What is Experience Preschool?
Experience Preschool is a research-based curriculum designed for children 3 through 5 years. Each month, a complete curriculum kit arrives at your program — including lesson plans, hands-on materials, teacher guides, and family engagement tools — everything you need to build kindergarten-ready learners.
Experience Preschool’s monthly kits are organized around developmentally rich themes that build language, literacy, mathematics, science, and social-emotional skills in an integrated, play-based framework. Each theme connects to all eight developmental domains, supporting whole-child development without fragmented subject-area instruction.
Experience Preschool balances structured learning with play-based exploration. Lesson plans are designed for 15–30 minute whole-group and small-group experiences, with clear teacher language, differentiation tips, and embedded assessment opportunities.
What’s in each kit
- 4 weeks of daily lesson plans
- Hands-on learning materials
- Teacher’s guide with differentiation tips
- Family engagement take-home materials
- Assessment and observation prompts
- Literacy-rich read-aloud connections
- Brightwheel digital activity companion
Kindergarten-readiness focus
- Phonological awareness and early literacy
- Number sense, counting, and early math
- Scientific inquiry and observation skills
- Social-emotional skills and self-regulation
- Oral language development and vocabulary
- Fine motor: writing readiness, cutting, drawing
- Approaches to learning: persistence, curiosity
Why Experience Preschool is a strong fit for South Dakota programs
South Dakota’s state-funded preschool and Head Start programs require curriculum aligned to SD ELG. Experience Preschool’s domain structure maps directly to South Dakota’s preschool standards.
South Dakota Shining Stars is the state’s voluntary QRIS (1–5 stars). Higher-rated programs receive enhanced Child Care Assistance reimbursement rates.
South Dakota preschool licensing context
South Dakota’s 1:10 preschool ratio supports small-group instruction and individualized learning. Experience Preschool’s lesson plans include both whole-group and small-group activity formats, with clear teacher guidance for differentiation across developmental levels — making it practical for mixed-ability preschool classrooms.
Developmental domains covered in Experience Preschool
Experience Preschool integrates all eight developmental domains from Experience Curriculum’s 35-skill framework, with activities calibrated specifically for the 3–5 year age range. Every monthly kit builds skills across domains simultaneously — supporting kindergarten readiness in a coherent, integrated way.
Experience Preschool activities map to specific SD ELG preschool standards across all domains. An alignment document maps every activity-to-standard match, supporting documentation requirements for South Dakota’s Shining Stars system and Pre-K programs.
What arrives each month
Each Experience Preschool kit is organized around a developmentally rich monthly theme. Here’s a sample of what a program year looks like.
Community Helpers
Social studies theme exploring community roles, helpers, and civic responsibility. Builds vocabulary, early writing, and social awareness skills.
Exploring Nature
Science-focused theme with hands-on nature exploration, observation journals, and early data collection. Builds scientific inquiry, math, and literacy skills.
Friends and Feelings
Social-emotional theme building empathy, conflict resolution, and friendship skills. Supports self-regulation and the social skills needed for kindergarten success.
Growing and Changing
Life science theme with planting, observation, and life cycle exploration. Builds early literacy (informational text), math (measurement, data), and scientific thinking.
Experience Preschool and brightwheel: a complete solution
Experience Curriculum is now fully integrated with brightwheel, the #1 childcare management platform. For South Dakota programs already using brightwheel for billing, attendance, and family communication, adding Experience Preschool creates a seamless curriculum-to-portfolio workflow.
Document as you teach
Educators can log observations directly in brightwheel during or immediately after activities. Notes link to developmental milestones and build each child’s portfolio automatically.
Keep families connected
Parents receive real-time photos, videos, and activity updates through brightwheel. Experience Preschool family take-home content can be shared digitally, keeping caregivers at home aligned with the classroom.
For programs documenting South Dakota SD ELG preschool observations, brightwheel’s milestone tagging and portfolio features significantly reduce paperwork. Documentation can be exported for Shining Stars reporting or family conferences.
Questions about Experience Preschool in South Dakota
Is Experience Preschool aligned to South Dakota’s SD ELG preschool standards?
Yes. Experience Preschool is formally aligned to South Dakota’s South Dakota Early Learning Guidelines (ages 3–5). An alignment document maps each Experience Preschool activity and skill to specific SD ELG preschool domains and standards.
Can Experience Preschool help my South Dakota program achieve a higher Shining Stars rating?
Many South Dakota programs find that using a structured, research-based, SD ELG-aligned curriculum supports their Shining Stars rating. Experience Preschool’s built-in observation tools and kindergarten-readiness focus also support rating requirements. We recommend confirming specific requirements with your local childcare resource agency.
Is Experience Preschool appropriate for South Dakota Pre-K programs?
Yes. Experience Preschool is designed for 3–5 year olds and aligns to South Dakota’s South Dakota Early Learning Guidelines (ages 3–5). Programs participating in South Dakota’s Pre-K initiatives will find that Experience Preschool’s structured, standards-aligned approach meets curriculum requirements.
What is the cost of Experience Preschool for South Dakota childcare programs?
Experience Preschool pricing is based on program size and the number of children served. South Dakota programs may also qualify for subsidized pricing if serving children through state-funded Pre-K programs. Pricing details and a free tour are available through the brightwheel website.
How does Experience Preschool support kindergarten readiness for South Dakota children?
Experience Preschool is designed with kindergarten readiness as a core outcome. Activities build skills across all eight developmental domains, with particular emphasis on language and literacy, mathematics, and social-emotional skills that South Dakota kindergarten teachers identify as most important for school success.