November 4, 2025 -

Curriculum Overview

For information and to arrange a tour, please contact ECC Director Debbie Ungar at 301-251-0455 or email .

Social and Emotional Development:

Children will develop self-confidence, independence and kindness as our nurturing educators support them in practicing sharing and taking turns, being responsible for their belongings, and taking care of their classroom community.
Our teachers will emphasize the importance of teamwork, problem-solving together, helping one another, and showing compassion, concern and respect for others
Children are encouraged to use good manners and are reminded to make good choices and “think for yourself.”
As part of our multicultural ECC family, children will learn to be part of, accepting of and respectful of a diverse group of people representing different cultures, religions and languages from around the world.
Children will be encouraged to practice the universal values of: kindness, fairness, honesty, respect, courtesy, willingness to work hard, trustworthiness, personal responsibility.

Listening and Speaking

Children will comprehend oral directions and explanations.
Children will be able to hear and discriminate the various sounds of language to develop auditory discrimination and phonemic awareness; rhyming and alliteration.
Children will be able to ask questions for a variety of purposes and answer questions of peers and adults.
Children will acquire and use increasingly rich vocabulary and language for a variety of purposes.
Children will participate in conversations.

Pre-Reading, Pre-Writing and Book Awareness

Children will engage in letter recognition and phonemic awareness.
Children will work on sound-symbol relationships – associating sounds with letters.
Children will engage in multi-sensory lessons to practice consistent and efficient capital and lowercase letter formation.
Children will demonstrate understanding of use of books.
Children will see the relationship between the spoken and written word.

Number Concepts, Patterns and Attributes, Geometry and Spatial Relations: Children will initiate and demonstrate an understanding of numbers and quantities, the ability to recognize and expand upon patterns, classification of objects by different attributes such as shape and size, and understand relationships between objects including position, direction, and order.
Measurement: Children will use a variety of nonstandard and standard tools to measure and will learn to use appropriate math vocabulary as they describe size, length, weight, and volume.
Data Analysis: Children will collect data in order to organize, represent, interpret, and analyze the information.

Scientific vocabulary words: Teachers will introduce the terminology: hypothesize, predict, compare, observe.
Predictions and Observations: Teachers will ask questions to elicit predictions and will help children describe what they observe.
Sensory Exploration: Children will begin to develop an understanding of the five senses.
Physical, Life and Earth Sciences: Children will begin to develop an understanding of physical properties such as weight, shape, size, color and temperature.
Living Things: Children will learn about living things (plants and animals) and what they need to survive. Children will appreciate the wonders of the natural environment and how we can take care of the Earth.

Children will be exposed to people of different cultures and their traditions through pictures, stories assemblies and models from real life, in order to show them a diverse social structure that will lead to respecting and celebrating differences and an anti-bias attitude.
Children will be exposed to different places through field trips, research, map and globe analysis and informational text to have a greater understanding of the world.
Children will be exposed to different community members and their occupations through school visits, assemblies, field trips, research, stories, and informational text to understand the contributions various members of society make to help one another.

Your child will be part of our Tikvat Israel ECC community where they will be enriched by Jewish traditions, learn about Jewish holidays through engaging stories, activities and songs, and be exposed to Hebrew vocabulary and brachot (blessings).
Children will participate in a weekly Kabbalat Shabbat (welcoming Shabbat) celebration including joyful songs and blessings over the candles, juice and challah.
Through our ECC Jewish Values Curriculum, our ECC community will focus on a monthly kavanah (intention). Our Rabbi will read both Secular and Judaic stories which focus on important values and allow children to learn about performing mitzvot including: caring for others, taking care of the earth and collecting tzedakah (charity) to donate to an organization chosen by the ECC Children.
Children will gain an appreciation for Israel as the Jewish homeland and a source of thousands of years of history and rich cultural traditions.

Movement: Children will learn to move their bodies with increasing skill to express emotions and follow rhythms.
Dramatic Play: Children will learn to use imaginative play as a vehicle to express life experiences and familiar stories.
Art: Children will learn to explore and gain increasing control over a variety of art media, using them to express their ideas.
Music: Children will learn to express themselves through music and develop an appreciation for different forms of music.

Gross Motor: Children will learn to move their bodies in ways that demonstrate increasing stamina, endurance, control, balance, and coordination
Fine Motor: Children will learn to apply hand, fingers and wrist movements in ways that demonstrate increasing eye-hand coordination, strength, and control. Children will be encouraged to move from the scribbling stage to the representational stage of drawing.

Health and Safety: Children will learn that safety is paramount and be encouraged to practice healthy habits.

Independent Life Skills: Children will practice self-help behaviors that encourage independence.