The CEEC utilizes the Project Approach curriculum to provide an individualized educational program based on developmentally appropriate practices.

Project Approach is a method of teaching in which an in-depth study of a topic is conducted by a group of children guided by their teachers. The topic is selected and studied over a period of time and includes gaining both content knowledge as well as problem solving and thinking skills. Overall program goals include supporting children’s emerging self-concepts and assisting them in learning social, cognitive, and motor skills. Teachers expand on children’s interests and experiences, encourage them to function independently, and foster understanding and respect for the ideas and individuality of others.

Children in the program have diverse backgrounds and unique personalities, though they share a curiosity and openness to learning about the world. The curriculum focuses on the process of learning, not the outcome. Our goal is to maximize success and minimize frustration, allowing children space and time to explore, create, and learn at their own pace. In planning and implementing the daily program, activities and routines are:

• developmentally appropriate to the ages and abilities of the children,
• meaningful and challenging to children in aesthetically, cognitively, socially and physical ways, and
• inclusive of a full range of family and cultural backgrounds.