Curriculum Overview

The learning opportunities children have in their early school years have great impact on future learning. We strive to ensure that every experience children have at NEA is memorable, relevant, and positive. Our innovative curriculum is designed to support children’s curiosity to research and question the world around them. When planning thematic units, our teachers integrate literacy, math, science, social studies, music and art all around the thematic unit. With a myriad of exciting activities, our theme-based curriculum units guide children in their search for knowledge through play, social interaction, exploration, and creativity, as well as through discussion, observation and reflection.

At New Einsteins Academy, we value play as the most important part of a child’s day. Many recent studies show that play-based learning leads to more engaged, socially competent students, and better grades. Play is a joyful and very effective way of learning for children. When children learn with joy, the knowledge they gain is memorable and long lasting. At NEA we believe that play and learning go hand-in-hand!
We provide plenty of time for self-directed play, where children move freely around the classroom and choose areas of play that they are most interested in. Self-directed play is fundamental for developing many crucial life skills including creativity, independence, social skills, just to name a few. Children learn how to collaborate and compromise with others, recognize and respond to others’ feelings, share, show affection, resolve conflicts, and adhere to the rules. In turn, these important early lessons help children understand the roles and rules of society!
Teacher-guided play - teachers play an important role by creating exercises, toys, and areas in the classroom that inspire children to play imaginatively. They may build rainforest dioramas, create an airplane cockpit, mummify a chicken, or fill the sensory table with a variety of materials from every day to completely unique. The teachers also create attractive and challenging games that promote literacy, math skills, and dexterity. These types of activities, available to children daily, help to complement and enrich their play while building important cognitive skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, decision-making, remembering, and planning.
Our language & literacy program is integrated across the curriculum throughout the day. Children’s language is developed through listening, speaking, engaging in dramatic play, and during special learning experiences. Verbal skills are further enhanced by using language as an essential complement to daily play and routine activities. Teachers regularly introduce new theme-related words, create engaging language exercises, and nurture children’s naturally developing phonemic and phonological skills. We offer an extensive library of both fiction and non-fiction books and plenty of time for reading them to children individually and in groups. From introducing pre-writing activities to toddlers to writing group stories in preschool, teachers stimulate children’s curiosity toward written language as another important milestone in their literacy journey.
Young children demonstrate a clear readiness to engage in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) learning early in life. STEM-inspired processes at NEA encourage innovation, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills, as children create meaning out of the world around them.
Children are provided with numerous opportunities to form a strong foundation for future mathematical awareness and understanding. Through play, games, and teacher-led activities, NEA students are exposed to age-appropriate math concepts and operations including counting, patterning, measuring and estimating, ordering, graphing, spatial relations, etc.
Students discover science at NEA through exploration in the science center, theme-related science activities, hands-on experiments, and discussions. Our goal is to set the stage for children to grow into confident young scientists. NEA curriculum encourages the use of basic practices of science and engineering as children explore Life, Physical, and Earth Sciences. Through our science program, children learn to think critically about their environment, conduct experiments, make observations, collect and record data, and discuss their findings.
One of the main goals of our program is to develop and strengthen social skills. We engage children in meaningful social interactions to help them learn how to manage and describe their own emotions, and help them understand the feelings of others. Social development of children is encouraged by providing opportunities for sharing, taking turns, making friends, helping others, solving problems, cooperating on projects, and learning how to communicate effectively with peers and teachers. For conflict resolutions, we guide children through the steps needed to arrive at simple, creative solutions to problems.
An important task of our program is to help children acquire the values of the democratic society. We actively promote the ideals of respect for all beings, care for the surrounding environment, and understanding that all people have equal value. We ensure that each child develops a sense of acceptance and appreciation for the similarities and differences of diverse people and rich cultures.
The classroom is one of the first communities your child joins outside of the family. Through our social studies program, we help children understand relationships between people, places, and environments. Through themes ranging from "Me in the World" and "What Do Parents Do All Day?" to "Famous Buildings" and "Islands of the World," children are given the tools they need to relate more meaningfully to people from other lands and cultures, to make wise decisions about their environment, and to understand the functioning of society.
Early contact with a foreign language forms the basis for better cognitive development. In addition to Spanish enrichment class, NEA children are exposed to Spanish through theme-related words, phrases, books, and songs on a daily basis.
Expressive Arts – children’s creative abilities are developed through many different forms of expression, such as drawing, painting, music, singing, dancing, and imaginative role play. NEA’s enrichment programs enhance this component of our curriculum.
In addition to quality curriculum, NEA provides enrichment programs such as Music, Yoga, Spanish, Science, Drama, Dance, and Art. These programs support and enhance our weekly themes and provide well-rounded and balanced development for children.
*All of our enrichment classes are included in tuition.
Whether it is playing at local parks, enjoying a dance, yoga or gym class, exercising with teachers or walking around the neighborhood, children are engaged in healthy and energetic activities every day. Our program promotes the development of important gross motor skills such as walking, running, jumping, climbing, balancing, and strength.
By including themes such as “Fitness and Nutrition,” “Fruits and Vegetables,” and “I Can Take Care of Myself,” we promote healthy living and teach good personal care habits and hygiene skills.
Summer Camp - Our daily schedule changes during the summer months. The children spend more time outdoors, go on field trips, have weekly sprinkler park outings with picnics, and engage in more free-play. Special guests are invited to perform and entertain children.
To complement our curriculum, and also for pure fun, children go on exploratory field trips to various locations including museums, the beach, nature preserves, farms, amusement parks, local businesses, the zoo, and the theater.
Whether it is our Heritage Brunch, Father’s Day Olympics, Earth Day Parade, or a visit from the Snow Fairy, NEA families are invited to special school events throughout the year to celebrate and build our community.