PINNACLE CURRICULUM

Early childhood education courses provide children with a wealth of knowledge to help them excel in school. Pinnacle® is a research-based early childhood curriculum, designed with both teachers and students in mind. Based on the works of Piaget, Gardner, and Erikson, Pinnacle® provides early childhood educators with lessons that engage children in developmentally appropriate activities. Pinnacle® is published in an easy-to-use, reusable format that includes lesson plan guides, activity enrichments, and long-range goals linked to key standards.

This “play to learn” style early childhood curriculum instills a deep love for learning through active and engaging lesson plans. Each child learns differently and the Pinnacle curriculum offers adaptability with lesson plans that are designed for personalization. Rather than purchasing a pricey child care center curriculum every year, Pinnacle® curriculum is reusable and recyclable. The curriculum is not date or time sensitive, meaning that you can use the curriculum year after year. This early childhood education curriculum allows you to spend less time wondering how to make a lesson plan and more time in playful discovery with your children.

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LEARNING EXPERIENCES: "Investigations"

The teachers and students at KOCO investigate topics  of interest throughout the school year. In lieu of a traditional lesson plan, each class decides what they already Know about a particular topic, discuss what they Want to know about the topic, and then they devise learning experiences to help them Learn (K-W-L model). Topics for early childhood investigations are ideally quite simple; recent investigations topics have included Hands, Apples, Balls, and Shoes.  

Ideas generated by each "investigation" are webbed collaboratively; the web becomes a "living document", to be added to, changed, and otherwise revised as the investigation progresses. Students control the depth and length of each investigation (topics of great interest may generate investigations of a month or more!).

Visit Eastern Connecticut State University's Center for Early Childhood Education to learn more about Investigations-style learning experiences.