Our Curriculum

At Mimi’s Manor Preschool, our play-based, thematic curriculum balances child-led exploration with intentional teaching to support the whole child. Through hands-on experiences, meaningful relationships, and thoughtfully designed environments, children build social-emotional, cognitive, linguistic, and physical skills while developing curiosity, confidence, and independence. Our approach incorporates Responsive Classroom, Heggerty Phonemic Awareness Curriculum, and Universal Design principles to ensure that every child has multiple ways to participate, communicate, and demonstrate their learning.

  • Mimi’s Manor Preschool believes social-emotional development should be at the heart of every classroom community. Our morning meeting, modeled after Responsive Classroom, provides a consistent and welcoming start to the day while fostering a strong sense of belonging and community.

    Throughout the day, read aloud, puppets, songs, and classroom conversations provide opportunities for children to explore emotions, friendship, kindness, empathy, and problem-solving.

    Through play and daily interactions, children develop the skills they need to form positive relationships and navigate social situations. Teachers guide children as they practice turn-taking, sharing materials, negotiating rules, expressing their ideas, and resolving conflicts. Rather than simply managing behavior, teachers help children recognize and communicate their emotions, consider the perspectives of others, and develop self-regulation and problem-solving skills. As children gain experience with these skills, they become increasingly confident and independent in managing relationships and navigating challenges.

  • At Mimi’s Manor Preschool, curriculum supports cognitive development by providing children with opportunities to think critically, make connections, explore ideas, and solve problems. Intentional centers, read aloud, music, art, conversations, and play provide meaningful experiences that strengthen early literacy, mathematics, language, memory, attention, reasoning, and problem-solving skills.

    Our early literacy instruction incorporates Heggerty Phonemic Awareness Curriculum, along with songs, poems, and nursery rhymes that strengthen children’s awareness of sounds and spoken language. Throughout the day, children also engage with foundational concepts such as counting, sorting, shape recognition, uppercase and lowercase letters, name writing, and vocabulary development.

    Teachers intentionally introduce and reinforce concepts while encouraging children to explain their thinking, make predictions, ask questions, and consider alternative approaches. By connecting new learning to children’s interests and experiences, teachers support the development of foundational academic skills while also cultivating curiosity, confidence, and a willingness to engage in increasingly complex thinking.

  • Mimi’s Manor Preschool provides daily opportunities for children to develop their fine and gross motor skills through active play and purposeful experiences. Our playground, gym, and classroom environments provide opportunities for children to strengthen coordination, balance, body awareness, and physical confidence.

    Gross motor development occurs through activities such as climbing, balancing, running, and other forms of active play. Fine motor development is supported through building, sensory exploration, art, puzzles, playdough, and manipulatives. Children also practice self-help skills, such as opening lunch containers and zipping their jackets, that strengthen coordination and promote increasing independence in caring for themselves, their materials, and their environment.

    Through these everyday experiences, children develop the physical skills and confidence they need to participate fully in classroom activities and approach new challenges with increasing independence.