Early Childhood Curriculum

Early childhood teachers use Creative Curriculum as the primary instructional planning framework, and Teaching Strategies GOLD as the corresponding assessment tool. Classrooms are designed with interest areas designed to support cross-curricular investigative studies through hands-on play. For example, in the Discovery interest area, learning may focus on language development during the first six weeks study as children use mirrors to examine and describe their faces in preparation to draw self-portraits in the Art interest area. During the Gardening Study, learning in the Discovery interest area may focus on mathematics as children sort seeds by size or count out sets of seeds to plant in cups. Teachers take advantage of a wealth of early childhood best practices and programmatic resources to meet the diverse needs of their students.


The preschool and prekindergarten curriculum is guided by developmentally appropriate practice and shaped by the young child’s play as work. Over the course of three years – PreK-3, PreK-4, and Kindergarten – students are introduced to the world of school in a nurturing environment that prepares them to excel in the development of the 4 I’s.

School is presented as a system of interactions and relations. Teachers work closely with families to cultivate a love of learning in each child by ensuring that they are supported and challenged as they progress through developmental milestones and secure their mastery of foundational learning skills. In preparation for studying the Common Core, early childhood students are immersed in a world of mathematical exploration that includes counting and sorting, comparing and measuring, and using data to tell stories about the world around them. Children build foundational literacy skills through a combination of rich read-alouds, authentic opportunities to write and work with letters and words, and explicit phonemic awareness instruction.