At Early Childhood Learning Academy, social studies and science are not subjects children sit down to study. They are lenses our children use to look at the world around them, and they come alive through weekly themes that feel relevant, exciting, and genuinely theirs.

Each week, our classrooms take on a new focus. Community Helpers. Transportation. Gardening and Plants. Insects. Animals. Weather and Seasons. Outer Space. Holidays. The topics shift, but the approach stays the same: give children a real subject to explore, and trust them to be curious about it.

That curiosity is real. When a week is built around insects, children arrive asking about butterflies and beetles before the morning circle has even started. When the theme is outer space, they want to know which planet is the biggest and whether the moon is made of something they could touch. These are the questions that tell us the learning is landing, and they come from children who feel safe enough to wonder out loud.

Our curriculum is built on the idea that children construct understanding through direct experience. Social studies and science are where that shows up most clearly. A lesson about plants is also a trip to our garden, where children observe what has changed since last week. A unit on weather is also a morning spent outside feeling the air, watching the clouds, and connecting what they see to what they are learning. The classroom and the world outside it are always in conversation.

One of the things our families notice is that every teacher brings something different to the same topic. That is completely intentional. At ECLA, our teachers are empowered to teach in the way that feels most alive and natural to them. Two teachers covering the same weekly theme will approach it differently, and that is a strength. Children learn in different ways. When the same concept arrives through a story in one room and through a hands-on experiment in another, more children find their entry point. Our teaching team has the freedom to be creative, and the children are the ones who benefit.

These themes are selected and sequenced with a lot of thought and experience. The topics are chosen because they connect to things children already care about: the community they live in, the creatures they see outside, the sky they look up at, the seasons that change around them. The curriculum meets children where they are and then stretches them further.

Science and social studies at ECLA are not a separate block on the schedule. They are woven through stories, art, outdoor time, garden work, and group conversation. A child pressing a seed into the garden soil is doing science. A child drawing a map of their neighborhood is doing social studies. A child explaining to a friend how a caterpillar becomes a butterfly is doing both.

We are proud of the curiosity our children bring to every theme, and we are proud of the teaching team that keeps finding new ways to spark it.

June was a full month at Early Childhood Learning Academy. Each theme brought something different to the classroom and the yard, and together they made for a June that our families and teachers will be talking about for a while.

Week 1: Ocean Life

We started the month with a deep dive into ocean life. Children learned about sea creatures large and small, from the tiniest fish to the largest whales, through stories, hands-on crafts, and classroom activities that brought the ocean right to Gunston Way. Our teachers set up sensory bins, led group art projects, and read books that sparked questions and conversations across our classrooms. By the end of the week, our children could name more ocean animals than most adults, and they were genuinely proud of it.

Week 2: Weather and Seasons

Week two took our children outdoors and upward, looking at the sky, noticing weather patterns, and talking through the four seasons in a way that connected to their own experiences. They learned why it rains, what makes clouds form, and how plants and animals change across the year. Our morning outdoor time was especially rich that week, with children pointing at clouds, feeling the air, and drawing connections between the natural world and the science concepts we were covering inside. It was a week that made them more observant, and that observation is something they carry forward.

Week 3: Summer Fun and Beach

By week three, our children were fully in summer mode, and the beach theme matched their energy perfectly. The classroom became a beach-day headquarters, with sand art, sun-and-water science, and movement games that kept everyone active and laughing. Children practiced counting with shells, sorted objects by size and texture, and made beach-themed art that we were proud to display. It was one of those weeks where the learning and the fun were completely inseparable, which is exactly how we like it.

Week 4: FIFA World Cup Week

Our final June theme brought the world right into our classrooms. The FIFA World Cup is being played across the United States this summer, including right down the road at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, and that proximity made it the perfect moment to explore flags, countries, and the sport that connects more of the world than any other. Children made flags by hand, learning the colors, shapes, and meanings behind each one. They explored the countries competing in the tournament, discovered where those nations sit on a map, and talked about past champions and Levi’s Stadium. For children who have driven past Levi’s Stadium with their families, that detail landed with a particular kind of joy. It was a week of crafting, geography, history, and pure excitement.

We are so proud of what our children accomplished this June. Each week brought new questions, new discoveries, and new connections, and our teaching team brought the same care and intention to every single day. We are looking forward to what July has in store, and we are grateful to every ECLA family who made June as full and joyful as it was.

Every holiday at Early Childhood Learning Academy is an opportunity to connect children to something bigger than themselves in a way that feels joyful and age-appropriate.

For Independence Day, that means a day full of patriotic songs, American flags, red-white-and-blue everything, themed crafts, and popsicles. It is a celebration that is simple, warm, and genuinely fun for young children.

Why We Celebrate Holidays This Way

Young children learn about a holiday from experience. When children sing together, wear the colors, create something with their hands, and share something sweet with their friends, they build a felt sense of what a celebration is. The pride and the community spirit become real.

At ECLA, our approach to holiday celebrations comes from our Piaget-inspired curriculum: children construct understanding through doing. This Fourth of July, our children will experience their own small, beautiful piece of Independence Day.

What a Day Looks Like

Our children will sing patriotic songs at circle time, work on independence day-themed arts and crafts, make American flags, and spend time outside in their red, white, and blue. The day wraps up with popsicles, which, in the experience of our teaching team, is one of the most reliably excellent ways to end a celebration.

A Note on the Learning Inside the Fun

Singing builds phonological awareness and memory. Crafts develop fine motor skills and sequencing. Making flags introduces pattern, color recognition, and symbolism in an accessible, hands-on way. Every element of the day is both celebration and curriculum.

We hope your family has a wonderful Independence Day. Our children will head into the holiday weekend with full hearts and, very likely, sticky popsicle fingers.

There is something that happens in our classrooms in the days before Father’s Day that is hard to put into words.

Our children work quietly and carefully on something special, something made with their own hands, meant for one person in particular. They focus. They take their time. They want it to be just right. Watching a three- or four-year-old give that kind of attention to a single task tells you everything about what they understand love to mean.

This year, every child at Early Childhood Learning Academy has created a handmade gift to bring home to dad for Father’s Day. The project has been as much about the process as the finished piece. Children chose their colors with intention. They arranged their work with care. They brought real purpose to every step.

At ECLA, we believe that the most powerful learning happens when children are creating something that means something to them. A child who is making a gift for someone they love is not just practicing fine motor skills or following directions. They are learning what it means to give, to think about another person, and to put their whole self into something.

Father’s Day is this Sunday. Our children are ready.

To every dad, grandfather, uncle, and father figure in our ECLA community: your child has been working on something just for you. We can’t wait for you to see it.

At Early Childhood Learning Academy, outdoor time is a core part of how children learn and grow.

Every morning and every afternoon, our children head outside. And the space waiting for them is remarkable.

A Playground Built for Real Play
Our outdoor area includes a large play structure, four playhouses (one complete with its own kitchen), bikes, mini cars, water tables, and a mud kitchen. Children move, build, imagine, and explore. They dig, they pour, they race, and they create.

A Garden They Tend Themselves
One of our most treasured parts of the outdoor space is the garden. Our children help water and tend the garden year-round. They watch things grow. They connect with where food comes from. It is a quiet, hands-on lesson that happens every single day.

Summer Extras That Make the Day
During warmer months, our mister runs in the afternoons and the children absolutely love it. There is something about running through a mist on a warm San Jose day that makes everything feel a little more joyful. It is one of those small details that our families remember.

More Than One Hour Outside, Every Day
Our children spend over an hour outside in the morning and more than an hour again in the afternoon. This is intentional. Extended outdoor time supports gross motor development, emotional regulation, social connection, and plain old happiness. We believe deeply in giving children room to run, climb, and just be kids.

If you have ever wondered what your child does all afternoon, part of the answer is out here. And they love every minute of it.