The Child Care Center in Norwich is accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (www.naeyc.org) and follows their curriculum philosophy of "developmentally appropriate practice". Therefore the curriculum in each classroom varies year to year depending on the interest and the developmental level of the enrolled children. Teachers design curriculum units based around the interests of the children within their group and then embed within those units the basic skills that each child is developmentally ready to embrace. Activities are typically open-ended and process oriented such that children at very different developmental levels can actively participate.

These skill areas include the traditionally accepted academic skills such as pre reading and pre math skills. Examples of such activities are, the use of calendars and charts as a pattern recognition activity, books and posters as letter recognition activities and puzzles and art materials as fine motor or pre writing activities. However, curriculum for young children is much broader than just the academics as we know them. The other areas that the curriculum addresses are equally important if more subtle. These areas include independence skills, (being able to dress for outdoor play without repeated teacher redirection) attention span (being able to attend to a 20 minute circle), social skills (negotiating turntaking at the take apart table) and self confidence/self control (being able to get in line when the teacher asks even when your best friend thinks it is funny to hide instead). The Child Care Center is also a very language rich environment, providing children with a strong foundation in vocabulary, conversation skills and literacy.

Typical events that happen throughout the Center each year include; weekly "Music with Christine" during the academic year, fall pot luck gatherings in each classroom, an Art Show during the week-of-the-young-child in April and Field Day, on the last Friday before memorial day weekend.

Following is a description of each classroom and the ways in which the philosophy of the Center is implemented in each group.