Weather Update: All campuses of NSU will be closed on Monday, January 26, 2026.
Read More
Learning Through Play: The Creative Curriculum at NSU’s CDC
Children learn through an active role in their environment; therefore, the environment plays a critical role in learning. Through The Creative Curriculum, children become independent, self-confident, inquisitive, and enthusiastic learners by actively exploring their environment. The planned activities for the children, the organization of the environment, the selection of toys and materials, planning the daily schedule and interacting with the children, are all designed to accomplish the goals and objectives of the curriculum.
Teachers respond to each child individually, to build on strengths and target skills. Because teachers have a holistic approach and focus on the ‘whole child’ to promote learning, the goals interrelate and focus on all areas of development.
- Social/Emotional Development: children’s feelings about themselves, the development of responsibility, and their ability to relate positively to others
- Physical Development: children’s gross and fine motor development
- Cognitive Development : children’s thinking skills, including the development of symbolic and problem-solving skills
- Language Development: children’s ability to communicate through words’, both spoken and written
Teaching Strategies is an authentic performance-based assessment tool. It helps classroom teachers document and evaluate children’s skills, knowledge, behaviors, and accomplishments across a wide variety of curriculum areas on multiple occasions to enhance teaching and learning and to keep track of each child’s individual achievement. Children are observed during regular classroom activities and their progress is recorded several times per year. A Developmental Checklist, a portfolio collection, and a summary report is used for assessment.
The Project Approach refers to a set of strategies that enable teachers to guide students through in-depth studies of real-world topics. Project have a complex but flexible framework within which teaching and learning are seen as interactive processes. When the Approach is actively involved in their own learning, leading them to produce high-quality work and to grow as individuals and collaborators.
