With resources from the Douglas County Community Foundation Community Grants and Winter Family Fund, the Ballard Center was able to purchase 3 classroom sets of the Get Set for School curriculum. This is a developmental curriculum designed to meet the specific learning needs of preschoolers.

Ballard teachers love the updated Get Set for School curriculum kits! One of Ballard’s newer teachers who previously worked with infants said she was a bit anxious about implementing a standardized curriculum with 4-year-olds. She stated that the curriculum breaks concepts down into small parts. “The lessons are just long enough for me to get through while keeping their attention because they have no attention span!”, she laughed. She also found that the digital integration where she can use classroom technology to share short movies and songs with the students to be very helpful. “My students learn the songs and it helps them remember the letters and writing concepts more easily”, she said.

The lead teacher in Ballard’s 5-year-old room was equally excited about the curriculum updates. “Each lesson is broken down with examples of how to teach the concepts to the students”, she said. She also liked that the lessons were very clear about showing what materials from the curriculum kit would be needed to teach the lesson and how to use the materials effectively to better teach the lessons and help students learn. “As a teacher, I don’t struggle with what to teach – everything is laid out and supported with examples”, she said. Students enjoy using the wooden pieces to build letters. They also like the listen/movement videos that reinforce lessons with physical movement for concepts such as front, back and side.