Our approach to preschool
The world “preschool” means different thing to different people. For some, it is a care setting before children reach school age. For others, it is functionally school before school that prioritizes academic learning. At The Spruce School, we fall somewhere in the middle. We build the foundation for future academic learning through a play-based program and follow an emergent curriculum, where we invite rigorous exploration based on the interests of the children in the group. We reject the “academic pushdown” that holds young children to developmentally inappropriate expectations, while fostering a love of learning that can lead to surpassing those academics standards anyway. On a day-to-day basis, this looks like a loving group of children at play.
This blog post highlights our approach to some areas of interest in an effort to help share our philosophy, which is driven in large part through following what current early childhood research suggests. If this aligns with your family’s thinking, we are currently open and enrolling children ages 3-5 in our small, in-home, three day per week program in the Baker neighborhood of Denver; Ms. Emily would love to meet you!
Literacy: Literacy is an important part of our preschool program, but the research does not support some of the activities most of us picture as literacy development (workbooks and worksheets, letter of the week, circle time, etc) as valuable for full groups of young children. Instead, we start our approach to literacy as a joyful exploration of language. We read, tell, and listen to stories, read or look at books, sing songs and nursery rhymes, and write down our thoughts and ideas organically. As a tiny example, instead of having a sign in tablet, paper forms allow children see their caregivers writing every day.
From there, our small group allows us to approach literacy development on an individual basis. For a child who is interested in and ready for more formal introductions to phonics, we work with families to figure out the best approach for that child. That might look like 1:1 tutorial, access to tablet-based games, leveled workbooks that travel between home and the program, and more. For children who are not interested or ready for more formal approaches, we do not encourage the “academic pushdown” into the early childhood setting, as play is demonstrated to better support the foundation for future reading and writing.
Ms. Emily loves reading and language and is a committed cruciverbalist – someone who solves crossword puzzles for fun! She loved workbooks as a child and is happy to find the right ones for individual children but follows the research on this topic.
STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics are fields that are essential to the modern workforce. Our young children are, thankfully, not part of the modern workforce yet, so while we build a rigorous foundation for future study, we do not force our four-year-olds to learn to code or recite arithmetic facts. Instead, we ask questions and perform experiments that allow us to understand how the world works. What happens if we use two tablespoons of yeast in our bread instead of one? Will the ice in our water melt more quickly inside or outside? We build things that are interesting to us, whether using blocks, simple circuits, or digital tools. We explore patterns, quantities, and abstract relationships through concrete materials. As with literacy, for any child who is ready for and interested in more formal introductions to these fields, we will work with families to decide the right individual approach for that child.
Ms. Emily loves STEM. She studied Math and Computer Science at Columbia University, worked as a software engineer, taught middle, high school, and professional math and computer science classes, and coached several high school robotics teams; once again, she follows the research on this one.
Practical Life: We are not a Montessori school, but a key takeaway of that approach is the importance of involving young children in everyday life. Kids love to help their community and do the things adults do! It is our responsibility to support them and find the ways they can contribute meaningfully, often with modifications to the environment.
For us, the kitchen is a best place to see it in action. Depending on their current abilities and interests, kids are involved in all aspects of meals: from meal planning, to preparation (mixing, chopping, grating, timing, mashing, measuring, peeling…), to setting the table, to serving themselves and others, and finally cleaning up after themselves. This instills a sense of community, capability, and ownership over the final product. In early childhood education terms, food preparation is a great opportunity to practice fine and gross motor skills, sequencing steps, time perception, contextual vocabulary, an incredible sensory experience, and more.
The mindset that children are capable of participating in everyday life extends throughout the program. Children are empowered with self-care skills, including dressing and undressing to go outside/inside, setting and cleaning up their materials, caring for the space, and more.
Outdoor Play: Being outdoors is incredibly important for young children’s development and most children in the United States do not get enough outdoor time. Ms. Emily’s passion for this topic probably deserves its own blog post. Our urban environment enables children who live nearby to walk to and from The Spruce School. We are lucky enough to have four different parks with playgrounds within easy walking distance, as well as a fenced backyard for play and front yard for gardening. Unless the weather is truly prohibitive, we go outside every single day. Children should bring appropriate clothing for outdoor play! We follow state guidelines for safe conditions.
Art: Children have access to a wide variety of art materials and are invited to show off their creativity every day through artistic provocation. We typically focus on process art, which encourages self-expression through the exploration of materials, rather than adult-led crafts with predetermined final products. For example, rather than gluing precut construction paper leaves onto a tree trunk template, children might gather leaves outside and use glue and crayons to create their own artwork (that might resemble a tree, something else, or become an abstract piece).
Dramatic Play: Pretend play allows children to create their own worlds in which they process reality through fantasy. This can look like role play of realistic or fanciful scenarios, dress up, invented relationships and movements, and more. Children are encouraged to explore the imaginary together with little adult intervention. For example, taking care of a sick stuffed animal allows children to process the concept of illness. And while we shouldn’t even have to say it, boys can be princesses at The Spruce School.
Again, if these ideas align with your family’s thinking, we are currently open and enrolling children ages 3-5 in our small, in-home, three day per week program in the Baker neighborhood of Denver. Please reach out using our interest form here; Ms. Emily would love to meet you!