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Our Curriculum

At Discovery we believe that the children are the curriculum. We are guided by their innate drive to learn and their deep curiosity and intrinsic need to know “WHY?”

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Through authentic experiences in nature, children will explore all MSDE domains and meet High Scope Active Learning Key Developmental Indicators. 

 

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High Scope Active Learning CURRICULUM (KDI's) 

 

 

MSDE Maryland State Department of Education Domains 

 

All five domains as outlined by the Maryland Department of Education are explored daily through PLAY, an active hands-on approach.  

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• Social Foundations

• Language and Literacy

• Mathematics

• Social Studies

• Science

• Health

• Physical Education

• Fine Arts

 

High Scope Active Learning CURRICULUM (KDI's) 

Key Developmental Indicators for Preschool 

 

Approaches to Learning 

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• Making and expressing choices, plans, and decisions 

• Solving problems encountered in play 

 

Language, Literacy, & Communication 

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• Talking with others about personally meaningful experiences 

• Describing objects, events, and relations 

• Having fun with language: Listening to stories and poems, making up stories and rhymes 

• Mark making and writing in various ways: drawing, scribbling, and using letter-like forms, invented spelling, and conventional forms. 

• Dictating Stories  

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Social and Emotional Development 

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• Taking care of one's own needs. 

• Expressing feelings in words 

• Building relationships with children and adults 

• Creating and experiencing collaborative play 

• Dealing with social conflict  

 

Physical Development, Health, and Well-Being 

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• Moving in non-locomotor ways (anchored movement: bending, twisting, rocking, swinging one's arms) 

• Moving in locomotor ways (unanchored movement: running, jumping, hopping, skipping, marching, climbing) 

• Moving with objects 

• Expressing creativity in movement 

• Describing movement 

• Acting upon movement directions 

• Feeling and expressing a steady beat 

• Moving in sequences to a common beat 

 

Mathematics 

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• Comparing Attributes (longer/shorter, bigger/smaller) 

• Arranging several things one after another in a series of patterns and describing the relationships (big/bigger/biggest, red/blue/red/blue) 

• Fitting one ordered set of objects to another through trial and error (small cup and small saucer, medium cup medium saucer, big cup big saucer) 

Number 

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• Comparing the numbers of things in two sets to determine " more", "fewer," or "same number" 

• Arranging two sets of objects in one-to-one correspondence

• counting objects 

 

Space ​​

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• Filling and emptying 

• Fitting things together and taking them apart 

• Changing the shape and arrangement of objects ( wrapping, twisting, stretching, stacking, enclosing) 

• Observing people, places, and things from different spatial viewpoints 

• Experiencing and describing  positions, directions, and distances in play space, building, neighborhood

• Interpreting spatial relations in drawings, pictures, and photographs 

 

Science, Technology,​ Classification

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• Recognizing objects by sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell 

• Exploring and describing similarities, differences, and attributes of things 

• Distinguishing and describing something in several ways 

• Holding more than one attribute in mind at a time 

• Distinguishing between "some" and "all"

• Describing Characteristics something does not possess or what class it does not belong to

Time

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• Starting and stopping an action on signal 

• Experiencing and describing rates of movement 

• Experiencing and comparing time intervals 

• Anticipating, remembering, and describing sequences of events

 

Social Studies 

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• Participating in group routines 

• Being sensitive to the feelings, interests, and needs of others

• Understanding the perspectives of others

• *Community involvement 

• *Emotional awareness 

• *Self-Image 

• *Family & Culture 

 

The Arts 

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​Visual Art ​​

• Relating models, pictures, and photographs to real places and things 

• Making models out of clay, blocks, and other materials

• Drawing and painting

•  *Exploring paint textures, colors, and consistencies using the whole body and a variety of tools and methods.

• *Creating using loose parts 

•  *Creating using nature 

• Three-dimensional large-scale projects 

Dramatic Art 

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• Imitating actions and sounds ​

• pretending and role-playing 

• *Creating scripts and storylines 

• *Planning and processing 

• *Working in collaboration with others 

Music

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• Moving to music 

• Exploring and identifying sounds 

• Exploring the singing voice 

• Developing melody 

• Singing songs 

• Playing simple music instruments 

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Discovery Foundations for Whole Child Development & Education ™

 

Love - Relationship - Connection

All that we do is founded on the idea that children must feel loved and connected in order to learn.

We intentionally build strong relationships with each child and family. 

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• Seeing, hearing, and listening to children

• Authentic conversation 

• One-on-one engagement 

• Observation

• Daily contact and dialog with families 

• Family events

• Open door policy 

• Physical touch (hugs, lap reading, rough and tumble play) 

• Sharing family stories and traditions 

•  Positive interactions 

 

Trust - Understand - Accept

We trust that children are competent and capable and understand the developmental norms of childhood. We accept each child within the context of what we know of them personally, and through a developmental lens. This trust and understanding translate into children who feel securely accepted for who they are right now.

They can trust and be trusted by others, but more importantly, they can trust themselves. 

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• Encourage and accept the sharing of ideas 

• Forgive mistakes 

• Allow and encourage social and physical risks 

• Appropriate expectations 

• Positive interactions 

 

Being - Belonging - Becoming 

Children who feel loved and connected are able to establish a sense of belonging. This foundation supports the development of a positive self-image.

Once a child feels a sense of belonging they are free to learn and grow to their fullest potential. 

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• Representation through books, decor, children's artwork, family photos, materials, and traditions

• Meeting children and families where they are and accepting them for who they are

• Spaces for children to "just be"

• The allowance of mistakes 

• Inclusive and equitable culture 

• Time and space to test out ideas 

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Joy - Freedom - Expression 

Childhood should be full of joy, whimsy, and wonder. When children are free to experience their world they not only feel joy and accomplishment, they also experience a wide range of feelings. Frustration, sadness, and strife. We accept all of these feelings as appropriate and acceptable and model ways to overcome, rebound, and safely express these feelings. 

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• Modeling expressive language 

• Physical comfort and care 

• trusting children 

• Input on important decisions throughout the day

• Supportive culture 

• Non-punitive policies 

 

Discover - Experiment - Explore 

Our environment calls on children to explore it through experimentation and discovery. Open-ended materials force children to think, create, and design how they will be used. We nurture that innate sense of curiosity and make space for this natural process of learning. 

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• Non-prescribed materials

• Hands-on encounters with living things ie pets and plants 

• Natural Materials  

• Repeated experience with known materials 

• All Ideas and perspectives considered 

• Messes are OK 

• Supportive culture 

• Time, space, and permission to explore

 

Collaborate - Communicate - Co-learn 

Children learn best from peers and in play and by observing those in their immediate environment. Our culture of collaborative learning pulls on this fact. We encourage the sharing of ideas, dialog, and processes. We understand that learning is a social experience that ebbs and flows between active, busy, noisy, and slow, quiet, reflective.

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• ​​A social culture 

• Supportive adults 

• Behavior modeling 

• Understanding that learning happens in the context of active play amongst peers 

• No top-down instruction 

• Valuing the perspectives of others 

 

Observe - Question - Re-think 

As children and adults observe the world around them they begin to question and challenge their original thoughts. This process of questioning and rethinking fuels exploration and "figuring it out". If a ball rolls down a hill, but will not roll up, a child will explore that difference through play many times before they grasp the idea of incline/decline, speed, gravitational pull, force, weight, and MORE!  

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• Free of tight time constraints 

• We value observing outside of the experience as valuable 

• Children have a voice 

• No wrong answers or testing questions 

 

Create - Imagine - Innovate 

Children are encouraged to bring their ideas to life through art, construction, song, and dramatic play.

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• Materials 

• Time

• Space

• Permission  

 

Risk - Challenge- Assessment 

Children who are trusted with their own choices, accepted for who they are and encouraged to explore new ways of thinking are capable of self-assessing as they navigate the world. They will take healthy risks both physically and socially then take themselves to the brink of their capabilities in order to challenge themselves to reach the next level of understanding. 

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• An environment that knows and respects that children are capable 

• Healthy risks not hazards 

• Non-competitive culture 

• Self-initiated risk-taking 

• An engaging and challenging environment 

 

Family- Community - Culture

When we enroll a child, we enroll a family. We encourage parents to spend time in the program, read a book, share a skill, or just come and play. We know how important community is to childhood and hope to serve as a hub for family to family connections. Our children are active members in the community and thus should be represented and considered as we develop and grow our little town. We will engage the children in community-based tasks such as visiting the post office, a visit to the market, or a local farm.  

​ Family Events ​

• Daily communication 

• Parent Portal daily documentation 

• Inclusive culture 

• Kids in the community 

• local partnerships 

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