Winfield offers a child-centered and multi-sensory environment. The curriculum, classroom and teacher roles are all carefully designed to honor individual growth while encouraging social awareness and cooperation.

In the classroom, each curriculum area has its own set of materials placed on child-sized shelves to allow for free choice. The curriculum is presented in an ordered fashion through lessons and is also sequenced on the shelves from simple to complex, concrete to abstract. From the Toddler program through the Kindergarten program, the curriculum is designed to provide integrated age-appropriate experiences in Science, Art, Cultural Studies, Geography, Math, Language and Peace. The emphasis of the curriculum is to empower children of all learning styles and develop their independence.

All of the classroom materials isolate a specific skill or concept. Children choose materials and work at their own pace, uninterrupted, often repeating a process many times. This practice allows for the inner mastery of the isolated skill that the material offers.

The teacher acts as a designer of the environment, resource person and guide, role model, demonstrator of materials, record-keeper and meticulous observer of each child’s behavior and growth. The teacher is a person who interprets instead of judges, and who is a vital link between the child and the environment. The teacher introduces materials to the children, gradually helping them to use materials independently.