Infant

In the first months of life, our youngest students are eating, napping, playing and exploring--a rhythm that will continue through the year as they tackle milestones. Dedicated and nurturing staff are trained to attend to each child’s cues to provide individualized care including nap times on their own personalized schedules. Our small class sizes, visiting infant nurse consultant, and attentive teachers allow us to keep a close eye on the development and milestones of each child and support them as they prepare for their journey into toddlerhood.

Teachers plan sensory, art, language, and gross motor activities for our babies as they begin to roll, crawl, walk, and learn the basics of communication while exploring their environment. While milk remains the primary source of nutrition for our infants, solid foods are introduced in developmentally appropriate stages consisting of purees, mashed food, softened solids, and solids.

Each month a visiting nurse consultant spends a day in our class to give our teachers an expert perspective on each child’s individual development and milestones, hygiene, and overall health. Safety and emotional security are always at the core of the experience for the smallest children in our care, and our infant classes provide a calming and peaceful environment for each child to grow and explore. www.BirchTreeAcademy.com 425-202-9835 info@

Toddler

The foundation of our toddler program is providing a nurturing and caring environment where toddlers can experience positive social interaction and sensory stimulation. We give children the individual attention and care that they need in order to feel secure in an environment outside the home.

We want to inspire children’s natural curiosity while nurturing their desire for autonomy. Children are given the opportunity for daily hands-on learning and exploration. Children work on their fine and gross motor skill, cognitive and language development and critical social skills that allow them to participate in positive social interactions.

Students are invited to circle time every day. Teachers introduce a weekly theme where children learn from stories, songs, activities and projects as well as exploration of thematic and sensory materials. The toddler program also includes weekly music and foreign language lessons.

At this age, children are rapidly growing and learning--we love watching our budding little scholars!

Preschool

Our STEM-based preschool program provides an engaging and nurturing environment where children’s natural curiosity drives their learning!

The core of our curriculum is based around a weekly theme that incorporates all facets of STEM: math, phonics, science, sensory exploration and open-ended building skills. Through the use of hands-on teaching materials, they learn to count, sort, classify and compare. As part of our pre-literacy curriculum, children engage in early-reading and phonics-based activities. The preschool program also includes a weekly music and language lesson.

Preschoolers’ communication skills ignite at this age as they start to become capable of conquering their own social challenges. Instead of solely turning to the teacher to solve the problem, we give children the skills and vocabulary to express themselves constructively. As children move out of toddlerhood it’s important for them to feel and act independently and we encourage them to complete activities such as eating, hand washing and dressing with as much autonomy as possible.

A positive preschool experience will set the stage for a lifetime of curiosity and cognitive development. We are proud to provide a program that nurtures discovery, out-of-the-box thinking and love for learning

Pre-K

Our STEM-based pre-kindergarten program prepares students for kindergarten while providing an engaging and nurturing environment where children’s natural curiosity drives their learning!

Pre-K curriculum is based around a weekly theme that incorporates all facets of STEM: science, math, phonics, sensory exploration and open-ended building skills. Through the use of hands-on teaching materials children learn to count, sort, classify and compare. They also work on basic addition and subtraction as well as patterns, shapes and measurements. Children are regularly exposed to STEM open-ended building projects where they use creativity, spatial awareness, engineering and early geometry.

For pre-literacy curriculum, children engage in early reading and phonics-based activities by working on letter recognition, writing, CVC words and reading comprehension on a daily basis.

Children often make big leaps in their communication and social skills during the pre-kindergarten year. We aim to prepare them for the big world of elementary school and give them the confidence they need in social interactions.