Early Childhood Center considered as one of the important centers operating under the umbrella of the College of Education at Qatar University. Established in 1980 under the name of the University Nursery in the old Qatar University building in the Khalifa city, and one classroom that accommodates 20 children. ECC grew and developed in five transitional stages, and its name was changed to Qatar University Kindergarten, then become Early Childhood Center in 2018 as one of leading center in early childhood education at local and regional level.
Accommodates more than 120 children in three age groups. The center includes three main units: the early education unit, the research unit, and the professional development unit. The Early Childhood Center building was designed as per the international specifications and standards of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), and according to the latest studies in the field of early childhood. The sustainable design of building is accordance with GSAS standards to be environmentally friendly by saving electric and water energy.
Creative Curriculum
Early Childhood Center follows the Creative Curriculum for Preschool in both Arabic and English. It is as an integrated curriculum that is applied globally in early childhood centers to serve children with cultural diversity taking in consideration their individual differences. The Creative Curriculum is a comprehensive, research-based curriculum, characterized by exploration and discovery as means of learning, enabling children to develop confidence, creativity and lifelong critical thinking skills. The Creative Curriculum is play-based, incorporating big ideas, diverse and engaging activities to motivate children, teachers as well as parents. The curriculum includes five studies of fascinating topics familiar to children; Balls, Trees, Clothes, Buildings, Reduce, Recycle, Reuse, in addition to Beginning of the Year. These studies help children to become enthusiastic, independent, curious, and confident as they encourage them to be active and creative explorers who are not afraid to try out of the box ideas.
Daily Schedule:
Our balanced daily schedule includes a variety of integrated activities as per the Creative Curriculum and children’s interests. It contains concepts, skills and values in the areas of Literacy, Numeracy, Science, Physical and Technology, in Arabic and English. All in which are in consideration of children’s individual differences. The time allocated for each activity varies to meet the needs of each age group. Daily activities include:
- Morning circle.
- Discussion and shared writing.
- Small groups.
- Physical Education.
- Mealtime.
- earning Centers.
- Mighty minutes.
- Reading aloud.
- Indoor free play.
Children’s Assessment
Early Childhood Center utilizes many assessment strategies to detect child’s performance. The Teaching Strategies Gold is a progress-monitoring tool. This tool is an ongoing practice used to observe children’s growth and development over the year, and evaluate the progress of their skills and abilities. The process gives ECC teachers the ability to assess children’s interests, needs and abilities across all nine domains of development and learning: Social-Emotional, Physical, Cognitive, Language, Literacy, Mathematics, Science and Technology, Social Studies and Arts. The Gold Assessment toolkit is part of the Created Curriculum that ECC implements.