It's a Tuesday afternoon at Wilmot Preschool in Evergreen, and the classroom is filled with little Cinderellas dancing at the ball, while stately 3-foot-tall knights survey their kingdom from the castle above. In the corner, Jack and the Beanstalk comes to life when little hands carefully place bean seeds in a dirt-filled paper cup.

And the saga of the Three Little Pigs is relived in the building of cardboard brick houses. This is a child's imagination at its finest.

Children at Wilmot preschool, and other preschools within the Jefferson County boundaries, are privy to an intriguing new curriculum - Tools of the Mind (TOM) - that focuses on self-discipline and self-regulation as keys to becoming successful elementary school students.

The program involves a combination of small group activities, story time, dance, literary and math skills, and, of course, the kind of imaginative, directed play that has children eager to participate. What parents and educators are seeing as a result of the curriculum has spoken volumes about its potential.

Developed by Metropolitan State College of Denver professor Deborah Leong and Elena Bodrovafrom Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL) in Aurora, the TOM program is based on the theories of Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky who believed a child's social interactions with the world can facilitate their learning processes.

TOM incorporates those theories in its approach to better educate young minds. "The TOM curriculum is an innovative approach to early childhood education that is based on the idea that cognitive and social/emotional self-regulation is critical to school readiness," said Mary Hunter, a TOM instructional coach who's been working with teachers at Wilmot as they implement the curriculum.

She said goals of the program include deliberate memory, focused attention and self-regulation. "There is also a strong emphasis on literacy and numeral skills - symbolic thinking," she said. "Teachers are trained to be careful observers and to provide support as the child demonstrates need."

Instead of having the learning experience be based solely around the educator, TOM turns the tables a bit. Within a group setting, children first record the day's weather, update the class calendar, participate in story time and get their bodies moving again with dance.

Next, each child individually creates their "play plan" for the day, a process requiring them to choose one of six learning/play centers and express what their play time might entail. Whether it's as extensive as acting out a fairy tale in the dramatic play area or building a castle at the blocks center, each child is giving the freedom of choice. This planning process involves drawing a picture of their goal and using emergent writing skills to describe the goal with key letter sounds.

According to Leong, this aspect of the TOM method forces children to plan ahead independently and then act on those plans, an important step in the process of self-control and self-regulation. While play plans might initially involve a lot of scribbles and indistinguishable marks, children eventually create more elaborate and "sophisticated" pictures and narratives.

First researched in New Jersey, the program was later brought to the Jeffco Head Start program to serve as a training model for educators. Hunter said in addition to Colorado, TOM is now in classrooms across the country, including Oregon, New Mexico, Massachusetts and New York.

Educators across the country are excited about TOM and the potential it offers children. Steven Barnett, director of the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) has been quoted as saying that the TOM program "could be one of the most important innovations in early education in years."

Teachers are enjoying the new curriculum, and especially so at Wilmot. "Wilmot Preschool has long been known for the nurturing and welcoming environment we've worked hard to provide," said Pat Doverspike, the school's director. "The TOM curriculum is a great fit for us. Embedded within the play-based language and literacy development is a strong foundation for building social skills. Children participate in many partnered activities, regularly practice self-regulation, learn empathy and use language in a rich variety of ways."

The TOM program, which was named an exemplary educational program by the International Bureau of Education in 2001, is beginning to find its way into several Jeffco elementary schools as well.

Hunter said the district is adding the TOM curriculum to 15 kindergarten classes for the 2007-2008 school year, with more likely to be added at a later date. It's all about putting the best practices into each and every Jeffco classroom, she said.

Parents are ecstatic with what they're seeing in their children as a result of Wilmot's TOM program. "Wilmot Preschool focuses on the whole student," said Rebecca Orsund, whose daughter was one of the first to go through the program. "We feel after two years at Wilmot Preschool, she will be completely ready to begin kindergarten."

Parent and educator Tracy Strausser said the TOM curriculum was both inspiring and motivating for her daughter. "My advice for parents is to take a look for themselves," she said. "Make arrangements to observe a classroom and watch the children learn to think for themselves, develop play plans for the day, investigate their ability to learn and engage in both pre-reading and pre-writing activities, while gaining the ability to use and develop their great listening skills."

Strausser said children not only benefit from a great curriculum, but also great teachers. "The staff at Wilmot Preschool is exceptional in nature. Their ability to be professional, child-centered, motivating and positive with each individual child is unending. The Tools of the Mind curriculum is just the topping on an already iced cake."

For more information about the TOM program or the 2007-2008 enrollment opportunities at Wilmot Preschool, call 303/982-5361 or email pdoversp@jeffco.k12.co.us.