3-Year Old Curriculum Highlights

Daily Activities – To facilitate the curriculum goals listed below, daily activities are selected and may include activities such as calendar, weather, stories, songs, snack, cooking, recess, group activities, free exploration/center time, projects, social skills and growth activities/learning, communication, problem solving, skill building and enrichment.

Social/Emotional Development – Three year old children are developing their independence and it is important that their efforts are recognized. This recognition brings about trust and therefore the confidence to learn self-help skills to care for themselves. This class focuses on helping children learn those skills, cope with transition, separate from parents and caregivers, play well with others, and follow rules and routines. Children also explore one’s sense of self, family, friends, home, school, community and holidays.

The goal for your child’s social/emotional development is to achieve a sense of self, take responsibility for self and others while behaving in a pro-social way. 

Language Development – At this age children’s spoken language is becoming more complete. They are able to use words and expanded sentences to express themselves. They love to ask lots of questions and can recite simple rhymes. This class encourages the development of your child’s language skills through the use of songs, stories, circle time discussion, music, show and tell and nursery rhymes. The understanding of written language is explored by using words on name tags, classroom labels, in books, and charts or posters of poetry, nursery rhymes, and songs.

The goal for your child’s language development is to be able to listen, speak, and begin to make sense of written language. 

Physical Development – Physical development refers to both fine and gross motor abilities. Three year olds have opportunities to work on developing fine motor and gross motor abilities through such activities as drawing, coloring, playing with play-dough, using small manipulatives, buttoning, zipping, creative movement, running, hopping, jumping, balancing, riding tricycles and marching to music.

The goal for your child’s physical development is to be able to advance both fine and gross motor control of their bodies. 

Cognitive Development – Cognitive Development refers to how children think, how their minds work and how they use the information that they’ve learned. At this age their minds are full of never ending ideas and thoughts. This class helps develop children’s cognitive learning through counting, sorting, beginning number recognition, measuring, recognizing shapes, patterns, color, sensory table activities, nature table explorations, planting and recycling.

The goal for your child’s cognitive development is to learn to problem solve, think logically and to use imagination while representing and exploring abstract ideas. 

Enrichment Activities – The 3 year olds participate in music and creative movement sessions led by specialists and a variety of enrichment programs that include visits from the Nashua Public Library Story Time and Puppet Show, fuzzy/furry pet visit from Animal Adventures, a Dental Hygienist, and a musical performance group from the Nashua Senior Center. They also enjoy participating in our mini-field day and a special Holiday Concert.

Based on: The Creative Curriculum for Preschool,

Trister-Dodge, D., Colker, L. & Heroman, C., Fourth Edition