Our Program
At The Kids’ School, children thrive in a warm, nurturing, and inclusive community where they are respected, safe, and free to explore, build relationships, and develop independence.
Our experienced staff foster curiosity and confidence daily through engaging routines, caring interactions, and meaningful materials. We always do our best to meet the needs of every child.
Seeds
(3 - 18 months old)
The Kids’ School strives to provide strong and lasting bonds between teachers and infants. It is important to form sensitive and responsive relationships with families and their children based on mutual trust and respect to help the children feel safe and secure. We involve families in their children’s educational growth and focus on many areas of development to nurture their ever-changing needs. This classroom has at least one lead teacher and one or two teaching assistants with a maximum of 1:4 staff:child ratio. We aim to follow the same daily schedule your child is already on at home with a goal to have them on the schedule below by the time they are ready to move up to the Saplings room. A typical daily schedule is as follows:
Saplings
(18 - 32 months old)
We like to describe our Saplings program as “like being at home with a really creative “mom.” The curriculum, while similar to that of the pre-k program, has more play-based learning time. We add to our Sapling program by offering extra gross motor movement for their growing bodies and interactive learning. This classroom will have a teaching associate and at least one teaching assistant with a maximum of 1:5 staff:child ratio. A typical daily schedule is as follows and we typically split into two groups (Oaks, Willows) based on readiness:
Trees
(3 - 5 years)
Children in our preschool are guided through varied, play-based experiences that foster confidence, choice, and discovery—not academic pressure—while respecting each child’s unique strengths and backgrounds; our nurturing staff encourages self-discipline in a positive environment. Our pre-k program, publicly funded through Act 166, partners with local supervisory unions, follows the district calendar, and offers free pre-k hours—Tuesdays and Thursdays, 8:00 to 1:00—to eligible families. The group will be comprised of 8 to 16 children daily. This classroom will have a teaching associate and at least one teaching assistant with a maximum of 1:10 staff:child ratio. A typical daily schedule is as follows:
Our extracurricular activities include:
Kids School quiet path on the hill above our parking lot.
Kids School learning garden with planted fruit, veggie and herb during community day, tasted by all throughout the summer.
We host art class every Monday. Sara Opel also teaches art classes at The Current in Stowe and provides a 45-minute course for Trees and 30 minute course for Sapling.
We partner with Central Vermont Gymnastics Academy in Waterbury and have gymnastic class for Trees on Wednesdays in the winter.
One Friday per month Emily comes from Lamoille County Nature Center in Morrisville to provide programming for our Trees classroom.
