Early Childhood

Learning at Lamplighter begins as a joyful, hands-on adventure for our Early Childhood students.

Whether it’s working side-by-side with a paleontologist from The Perot Museum of Nature and Science to dig for ‘dinosaur bones’ on the playground, feeding Cheerios to the chickens during Barn Time, or through planting radishes, potatoes, and leeks in the gardens to harvest and sell at the Pre-K Farmers’ Market, our youngest learners discover meaning through rich theme-based exploration and integrated lessons. In classrooms that are filled to the brim with a multitude of play-based learning activities, it is through a child’s own natural curiosity, autonomy, and free choice that the desire to learn is ignited, and once piqued, children will explore, question, collaborate, predict, experiment, tinker, analyze, and have a lot of fun as they learn.

Lamplighter’s Early Childhood teachers believe that every child has the intelligence and motivation to construct deep meaning. They are experts at guiding students to make discoveries through “What if?” questions and in honoring a child’s unique thoughts and ideas. From the first “Hug-‘em-In” in carpool, students are supported and nurtured by the larger learning community that comes alongside to guide them as they take their very first steps towards independence, making friends, and learning how to read and write. Our Early Childhood teachers understand the complex growth and development of young children between the ages of three and six years, and they know how children learn best cognitively, socially, and emotionally at this age. Our teachers understand that young children need time to play outside in the fresh air, and that play is the vehicle through which children learn to negotiate and problem-solve, self-regulate, and where they learn to respect themselves and others. In the Lamplighter Early Childhood program, you will find that we honor first the whole child, our mission, and core commitments, and treasure our rich history as a premier progressive school for young children.