Early Years

The Early Years at The Columbus School includes K4, K5, and 1st grade—foundational years that nurture curiosity, social development, and bilingual learning. These years are characterized by exploration through play, daily routines, and collaborative experiences that build essential social-emotional and academic skills in both English and Spanish.

In K4, the primary language of instruction is Spanish, with one hour of English daily. In K5 and 1st grade, instruction shifts primarily to English, with one hour of Spanish each day. Children engage in learning experiences that develop motor skills, language, mathematics, and socio-emotional awareness, while also exploring concepts related to social and natural sciences through a range of developmentally appropriate methodologies.

A typical day includes singing, playing, listening, working in learning centers or stations, reading, writing, debating, building, solving problems, holding class meetings, and collaborating on projects. As part of our journey toward becoming an authorized IB World School, we are intentionally incorporating inquiry-based learning, building conceptual understanding, and developing the Approaches to Learning (ATLs)—five key transferable skill areas—as well as nurturing the attributes of the IB Learner Profile. Our curriculum and assessments are standards-based and carefully aligned across grade levels to ensure continuity and progression in learning.

The Columbus School is a Candidate School* for the Primary Years Program (PYP). This school is pursuing authorization as an IB World School. These are schools that share a common philosophy—a commitment to high quality, challenging, international education that The Columbus School believes is important for our students.

*Only schools authorized by the IB Organization can offer any of its four academic programmes: the Primary Years Programme (PYP), the Middle Years Programme (MYP), the Diploma Programme, or the Career-related Programme (CP).  Candidate status gives no guarantee that authorization will be granted. For further information about the IB and its programmes, visit http://www.ibo.org