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Audubon Nature Preschool
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Listen to a news segment featuring our very own Nature Preschool
WAMU "The World Is My Classroom" story

NOW Accepting Applications for the 2010-2011 School Year

Audubon Nature Preschool Outside Play Space The Audubon Nature Preschool offers nature-based, hands-on preschool programs for children between 3 1/2 and 5 years of age. Preschool programs include a five-day morning program and a three-day afternoon program. Applicants for the 2010-2011 school year need to be 4 years of age by March 1, 2011. The preschool is located in the Edwin Way Teale Learning Center at the Woodend Sanctuary, Chevy Chase, Maryland.

Children benefit from exploring the natural surroundings of the sanctuary, which offer endless opportunities for investigation and discovery. The children's education is enriched by programs led by Director/ Teacher Stephanie Bozzo, Classroom Teachers Katie Rooney and Ann-Mari Gemmill, ANS staff naturalists, and our visiting storyteller. Together, our teachers have over thirty years of teaching experience in classrooms with typically developing students as well as classrooms practicing the inclusion of students with special needs. The children benefit greatly from ANS staff naturalist visits and time spent with our storyteller

	AM	PM
Hours	8:30-11:30	12:30-3:00
Days	M-F	T,W,TH
Tuition	$625/mo.	$450/mo.
Optional Lunchtime Programs	Yes	Yes
Application	AM	PM

The five-day morning program runs from 8:30-11:30 a.m. The three-day afternoon program runs from 12:30-3:00 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. The preschool is in session September through the end of May. Tuition for the 2010-2011 school year is $625 per month for the morning class and $450 for the afternoon class. Classroom size does not exceed 15 students. Information regarding tuition for the 2011-2012 school year will be available in February 2011.

Private tours available upon request. Please call Stephanie Bozzo, preschool director, to request a tour. 301-652-9188 x32

Philosophy

Children are born naturalists. They explore the world with all of their senses, experiment in the environment, and communicate their discoveries to those around them. The Audubon Nature Preschool builds on children’s inherent curiosity about the world by using hands-on, nature-based activities to foster social, physical, and academic skill development. The 40-acre outdoor environment and Edwin Way Teale Learning Center serve as natural venues for language, artistic, and musical expression as well as scientific observations and discoveries. Our preschool teachers plan age-appropriate activities that integrate science, math, literacy, and the arts while encouraging cooperative learning and social competence.

A Child’s Day in Nature

At the Audubon Nature Preschool, our goal is to facilitate the development of academic, social and physical skills through interactions with the natural world. The following quote by Edwin Way Teale, the naturalist for whom our children’s Learning Center is named, exemplifies the type of connection with nature we strive to make with our students. In the quote, Teale asks you to look at life through the eyes of a Daddy long legs:

A child at the Nature Preschool can't choose just one favorite leaf!

Children unravel the wonders of the natural world through a balance of self- and teacher-directed activities. Each day at the Audubon Nature Preschool follows a familiar rhythm of indoor play, circle time, snack and outdoor investigations. On our 40-acre nature sanctuary, children explore ecologically diverse aquatic, forest, and meadow habitats. Watching birds from our bird blind, looking under logs for creepy-crawlies, and using nets to explore the pond enrich a curriculum that integrates science, math, literacy, and the arts. Cooperative learning and social competence are developed through group and individual activities.

Imagine walking on legs so long you could cover a mile in fifty strides! Imagine looking to either side through eyes set not in your head but in a ... hump in your back! Imagine yourknees, when you walked, working a dozen feet or more above your head. — Edwin Way Teale

Watch video of FOX Morning News story on Audubon Nature Preschool: GO!

Nature's Classroom, WAMU report of Audubon Nature Preschool, April 7, 2010 (scroll down to middle of page)

Application

There is a non-refundable $65 application fee.
AM Class 2010-2011 Application
PM Class 2010-2011 Application

Families that are current members of the Audubon Naturalist Society receive preferred status for preschool applications.

Private Tours available upon request. Please call Stephanie Bozzo, preschool director, to request a tour (301-652-9188 x32).

Sample Teachers' Newsletters

April 24, 2009
Dear Parents,

We have spent this entire week celebrating Mother Earth. The Wanderers have enjoyed making a variety of projects at the art table centered around the Earth and ways to be responsible and respectful Planet Pals. Read on...

March 26, 2009
Dear Parents,

Spring has sprung and the Wanderers are busy discovering all of the exciting changes occurring at Woodend right now. We travel to the pond every day to take a peek at our wood frog eggs. They get larger with each passing day and we observed the tadpoles wriggling around inside their eggs on Monday. Read on...

February 28, 2008
Dear Parents,

The Earth Rangers are off and running with our new unit of study: art in nature. We began the unit with the first element of art – line. We asked the children what they already knew about line. The children were excited to yell out all the different aspects of line they knew – “lines are straight”; “lines can be curvy”; “and wavy”; “and zig-zag”; “lines can be circles”; “and squares”; “triangles, too!” Read on...

Photo Gallery

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Membership Information

Questions?
Call 301-652-9188 x32.

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