Quality Education from Caring, Qualified Professionals

Persimmon Early Learning offers an inclusive, whole-child approach to high-quality child care. We are a Level 4 Colorado Shines Rated Early Childhood Program with low teacher-to-child ratios in all classrooms (Infants 1:3, Toddlers 1:4, Preschool 1:5).

We offer a comprehensive wellness and nutrition program and parent engagement and education through our Family Services program. Partnerships with Farm to ECE, Boulder County Child Health Promotion, Mental Health Partners/Kid Connects, and Early Childhood Council of Boulder County enable us to provide direct services, enrichment, and coaching. We are a breastfeeding-friendly and Healthy Eating, Active Living (HEAL)-certified program.

"The experience our family has had with the staff has been truly amazing. They clearly love their jobs and the role they play in our child's development and overall care is second to none."

Persimmon Early Learning Family

Teacher wearing cloth mask holding toddler near a creek — Persimmon Early Learning teacher and child on a field trip to Boulder Creek.

Our Curriculum

Our education program has been developed through research-based strategies, best practices, and customized procedures to best fit YWCA’s mission and its families. We offer an experiential, play-based program using the Storybook Journey curriculum in all classrooms. Developed by teacher Sue McCord as a child-centered, emergent curriculum, Storybook Journey supports the needs of each child individually and as a classroom group by exploring a shared central story. This approach helps children develop social/emotional skills and a sense of belonging.

With Storybook Journey, children explore materials provided by the teachers, and teachers support the children in following their own interests. For example, when a preschool class read a book that took place in a department store, they were interested in creating their own store. Teachers provided materials and a table, and the children worked together to decide how their “store” should be set up and run. In another example, toddlers who read a story about animals later practiced moving like those animals in their active play sessions with our Wellness Coordinator. Teachers in our Infant Development Center incorporate short stories and songs into their activities, while tailoring these experiences to the individual developmental needs of each infant.

Teachers connect with our children’s parents and caregivers at drop-off and pickup each day, and we send home daily updates about the child’s activities and meals. We also hold regular conferences with teachers for families. We use COR Advantage, a research and evidence-based learning assessment tool that incorporates observation-based assessments and measures 36 key developmental indicators in major areas of growth and development. COR is inclusive of all children at every stage of development. Our teachers use COR Advantage to track each child’s progress, inform lesson planning, and share information with parents and caregivers.

Our Teachers and Staff

All Persimmon Early Learning teachers are Early Childhood Teacher (ECT)-qualified and have continued coaching in children’s social/emotional growth and regulation to support all developmental needs. Our highly qualified teaching team works to strengthen all areas of child growth and pre-academic skills including social-emotional, gross and fine motor skills, early literacy, STEM, and social studies.

Several members of our staff are qualified Large Center Directors. For more information about our staff, please visit our YWCA Boulder County staff page.

"I have been impressed with the quality of care and attention to the individual child. The nutrition, movement, and yoga classes have been fundamental to the development of my daughter. She picks up on the lessons and the learning is evident in other contexts."