Nursery & Kindergarten

In an increasingly fast-paced world, we believe that an unhurried approach to the early childhood years offers the healthiest and strongest foundation for children’s academic, social, and personal growth. We very deliberately do not accelerate academic learning in our nursery or kindergarten programs. With ample play in these early years, students learn better—and show greater enthusiasm and confidence—when our academic program begins in the first grade.

Key developmental goals for children at this stage include:

• Exploration, discovery, and problem-solving through physical and creative play

• Building fine and gross motor skills

• Learning to participate socially with peers by sharing indoor space and toys

• Strengthening the foundation for literacy and numeracy through story-telling and games

• Developing a love for nature and beauty through outdoor play and artistic activity

• Experiencing warmth, care, and gratitude through shared meals that nourish both body and soul

Nursery

For children who are 3 years old by September 1. Classes are offered for three, four, or five mornings per week from 8:00–12:30. Aftercare is available until 3:00 or 6:00 p.m.

Our nursery classrooms are warm and colorful, with natural playthings and room for children to move. Our program emphasizes children’s freedom to engage in self-directed, imaginative play—both indoors and out—within the structure of a comforting routine.

Program highlights

• Self-directed, creative play

• Children help to bake bread and prepare healthy snacks and a robust lunch

• Time indoors with teacher-guided songs, circle games, and stories

• Outdoor play on our campus and in the Great Meadows conservation land

Kindergarten

For children who are 4 years and 6 months through 6 years old by September 1. Classes meet 5 days per week from 8:00–12:30 p.m. Aftercare is available until 3:00 or 6:00 p.m.

In a Waldorf kindergarten, children are free to move and explore in a truly play-centered program. Teachers create a warm, welcoming environment designed to facilitate the child’s emerging capacities to plan, build, communicate, and initiate. Teachers also engage children in activities that promote social development, fine and gross motor skills, and the foundations for literacy and numeracy—preparing students for the structured, academic learning that begins in first grade.

Program highlights

• Self-directed, creative play

• Artistic activities, such as watercolor painting, seasonal crafts, beeswax modeling, and crayoning)

• Children help to bake bread and prepare healthy snacks and a robust lunch

• Circle time with stories, songs, and games

• Children embody stories through Eurythmy, an art form unique to Waldorf schools, which combines movement with music and language

• Clean-up and chores

• Outdoor play on our campus and in the Great Meadows conservation land