The Early Childhood Education Center (ECEC) offers 5 developmental programs, based on the assumption that children learn through self-initiated and self-regulated activities. Teachers encourage children to make choices, to act on those choices, and to reflect on consequences of their activities.

Young infant program (3 to 12 months): Modeled after collaborative research and guidelines developed by the California Department of Education and the WestEd educational laboratory, the young infant program was designed to be an extension of the family unit. The program facilitates infants' natural intellectual development.

Infant program (11 months and walking to 24 months): The infant program provides individual attention to help infants feel secure as they make the transition from home to the center. The daily schedule is designed to meet infants' physical and psychological needs (e.g., morning and afternoon naps, activities, snacks, lunch, and regular diaper changes). During learning and play periods, teachers encourage children to move freely among indoor and outdoor activities such as:

• Finger painting
• Gluing different materials with emphasis on color, shape, and texture
• Singing and dramatic play
• Reading and creating stories with flannel boards
• Puppet play to encourage verbal expression
• Playing with puzzles, blocks, and sensory materials such as, sand, water, bubbles, and play dough
• Outdoor playground activities

Toddler program (2 to 3 years): This program is designed to increase toddlers' autonomy, self-motivation, and self-selection of activities and allows children to work together in small groups. Toddlers choose from activities designed to stimulate small muscle coordination and development of cognitive processes such as language acquisition, reading, writing, and math skills. Daily activities include:

• Indoor and outdoor work tables containing teacher-prepared activities such as puzzles, play dough, cutting and gluing tasks, drawing and collage materials, and scientific experiments
• A creative play area with clothes and materials that allow children to create different real-world settings
• A block-building area with animals and vehicles
• A reading corner for individual children or small adult-led groups

Preschool program (3 to 5 years): This program facilitates many areas of growth in young children and includes the following types of activities:

• Writing and computer projects which promote development of literacy skills, fine motor control, hand-eye coordination, and visual discrimination
• Listening tasks designed to enhance verbal expression, listening, comprehension, and auditory discrimination
• Sensory experiences which allow children to experiment with a range of materials such as clay, sand, flour, mud, salt, water, and other media for artistic expression
• Cognitive and experimental activities that illustrate concepts of cause and effect relationships, sequence, size, position, color, shape, time, quantity, and comparison

Kindergarten program (5 to 6 years): Our kindergarten curriculum follows guidelines established by the California Department of Education. Kindergartners work individually and in small groups to develop their reading, writing, math, and science skills, in addition to engaging in creative activities and applied cognitive tasks. Formal instruction takes place from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. daily.

For more information about developmental programs, call the ECEC administrative office, (858) 552-2500, 7:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. weekdays.