The Child Day Schools

The Child Day Schools offers hands-on activities in STEM (science, math, and technology), Project Webs on topics such as “What can we build?” and “What can we learn about families?”, and language and literacy using the “Handwriting without Tears” program. Children take part in Found Art projects, dramatic play, painting, music and movement, and purposeful play, along with activities in art, music, and movement. The program includes life skills such as helping each other, being responsible, learning how to make friends, and conflict resolution, with specific focuses by age group from toddlers through school-age.

• Ages: 1–11 years old

For toddlers (12–24 months), the program includes nurturing care, supportive exploration, activities that promote speech, large motor experiences, and parallel play. Young Preschool (Two’s) activities focus on language, exploring simple concepts, beginning interactive play, and toilet training. Preschool (Three’s) activities include expanding language, building self-help skills, fun Project Webs, introduction to letters, counting, shapes, and friendship. Pre-Kindergarten activities include expanding vocabulary, letters and phonetics, printing, numbers, exploring, logical reasoning, and empathy. Junior Kindergarten includes daily phonetics, pre-reading, printing, math, science, problem solving, and self-reliance. Kindergarten includes a full-day integrated core subjects program with STEM, phonetics, printing, beginning reading, math, science with experimenting and hypothesizing, social studies, and self-reliance. School-age children participate in fun projects, arts and crafts, cooking, field trips, expanded life skills, empathy, team building, and homework time.

The Child Day Schools uses a HighScope research-based curriculum and a Project Web curriculum, with classroom environments that are carefully planned and similar to Montessori in promoting children’s explorations. The curriculum reflects the standards of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and follows NAEYC Accreditation Standards, including low teacher-child ratios. The organization describes its teachers as well-trained and nurturing and offers age-appropriate programs for each group, with an emphasis on dramatic play, social interactions, and creativity. The Hidden Canyon School, located on the San Ramon site, uses an integrated curriculum as a complement to the project approach.

The Child Day Schools states that it is “a humanistic organization dedicated to providing dynamic, age–appropriate programs for children while actively supporting teachers, families, and the community.” The organization has been caring for and educating young children in the East Bay since 1976 and marked its 45th anniversary in 2021. It serves families in communities across the East Bay, and each campus is geared to the needs of the community it serves. The leadership team includes Executive Director/Owner R. Ann Whitehead, who holds an M.S. in Educational Psychology focusing on early childhood education, along with administrators and directors for the Lafayette, Moraga, Pleasanton, and San Ramon campuses, as well as staff for finance, marketing and operations, maintenance, and technical support/employment case management.

Last updated June 30, 2026.