"What classes do you offer at Bill Roberts for ECE?"

At Bill Roberts, we are only offering ½ ECE clases.  We do not offer full day ECE at our   school.  We have AM classes from 8:15-10:45am and PM classes from 12:35-3:05pm.  We do offer before and after school childcare through a separate program (housed in the school in room 1330) through Kadoodles for additional fees per month for 2, 3, 4, or 5 day options.  The office has more information on both the Kadoodles program and Early Risers if you are interested.

"What is the adult to child ratio in the preschool programs?"

We have a legal limit of 20 kids per classroom with one classroom Teacher and one full-time Paraprofessional. (1-10 ratio at most)

"What is the structure of the program?  What units do you teach?" 

I would like to describe the structure of the program from my point of view (which is directly in line with the rest of my ECE team as well) as both teacher directed and student directed.  In ECE we have set units that are covered throughout the year, but I gage what I am going to teach and what activities I want to have the kids involved in with both the kids’ input and my assessments of their active learning.  Some units go for 2-3 weeks and some go for up to 7 weeks depending on the kids’ interests and engagement.  While there is a set structure and a routine to our day, the activities, the learning, the units, the books, the songs, and topics we discuss change to support the overall learning experience of the students in the classroom.  In addition, the classroom has a great balance of play based activities that support the learning goals of the class.  I try to promote a fun environment that focuses on the whole-child approach to learning. 

"How much choice time do the kids get each day and do they get additional specials such as music, art, etc...?"

Kids have at least 30 minutes of play at centers (choice play time with unit specific centers as well) and 30 minutes of outside recess each day.  We do not have formal music, but do music almost everyday in the classroom.  We do not have formal art, but participate in artistic activities each day to encourage motor skill development, artistic knowledge and creativity.  We do have a great person from the Denver Public Library who comes to our classes and reads for 30 minutes once a week.  This is a wonderful program for the kids and they really enjoy her.

"What is the curriculum for the 3's?"

The curriculum for 3’s is Building Language for Literacy Phase One, but we go way outside of that curriculum in order to meet the needs of our highly experienced kiddos that come to our classes. I use the base of the program and have spent the last 3 years expanding it quite a bit to challenge our kids.  I find that I end up changing the curriculum each year as my classes are different each year.