Preschool FAQs

The Colorado Universal Preschool Program provides funding for children who are 4 years old with up to 15 hours of preschool per week through the Universal Preschool (UPK) program at no cost to the family. Four year olds who qualify may receive additional hours.

The Colorado Universal Preschool Program will also provide funding for 3 year old children with an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). Families must complete a UPK application. We will assist you with looking for an available seat a a school in your area and completing the UPK application.

​​If your child will attend through the Colorado Universal Preschool Program or the Preschool Tuition program, your child must be school age (three or four years old) on or before October 1st of the school year they wish to attend. If your child will attend through the Special Education Program, your child can begin preschool on or after his 3rd birthday, even if that falls after October 1st..

You can state your preference, and we will do our utmost to accommodate it, however, final location will be determined by an enrollment team that is tasked with balancing classrooms according to age, gender, language and needs. Families will be notified in early August the name of the child’s teacher.

Families can apply for the Colorado Child Care Assistance Program to help pay for those hours not covered by the Colorado Universal Preschool Program. Preschool community liaisons will also assist you in applying for any other tuition assistance programs.

Many of the children enrolled in our preschool classrooms are very independent in their bathroom needs. However, you do not need to be toilet trained to attend a BVSD preschool. Children are encouraged to use the bathrooms throughout the day as needed and during scheduled bathroom breaks. Teachers monitor healthy bathroom habits such as flushing and hand washing. Many children are in various stages of toilet training including diaper use. Diaper changing takes place in a manner that meets health and safety guidelines. When toilet accidents that require a change of clothing happen, children are assisted to change into dry clothing. Soiled clothing is placed in a plastic bag to take home. If your child comes home in borrowed clothing, we ask that you wash and return the clothes as soon as possible. Families are asked to supply diapers and wipes. Please discuss a system for supplying a change of clothing, diapers and wipes with your child’s teacher if needed. If a child is not toilet trained, the preschool staff will do the following to support toilet training transitions from home to school:

1. Develop a schedule with the parent/guardian.
2. Give multiple opportunities during a preschool session to use the bathroom and develop toileting routines.
3. Do not wait for children to tell you they need to use the bathroom. Give reminders to go on a “toilet trip”.
4. Develop a visual schedule for children learning to use the bathroom independently.

Toilet Training Info Sheet (English)
Toilet Training Info Sheet (Spanish)

If your child has an Individualized Education Program (IEP), they may be eligible to receive special transportation. Eligibility for special transportation is determined by the IEP team at an IEP meeting.

No cost, it is free.

Yes. Due to Colorado Universal Preschool Program (UPK) rules, all 4 year olds must re-apply through the UPK portal for their second year of preschool. However, children who are rolling up to the same preschool can pre-register in the UPK portal before it opens to the general public.

If your child is enrolled for preschool in your neighborhood school, they will be automatically enrolled in kindergarten. If your child is enrolled at at a BVSD school other than your neighborhood school and you wish to move back to your neighborhood school, you do not need to do anything; your child will automatically be enrolled. 

If your child is enrolled in a  BVSD preschool other than your neighborhood school and you wish to stay at that school,  you will have to open enroll. This does not pertain to Community Montessori, Pioneer, or University Hill, where the child rolls up automatically from preschool to kindergarten. 

For more information visit the Enrollment Center at bvsd.org for kindergarten enrollment dates, options, and application process.

Please keep in mind that your child must turn 5 by October 1st of the year of enrollment to attend kindergarten.

BVSD Preschool and Enrichment offers full day options at 16 of our 24 sites.  Please see our Locations and Hours page for details.

No. Children from out of district can choose BVSD preschools and, if enrolled, are invited to remain in BVSD until they graduate from high school.

Not necessarily. Learning a second language is not a disability. However, if your child is experiencing developmental delays that are independent of language acquisition, the child may qualify for Special Education services. Please contact Child Find at 720-561-5078.

No. Child Find is intended to locate and identify children with educational disabilities and not to screen for kindergarten readiness.

In BVSD, kindergarten is play-based and developmentally appropriate. Our kindergartens are ready for your child. Visit our Kindergarten webpage for more information. 

No. The district is required to offer free, appropriate, public education (FAPE) to children with special needs and parents cannot choose which part of FAPE they would like to accept.

It’s free, because of the district’s obligation to offer free, appropriate, public education (FAPE) to children with special needs.

A major emphasis of the preschool curriculum is social and emotional and literacy development, designed to prepare young children for the social and learning environment of kindergarten. 

BVSD Preschool sites that also offer Enrichment provide an extended day. If your site does not offer Enrichment, please contact your school's preschool community liaison to explore options. 

Preschool follows the Colorado Academic Standards and the Colorado Early Learning and Development Guidelines

Explore the Core Materials → BVSD Board of Education Adopted Learning Materials for Preschool
The Creative Curriculum for Preschool (English and Bilingual Preschools)
The Creative Curriculum for Preschool is a research-based, complete plan that uses play-based, hands-on investigations ("studies") to foster whole-child development. The preschool curriculum covers all areas that research shows as critical for children’s success, including language, literacy, mathematics, social studies, science, the arts, cognitive, physical, and social-emotional skills.

Fundations Pre-K Activity Set (Phonics Instruction - English Preschools)
The Wilson Fundations® Pre-K Activity Set is a specialized, multisensory, and research-based program designed to introduce foundational literacy skills to preschool-aged children. The Fundations® Pre-K Activity Set provides an introduction, or “pre-dose,” to the letter sound and writing skills that are taught to mastery in the Fundations Level K program. This activity set supports students’ emerging understanding of the alphabetic principles of letter-sound associations and alphabetical order and the written language skill of manuscript letter formation.

Estrellita PreKindergarten Sonidos Program (Phonics Instruction - Bilingual Preschools)
Estrellita a Spanish reading program designed for early childhood education, including PreK, to help children "break the code" of reading in Spanish. It is frequently used in bilingual and dual-language classrooms to build a strong foundation in phonics and phonemic awareness. The PreKindergarten Sonidos Program teaches students the sounds of the letters by immersing them in a variety of phonemic awareness activities and to provide practice with basic blending in order to prepare them for reading in kindergarten.

Your child’s health history will be reviewed by the ECE nurse or a school nurse and a health care plan will be developed if needed.

BVSD Food Services serves fresh and nutritious food using locally sourced and organic ingredients in their scratch-cook meals every day. Your preschool student will  enjoy breakfast, a delicious lunch and an afternoon snack at no cost.

• Morning preschool learning and enrichment sessions are canceled. There will be no morning bus for preschool students.

• Afternoon preschool learning classes will begin at normal time and there will be midday bussing that will run as normally scheduled for students who attend afternoon preschool learning only.

• Preschool ILC programs at Mapleton and Aspen Creek and Preschool at Alicia Sanchez will begin 2 hours after the usual preschool start time. Transportation for these programs will be 2 hours later than usual.

• Morning preschool enrichment classes are canceled.

• Afternoon preschool enrichment students can be dropped off at their typical afternoon enrichment starting time (10:50 or 11:45 and 11:30 for Nederland) for the afternoon enrichment session. Students in afternoon enrichment will be served lunch.

No refunds or credits will be given for school closings, days off, sick days, snow days, COVID or other health quarantines, or family vacation days. Regular tuition and fees will be charged for all absences.

This policy is in place because the cost for staff and programming remains the same when children are absent.

BVSD Preschool classrooms use Creative Curriculum and Teaching Strategies Gold to provide individualized, play-based instruction in a variety of domains, such as social emotional, pre-literacy, and pre-math. Preschool is taught by licensed staff who have Masters degrees in Early Childhood Education and endorsements in Special Education. 

Enrichment offers families an opportunity to extend the day so that their child will be in school from "bell to bell": on the same schedule as the school. Enrichment teachers are director-qualified through the Colorado Department of Early Childhood. The Enrichment classroom enriches and expands on the learning done in the Preschool classroom. 

Special education services in general, and IEP minutes specifically, are provided in the Preschool classroom.

If needed, ADA accommodations, 504s and health care plans are provided on the additional Enrichment classroom days.

If there are questions related to IEP service delivery, please talk to your child's IEP team.