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Forest Lake highlights expansion of early childhood curriculum and coaching supports
Summary
District staff presented updates on the community education and early childhood program, describing adoption of Frog Street curriculum, a classroom engagement model (CEM), and new instructional coaching to support early literacy and development.
Forest Lake — District leaders updated the school board Thursday on community education and a multi-pronged expansion of early childhood programming: adoption of the Frog Street early-learning curriculum, classroom engagement model (CEM) implementation, and a newly created early-childhood instructional-coach position.
Presentation highlights - Frog Street curriculum: The district has adopted Frog Street — a research-based, theme-driven early childhood curriculum — and integrated it with other district standards. Early-childhood staff described structured weekly lesson plans, multisensory activities and play-based learning aligned to Minnesota early learning standards.
- LETRS and early-childhood letters: Staff described teacher training in early literacy (Lexia/LETRS) and efforts to align early-letter instruction with Frog Street classroom activities.
- Classroom Engagement Model (CEM): The district has implemented a CEM framework to increase active student engagement, provide targeted interventions and use a checklist-driven approach for implementation. Staff said a state grant helped hire a CEM facilitator and peer coaches; the grant will end June 30 but the district intends to continue core practices.
- Instructional coach position: Heidi Weiberg was introduced as the district’s new early-childhood instructional coach; she will support teachers through modeling, embedded coaching and alignment of curriculum to literacy practices.
Administration said the early-childhood program has expanded to serve three-year-olds at multiple sites, added nearly full-day programs at some elementary schools and operates the Roadster mobile program. Enrollment for summer programs was reported as stronger than last year; staff highlighted volunteer and peer coaching supports intended to sustain implementation.
Why it matters Administrators told the board that strong early-childhood foundations matter for long-term reading outcomes and that coordinated coaching and curriculum investment is intended to improve kindergarten readiness and downstream achievement.
What’s next Administration and the early-childhood team will continue implementation coaching, align Frog Street with LETRS literacy work, and present periodic reports to the board on early-childhood enrollment and outcomes.
