Preschool/PreK Curriculum

Our curriculum is written weekly in order to it best meet the needs, interests and growth of each child and class. The teachers that write curriculum for our program have years of curriculum writing experience and specialize in this area.
Young children learn by moving, building, singing, practicing, cooperating, creating and making mistakes. The foundation of our curriculum comes from several different sources. We use Washington State Early Learning and Development Guidelines, along with local school district Kindergarten Readiness checklists to create our yearly, monthly and daily lesson plans. We are continually assessing our lesson plans to ensure that they offer experiences to facilitate growth in the areas of social, physical, cognitive, language, literacy and mathematics.
Our teachers are able to skillfully include all elements of learning and are able to include STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) enrichment opportunities. In addition, we recognize that the academic standards for kindergarten are high, yet children can only learn these skills when they are emotionally confident in expressing ideas and needs. Every child’s experience will be uniquely tuned to his/her individual development. Every child develops on a timeline unique to themselves and our goal is that each child is given the opportunity to daily take the NEXT STEP. Because we have so much to share with your child, you may find that there are projects/activities that we invite families to finish or complete at home.
Specific Curriculum Resources:
- Washington State Early Learning Development Guidelines: A research-based resource that focuses on the early years (birth-3rd grade). Considerations in compiling Washington State Early Learning Development Guidelines include but are not limited to: early learning standards from other states; Head Start and ECEAP standards; and our state’s academic learning standards for grades K-3 in all subject areas, including the newly adopted common core standards for English Language Arts and for Mathematics.
- Emergent Curriculum: A way of planning curriculum based on the student’s interests and passions, as the teacher fits those into that individual child’s goals. To plan an emergent curriculum requires observation, documentation, creative brainstorming, flexibility, and patience.
- Zoo-phonics: Literacy-based curriculum that uses bodily/kinetic (movement) learning.
- Theme-based curriculum: Using many different learning styles and focusing on literacy and math.
- Focused Fitness Early Learner Fitness (ELF): Blends together academics and physical activity into a program that is designed to educate the whole child -- body and mind.