Our curriculum and approaches to teaching skillfully weave intentional teaching and playful learning. Our method of teaching incorporates best practices in education and balances children’s need for play while incorporating support with language arts and literacy, number concepts, science, social studies, self-help skills, fine and gross motor skills, and
social-emotional development. We carefully monitor and track each child’s progress using
Teaching Strategies® formative assessment solution,
GOLD®. With GOLD
®, assessment is an organic part of our teaching, thus helping to ensure that every child is supported in their individual strengths, challenges, and opportunities for growth.
BCD’s preschool utilizes IEYC’s curricular units of learning (themes) to guide our teaching and learning. The themes are specifically designed for children ages 2 - 5 years and include a variety of topics such as This is Me!, The Brilliant Bug Ball!, Blast Off!, and Dinosaur Detectives. They support teachers with the implementation of age-appropriate experiences that focus on improving learning and whole child development.
The IEYC focuses on four key strands of social and emotional development:
Independence and Interdependence: Focuses on personal, social, and emotional development and helps children see themselves as unique individuals with a cultural heritage. It helps in building positive relationships, responding to their own and others’ feelings, and encourages them to approach tasks with increasing confidence and independence.
Communicating: Develops a broad range of communication skills - including language development.
Enquiring: Supports children in understanding the similarities and differences in people, living things, the environment, and materials. Children are encouraged to investigate, pose questions, and explore ideas.
Healthy Living and Physical Well-Being: Develops a positive attitude towards health, self-care, physical activity, and overall well-being.
Promoting language arts and literacy skills is an important part of BCD’s preschool program. We use age-appropriate and engaging curricula (including
Learning Without Tears and
Heggerty) that are rooted in hands-on learning experiences that capture children’s curiosity about letters (upper and lowercase), letter-sound relationships, and phonemic awareness. Our teachers thoughtfully engage children as they make connections and build their understanding of how writing connects to the words we hear and how language is used to communicate.
Numbers and math are a part of life and our preschool program and approach to teaching ensures that children engage in math and science daily - using age-appropriate and hands-on, experiential learning activities that connect to and support their everyday world and experiences while building meaningful understanding of foundational math and science concepts.
Children are social beings and social studies concepts are nurtured as children discover the world in which we live in connection with their families, neighborhoods, and communities. Respect for people and the world are daily focal points and problem solving, character education, and conflict resolution skills are intentionally fostered.
In addition to our regular classroom curriculum and learning experiences, Boulder Country Day’s preschool program incorporates a “Specials” curriculum that includes instruction in World Language (French and Spanish), Movement, Music, and Library. In addition, all children participate in regular cooking classes and our Pre-Kindergarten students also engage in Art and STEM focused classes. Our Specials curriculum helps to ensure that every preschool child begins to discover their excellence.