Early Childhood Curriculum Overview

A nurturing, structured, joyful learning foundation for ages 2–6

Toddler, Nursery &
Emergent Kindergarten

At The Bridges Academy, our Early Childhood Program is designed to nurture every child’s natural curiosity, confidence, and love of learning. From toddlers just beginning to explore the world to preschoolers preparing for kindergarten, each stage offers a thoughtfully crafted balance of play, academics, and social-emotional growth. Our teachers create joyful, engaging classrooms where children feel safe, encouraged, and inspired—laying a strong foundation in literacy, math, creativity, and character development.

Toddler Program — Ages 2–3

At this stage, children are discovering the world with curiosity and excitement. Our Toddler Program provides a loving, structured environment where little learners gain confidence, build early social skills, and explore foundational academic concepts through play.

From early math and colors to movement, art, and social growth, each day is designed to nurture their independence and joy of learning.

Admissions

Unstructured play to build confidence, imagination, and early peer interaction.
Counting 0–20, recognizing numbers, daily calendar time.
Primary colors, color mixing, and recognition of basic and fun shapes.
Alphabet A–Z, letter sounds, name recognition, days of the week, read-alouds.
Weather, animals, seasons, plant growth in the greenhouse, caring for a class pet.
Pledge of Allegiance, holidays, manners.
Marching, playing instruments, finger plays, singing.
Exploring creativity with paint, sponges, tissue paper, etc.
Cutting, gluing, clipping, puzzles, block play.
Nutrition, hygiene, dental care, emotions.
Kindness, sharing, respect, listening, cooperation.

A place to wonder, create, explore, and discover.

Nursery Program — Ages 3-4

Our Nursery Program blends play-based exploration with age-appropriate academics to support your child’s growing independence and imagination.

Children develop early literacy, number sense, language growth (including French!), and a deeper awareness of the world around them through science, art, music, and hands-on activities. It’s a year of joyful learning, friendships, and confidence-building.

Admissions

Counting 1–31, tracing numbers, shapes, concepts like more/less and big/small.
Alphabet A–Z, letter tracing, letter sounds, storytelling, dramatic play.
Vocabulary building & French (colors and numbers).
Weather, seasons, seed planting, greenhouse visits, reptiles, rainforest, 5 senses.
Pledge of Allegiance, community helpers, transportation, multicultural holidays.
iPads for interactive alphabet and number programs.
Painting, crayons, play-doh, seasonal crafts.
Gross-motor development: throwing, jumping, balancing, playground use.
Finger plays, seasonal songs, movement activities.
Nutrition, hygiene, dental care, safety.
Respect, teamwork, sharing, classroom routines.
Twice-yearly evaluations of social, emotional, and academic growth.
Dance & gymnastics.

Emergent-Kindergarten — Ages 4–5

Emergent-K lays the foundation for kindergarten success through a balanced program of early reading, writing, math, science, and social development.

Children learn to recognize letters and sounds, build number fluency, understand patterns, explore earth science, and develop critical social skills such as teamwork, responsibility, and respect. Each lesson is designed to spark curiosity while strengthening school-readiness.

Admissions

Reading:
Phonemic awareness, rhyming, syllables, letter-sound matching, print awareness, story prediction, sequencing, identifying characters & main idea.

Writing:
Pencil grip, writing first/last name, spacing, invented spelling, uppercase/lowercase, labeling drawings.

Listening:
Listening to stories, poems, songs; following directions; listening respectfully.
Numbers:
Counting and recognizing 1–20, sorting, classifying, object counting.

Measurement:
Size, height, weight, temperature, time basics.

Patterns:
Creating, describing, and identifying patterns in art, nature, music; interpreting graphs.
Earth Science:
Land vs. water, seasonal changes, environmental care.

Physical Setting:
Identifying properties of classroom and outdoor objects.

Living Environment:
Living vs. non-living, animal comparisons, plant parts, growth observation.
Identity, responsibilities, cultural awareness, diversity, teamwork, respect, community roles, classroom safety.
Marching, playing instruments, finger plays, singing.
Exploring creativity with paint, sponges, tissue paper, etc.