At Coronado preschool, we believe that every child is a natural-born explorer. Our classroom is a place where curiosity is celebrated, every child’s unique identity is honored, and a strong sense of belonging lays the foundation for all learning.

We are delighted to share that our program implements The Creative Curriculum for Preschool. This approach is designed to build each child’s confidence, creativity, and critical thinking skills through hands-on, project-based learning alongside focused, daily opportunities to develop essential foundational skills in literacy and math.

Choosing The Creative Curriculum means prioritizing what matters most for young learners. First and foremost, we want everyone at our school to feel safe, happy, valued, and included by building a strong classroom community. The curriculum develops children’s important academic skills through play, helping them discover that learning is empowering and school is fun. It guides interesting, long-term project learning, allowing us to dive deeply into science and social studies concepts through hands-on “studies” of everyday topics that maximize children’s natural curiosity. Furthermore, daily resources help us pay careful attention to each child’s unique strengths, needs, and interests so they are gently challenged but never frustrated. We also offer many ways for families to be involved as true partners in guiding children’s development, and together, we celebrate children’s learning, honoring the excitement of growing up.

What to Expect: Creative Curriculum Studies

Rather than traditional brief themes, our learning is structured around in-depth “Studies” that typically last four to six weeks. These long-term investigations allow children to explore real-world topics deeply, test ideas, make predictions, and integrate math, science, art, and literacy into every activity.

A study unit always begins by exploring and asking questions, tapping into what children already know and discovering what they are curious about. From there, children dive into hands-on investigation—experimenting with physical objects, interviewing classroom visitors, gathering data, and recording observations through drawings, charts, and emergent writing. Finally, we celebrate and share, as children compile their work at the end of a study to showcase their discoveries with classmates and families.

The units we explore throughout the year include:

  • Beginning of the Year: Building routines, creating class rules, and establishing a safe, welcoming community where every child belongs.
  • Balls, Motion & Forces: Investigating how different objects roll, bounce, slide, and move, weaving physical science concepts directly into play.
  • Trees & Nature: Investigating the parts of trees, animals that live in them, and how nature changes across seasons.
  • Clothes: Exploring fabrics, fasteners, patterns, and how weather or special jobs determine what people wear.
  • Buildings & Construction: Exploring building materials, architectural shapes, tools, and community builders.
  • Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Learning how trash is managed, exploring ways to reuse everyday items creatively, and caring for our environment.
  • Water: Discovering the properties of liquid, absorption, floating versus sinking, and how living things use water every day.
  • Exercise: Exploring how our bodies move, keep healthy, and stay strong through games, balance, and physical activity.

Additional Key Programs in Our Classroom

In addition to The Creative Curriculum, we integrate three specialized programs into our daily routines to nurture social-emotional growth, language, and self-regulation:

  • Second Step Social-Emotional Learning: A research-based program designed to nurture social skills, emotional management, and self-confidence. Through weekly interactive lessons, puppets, and role-play, children learn listening skills, empathy, calming strategies, and peer problem-solving.
  • Heggerty Phonemic Awareness: A fast-paced, spoken-word curriculum that builds early reading readiness. In just 8 to 10 minutes of daily oral games, children practice recognizing and manipulating sounds through rhyming, blending, segmenting, and isolating word parts.
  • We Thinkers! (Facilitated by Dr. Todd Ognibene):
    • Teaches Kid-Friendly Social Rules: Uses engaging stories and characters to help children learn everyday concepts like “Whole Body Listening,” “Body in the Group,” and how to follow “The Group Plan” during play.
    • Builds Self-Regulation: Helps children recognize the “Size of the Problem” so their emotional reactions match the situation, and teaches them how to practice “Flexible Thinking” when plans change.