Educational Philosophy
The aim of Merricat’s Castle School is to help all our children develop their optimum unique self; to gain awareness of, confidence in, and respect for that self; to learn and to enjoy the constant expansion of that self through constructive use of their capacities and through loving relationships with others. We understand that young children have a lot to learn. They have to learn facts and they have to learn skills in every sphere of operation. They have to learn how to be, how to be with others, and how to learn. Our classes, classrooms, and curriculum are designed to facilitate that learning.
The Merricat’s curriculum is based on a blend of educational philosophies, knowledge about child development, and the experience and sensibilities of our incredible staff and parents. Utilizing developmental, experiential, play-based, and individualized approaches, our three classes are filled with adventure, discovery, tenderness, and joy. Through carefully constructed goals, purposeful planning, and ongoing evaluation, Merricat’s designs its curriculum to promote optimal social, emotional, physical, cognitive, and academic growth. While playing and learning, our children are encouraged to respect one another and to develop their innate ability to be kind and inclusive community members. At Merricat’s, each child’s unique contribution is treasured and adds to the richness of the whole community.
Although each classroom is special in its own way, they are all united by the central Merricat’s philosophy: to provide the safe, warm, age-appropriate, nurturing and stimulating environment necessary for educational and emotional success. At Merricat’s we have developed a small, fun world of wonder, joy, and experimentation, expressly designed to offer children the particular opportunities needed to make the most of themselves and to enjoy doing it. Our children grow in a setting where the process of learning is an adventure in acquiring social, intellectual, emotional, creative and physical skills. They learn to be at home with themselves, with us, with their families, and their world.
Merricat’s Curriculum
In all our classes, there are daily activities that anchor the schedule, including group meeting time, classroom work and play, snacks, music, movement exercises, yoga, outdoor play, and story time. Within this daily structure, children are encouraged to make their own choices with a purposeful balance of teacher-directed and child-initiated activities.
It is the teachers’ responsibility to nurture each child’s development and ensure that the classroom curriculum meets every child’s needs. With individualized planning and adaptations, the curriculum is altered to propel children who are ready for additional challenges in a particular area and offer specialized support to children who will benefit from more assistance.
Reading and Mathematics
The pre-reading and pre-math programs provide an informal but thorough foundation for the skills necessary for reading and more formal mathematics. After all, children start learning math long before they learn to juggle numbers. Experience with counting through play allows children to develop a feel for mathematical concepts and operations. While building with blocks allows children to feel mastery and control, as well as understanding area, volume, balance, shapes, perspective, design, principles of energy, and spatial concepts. Likewise, listening to stories being read, learning to name and recognize the letters of the alphabet, and spelling the letters in their names give children the foundation for future reading success. Merricat’s ensures that all children are able to work at their developmental level and move ahead from wherever they began the school year.
Science
The spirit of science is inquiry, and children are by nature filled with that spirit. We provide children with materials that will direct their play so that they can discover answers themselves. children are given the opportunity to see how things work and why. They are encouraged to look, to put their observations together in a useful order, to draw conclusions from them, and to be articulate about the process and the conclusions. Many activities at Merricat’s serve as science experiments as well as fulfilling other functions. Cooking and block-building are clear examples of this, as are water-play and taking care of plants and pets.
Arts, Crafts, and Music
Arts, craft, and music involve the entire sensorimotor system as well as cognitive and emotional faculties. Children's early works of art and music represent exploration and are a visible affirmation of their sense of self. Everything a child produces is a huge success. Children are literally expressing themselves. Children certainly don't have to be taught how to make noise and move around, but our objective is to help our children learn to control these expressions of their vital energy to transform them into sounds, movements, and art that have beauty and meaning.
Social Studies
Social studies are present in all areas of the curriculum at Merricat’s. The overarching themes listed above cover a range of issues from the community and the world to social roles and life cycles. Trips are most useful in this area and great adventures can be found in small explorations. A trip to the park to collect fall leaves for a collage can involve children in the study of the cycles of the seasons and the importance of the environment. We live in a city that offers unlimited opportunities for social studies, so we take full advantage.
Play
An area of each classroom is set up to provide children with a personal world that they create. Children can be whoever or whatever they want providing them with a stage for all the world to be. When children play make believe they are learning from the inside out. At Merricat’s, we know that children have a great deal of energy which requires expression for their physical development. Our job is to provide the equipment, games, and understanding to allow children the most effective use of their energy consistent with personal safety.
Age-Specific Curriculum
Our youngest children focus on the process of separation, while our oldest students prepare for a successful and easy transition to kindergarten and beyond. For all age groups, social studies themes serve as background for a rich, experiential curriculum that links group discussions, stories, science, art activities, music, imaginative play, and more.
Although the curriculum is flexible and always adapting, these summaries give examples of what children in each classroom might expect.
In our Sunshine Room (2-3 year olds)
The overarching theme has been school, with more specific thematic units such as:
Saying goodbye to family and hello to the Sunshine Room
The Merricat’s building, people, schedule, and materials
Seasons, weather, and what we wear to school
Transportation and how we get to school
In our Friends Room (3-4 year olds)
The overarching theme has been All About Me, with more specific thematic units such as:
How are we alike and how are we different?
Our favorite things
What do we look like?
Our five senses
What are our strengths?
How to be a kind friend
Who is in our family?
Where do we live?
Our community and our neighborhood
In our Rainbow Room (4-5-year-olds), as the children prepare to move out into a wider world…
The overarching theme has been the study of New York City, with more specific thematic units such as:
The map of the five boroughs
NYC neighborhoods
Food in our city
Farmer’s Markets
NYC landmarks
Art and artists in NYC
The thematic units are used to expose children to new language, concepts, and classroom experiences. School readiness skills such as reading and mathematics are incorporated in and fostered by all curricular areas.
At Merricat’s, our preschoolers learn to meet challenges, develop strong flexibility, resiliency, and independence skills while joyfully growing in all areas of development. When they leave Merricat’s, they are fully prepared to embark on the wondrous education journeys that lie ahead.