Our infants and waddlers implement a sensory-rich curriculum, focusing on the unique individual milestones of each child in those busy first two years.​
Our toddlers and preschoolers implement an immersion curriculum, focusing on fine motor skills, language development, and social/emotional skills, all through hands-on activities and cooperative play.​
Our prekindergartners use Learning Without Tears Pre-K, which is the curriculum “brand” the Merrimack Public School uses for Kindergarten. This allows us to effectively prepare our Pre-K students for their next step - Kindergarten!
ART EXPLORATION
We promote process-over-product art, to encourage child-led exploration, through a variety of materials. Our children engage in a variety of art activities multiple times a week.
COLORS & SHAPES
Colors and shapes foster verbal communication skills, as well as classifying and sorting skills. Colors and shapes are something that we implement in all classrooms in a variety of ways which are age-appropriate for each classroom.
HANDWRITING AND LETTERS
In our younger classrooms we introduce letters during circle time, and encourage them to manipulate playdough to form letters. In our older classrooms, children will learn how to hold writing utensils and begin letter formation.
MATH
Numbers and math are introduced in a variety of ways. While in the infant classroom we may count while stacking blocks. In our older classrooms we can count on our fingers, and use our circle-time calendar to help us recognize numbers and patterns
SENSORY
Sensory exploration is all around us. From the way an object feels to the way food tastes. Sensory is a big part of our day from digging in the sand and making a castle, to making cinnamon scented playdough.
DRAMATIC PLAY & SOCIAL STUDIES
Dramatic play allows children to be introduced to different family dynamics and build upon their social skills. We are able to learn about ourselves and families, and introduce different cultures and foods while building important social skills.
CAUSE & EFFECT AND SCIENCE
Students learn cause & effect without even knowing it! From building a tower that falls down when it gets too big, to what happens when we place warm water outside in the cold air. We use cause an effect for cooking, science, and math throughout the day.
LOOSE PARTS
Loose parts centers encourage children's creativity to use the items at their disposal to create something new. We incorporate a variety of items such as paper towel tubes, nuts and bolts, plastic bottles, rocks, sticks, pinecones, and leaves!
FINE MOTOR SKILLS
Fine motor skills work the little muscles throughout our bodies, but mostly our hands. We start these skills as infants while learning to pick up items using the pincher grasp, to fine-tuning those skills in Pre-K in the beginning stages of writing.
GROSS MOTOR SKILLS
Gross motor skills are the movements made with large muscles. From learning how to sit up as an infant, to learning how to run, jump and climb as they grow, we will keep those muscles moving with our 2 large playgrounds!
SELF-HELP SKILLS
Self-help skills are important for overall development. These skills are something that we strongly believe in. These skills are seen in different ways, from self-feeding, to advocating for ourselves, to learning how to use the bathroom.
BLOCKS & CARS
This area allows children to test cause and effect, as well as showcase their creativity by building tracks with many different materials such as wooden blocks, Legos, tape, and PVC pipes.
Through the use of our well-rounded curriculum, we teach love, respect, and caring for each other and our world. Children here form a relationship with their teachers built upon trust. They also learn what it takes to build friendships with their peers, by sharing, taking turns, and expressing their emotions in a healthy, productive manner. Children are individuals, with unique personalities, and we truly encourage them to showcase those personalities and their skills, and feel at home!
GETTING OUTSIDE
At Nature's Way of Learning, we enjoy spending as much time as weather allows outside. Our children get to enjoy all of the wonderful weather that New Hampshire has to offer. We are able to implement our curriculum inside or outside, promoting our nature-based ideology. We have a playground for Infants through Waddlers, and another playground for Toddlers through School Age. Both playgrounds offer a large running space, climbers, swings, tunnels, sand toys, and building materials such as logs, large blocks, and tires, to encourage our children to get creative! We have a paved area for push-cars and bikes; a large sand area for digging and exploring; and a grassy area to lay in and find shapes in the clouds. During the summer months we do many waterplay activities, including sprinklers and kiddie pools.