Academic Program

The Thomas Jefferson School, together with its Early Childhood professionals, has developed its own academic program, relevant to our bilingual educational context, which incorporates learning experiences for the preschool levels served by our school. This program is based on the guidelines provided by the Ministry of Education in the Curriculum Framework for Early Childhood Education (BCEP), the Pedagogical Programs for the Lower and Upper Transition levels (NT1 and NT2), as well as contributions from the Theory and Didactics of Second Language Teaching.

The curriculum used in the Early Childhood Education area at The Thomas Jefferson School is self-described as Bilingual Electric, as it incorporates various curricular approaches (Cognitive, Holistic, Personalized, Reggio Emilia, Natural Approach, Communicative Approach, CLIL – Content and Language Integrated Learning, TPR Total Physical Response, among others).

Therefore, given that the Early Childhood Education area constitutes the first link in the chain of learning that will enable the achievement of our school’s Mission and Vision, all the learning experiences to which our young children are exposed will contribute to the formation of bilingual and well-rounded leaders capable of successfully facing the challenges of a globalized world.

The Thomas Jefferson School has qualified professionals, all of whom hold degrees in preschool education and advanced training in English. Their work is supported by specialists in educational psychology and psychology, who work with children who require evaluation and support.

The Early Childhood Area comprises 12 classes, from Lower Middle Level to Upper Transition. The four levels served are: Baby School, Preschool, Pre-Kindergarten, and Kindergarten.

At the Baby School level, our academic program begins, emphasizing the learning of the mother tongue (Spanish), social development, autonomy, and the exploration of psychomotor skills, as well as the development of spatial and sensory concepts.

In the Early Childhood Area, starting at the Preschool level, corresponding to Upper Middle Level, the bilingual program begins, using a system very close to total immersion, based on a communicative approach grounded in understanding and affection.

Among other programs and methodologies used during the school day, we highlight:

AREA-BASED LEARNING: in which various areas or learning centers are distributed throughout the different activity rooms from Preschool to Kindergarten. The children rotate through the different rooms for 50 minutes each day, forming mixed-age groups to develop specific skills and learning related to the area they are visiting.

The areas covered are: House, Construction, Art, Science & Technology, Music, Gym, Math, English, and Spanish.

The Baby School level works in designated areas within their classroom, using age-appropriate materials that allow them to begin freely choosing and exploring the materials and learning through play.

Through this methodology, we promote the children’s social development, creativity, and problem-solving skills through free-choice activities and play.

BLOCK WORK: Kindergarten students work in weekly blocks in the subsectors of English, Mathematics and Language (Spanish), thus introducing the use of themed rooms with specialist teachers in each subsector, while making a transition to the methodology used in the next cycle: Lower Elementary and stimulating the learning of initiation to reading and writing in English and Spanish, and the learning of Mathematics with the Singapore method.