Curriculum

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and the Rhode Island Early Learning and Development Standards RIELDS provide the framework for our curriculum. The guidance provided by both of these organizations is grounded in solid child development theory and research.

Our program curriculum is developmentally appropriate which simply means that we teach in ways that match the manner in which children develop best – through hands-on play. Our curriculum fosters readiness skills in an environment that is multisensory and multi-disciplinary and respects the individual differences of each child’s developmental level, learning style, and interests.

We offer a program that allows children to have a routine as well as encounter new horizons. At BECC, children try new ideas and materials, imagine, socialize, express themselves, create, discover, sing, dance, help and listen – all important foundations of a lifelong future of learning.

Through thoughtful planning, teachers are committed to addressing through play the goals and objectives in the following nine domains of child development:

  • Cognitive development
  • Social and emotional development
  • Language development and communication
  • Literacy
  • Mathematics
  • Science
  • Social Studies
  • Creative Arts
  • Physical Health and Development

The curriculum at BECC consists of five areas:

  1. What children learn (content)
  2. How children learn (process)
  3. The teacher’s role and teaching strategies (interactions)
  4. The learning environment and materials (context)
  5. The role of families (family engagement)

Another important piece that goes hand in hand with the curriculum is our system of Authentic Assessment. This is an ongoing, strategic, and purposeful process of objectively observing, recording and otherwise documenting the work children do. Information gathered is used as a basis for a variety of educational decisions that affect individual children as well as to evaluate the effectiveness of the classroom experience.

Teachers at BECC are continually gathering information about children in a variety of ways such as: informal observations, anecdotal notes, collection of work samples, photographs, developmental checklists, and family interviews. This system is aligned with the RIELDS and is linked closely with BECC’s program curriculum goals and objectives. Through assessment, the teachers obtain useful information about children’s knowledge, skills, and progress over time. We offer two regularly scheduled conference opportunities with families. The first one is a phone conference in January and the second is a portfolio conference in May. Of course, additional meeting times may be scheduled throughout the year at the request of a parent or teacher.

BECC is licensed by the RI Department of Human Services.