Our Early Learning Center classes are for children 18 months through 5 years of age.  Here is what you can expect from our seven different classrooms: 

Butterflies

The Butterfly classroom is for toddlers aged 18 to 23 months of age. The ratio is 1:5 with two teachers to 10 toddlers. These children are required to be walking before acceptance into this program. Children in this age group are moving from infancy to toddlerhood and learning to become independent. Children have a variety of learning activities including art projects, sand and water play, blocks, gross motor movement, puzzles, and many other manipulative activities. Big cars and trucks are a favorite activity at this age. Teachers read stories to the children, sing songs together, and have lots of opportunities for dance and movement.

Kangaroos and Hedgehogs  

Our next Toddler classrooms are for toddlers who are 24 to 35 months of age. Our older Toddler classrooms have a ratio of 1:7 with two teachers and 14 toddlers. These students continue their inquiry-based learning through art, science, math, and language development. Our students create a lot of artwork. We are proud of each student and praise them for their work and effort. When a child turns three years old this year, potty training is an important part of their learning process. When your child is ready, we will gladly partner with you in this process. The Toddler classrooms share a bathroom with child-sized toilets and low sinks so that each child can navigate this process with much independence. We know that this is a learning process so we also have a diaper changing station.

Squirrels and Ladybugs

When a child turns three years old by September 15, they go to the Preschool classrooms. The ratio for Preschool classrooms is 1:10 with two teachers to 20 students. Children in Preschool learn to become more independent and are now ready to spend more time with letters, and numbers, and recognize their names. Students in Preschool and Pre-K play on the playground that is next to Washington Park on our Legacy Park Field. Our Preschoolers spend one-on-one time with their teachers learning about letters and learning to write their names.  Students at this age enjoy being the helper of the day where they can hold the door open, turn off the lights, or be the line leader!  

Flamingos and Owls

The next age group is Pre-Kindergarten for children who turn four by September 15. The ratio for Pre-Kindergarten classrooms is 1:12 with two teachers to 24 students. Students in Pre-K are prepared for later schooling. Since we have an elementary school, we meet with the Kindergarten teacher to know what her expectations are for students entering Kindergarten. Emphasis is put on letter and number recognition, sounds of letters, and how to write the uppercase and lowercase forms of each letter.  Students who stay for the summer will also be introduced to sight words in anticipation of reading. Much time is spent having fun with language and learning about rhyme, rhythm, and repetition through finger plays, songs, and poems. We also emphasize STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) through hands-on activities.

Denver Preschool Program

Families who live in the City and County of Denver have the opportunity to apply for the Denver Preschool Program for tuition assistance in their last year of school before Kindergarten. We are a part of DPP and are proud to participate in the rating process called Colorado Shines where we earned 4 out of 5 stars.  With DPP, we also go through CLASS rating.  Our teachers score very high with this assessment tool that measures the language used with children to promote their higher-level thinking in a warm, nurturing environment.

Denver Preschool Program