The Early Learning Center at BGA is a joyful beginning to a child’s educational experience. Rooted in curiosity, intentional play, and discovery, our early childhood curriculum nurtures social-emotional growth, creativity, independence, and the emerging academic skills that prepare children for what comes next. Through developmentally appropriate experiences, students build gross and fine motor skills, develop early literacy and numeracy foundations, and begin forming the habits and mindsets of confident learners. In a safe and nurturing environment, children are encouraged to explore, ask questions, celebrate their strengths, and see themselves as capable, curious learners.
These key areas of development come to life in our classrooms through engaging, hands-on learning experiences that encourage curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking. Each day, students are immersed in activities that integrate literacy, numeracy, motor skills, and social-emotional growth in ways that are both joyful and purposeful. Our inquiry-based approach allows children to see how different learning domains are naturally connected, and they apply their developing skills in real-world contexts. One recent classroom theme, centered around apples, illustrates how we bring our curriculum to life through dynamic, cross-curricular experiences.
Students learned to follow recipes. They created apple spice play dough, apple hand pies, and apple sauce from scratch. They measured, mixed, poured, and then practiced sequencing three or more steps by retelling how they made their creation.
Students practiced hand skills and dexterity. They chopped apples, smashed apple playdough, explored apple pie sensory bins, and labeled the parts of an apple with their best phonics skills.
Students created their own apple recipes and even made a class recipe book.
Students saw that each learning domain is inherently connected. They read fiction and nonfiction texts about apples, measured apples with snap cubes and with counting bears on a scale, learned the life cycle of an apple tree, and identified the parts of an apple. They graphed which apples they liked best and explored apple recipes from multiple cultures. Seeing one theme through multiple lenses created meaningful cognitive connections.
Students contributed to a celebration of learning. They shared their learning with an authentic audience – their families! This involved retelling, public speaking, and thinking about how to present information to an audience.