Early Learning Program
Learning Through Play. Growing in Community.
We recognize the paramount significance of a child’s formative years, encompassing their cognitive, social, emotional, and physical growth. Our dedication to this pivotal phase is unwavering. These precious moments should be infused with boundless happiness and genuine awe. Ingrained in our approach is recognizing that joyful learning is the cornerstone of optimal childhood development.
Embracing the insights from neuroscience research, we understand that cultivating joy in learning during these foundational years and building strong relationships between teachers and students creates the safe environment children need to take risks and explore. This approach means teaching how the brain works: when children feel safe and joyful, their minds are freed up to focus, remember, and truly engage in learning. These experiences help foster self-assurance and build confidence.
Rooted in our Loretto School Values
We are guided by our Loretto School Values of faith, community, justice, and respect.
In our Preschool and Prekindergarten classrooms, these values show up in moments. Faith is a morning prayer and a quiet moment of gratitude. Community is a classroom job and a friend who needs help. Justice is fairness, taking turns, and making sure nobody gets left. Respect is kind words, gentle hands, and taking care of our classroom and our earth. Students take part in the Loretto School pledge each day, and these values shape every lesson and teaching moment. Students and teachers live out our Loretto School Values together.
Children are Known and Loved Here
At the heart of our programming is something very simple: we love and nurture children, and we want every child who walks through our doors to feel known, safe, celebrated, and excited to learn.
Our class sizes are small to ensure your child receives quality care socially, emotionally, and academically. At SMA, every child is known by name, valued for who they are, and welcomed each morning with love, support, and care.
When you walk into our classrooms, we hope you feel the community and belonging on which our program and school are built.
The Learning Behind the Play
Young children learn through play. That finding sits behind decades of early childhood research, and it shapes what happens in the classrooms.
Our child-centered, emergent approach follows children’s natural curiosity while introducing the skills and concepts they need to grow and thrive. It is grounded in respected early childhood research, aligned with the Colorado Early Learning and Development Guidelines, and is sequenced across the entire year so our teachers know what comes next for each child. The best sound in our hallways is a child saying, proudly, “I did it!”
Leaders Start SmalL
St. Mary’s Academy exists to inspire leaders who act with integrity, seek justice, build community, and change the world. That work starts earlier than most people realize. We help build the confidence to be a leader from a young age through dedicated social-emotional lessons. Children are eager to enter their classrooms because they are empowered to share their voices and help friends when needed.
We believe that who children become matters as much as what they learn. Every morning begins with circle time, when children gather with their teachers and classmates to be seen and celebrated, and to practice the skills that make a community thrive. They learn to name their feelings, listen to one another, solve problems, and work through conflict with kindness. With support from our school counselor, teachers carry those lessons through the rest of the day, alongside choices and independence that teach young children to ask questions, make mistakes, try again, and speak up for themselves.
Service Starts with Early Learning
Every student at SMA participates in service learning, and even our youngest learners know they have the ability to make a difference.
Throughout the year, children take part in projects small enough for them to understand and real enough to matter. They might run a toy drive, take a campus clean-up walk, donate Halloween candy to veterans, make cards for hospital patients, create a coffee cart to brighten a teacher’s day, or grow lettuce to share on Grandparents’ Day. These child-centered projects are woven into our curriculum to help students build empathy and compassion for others, and to show them that they can make a difference right in their own community.
What a Day Holds
Every day at SMA is thoughtfully structured to help children learn, grow, and thrive.
Full days, five days a week, filled with purposeful play, hands-on exploration, and strong academic foundations.
The curriculum creates strong foundations in literacy, math, science, and communication through hands-on play and play-based learning, nurturing independence and confidence.
Co-curricular classes start at age three, with children rotating through Spanish, art, music, PE, and library.
Time outside, every day, in a dedicated outdoor play space with room to run, dig, climb, ride tricycles, nature play, and space for open-ended imaginative outdoor play.
A quiet, low-technology classroom, where students do not use iPads and screens appear only when they serve the learning, for no more than 15 minutes a day.
Come See it for Yourself!
Choosing your child’s first school experience is such an important and personal decision. The best way to understand our Early Learning Program is to stand in a classroom and see us in action, meet our teachers, and feel the community. We would love to welcome you.
Preschool is our primary entry point to the Lower School, and space in Prekindergarten is subject to availability. We encourage families to start the conversation early.