Child Development Programs

The children in the young three-year-old program are developing language skills at a fast pace, so emphasis is placed on conversation, sentence formation, and memory skills.  As their social skills advance, children practice using language to solve problems, build friendships and express themselves.  

 The teachers use their education, experience, formal and informal assessments of each child's abilities and interests to design an emerging curriculum.  These planned activities engage learning and offer many varied opportunities for children to learn in groups and individually at their own pace.

The California Department of Education (CDE), Early Education and Support Division (EESD), has established the Desired Results System to improve program quality in early care and education programs across the state and align curriculum with Common Core. The Desired Results System consists of 6 Desired Results, program standards and assessment tools. The assessment tools consist of a developmental profile (DRDP) to measure children’s progress towards the Desired Results, an environment rating scale (ECERS) to assess the learning environment, and a family survey to assess family’s progress towards the Desired Results for Families. The CDE published and requires programs to base curriculum upon the CA Preschool Learning Foundations and CA Preschool Curriculum Framework to assure program quality. All state preschools use the Desired Results System.

National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) is the nation’s leading organization of early childhood professionals. Carmel Child Development Center went through an extensive Self-Study process, measuring the program and its services against the 10 NAEYC Early Childhood Program Standards and more than 400 related Accreditation Criteria.  The current accreditation marks the fifth consecutive achievement of NAEYC accreditation for Carmel Child Development Center.  This term they achieved an average score for the ten standards of 99%.  These marks place the Carmel Child Development Center among the top in the nation.

The Teaching Pyramid approach provides a systematic framework that promotes social and emotional development, provides support for children's appropriate behavior, prevents challenging behavior, and addresses problematic behavior. The WestEd Center for Child and Family Studies offers comprehensive professional development packages for infant/toddler, preschool, and early elementary educators. WestEd’s Teaching Pyramid is based on evidence-based practice originally developed by the Center on the Social Emotional Foundations in Early Learning (CSEFEL), authorized by California Department of Education (CDE), and aligned with California's Early Learning and Development System.

Tools of the Mind curriculum focuses on the development of Self-Regulation skills in preschool age students.  It teaches proactive, positive classroom management techniques, mathematics and science activities, literacy development, and developing and sustaining mature make believe play for preschool aged students.

Reggio Emilia philosophy as a professional learning community supports one another as we examine and reflect on the reciprocity between theory and daily practice in the classroom. We incorporate last year’s staff development focus into daily practice. Our teaching is intentional and based in documentation. The philosophy is rooted in the pedagogy of listening, the umbrella under which we teach respect and recognition of children’s competence. We understand that children learn from their interactions with adults, peers, and materials, thus they have the right to access opportunities to do so. We value meaningful conversations which promote critical thinking skills; open-ended questions; “wonder out loud”.